Retribution

As we continued along the road to the capital, I found myself wondering about the pendant. Why would Minerva have a cursed item like that, especially if she didn’t know it was cursed? Why was she trying to help us out? It could simply be just helping out a friend as she suggested, but she didn’t strike me as the type to do something that wouldn’t benefit her later. As I pondered these questions and more, I noticed a glint of light out of the corner of my eye.

Sensing danger, I grabbed Flora by the shoulder, tossing her into the interior of the wagon as an arrow lodged itself into the back of my shoulder. I followed suit, hopping back into the wagon where the others were.

“They’re here!” I said, grimacing in pain from my wound.

“Let me help you,” said Alice, quickly pulling the arrow out before casting a healing spell.

“How many are there?” asked Lucille.

“I don’t know, didn’t get a good enough look at them,” I said, grabbing my sword from my belongings in the back of the wagon.

“Why haven’t they fired any more arrows at us?” asked Sofia, clutching her staff.

“Visibility,” said Lucille darkly.

“Why would that matter to people trying to kill us anyway? They could just fire blindly,” said Alice.

“The adventurers that we’re strung up were men. Consider why that is, and then you’ll understand why they stopped firing,” Lucille said, angrily gripping her blade.

“They don’t wanna harm their merchandise,” I said grimly. The true severity of the situation was now obvious. These guys were well organized and strong enough to kill a party of seasoned adventurers. If we lost, the others wouldn’t get off simply by dying.

“Those bastards!” Sofia shouted angrily. “I’ll burn them all to cinders!”

“Sounds like a plan!” I said eagerly. “I’ll help. Bolster!”

“Awesome!” exclaimed Sofia, as her body coursed with magical power, enhancing her abilities. Together, all save Flora leapt out of the back of the wagon, facing our opponents. There were at least twenty of them, several now blocking the road while some stayed back and aimed their bows at us.

“Take out the ones close to us. I’ll flank around and take down the archers!” I ordered, entrusting Lucille to take on the brunt of the enemy while Sofia readied her attack. I activated shade on myself before sprinting off into the tree line.

Once there, I took care to not make any noise brushing up against anything. I slowed my footsteps to sneak up on the bandit archers. Right before one could loose an arrow, I grabbed the arrow and stabbed him in the throat, killing him. He dropped to the ground with a confused look on his face. Luckily, once the blood splattered onto me, it turned invisible as well. I moved on to the next pair of archers, quickly disposing of the unaware pair. The three archers dealt with, I turned back to assess the situation.

“Get back!” yelled Sofia, her staff glowing with red magical light as she readied her spell. Alice and Lucille quickly got out of the way of the spell. The Flame Bangle shone with a bright light, enhancing the spell further. “FLARE!!!”

The fireball was much larger than before, due to both the enchanted bracelet and Sofia’s own progress. However, not even three feet from Sofia, the orb detonated. The powered up spell backfired on the pyromancer, lighting her ablaze. Sofia screamed out in pain as the flames seared her flesh, burning her clothes off in the process.

I rushed into the fray, killing two unaware bandits as I did, positioning myself between the enemy and Sofia. The shade skill deactivated and Lucille joined me.

“Flora! Alice! Get her into the wagon!” I ordered. Flora scrambled out of the back of the wagon, dumping the water from her canteen to put out the fire before helping Alice carry the heavily burned Sofia back into the wagon.

“What the hell was that?” demanded Lucille.

“I don’t know, and we don’t have time to find out. Shit. On your left!” I yelled, warning her of the incoming bandit. The hulking bandit was a mass of muscles, savagely bringing his axe down towards Lucille, who barely managed to block in time.

“Full Guard!” She declared, a shining blue aura appearing around her. She parried the next attack with ease, giving me an opening to strike.

“Mana Blade!” I yelled, my enhanced attack cleaving straight through the oversized bandit’s torso. The remaining fourteen or so bandits began laughing as they slowly encircled us.

“Damn, we’re surrounded,” said Lucille, getting back to back with me.

“I know. Dammit. Which one is the leader? If we take him out, maybe we can do this,” I said, scanning the bandits.

“Him!” said Lucille, pointing out a bandit with a skull tattoo on his neck. Without warning, she charged the man.

“Ooh, we got a feisty one boys!” laughed the skull tattoo guy, hoisting his sword over his shoulder.

“Lucille! Wait dammit!” I called out in vain. She swung her blade at the man, a blow easily deflected. He took the opportunity to grab her neck with his free hand, hoisting her up into the air before slamming her into the ground, the **** causing her to lose her grip on her sword.

“Pay attention kid!” yelled a bandit running up behind me. I was able to react in time, diving to the side, away from his attack before turning to face him. He wildly swung at me, getting progressively faster until I could barely keep up with him. Nearly tripping, I tossed some dust from the road into his eyes, causing him to fumble around, letting me create distance.

Another bandit clotheslined me from behind, sprinting past me almost unnaturally quickly, cackling gleefully as he went. I was sent sprawling onto the floor. I scrambled to my feet, swinging at the bandit who was still rubbing his eyes. Yet another bandit got in my way, catching my sword with his bare hand.

“What the-” I stammered. Then, a look of realization appeared on my face as I saw the bracelet he wore.

“See something you like? These bits of jewelry are pretty nice, huh?” he cackled, raising a knife. “Helps beat the hell out of runts like you!” He thrust the knife down at me.

Panicking, I yelled, “Steal!”, praying to get the clearly enchanted bracelet from him. A look of horror crossed my face as I felt a dagger appear in my hand. The bandit merely looked confused for a second before deciding to punch me square in the face, wrenching the sword out of my hand. I fell to the ground once more, held there at the point of my own sword.

Lucille screamed out in pain as the bandit leader stomped down on her recently healed arm, likely breaking it once more. The nearby bandits burst out in laughter at her pain.

“Another group of wannabe heroes **** to face the harsh reality,” said the lead bandit, sheathing his sword.

“Ooh boss! Can we take them right here!?” asked an overeager bandit.

“Hell no,” responded the leader, punching him in the gut. “We lost some good men today. Tie up the captives and load them up with the bodies in the wagon. You all can have a turn once our brothers are in the ground.”

The bandits cheered, quickly grabbing up the corpses of their friends and heading to the wagon. Lucille’s arms were bound, and the bandit with the rope was coming towards me. The one standing over me slipped my sword into his trousers before dragging me to my feet.

“Be good runt. Maybe you’ll get a turn before you die,” laughed the bandits with my sword.

“Cocky bastard!” I grunted, stabbing him in the side with his own knife, loosing myself from his grip. Realizing I couldn’t possibly win in this situation, I ran. I activated shade and fled into the forest, leaving everyone behind.