The bandits caught up with us again just before sunset. This time there were around fifteen of them.

"That's them!" One of the ones from before pointed at us accusingly.

"I told you it was a bad idea to heal them," I muttered to Eruk.

The goons quickly surrounded us. One wearing a gold chain sneered in my face. "You may think you're tough, little girl, but let's see you deal with the entire band."

"Fifteen against one, hardly fair odds," I commented.

"Hey, I'm here too!" Eruk protested.

"Yeah, but you're useless in a fight. Don't worry, I'll protect you."

"You can't even protect yourself," a bandit snickered.

I cracked my knuckles with a confident smirk. "Just watch me." I wasn't quite as confident as I pretended, but I thought I could take them if weren't any tougher than before.

A bandit drew his sword. "Enough talking!"

"Source of power..." I began one of my favorite spells.

"Wait!" An old man shoved his way to the front of the bandit group and spread his arms wide to hold his companions back. He had thin grey hair, a potbelly and an eyepatch. I couldn't figure out why the bandits would let such an old geezer in their band.

"Wait!" he shouted again. "Don't attack her! It's Lina Inverse!"

"That's Lana Inwards," I corrected him.

"Who?" one of the thicker bandits inquired.

"Lina Inverse. The Banditkiller, the Dragonspooker, the Enemy of All Who Live. The scariest little girl ever to walk the roads."

"You're that famous?" Eruk whispered to me.

"I...don't think so. I have no idea what they're talking about," I whispered back. "Hey," I shouted at the men surrounding us. "Don't you mean 'Dragonkiller' and 'Banditspooker'? I haven't killed any bandits...yet." I gave them a fanged grin.

"What makes you think this girl is Lina Inverse?" a tall bandit with an earring scoffed.

"Look at her!" The old man waved his arms. "Orange hair, flat chest, quick tongue, travels with a tall, blond swordsman. I'd recognize her anywhere!"

"Um, I'm a priest. I've never used a sword in my life," Eruk pointed out diffidently.

I started gathering power in one hand. "You got a problem with my looks?"

"Lina Inverse is dead," earring man said impatiently. "No one's seen her in more than thirty years. Even if she just retired or something, she wouldn't still look like a twelve-year-old."

"I'm fourteen! Not twelve. Fourteen!"

"She's a sorceress. She can look any age she wants. Haven't you heard the rumors that she's really a thousand years old and fought in the War of Monster's Fall?"

I had had enough. I tossed a fireball into the middle of the band of thieves to get their attention. Unfortunately, I hadn't noticed that several of the bandits were carrying pistols. The fireball spell produces a ball of flame that explodes on contact with the ground or anything else in its path. A fireball spell combined with several gunpowder pouches produced a somewhat larger explosion than I had planned on. To my surprise, the blast knocked over all the bandits on three sides of the circle surrounding us but the flames never touched me. I looked over at Eruk, who grinned back at me and kept his powerful magical shield up until the last flickers of fire had died away.

I glared at all the bandits still conscious. "Listen up! My name is Lana Inwards, sorceress supreme and mistress of magic. I don't know who this 'Lina Inverse' you keep talking about is, but from now on you can forget about her because I'm going to be twice the sorceress she ever was!"

The remaining bandits picked themselves off the ground and attacked us. I knocked the first wave back with Bomb di Wind, a powerful wind spell. That gave me enough time to draw my staff from where I keep it fastened across my back. I dropped into fighting position. Then, on second thought, I pressed it into Eruk's hands. "Try not to be completely helpless, okay?" I said.

He nodded determinedly and moved so were back to back. I listened to him flailing at our attackers with no technique whatsoever and shook my head in disgust. My staff deserved better treatment, but I didn't have time to worry about that now. Some of the bandits were back on their feet.

I took two out with ice spells before they could reach me, but the third sliced my arm. Fortunately, I moved my arm away fast so it was only a shallow cut. I kicked him in the knee hard enough to hear bone crunch. He collapsed, clutching his leg and moaning like a baby. I kicked him out of my way and turned my attention to my next attacker.

This guy had a curved knife in each hand. I knocked one aside with the flat of my left hand, wincing as it bit into my palm. My right fist hit him right under the jaw, momentarily stunning him. Before he could recover, I followed up the punch with a lightning bolt.

That took care of my attackers. I spun to face Eruk's. "Cowards!" I screamed. "Real men wouldn't pick on a defenseless priest!"

"I'm doing okay," Eruk panted. He had managed to keep most of the bandits at bay by swinging my staff wildly and unpredictably. It only worked as a delaying tactic, but in this case that was the right kind of strategy to use.

"Flare arrow!" I shouted. I used the lances of fire the spell produced to pick off four of his attackers and took out two more by dropping an ice boulder on their heads. That left one. He turned to run but I grabbed my staff out of Eruk's hands, swept the last bandit's feet out from under him, and hit him in a few vulnerable places to make sure he stayed down.

I turned around slowly to survey the wreckage. Charred bandits, frozen bandits, moaning bandits. From now on, these men would fear Lana Inwards above all other cocky redheads! I could taste their fear and shame hanging in the air, and it was sweet.

I whooped with joy. "Victory!"

Eruk grabbed my hand. "Lana, you're bleeding!"

Not this again. I pulled my hand out of his grasp. "I'm fine. Look." I tore a piece off the rag that had once, just yesterday, been my favorite shirt. I spat on it and used it to wipe the blood off my wounds. "See, they've already closed."

As he watched, the cut on my arm faded to a thin, pink line and then vanished entirely. The cut on my hand was more serious but I could tell it would be gone in a few minutes.

Eruk was wearing the most stupid-looking, slack-jawed expression I had ever seen on his face. "I told you. I heal fast," I said impatiently.

"Lana, no one heals that fast."

"I do."

"Are you sure you're human?"

"Of course I'm human! What are you implying?" I knew he didn't mean any harm, but his teasing brought back nasty memories of the boys back home who always called me 'monster'. Even beating them up daily hadn't made them stop, and it had gotten me grounded for two weeks. My parents were so unfair!

Eruk looked thoughtfully from my blazing eyes to the wounded bandits at our feet. "Never mind. Let's heal these guys and get moving again."

"Eruk, you do not heal bandits! If you do, they just come after you again. Haven't you learned that yet?"

"I'm a healer," he said with dignity. "I can't leave injured people just lying here. Besides, I'm sure they've learned their lesson. Haven't you?"

The bandits who still could nodded enthusiastically.

"If I hadn't sworn to be your protector, I would just leave you here to be robbed and killed, you idiot," I said, finding a tree to lean against while I waited.