The storm cleared after another couple of days and Nozel and Ellie took the opportunity to move onto their next location after stocking up on supplies. Nozel summoned the silver eagle as their transport once more and they made their way towards the town of Kiten.
Kiten was a town along the border of the Clover and Diamond Kingdoms, and as such, it served as a key in the defense against any Diamond Kingdom invasion. Ellie wondered if she had passed through or near Kiten when she had crossed over into the Clover Kingdom, but she still couldn't remember exactly where Julius had found her.
Just outside of town, though, Nozel had spotted a caravan of what looked to be traders being attacked by a group of bandits. Ellie had noticed this as well and they were both quick to jump into action. While Nozel took them closer to the group, Ellie looked at the sky.
While Nozel took them closer to the group, Ellie looked at the sky.
'Twilight isn't for hours. Let's hope we can avoid a real fight, otherwise I'll have to use Hour of Twilight just to stand a fighting chance.'
Nozel began their descent, firing off Silver Bullets at the bandits as they came within distance- incapacitating most of them while the others cowered. When they landed, Ellie hopped down from the silver eagle.
They made sure that the traders were OK and Ellie asked if there was any spare rope that they could use to tie up the bandits. As one of the traders brought the rope forward, however, one of the bandits drew a knife and snuck up behind Nozel- having nearly no mana to his name. By the time Ellie had turned back towards where Nozel stood with the bandits, her warning came too late and the bandit managed to slash his blade through Nozel's cloak- grazing his side as he barely dodged the attack.
"Twilight Burst!" Ellie called out, shooting a burst of her mana at the bandit and knocking him back several feet. She ran to Nozel, seeing the blood dripping down his side and soaking his white clothes. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Nozel brushed off the attack, his eyes narrowing as the rest of the bandits who had not been incapacitated. "Get ready, we'll be fighting after all."
Ellie acted quickly, and cast Hour of Twilight- creating an artificial twilight in the sky. Nozel's eyes widened when the sunny and clear sky suddenly turned to a dark twilight, and the traders and the bandits looked up in confusion as the sudden darkness came over the sky as it began to sparkle with stars among an array of deep purples, blues, and pinks just as they would during the twilight hours of night.
"I only have about ten minutes before this spell ends," she said, summoning a dual bladed construct made of her mana and standing at Nozel's back, "after that, I won't be of much use in a fight."
Nozel nodded and turned his attention to the bandits before him as Ellie did the same. "If we don't end this before your spell wears off, I want you to get the caravan out of here. Get the traders safely to the city and leave the rest to me."
"I'm not leaving you to deal with the bandits alone, even if you are a Captain," Ellie replied.
"Then I suggest we make quick work of these fools."
The bandits lunged at them and the pair fended off their attacks- Nozel blocking and returning attacks with his liquid mercury as Ellie jumped into close quarter combat wielding her twilight blades.
One of the bandits was a healer and had begun healing their incapacitated comrades, so their numbers were growing just as much as they were falling. Ellie noticed this and started trying to make her way through the enemies to take out their healer.
She used Twilight Manipulation to try and boost her speed as she wove her way to the healer, then used Twilight Burst to knock them out cold. But just as she fired off Twilight Burst, one of the bandits with magik had thrown a spell at her and sent her flying back- the breath knocked out of her for a moment or two.
'We're running out of time.' Ellie thought, feeling Hour of Twilight nearing its expiration. She forced herself to her feet and summoned a shield of mana around herself. 'What are we going to do? I'm not leaving him to deal with the rest of these jerks on his own, not with him reaching his limit, too.'
Hour of Twilight had maybe a minute or two left and Ellie was beginning to feel desperate. She was not used to combat, not in the slightest, and she could sense something was wrong with Nozel- something that was drained him of his mana rather quickly for his level of strength and ability. Just as her desperation turned to panic, her grimoire began to glow and the pages flipped to an empty one.
'A new spell?'
A new spell was being added to her grimoire, one that she was immediately grateful for. Extending her mana to surround the entire caravan and Nozel, Ellie focused on the front gates of Kiten's main entrance and called out the new spell.
"Gate of Twilight!"
The bandits faded from view and the last moments of Hour of Twilight vanished just as the main entrance of Kiten appeared through the twilight mist. As Hour of Twilight expired and the sky returned to normal, Ellie was relieved to see that her new spell had transported them to her desired location- leaving the bandits far behind them. Ellie turned towards Nozel, seeing him stumble a few feet, and hurried forward to steady him.
"Are you alright?"
Nozel didn't feel right. "I just need some rest."
"And you need to dress that wound. Here, let's find a room at the inn and I'll help you dress it."
Nozel didn't protest and let Ellie lead him into Kiten, hearing her ask for directions to the local inn. He wasn't sure what it was that was wrong with him, but he was beginning to suspect the blade he had been grazed by was poisoned. As they made their way towards the inn, he started feeling dizzy and his clothes were sticking to his skin- more than just where the wound was.
"Hold, Nozel, we're almost there," Ellie said, trying to reassure him and hide her worry. The inn was just up ahead and once they made it inside, Ellie immediately asked for a single room and for someone to fetch the local doctor.
The innkeeper sent his son to fetch the doctor, then helped Ellie take Nozel to their room. "Is he alright?"
"I don't know, we got into a fight with bandits on the road in and he was grazed by a blade."
"Let's hurry and get him into bed," the innkeeper replied, "my son should be back soon with the doctor."
"Thank you."
The innkeeper opened the door to their room and helped get Nozel into bed. "I'll bring up some more towels and washcloth for you."
Ellie set their packs aside as the innkeeper rushed off and started carefully pulling Nozel's cloak and shoes off before moving to lift his shirt up to check the wound. She grimaced when she saw all the blood, but it didn't look too deep which was some relief.
"Please be OK, Nozel..."