A/N: With today being Father's Day where I am, I apologzie for having to post this later then usual and is rather (disappointingly in my opinion) short. Not only that, starting tommarow, my chapter postings may be later then what they've had been during these last two weeks for personal reasons. However, I'm going to keep doing my best to post daily.

Chapter Thirteen: Make Ready...

Joel's left arm was almost near complete uselessness with the injury Marth inflicted upon him with that unexpected attack. His eyes and the side of his jaw stung from the pain caused by both the kicked open carriage door, and the hit from that heavy knot of the club-like rope, swinging around in a large circle in Iris's hand. The bruise on Shane's head caused by that same knot pulsed painfully, but not enough to through his balance off dangerously. Both bounty hunters did their best to shake off both the pain and the dizziness inflicted on them by luck and the advantage of surprise.

The two inexperienced warriors had effectively brought their opponents down a few notches, but it was too soon in the fight for them to think that they had an advantage over the more experienced men. It was merely by chance and their opponents' being off-guard that allowed them to score those hits.

Pushing a gloved hand against the bleeding wound just under his collarbone to stem the blood flow, Joel growled furiously, as he looked at the two troublesome children that had managed to take him down with their sneak attack.

"Where the hell did she come from?" he growled at his partner, jerking his head in Iris's direction.

"I don't know," Shane answered, shaking his head to get rid of any flashing lights passing over his eyes, "But I reckon she's the cause of our trouble."

"Iris," Marth whispered, just loud enough for his fighting partner to hear him, keeping his eyes fixed on their opponents, "Their armor gives them the advantage of having a higher defense then us, but that does not mean that they are untouchable. Their armors' main weakness is in the backside. It's less protected then in the front. Also it takes a lot of strength for someone to be able to move in that armor, so they can't waste their energy with strong heavy attacks with their weapons or long periods of time of movement."

"So our best shot is to wear them down," Iris whispered back

Marth gave a small nod in agreement. "Also we have to keep behind them and stay close. My dagger is made for close combat, and the length of your rope suggests it's closer to close-range then mid-range."

"Unfortunately, yes," Iris answered, "If I had better control of my magic, we'd have a long- to mid-range weapon."

"We may end up needing it," Marth warned, "But I suggest avoid using it until you have no other choice."

"I'm already ahead of you on that one," Iris sighed.

The mage-in-traning knew that her magic was the one and only advantage that the two of them had over their opponents. Axe Fighters and Mercenaries had the great disadvantage of having either low or no resistance magical attacks. Even with the added protection of the knight armor, they were still quite vulnerable against magic.

It was a well-known fact that only other mages, other magic users like curates, clerics and bishops, and the strongest of melee warriors had high enough resistance against a strong magic attack from a well-trained mage. It was why mages were considered to be some of the most powerful fighters in the world. But their weaknesses were always in their meager defenses, low physical strength and lack of weapon skills. Because of this, Mages were susceptible on the battlefield due to their lack of armor and weapon protection. Their magic could work well in close-range combat, but it was safer for the mage to be as far away from their opponent as their magic would allow and attack from a longer range.

Not to mention that controlling magic, a source of nature with a will of its own, meant that mages needed to have strict control over their attacks. Without this control, major damage and injuries could occur to the mage, their allies and their surroundings. Many young or late-blooming inexperienced mages died from such accidents, along with whoever was unlucky enough to happen to be nearby.

It was why the magic schools in Khadein were so important. Not only did they offer the education and training these inexperienced mages needed, but also protection. The more experienced and powerful mages could stop, or absorb, or counter, or even control over an out-of-control magic attack.

Iris wished her grandfather was here with her now.

With him, she would not have to worry about her barely controlled magic. If she lost control, her grandfather would gain control over her attack and redirected to where it was supposed to go. Or even stop the whole forest from catching on fire, if she happened to hit the right tree in the right place.

But her Grandpa Zini was not here.

It was just her, the prince, his two abductors and the mysterious third man, who seemed more intent on watching the fight, rather than joining in.

Iris twirled her rope-club faster to build up its strength, as she watched Joel grab a hold of his axe with the hand of the uninjured arm. She took noticed that he seemed to be holding it awkwardly, as if he was not used to holding it in his right hand. Marth took notice of it too.

"You take the injured one," he whispered, "I'll take the other."

"Agreed."

"The moment they charge at us: scramble."

"Right."

Although he felt a bit silly doing it with a dagger instead of a rapier, Marth fell into one of his fencing defensive parry positions, the fifth one, to protect his head and shoulders.

Fencing was one of the more stylistic and computational styles of sword fighting that had been drilled into him when he was old enough to pick up a sword. This sword style allowed him to use the more slender and sharply pointed straight blades, which were good for thrusting attacks.

Normally, Marth used to the traditional long-swords with its thicker and heavier blades that often required the use of both hands to hold. They were stronger, held more power and the blade was much sturdier, making it more resistant to heavy attacks that could break a slenderer blade in two.

But this situation called for the swiftness and precise striking accuracy that the fencing art was known for. Even if his current weapon's blade was no longer then his hand, it was still slender enough for the fencing moves to work, even if he had to get up close and personal with his opponent.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Iris slide one of her feet back, getting ready to dodge to the side at a moment's notice. The rope-club was still spinning rapidly, almost wildly, next to her. But it was expertly not showing any signs of slowing down or faltering. Her face was in a sort of expressionless calm he had seen other mages fall into when they were about to cast a spell back home at the castle training grounds. The only difference was that Iris was not getting ready to cast any spell.

They watched their opponents get into their own attacking positions. The Mercenary smiled uncharacteristically happy about sometime.

"So, you two little troublemakers want to fight huh?" Shane said, "Very well then. But you two should get ready to lose. Don't worry little prince, we're not going to kill you. However, your little girlfriend may not be so lucky."

Shane smirked confidently at the glare Marth sent him, "Really little prince, you should have stayed just stayed tied up."

The mercenary pointed his blade in Iris's direction. "And you, little missy, should have stayed home."

With twin yells of battle cries, both bounty hunters charged at their two smaller opponents. Almost at the same time, Shane's heavy blade and Joel's axe were raised up over their heads and swung down heavily upon them.

CLANG!