Omar put away his farseer, frowning in thought. When his scouts reported a caravan heading through this part of the forest, he hoped they might be easy pickings. He set out with men to personally appraise their quarry. They set up shop very recently in the area; if you want to survive outside the prisons they call cities you must learn to always be on the move, lest you overstay your welcome.
"The guard themselves don't seem like much of a problem, we can simply intimidate or overwhelm them with numbers," Sahar, his second-in-command, said after putting down his own farseer. "The only problem are the woman and the girl. They are way to suspicious. To lug around that big of a sword at her age probably means she is from one of the big clans in their city. The woman looks similar enough to be either her sister or mother. They would never be left out of the city unprotected," he finished, his words mirroring Omar's own thoughts.
"What, afraid of a woman and a little girl?" scoffed Akitsuma, a recent addition to their band. Murmurs of assent could be heard coming from his men. Omar closed his eyes, wishing he had refused his wish to join. Unfortunately another Martial Knight joining the group was too tempting an offer to refuse. Akitsuma hailed from across the burning ocean far sunwards. He was a zealous follower of the Path of Light like most people in Lumin and had steadily tried converting most of his followers. One of the tenants proclaimed an inherent superiority of men over women with no regard of social standing. He even heard of a princess being kidnapped by a blacksmith who then ravished her. He wasn't even punished by anyone and she had to marry him afterwards since it was "only a woman".
Honestly, he didn't care what someone believed to be right but he knew underestimating anyone to be a very bad idea. The biggest problem of it all was that it was teaching his men some very bad habits. Well, he just had to set them straight the next few days.
"We'll retreat back to the camp. The risk just isn't worth it. I have a bad feeling about that woman and they probably don't have much valuable stuff," he decided in the end, turning around and walking away from the caravan.
Akitsuma simply sneered behind his back, muttering under his breath. He followed along his boss while sharing glances with some of his closest comrades. Finally, he looked back, in the direction of the clearly easy mark, and a small smile slowly spread across his face.
Even a restless night of thinking didn't bring Sana to any good conclusion. Shouldn't only evil people enjoy such violence? She was sitting before the firepit with a bowl of soup in her lap, absentmindedly eating. Even the very much improved taste of the meat not enough to snap her out of her contemplation. Her mother was sitting beside her with a concerned look on her face.
Eventually she shook her head and decided to put it out of her head. The fact she had fun fighting some beasts doesn't mean anything. She dug into her food, enjoying the richer taste. Who knew something so ugly could taste so good. Aria smiled in relief upon seeing that and decided to let her daughter deal with that issue without her interference. She can always come to her herself, should it continue to bother her.
"We are approaching the most dangerous part of our journey," the caravan leader began. "Normally we would have stopped slightly earlier today but the interruption of the spirit beasts means we will continue for the entire day. The day after that we must pay extreme attention to our surroundings. The road leads directly between the territories of two Beast Emperors. The group of wolves we encountered was probably expelled from the Wolf Emperors territory after they went feral."
After that speech, mostly for the benefit of Sana who was the only one who never went outside before, they continued along the road. Despite their relatively easy victory the day before, most of the guards were on edge and, almost paranoid, constantly glanced around. Slowly they calmed down and relaxed, continuing their, this time less jumpy, observation of the forest surrounding them. The road curved ever so slightly left, leading them too far north of the next city. Sana thought it was probably to avoid the territory of the other Beast Emperor. Despite the inherent danger, she wished she could see the beast that could make people so afraid of it.
Later that day, right behind a small hill in the road, they suddenly heard a shout to stop in front of them. The caravan immediately halted and Sana looked at her mother who looked towards the front and then looked her in the eyes with a questioning look. Sana nodded and together they rushed to the front where 4 of the guards and the caravan leader had already drawn their weapons.
In front of the caravan stood a trio of men, the two at the back had the caramel skin of the people of the northern desert, but the leader had a darker skin tone than she had never seen before. Her friend had told her about the people of Lumin, another landmass entirely across the burning sea. He said that very dark skin tones were considered a mark of high social standing, since those people tended to live even farther sunwards, where the sun continually burned everything.
Seeing our arrival, specifically her mothers, the caravan leader smiled in relief even though the leader of the bandits simply sneered. Sana always imagined bandits to wear a mishmash of pelts and leathers and wield rusty axes or swords but in reality all three wore relatively uniform studded leather armour and their weapons, three single bladed, slightly curved swords, were well taken care of, without rust or even chips along the blade.
After some kind of unseen signal she could make out a lot of footsteps coming from all around her. Seconds later they were surrounded on all sides by bandits though most gathered around the front. She could make out 18 bandits, including the three from before, and could hear 4 more distinct footfalls coming from the sides behind them. The apparent leader of the group stepped forward with a smirk on his face.
"Now, I'd advise you all to lay down your weapons and let us free you of your burdens. That way nobody has to get hurt," he said with a mocking smile on his face, pointing his swords tip at the caravan leader. The latter exchanged looks with her mother. She nodded and he turned back, gripping his sword tight.
"I suggest you leave us be and try to ply your business elsewhere. Clan Tenki doesn't tolerate banditry along their city's roads," he replied calmly. His face expressionless while he stared the bandit leader in the eyes, whose smile slowly turned into a scowl. "Very well", the bandit leader growled, "but know that that will be your last mistake in your remaining life. Go!" With that shout all of the brigands, except him and his two comrades, sprung forwards and rushed towards our position.
Sana's mother instantly spun her spear into a reverse grip and slammed the tip into the ground. The earth in front of the nine closest bandits burst open and a shimmering haze shaped like a spike pierced out of the ground and through their body. Some through the heart, some through the throat and one even directly through the eye. Sana almost jumped back out of surprise but realized that the spikes must be formed out of pure concentrated qi and that the only reason she even saw anything was because she was reinforcing her eyes. She quickly glanced at her mother and saw that she had already rushed through the approaching bandits and attacked the three at the back.
The caravan guards rushed towards the stunned bandits and managed to cut down two more in the confusion before they gathered themselves. The caravan leader ordered two of the guards to reinforce the fighting behind them. Even 3 to 8 they could hold their own, showing the massive difference between a Martial Scholar and a Martial Knight. Her mothers fight seemed even more one-sided. She batted aside the thrust of one of the officers and pierced him in the chest, easily penetrating his armour and defensive shell. A spike of qi burst out of his back and hit the other officer in the shoulder making him almost drop his sword but he caught it in his other hand before it could fall.
Gathering herself, she rushed one of the bandits herself. Seeing her approaching he send a kick in her direction, expecting a small girl like her to back off. Instead she stepped sideways into the kick, passed the outstretched leg, swung her sword and cut his leg off at the knee. The bandit, unbalanced and in shock, collapsed and looked surprised at his bleeding stump. He never even had the chance to scream in pain before her sword caught his neck and cut his head clean off.
Now with a new combatant and one less enemy they quickly took care of the rest, Sana killing one more of the bandits. He swung too low, unaccustomed to fighting an opponent of such a small stature. She simply jumped and landed on his blade, trapping it between her foot and the ground, and thrust her sword through his chest, piercing his heart.
Meanwhile her mother, having dispatched the second officer, cracked the butt of her spear into the jaw of the bandit leader, throwing him onto the ground. He scrambled off the ground and turned to flee. Surprisingly her mother didn't attack or move to pursue, simply took out a thin wooden throwing needle tipped with a slightly purple-tinged metal and threw it into his retreating back. He stumbled and tried to rip it out of his back, only managing to break it off before he disappeared into the tree-line.
The caravan leader and the guards quickly moved to reinforce the defending guards in the back. Sana simply stood there, calming her racing heart and biting her lip bloody, trying to suppress the elated smile that reappeared on her face during the fight. Her mother approached her with a concerned look. "You don't need to feel bad about their deaths," she tried to console her daughter, laying a hand on her shoulder. "They were people who had no regard for others and didn't care about the deaths and chaos their actions brought."
Sana simply nodded, not wanting to tell her mother that she didn't even think about the fact she just killed two people. In fact the only thing she felt, except happiness and satisfaction at the fight, was a slight sense of disappointment that the bandits weren't stronger and that her fun was cut so short. She was terrified of her mother finding out her true feelings and being disgusted with her, maybe even telling her father who would throw her out of the clan. She resolved herself to supress any of her clearly aberrant feelings and stop worrying her mother.
The caravan leader returned a while later, bloody but alive. He turned to her mother and said, "Luckily we lost no one, but two of my men are heavily wounded and will have to be carried along. 8 more are lightly wounded and need a while to rest. Most of the bandits fled when they saw us coming to reinforce." He sighed and shook his head, "We would definitely pursue and eradicate them for good but we just don't have the manpower."
"Don't worry," her mother said and took out a compass like device. The needle was coloured exactly like the tip of her throwing needle. "I managed to put a hunting needle into their leader. Hopefully that will lead us directly to their hideout. I was planning to personally pursue them but..." she trailed off looking at her daughter. Sana swallowed the blood gathering in her mouth and nodded at her mother, eyes locked. "Well, looks like we will go in pursuit. Make camp somewhere farther up the road. We will re-join you later." Having said that her mother started in the direction the needle pointed , Sana following behind her.
After a few minutes of wandering around trees or climbing over fallen ones her mother glanced in her direction and softly said, "If there is something bothering you, anything, you can always come to me or your father." She was mostly looking at the compass, tracking the bandit leader but would occasionally glance at her.
"Don't worry, It's just a little overwhelming. Just... let me sleep on it. I'll be perfectly fine tomorrow." she replied, trying to make her grin not come over as a grimace instead. She knew her mother meant well but she had to handle that issue personally. The terror she felt when she thought of her mother rejecting her still hadn't completely left, so she was glad for the distraction their hunt provided.
After a while more of walking, they suddenly heard a scream of pain in the distance. Immediately Aria ducked down, put away her compass, readied her spear and slowly crept forwards towards the scream. Sana quickly followed, drawing her own weapon. Through the trees they could make out an artificial clearing filled with tents. At the backside were two horses bound to a pole next to a small cart. Lying or sitting around a fireplace where 7 men tending to either their own or someone else's wounds. The bandit leader was among them cursing her mother and swearing revenge.
Hearing that she saw her mother roll her eyes and look back at her. She gestured for her to stay here and wait for her to attack from the back in a pincer attack. Or so she assumed anyway. Her mother disappeared behind some trees without making a sound. After enough time to make her nervous she finally heard startled shouts and sprinted into the clearing herself. Two of the men farthest from her mother franticly scrambled away directly in her path, not even looking in her direction. She pierced the first man through the chest and ripped it out through his side. The second man desperately tried to stop her sword with his arms and soon found himself a few limbs lighter. She put him out of his misery with a quick thrust through his eye socket.
Her mother stood surrounded by the corpses of the rest of the men, her spear piercing the heart of the bandit leader through the back. She looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I meant for you to wait while I dealt with the rest, not for you to join but... what's done is done," she finished with a sigh.
Sana blushed and looked at the ground, looking at the bandit's corpses. "So, is that everything?" she asked, trying to distract her mother from her little slip-up. Her mothers grin made it clear that her attempt to change the subject didn't go unnoticed. Thankfully Aria didn't try to pursue the topic any further.
She pointed behind her to the edge of the clearing. "Two more bodies, bandits as well by the looks of it. One of them was stabbed from behind, the other one got his throat slit. The bodies haven't started rotting yet which means it was a pretty recent take over," she said, shaking her head with pursed lips. "Come on, if you have enough energy to jump into battle you can help me pack the horses with the valuables here."
They gathered several coin purses, some gems found in a lockbox in the biggest tent, the rest of their provisions and even the weapons after showing Sana how to best tie them to the horses. Before leaving, Aria pulled out a small pale white ball and threw it at the ground in the centre of the clearing. After asking about it she explained that it was the concentrated smell of particular spirit grass, grass that naturally, through some process or another, was infused with qi. The smell would attract spirit beasts who would ravage the camp and eventually even scavengers who would dispose of the bodies.
They lead the two packed horses through the forest back onto the road and began their walk to catch up with the caravan somewhere ahead.
