Chapter Six: It's Maya… since when is 'run' in her Vocabulary?

Ray swung his sword in an arch, catching the blade from the Bandit's sword on the edge. Narrowing his eyes, he sent burning flames towards the bandit, attempting to push him back. Really, he should have realized that wouldn't work. Grunting with the effort, and sweating profusely already, the bandit sliced his sword into the flesh of Ray's arm, causing him to both, drop the flames that were heating the air up, and stumble backwards with a cry of pain. Blood oozed out of the injury, causing his eyes to widen in horror.

Before he could figure out a new plan of attack, one that didn't involve him using his dominant arm… an angry screech filled the air as another sword darted into his peripheral vision. Only instead of attacking him, it disarmed the startled bandit.

"Maya! I told you to get out of here!" Ray roared at his best friend as he struggled to get his sword's bearing in his left hand.

Maya growled low in her throat as she tore into the bandit. "Sorry… run isn't a word that I know!"

Ray questioned his sanity briefly for ever liking her, before stepping forward and helping her push the bandit and his friends further back. "¡Oye! Mi nombre podría ser Maya ... ¡pero no soy un destructor de princesas!"

The bandit appeared startled to hear her say that, muttering something to his buddies. "Tenemos que salir de aquí ... ¡¿desde cuándo peleaban las chicas ?!" They scurried off quickly, glancing back at the two travelers as darted off, nearly tripping over each other and random roots growing out on the road.

Ray shook his head, instantly regretting it as his head spun suddenly. Groaning, he pressed a hand to his head. Right…he never fought while using his powers before… and definitely not when he was in a prime position to get cut open! He glanced over at Maya, smiling ruefully at her. "Thanks…I needed the assistance."

Maya frowned as she looked at him worriedly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm…" Ray never finished his sentence, his body shutting down right then.

….

"…Idiota por dejarte lastimar tan mal. ¿Pero me dejaste ayudar de inmediato? ¡No! Él tenía que ser el héroe ..." Ray could barely make out the muttering coming from a fuming Maya, her voice sounding muffled.

Forcing his eyes open, he noted that he appeared to be in some sort of camp…at least he presumed it was a camp due to him lying on his bedroll inside of a makeshift shelter. Pushing himself upright, he winced when pain surged through his arm where it was sliced open earlier. Lifting a hand up, he pressed it against the injury…only to discover that it was tightly bandaged and cleaned. Startled, he glanced down to see that wasn't the only thing that had changed while he was out of it. His tunic from earlier was missing, leaving him bare-chested. Groaning, he nearly flopped back down when he realized that he had no idea what it was that Maya was muttering on about.

Struggling to his feet, he slipped outside to find that dusk had fallen and a small campfire was already going. The horses were tethered nearby, quietly grazing. Maya was pacing around the campfire, still muttering the same thing over and over again. Clearing his throat, he leaned against a nearby tree. "Maya…is something wrong?"

Maya snapped her head up to look at him, her face suddenly a bright red as her gaze locked onto his chest. "Uh…no." She turned her head away as she sighed, her fingers twitching slightly. "How are you doing?"

"Better. I really believe that there has to be something wrong for you to be muttering all the way out here." Ray crossed his arms, trying to look as if he was being stubborn when in reality he was just cold.

Maya groaned, running her fingers through her hair as she looked over at him. "After you passed out I loaded you onto Maribelle and brought you over here. Uh…. The bandits came back and took off with all of our money, as well as my bedroll and anything that we could use to make a second tent. They would have taken Firebolt but I stopped them with a quick arrow in one of their arms." Taking in a deep breath as she tried to calm herself down. "Also… the sword that bandit was using was dipped in poison. I had to get into my medicinal herbs and create an antidote for you. Also…YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" She slapped him hard on his good arm.

"Me?! What did I do!?" Ray stumbled back slightly out of surprise.

Maya was just about in tears as she buried her face into her hands. "You didn't have me help you from the beginning… and now look at the mess we're in!"

Ray sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, his mind reeling. "Um…ok. So we're not off to the best of starts… could be worse. They could have taken our weapons." Maya winced at that, nibbling her bottom lip. Ray felt his heart sink as he looked at her. "They took our weapons didn't they?"

"We still have our bow, and a few arrows…and the small sword. But everything else is gone. What are we going to do?" Maya wrung her hands nervously.

Ray rolled his eyes as he walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Maya…calm down. Remember what I said about finding ways to provide for ourselves and save money for the trip yesterday morning? We can still do that."

Maya swallowed hard, before speaking softly. "Last week."

Ray blinked, confused. "What about last week?"

Maya nibbled her bottom lip, glancing off to the side, before turning to face him. "Ray…you said that last week. You've been in a fever induced coma for the past week."

Ray blinked slowly, suddenly feeling very dizzy. "We…we lost a whole week?!"

Maya nodded her head, anxiety flaring up in her eyes. "Yes. Ray…what do we do?"

Ray struggled to calm his rapidly beating heart as he sank down on a log that was propped up near the campfire. "We keep going. We already made our decision. We just keep going." He whispered softly to himself, holding his head in his hands.

Maya sat down next to him, hugging herself tightly. "Just keep going…yeah…that makes sense."

A/N: Done! Um, yeah. All of that happened. And that is one way to do a time skip. Have the character not realize there's been a time skip. Basically anything of value was taken by the bandits. Minus the horses. Maya managed to savage their food and medicinal supplies… but not everything. The next little while real be Ray discovering exactly how much they lost to the bandits.

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SkyTalon