When Meri and Daniel got outside, at first they couldn't see what was going on. They squinted, trying to get their eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight. When their vision cleared, both gasped at the same time. If the sight hadn't been so depressing, it would have been funny. Cabe's Blacksmith Shop was on a small hill, and this enabled the two to view almost the entire city. Most of the buildings were still standing, but many had gaping holes in them. Fires were burning all over the city, and there were Armaya Soldiers and Desert Bandits fighting in most of the streets. The town wall was breached in multiple places, and frantic attempts were underway to repair the castle wall.

"Notch save us..." Meri breathed.

"Hold on, whats that?" Daniel said to himself, squinting his eyes at a nearby street.

"What's what?"

"Come on. We have to see this." Daniel commanded.

"What is it?" Meri asked as she hurried after him down the street.

"You'll see."

They ran down the street and ran into an abandoned house. Leaping up the stairs, they moved to a nearby window as saw this sight:

A couple Armaya Soldiers and about twenty-five citizens were cautiously advancing down the street, all armed. Many of the citizens looked scared and Daniel guessed they had been "volunteered" into the Armaya Militia. However, Daniel's heart almost stopped when he recognized one of the citizens. Cliff was in the crowd of militia, holding a stone sword. Daniel was about to yell out Cliff's name when an arrow whizzed down the street and into the leg of a militiaman, who fell, screaming. This seemed to set off the rest of them, who began to panic and dive for cover. Daniel lost track of Cliff during the scuffle, and was frantically looking when Meri nudged him on the shoulder.

"Look over there! Desert Bandits!" she whispered, too curious to be fearful.

Daniel looked that way and saw about two dozen Bandits at the other end of the street. About two-thirds of them were charging down the street, curved, evil-looking swords held above their heads. The rest were holding back, firing their bows at the Armaya forces. Almost all of them wore masks and bandanas to cover their faces, and their clothing was an odd mix of styles, probably all looted from one place or another. Daniel noticed that the Bandit arrows were much smaller and thinner than the huge ones that the Armaya Archers used. In a second, the Bandits were upon the Armayans. Daniel found Cliff again in the whirlwind of fighting, and it seemed that Cliff was a pushing his opponent towards the house Daniel and Meri were in.

"I'm going downstairs." Daniel stated, and vaulted down the stairs before Meri could ask him why.

He ran to the room closest to the street and found the wall that the door was supposed to be in was gone, simply a pile of rubble. A Desert Bandit fell into the room, but quickly got back up and continued fighting with his Armayan adversary. That Armayan was Cliff, who's battered stone sword swung at the Bandit. The Bandit blocked it skillfully and watched in satisfaction as Cliff's sword broke. During this time Daniel had been frozen in place, watching the fight, but seeing Cliff become helpless he snapped out of his trance and stepped forward to swing his sword. The Bandit parried and stabbed back, with Daniel barely dodging the sword. Cliff sprang forward and drove his elbow into the Bandit's back, but the Bandit just seemed to shrug it off and whirled around to give Cliff a punch that sent him flying into the wall. Adrenalin coursed through Daniel's veins as his sword became a hurricane of motion, slashing, stabbing, parrying, slicing. The Bandit blocked each and every one of those strokes, but found himself being pushed up the stairway.

"Take THAT!" Meri shouted as she bashed the Bandit on the head with the flat of her sword. She had been watching from the stairway the entire time.

The Bandit gasped and fell down the stairs, unconscious. Meri followed after him.

"You know, I was doing fine until you stepped in." Daniel noted.

"Nonsense. The Bandit was gonna win." Meri said with a smile, pleased with herself.

"Uuuuugh..." the groan made both teenagers turn. Cliff was staggering towards them. "W-where did you come from, Dan?" he slurred.

"Shhhhh. Take it easy, buddy." Daniel chided. "You took a nasty hit back there."

"Here, sit down." Meri said as she slid a chair up.

As Cliff slumped down into the chair, Meri said "I assume you know this guy, right?"

"Yes. He's basically my only friend in this city." Daniel assured her.

"Oh, and I'm not your friend?"

"Well, I mean-er, yes I-not re-yes, I suppose, then." Daniel said, blushing, and angry at himself for it. Why was that so hard? He barely knew her, anyways.

"Heh heh. Looks like someone has a hard time deci-" Meri stopped suddenly, staring.

Daniel was at first glad that she had stopped talking along those lines, but then turned around to see what she was looking at. A Bandit, much smaller and slimmer then most of the others was in the middle of the street, dodging every huge Armayan arrow coming down the street, while simultaneously firing a small bow. Like the rest of the Bandits, this one wore a bandana covering their face. Unlike most Bandits, however, this one was wearing clothes that seemed to belong more in the actual desert: a coarse brown tunic that provided doubtful protection, and flowing pants. As they watched, the Bandit rolled to dodge another arrow and ended up in a war-torn, half-destroyed house. Their house.

:O First real cliffhanger of the series! As you see, I try the make the enemies as skillful as possible. There is nothing I hate more in a story than the main characters cutting through dozens of human enemies, seemingly without breaking a sweat. Desert Bandits are not pushovers, and as we'll find, some aren't that bad, and our heroes aren't able to effortlessly defeat anything they see, which I like. PLEASE R&R and as always, thanks for reading!