Chapter 14 :: Battle
It took considerably less time to find the camp again because they had a better idea of where they were going. It was still approaching nighttime as they neared the camp, and the shadows cast by the dunes were extending far out onto the landscape. The sun was setting, and soon it would be getting much colder.
"There's the camp up there" said Ryu. "It looks like they have a campfire going. Wherever they're going with Ray, they haven't left yet."
"Good. You guys ready for this?" said Sori, taking out her Dusty Hammer.
"As ready as I'll ever be" said Byre as he took out the pebble he bought.
"Alright. Let's sneak in behind this tent over here" said Ryu. They crept behind one of the tents on the outside perimeter. In the center of the camp sitting around the fire were all of the bandits. They were talking with quiet whispers. They could see Andy in the center. He had the tablet in his hands.
"Alright gang, tonight's the night. We finally got a translator for this stinkin' tablet, so let's see what it says about the legendary treasure!" said Andy. "Get over here, stupid Raven" he said as he brought Ray into the center of the group. His wings were tied up together so he couldn't fly away. Andy shoved the tablet in front of him. "Translate it."
"I can't read it" said Ray.
"TRANSLATE." Andy was getting irritated now.
"I told ya, I can't read this. It's not Ancient Raven!" he responded.
"Then what is it? Ancient Goombalian? Koopalite? Booish? It's got to be somethin!" yelled Andy.
"Actually, I think it may be Ancient Koopalite" said a random bandit. "Makes more sense, really. Ravens never even lived in the desert. Everyone knows they're native to LavaLava island!"
"Yeh, I think he might be right. I 'ad a buddy in college who studied ancient languages or somethin' like that" said another bandit.
"Yeah, yeah" agreed another. "Eh, maybe we should just let the bird go, huh boss? He aint done nothin' wrong."
"SHUT UP" demanded Andy. "If this isn't Ancient Raven, then why did ya have this key with you, huh?" he said as he pulled out the shimmering key. The light from the fire danced on the key. "A key likes this has gotta go to somethin' good" said Andy. He grinned, but it was full of hatred.
"Psst, we should make our move now before things get ugly" whispered Sori.
"Okay, but things are going to get ugly regardless..." said Ryu. They ran into the center of the camp with hammers blazing, straight towards the bandits.
"What the –"said Andy as he turned around to squarely meet the head of Ryu's hammer. "Ooof!" He flew backwards and slid a few feet in the sand. He was out cold. Sori followed Ryu, doing the same to another Bandit. By this time, the others had enough time to react and fight back. Two bandits ran up to Ryu and started throwing jabs back and forth. He was swinging his hammer wildly, but kept missing.
"They're too fast!" yelled Ryu. "Ooof!" He was hit by another jab. Byre threw his pebble at one of the bandits attacking Ryu. He threw it with a lot of strength, and it hit him pretty hard. He was knocked out cold.
"I guess that actually works pretty well!" said Byre. Now there were only a few bandits able to fight left.
"These guys aint worth it" said one of the bandits.
"Yeah, I'm tired a workin' for Andy. The guys a madman" said another.
"See ya, suckers!" both bandits yelled as they took off running into the dark desert. Scattered around the campfire were the bandits they had beaten up, and standing next to the campfire was Ray. They untied the ropes he was in.
"You came back" said Ray.
"Sure did!" said Sori. She leaned on her hammer, and the head broke off, sending her falling into the sand. They all laughed.
"So what does the tablet really say, Ray?" said Byre.
"I really don't know! It isn't Ancient Raven. Your guess is as good as mine." Sori examined the tablet. There were markings on it, but they didn't really look like ancient text. The markings were too spread out to make out any sort of individual words. One of the markings was really wavy, and little stick trees surrounded it. Another marking looked like a town. The markings were small, but the lines were very fine. There was another marking too, and it was just an X, and was northwest of the other two markings. Then, it hit her.