Author's Notes
This is my first serious Slayers fan fic. The rest I've written were all more 'adult' oriented or were simple one-shot stories. I've heard mixed reviews about introducing original characters into existing canon, but hopefully this one will be well-received. This first chapter introduces the main character, Lucia the swordswoman. There are no Slayers characters in the first chapter, but it is useful in introducing this character and the tone of the story. Also, this story involves a romantic relationship between two women. If this sort of thing bothers you, you should stop reading here.
Chapter 1 – The Hunt Begins
The sun was still low in the sky as the young blonde-haired girl walked along the packed dirt road, the cool spring breeze a crisp reminder that winter had only recently passed. The scent of blooming flowers was still faint, signaling that the revitalizing energy of the season had yet to come to full bear, though the sounds of birds in the nearby trees was still plentiful and soothing to the young adventuress. The young woman's garb stood in stark contrast to both her physical features and her personality. While she wore a mixture of leather and light chainmail armor across her form, accented by several pouches along her belt and a sheathed sword with a silver and onyx hilt, her shoulder-length straw-blonde hair framed an innocent looking, almost child-like face set with shining sky-blye eyes. There was almost a bounce in her step as she walked, for Lucia Moore, swordswoman and treasure hunter extraordinaire, was never happier than when she was on her way to a new adventure; especially when said adventure offered a reward of thirty gold pieces for the simple task of crushing a small band of brigands.
She had received the news while staying at a small roadside inn. A crier had entered the inn passing out signed parchments. Upon them was a declaration that any heroes willing to take on a bandit gang that had been tormenting the small town of Duskhollow would receive a sum of thirty gold pieces upon the successful capture or death of their leader, or the destruction of their band. With such a simple task before her, she had immediately stuck out for Duskhollow in hopes of lining her purse with some relatively easy money.
"I wonder how far it is." She said softly to herself, looking at a map she had hastily drawn in response to some prodding of the locals. The scale was off, she knew, but she'd only had estimations on which to draw the map. Where a farmer had told her it was ten miles, a merchant told her it was only six. Where a bishop explained that she'd come to a fork, she would instead find herself at a four-way crossroads. The only solid piece of information she had was that Duskhollow was almost directly south of her location, and at least for that she had a compass to keep her on track. A presence in front of her suddenly caused her to glance up from her map. Ahead of her on the road, she saw a lone man sitting cross-legged in the dirt, idly tapping a single finger on the ground. Curiously, she moved a bit closer.
The man was thin, but as she got closer she could see the definition in his muscles that depicted hours of physical training. He was dressed in a simple sleeveless shirt and pants that were tied with a crude rope-like belt, all in earthen tones, and worn boots that were dusty from recent travel on the dry road. His dark brown hair was unkempt and sat atop his head like some kind of mangy animal, telling a lot about the man's sense of personal hygiene. As she approached, Lucia slowed her steps until she stopped about fifteen feet away from the man, looking at him curiously.
"Hello there, are you alright?" she said calmly, wondering if perhaps the man was homeless or injured in some way. As he looked up at her, his grey eyes seemed to appraise her for a moment, and she could tell by his expression that he had been aware of her approach before she'd seen his face. The way he looked at her put her on edge, and a few seconds later she caught a brief flutter of movement off to her right side in the bushes. Her instincts told her that she was being flanked, and as the man stood up, brandishing a short sword he'd been sitting on, she realized what his game was.
"It's a pretty dangerous road to be walking on all alone, sweetheart. You could get hurt, you know." The man said in a raspy voice, his eyes roaming her body, taking on a more predatory leer. "Or worse." He added, licking his chapped lips lewdly and making Lucia cringe in disgust.
"Bandits?" she said, tilting her head. She examined the man for a moment, tossing a brief glance into the bushes to confirm her suspicions as she saw two more men emerge, one heavyset and carrying an axe and the other a bit thinner with a thick wooden club in both hands. She barked a bubbly giggle and turned her gaze quickly back towards the thin man in the road. "Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, you're probably out of your league." She said at last. It wasn't a taunt, nor a jeer. Lucia rarely played mind games on people, and in truth was just being honest as she preferred.
"That's a good one, sweetheart." The lead man said with a chuckle. "The only little girl I'm afraid of is Lina Inverse, and I know you ain't her. Now hand over whatever gold you're carrying and me and the boys don't have to get rough with you." He said with a grin, emphasizing his threat with a quick jab of his sword into the air before him.
"I dunno, man. Maybe I want to get rough with this one, eh?" the heavyset man said with a cackle, resulting in additional laughter from the rest of the bandits, including two more that Lucia hadn't noticed to her left as they emerged from the bushes.
"Five on one? That's hardly fair." Lucia said after a moment, glancing around briefly. Despite the threats around her, she kept her posture calm and non-threatening, her smile remaining friendly and light-hearted. "If you like, I can wait for you to get some more of your friends. You know, to even the odds a little." She added after a moment, punctuating the statement with a cheerful smile.
"Hah!" the apparent leader in the road barked. "Pretty boastful words, little girl. I changed my mind, though. I'm gonna go ahead and take what I want from you by force, and I promise it's more than just gold." The threatened, then pointed his sword at her. "Get 'er, boys!"
Instantly, the surrounding bandits charged in, intending to get on all sides and surround Lucia before she could react. She had other plans, though. With a sudden burst of movement, the swordswoman drew the onyx-hilted blade from its sheath at her hip, revealing its matte black blade engraved with silver runes that sparkled in the morning sun, and turned to her right, breaking into a full-on charge at the heavyset bandit and his club-wielding friend. The two bandits were clearly in shock, not having expected her to turn from passive and non-threatening to offensive so quickly. She gripped the sword in both hands as she charged in, and the club-wielding bandit quickly brought his weapon up to block her overhand chop, but ended up staggering backwards fearfully as her blade sliced right through the club like a hot knife through warm jelly. She pulled back her blow just enough that the blade only cut into the flesh of his chest without causing any serious injury, though she managed to nick a rib. As her stroke ended, she used the momentum to carry her into a spin, snapping her sword up just in time to parry an attack from the axe-wielding bandit. The block had deflected the attack rather than absorbing it, and the bandit found himself off balance for a brief second before a strong kick from one of the swordswoman's plated boots snapped his knee to the side, grotesquely dislocating his kneecap and causing him to cry out in pain. She quickly spun and faced the remaining three bandits, moving into a full charge. The bandit in the road, who barely had time to even register that two of his comrades were already out of the fight shrieked and stumbled backwards, falling onto his butt in the road as Lucia charged past him. She leapt at the next nearest bandit, a grizzly, bearded man wielding a two-handed sword, bringing her sword in a wide arc at his midsection. He managed to parry the blow, but the impact from Lucia's sword forced him onto the defensive, and she wasn't about to let up. While his partner, wielding a pair of daggers, tried to get into position, Lucia hammered away at the larger man's defensive parries with her sword. His occasional offensive attack was defeated by her agility, and he found himself growing exhausted against her apparently tireless rain of offensive strikes. As she forced him backwards, his heel caught a tree root protruding out of the ground and he fell backwards, his heel twisting painfully with an audible snap. Lucia took the opportunity to slap the sword roughly from his hand, sending it bouncing across the grassy forest floor and turning just in time to narrowly avoid a swipe from the other bandit's dagger. Lucia backed away, carefully avoiding quick jabs and thrusts from weapons too small and evasive to parry. After dancing away from the bandit's blades for a few more seconds, she suddenly snapped her foot straight up in front of her, catching the man on the chin with a hard metallic thunk, sending him sprawling to the forest floor unconscious. She took one glance at the sword-wielding bandit by the tree, giggling as she saw his foot still wedged in the tree's root as he tried desperately to pull it free without further injuring it. With a smile, she turned and began approaching the bandit on the road.
"N-now wait a minute! We…we were just kidding, you know? Having a little fun, right?" the bandit stammered pitifully as she approached, "You were right, we are out of our league! Okay? You don't have to go proving that anymore!" he rambled as she approached.
"Uh huh, and what was it you were gonna do to me after you took my money?" she asked, her tone genuinely inquisitive.
"Well, n-nothing! Nothing, we weren't gonna do- hlllkkk!" he yelped, his voice suddenly cut off as the swordswoman's armored boot shot up from the road, slamming him square between the legs. He twitched a few times, then his eyes rolled up in his head and he dropped to the road in a puff of dust, unconscious.
"Might wanna put some ice on that before it swells." She said, laughing a little as she sheathed her sword. She surveyed the area once more, noting that the two bandits still capable of fleeing had done so, leaving their fallen comrades to their fates. Shaking her head in disdain, she gave a little sigh and continued on towards Duskhollow, muttering one last time. "Bandits."
It was almost noon by the time she arrived in Duskhollow, and Lucia decided to save her trail rations and instead get herself some lunch at the nearest inn. Duskhollow seemed to be a small town, though she knew already that the town made considerable money selling logs from the rare duskwood trees the town was named after. The town was fairly active, with children playing in the streets and stalls inhabited by numerous merchants selling their wares. The town guard was also out on patrol, and Lucia got the feeling from the way they eyed her as she walked down the main street that they were being extra cautious on account of their local bandit problems. Fortunately, the guards couldn't make heads or tails of the dark-clothed, bubbly, bouncy blonde that had just entered their jurisdiction, so they let Lucia go unhindered.
"Mmm. Food." Lucia said happily as she finally spotted the object of her current desire. The large picture of a roast bird on the sign said all she needed to know, and the swordswoman made a beeline for the tavern, intent on getting herself a light meal before finding out where exactly these bandits were located, wanting to have a full stomach before heading out. The sound of people engaged in various volumes of conversation and the scent of food and wine assaulted her senses as she walked into the tavern, but she was more focused on the latter. Lucia made her way to an empty table and took a seat, casually looking around the common room until a waitress approached her, handing her a menu.
"Welcome to the Duskhollow Inn! How can I help you?" the waitress said politely. Lucia smiled right back as she looked over the menu. Everything looked so good, but she figured that was probably on account of how hungry she was. She did note that the tavern had a different special for each day of the week, however.
"What's your special for today?" she asked, still mulling over the menu's listings.
"That would be roast beef with gravy, a baked sweet potato, and a side of steamed vegetables." The waitress replied, garnering a smile from the hungry swordswoman.
"Oh, that sounds perfect! Bring me one special and a glass of water, please!" she replied happily, her mouth already watering at the prospect of the first good meal she'd have had in weeks. Her recent time on the road had only taken her by one inn, and their selection of food had been restricted to boiled vegetables and stale bread, much to her dismay.
"Right away, miss!" the waitress replied, taking Lucia's menu and rushing off to the kitchen. Lucia looked around the room again, noting that some of the patrons were armed, some of which even looked like soldiers or warriors, and wondered how much competition she was going to face for that reward. Ah, ah…she scolded herself. Business later, food now. She added mentally. Now was not the time to trouble herself with things to come.
She could worry about the nasty business soon enough.
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