Chapter 12: A woman in black
A/N it has been a very long time since I've written and I think it's time I update this story.
We finally arrived at the Lush Woodlands after about an hour of flying. We flew the ship in closer until we saw a clearing near the edge where we could land. As soon as we landed Lucas jumped down and exclaimed "finally it feels like we've been flying forever!"
to which Saiko replied "no you just normally can't sit still long enough to get bored." even though he too was trying to get the stiffness out of his muscles.
I climbed down next then Dawn followed. She grabbed my hand after she finished stretching and smiled at me and I smiled back. I gave her hand a little squeeze then Saiko spoke up "okay everyone I think that half of us should stay behind to guard the ship." after the initial outcry of disapproval he said "look we can't just leave the ship here and besides if all of us go in at once we'll be too noticeable."
then from the trees came a laugh and a woman's voice said "oh please even if you split up you'll be very noticeable." we all looked in alarm but no one was there then from the other side of the clearing the voice said "plus you're so slow that even if something was following you you'd probably never see it."
then Leon pulled out his sword and said "whoever you are come out now!"
then I blinked. my eyes were closed for less than a second and when I opened them there she was standing right behind Leon. She was wearing a black robe that covered most of her body except her white hands and her shoes even her face was shadowed by a hood she wore. She then said "put that away it's not like you'll even be able to hurt me with that." he quickly turned and slashed but she was already gone.
At this point the rest of us had drawn our weapons and Saiko said "what do you want?"
"oh don't worry I'm only here to test you... for now."
"what do you mean test us?"
"i've got to make sure you won't get yourselves killed too quickly, master would be terribly displeased if that happened."
Zeus then said "who's your master?"
"sorry, can't tell you, but he said if you survive the trials ahead of you you'll be very entertaining indeed. Now I think it's time to start the test."
She then unsheathed two swords and rushed at us but she was almost immediately intercepted by Saiko. Their blades met in a whirl of sparks and clangs as metal met metal. They traded blow for blow parry for parry and feint for feint at near equal speeds. Then she struck his guard wide open but instead of taking the chance to cut him she kicks him in the side towards a nearby tree where he slumped to the ground presumably unconscious.
I then fired an arrow at her before she could get her foot back on the ground hoping to throw her off balance but she raised one of her swords and sparks flew as she deflected the arrow with ease.
She then sped to where Lucas and Sally were standing. They raised their shields in unison. As soon as she reached them she started attacking. Her blades were already a blur and they were getting faster and faster. They started moving back due to the ferocity of her unrelenting assault. Eventually they too are both kicked into trees.
This time I fired more arrows but she deflected each of them in turn. Then Leon and Rebecca both rush her at the same time. Even though they attacked her at the same time neither of them were able to hit her, she just dodged and blocked all of their attacks. Then there was an opening, I shot another arrow which she deflected but that gave Leon enough time to strike at her, but at the last second she bent backwards and it flew over her stomach she then brought her feet up and kicked him in the face.
She then stood back up and prepared to attack him but was stopped by Rebecca. She struck at Rebecca but she kept using a series of elegant dance moves to dodge, but even that didn't help for long as the mystery woman was eventually able to hit her in the side of the head with the hilt of her sword. Rebecca almost immediately crumbled then Leon charged her again but was quickly dispatched as well.
Seconds later Zeus attacked. Despite using a much larger sword he was able to swing it just as fast as hers. He then brought his sword up and brought it down in a vertical slash. As it fell flames burst around the blade, the woman seeing this quickly jumped to the side. Seeing my chance I fired another arrow, this time it caught her hood and it was ripped off. I looked at her and I saw big green eyes and long red hair.
She looked surprised for a moment but then she ran forward and using Zeus's shoulders as a spring board leapt high into the air. I fired two arrows at the same time. She turned midair and slipped into the gap between the arrows... and into the path of Dawn's fireball. A second before it hit she brought up her swords but instead of it exploding it split into two and flew to either side of her.
She landed and ran in our direction, Zeus turned around and chased her but I knew he wouldn't catch up. I pushed Dawn behind me and I raised my bow again but before I could fire she reached me. She slashed and I jumped backward into Dawn bringing both of us to the ground. She stood over us and was about to raise her sword when there was a resounding smack. I looked to the side and saw that Anna had smacked her staff down and her eyes were softly glowing blue. I looked back at the girl and saw that her arms were chained. I quickly kicked her in the stomach she doubled over and fell to her knees Dawn and I then stood up. Zeus finally caught up and he asked "are you two okay?"
Dawn said "yeah thanks to Anna." she walked up to the taller woman and said "thank you." she then hugged her. Anna looked surprised for a moment then smiled and hugged her back.
I then said in mock hurt "where's my hug I protected you too."
she giggled said "thank you too." she hugged me and I hugged her back.
Then Zeus said "Azuki see if you can wake up the others i'm going to keep an eye on her."
a few minutes later everyone was up again but Azuki was still tending to Rebecca who's head was bleeding slightly where she was struck.
I looked at the mystery woman and saw she was pouting and she said "no fair if I'd known you had an arcanist I would've taken her out first."
we all looked at her bizarrely for a moment then Lucas says "you're the one that attacked us."
"i told you it was only a test I wasn't going to hurt any of you."
Rebecca chipped in "What about me?"
"let me rephrase that I wasn't going to seriously hurt any of you." Rebecca pouted and rubbed her head with both hands.
Saiko asked "who do you work for?"
"i told you I can't tell you."
"why not?"
"because I just can't."
"can you tell us your name?"
"Fidelma." she stared at us for a moment then asked "can you let me out? I promise not to attack any of you."
Zeus stared long and hard at her and she held his gaze unflinchingly. After what seemed like an eternity he said "She's telling the truth let her out."
Anna looked at him and said "I trust you but are you sure?"
"yes."
she nodded and said "Release." the chains dissolved.
Fidelma stood up stretched and said "I'll be seeing you then." with that she turned around and walked off.
After she left Sally said "I don't know about the rest of you but I want to get home." we all agreed climbed into the ship and set off back to Tharsis.
– – – – – – – – – –
when we got back we went straight to the inn to get dinner but when we got there we got a huge surprise.
Sitting at the table eating was Fidelma we all looked at her in shock and then Rebecca asked the question we were a wondering "what are you doing here?"
she smiles and says "oh didn't I tell you I have a room right next to you guys." then as one we all face palmed.
A/N well that was fun. So until next time, take care.
