Chapter 10
"Alright, this is it!" Eliwood called back to the group. "Let's spread out again and find any information we can. We're lucky to have made it this far without a battle. Let's keep it that way—"
"Eliwood! Look!" Lyn suddenly came running from where she had been surveying the town and adjacent field. "Bandits!"
Everyone immediately looked where Lyn was pointing and, sure enough, saw a group of about thirty bandits nearing the small village.
"They're going to raid the village!" Andraya exclaimed, jumping off Sain's horse. "We have to stop them!"
"Right!" Eliwood responded. "Alright, let's get closer and see if we can talk them out of whatever they're planning. If not…" He glanced at the tactician, who simply nodded in understanding.
"Let's go!"
The group hurried over to the only entrance to the village where the bandits were gathering. Andraya noticed a large number of mages in their midst, mostly armed with Fire and Thunder magic. This is gonna be a piece of cake!
"Hey, you're Lord Eliwood of House Pherae!" one of the bandits called out, stepping in front of his comrades.
"And if I am," Eliwood said calmly.
"You've been going around killing some of my friends, I believe…" the bandit said, taking a step closer to Eliwood. The other bandits smirked and whispered to each other. "I don't like it when people kill my friends."
"Well, I'm sure there's a logical explanation for the death of anyone we killed. We are simply trying to stop Black Fang and prevent another Scouring," Eliwood responded.
The bandit leader laughed, turning back to his companions. "Did you hear that? He's trying to stop Black Fang! Who does he think we are, eh?" The rest of the bandits joined in his laughter.
"They're Black Fang…" Andraya said softly.
"Don't worry, 'Draya. No one's going to die," Sain said, looking down at her.
"I know. I'm not gonna let them."
Sain smiled, admiring the determination and strength he saw in her eyes.
"If you intend on setting foot in this village, you're going to have to get through us first," Eliwood said, motioning the group to guard the entrance to the village.
"Pfft! He thinks he can stop us! Attack!" The lead bandit swung his axe in the air, and the battle began.
Andraya immediately began attacking the enemy mages, who apparently couldn't aim for their lives. She easily dodged every one of their attacks, and just as easily made every one of her own attacks hit home. She finished off all of the group's mages quickly, before any of them even got near the village's entrance. Or so she thought…
"Gahh!" Andraya screamed as a bolt of lightning hit her in the arm. Bolting?! From where? She searched frantically to see where the sage was hiding, finding him in the middle of four cavaliers, who were all armed with poison lances. Great…
She rubbed her arm, looking for Priscilla. She couldn't take on four cavaliers and a sage armed with Bolting with a wound like this! She finally spotted the healer on the other side of the field, already trying to heal three of her comrades. Andraya sighed, momentarily unsure of what to do. After a minute, she decided to risk it and take on the cavaliers.
She ran to them, attacking the Bolting sage in the middle first, scoring a critical hit. The sage survived, though just barely. But now Andraya had 4 poison lances pointed at her.
She frantically attacked them in turn, trying to weaken them all before returning for the final blow. She was no match for the four cavaliers who surrounded her, however, and one stabbed her in the back with his poison lance.
"Aaagh!" Andraya screamed, arching her back in response to the pain. Despite her injuries, she didn't let her guard down, and attacked the cavalier with an ice ball.
The cavalier fell, but the other three were still standing. Andraya ran through the gap she had created, knowing she needed help. She was slowed by her wounds, and only got a few meters away before she fell to the ground. In seconds, they were on her again.
Just before she could try and attack again, her attackers almost simultaneously fell, revealing Sain behind them, sword drawn.
"Andraya! What were you thinking?!" Sain exclaimed, quickly dismounting his horse and running to his friend. "Even you aren't a match for a sage and four cavaliers!"
"The sage! He has bolting!" Andraya suddenly remembered her original target, and attempted to get up. Sain was holding on to her tight, however, and she couldn't get away. "Didn't you hear me? He has bolting!"
"We already got him, 'Draya. As a matter of fact," Sain looked over his shoulder. "Yup, the battle's over. Not a single one of them got into the village. Now c'mon, let's go see Priscilla."
"Alright," Andraya said, standing. She stumbled, but Sain already had her arm. She thanked him, and leaned on him until they reached the healer.
"Oh, Andraya! Please, be more careful!" Priscilla said as she enveloped the mage first in white healing light from her Mend staff, and then from her Restore staff. "You almost always have the worst wounds after battles!"
"Well, thanks to you, I'm fine now," Andraya said with a smile. Healers always worried the most for the soldiers, not able to understand that all wounds weren't always as bad as they looked.
Priscilla simply nodded, and rode off to heal other members of the group.
"We really need to get you your own vulnerary," Sain said.
"I'm fine, really!" Andraya responded in protest.
"You wouldn't have been if I hadn't come to rescue you."
"You didn't rescue me!" Andraya said defiantly. "You…uh, aided me."
Sain smiled. He knew how much Andraya hated to be rescued in battle. "Well, okay, but you still would've been badly hurt without me."
"I guess." Andraya sighed. "Thank you, Sain. I owe you one."
"Nah. C'mon, let's go to the inn. I bet they'll let us stay free for saving their hides!"
Andraya laughed and followed Sain into the town. The inn actually did waive the fee for their stay, and they all found a room. Andraya was in no mood to rest, though, and decided to go explore the town. On the way out of the inn, she met Sain leaving the stables.
"Why is it that I always run into you whenever I go somewhere?" Andraya asked playfully.
"I told you already. You can't resist my charm!"
Andraya laughed, and the two began walking around the village.
"So what were you looking for, anyway?" Sain asked.
"Nothing really. I just wanted to explore."
"So…you wouldn't mind if I did have somewhere to go, a—and took you along?"
"Not at all! Let's go!" Andraya said. Why's he seem so nervous…
"Kay! C'mon!" Sain grabbed Andraya's hand and started running towards the entrance to the village. Andraya laughed and tried to keep up with the cavalier, wondering where he could be off to in such a rush. He led her to a small mountain on the other side of the village, and helped her climb to the top.
"Okay…now you gotta close your eyes!"
"Um…why?" Andraya asked, looking suspiciously at Sain.
"'Cuz I said so!" Sain said, smiling broadly. "Trust me, you'll be glad you did."
"Well…okay…" Andraya shut her eyes.
Sain waved a hand in front of her face to make sure she wasn't lying, then gently grabbed her shoulders and turned her around.
"Can I look yet?" Andraya asked, giggling at the position she had put herself in.
"Wait…" Sain made sure her view would be perfect. She's gonna love this! I hope…
"Alright, open your eyes," he said to her, standing behind her with his hands still on her shoulders.
Andraya opened her eyes, gasping at the view she was greeted with. Sain had brought her to the perfect spot to view the sun slowly setting over the plains. She watched in awe as magnificent shades of yellow and red mixed with each other in the sky, puffy clouds reflecting their hues as they lazily passed by.
"Sain…" she breathed, speechless. "It's…it's beautiful…"
He smiled. "I'm glad you like it, 'Draya."
"Sain…" Andraya said again. I've never seen anything this beautiful…
Sain just smiled wider. He had finally done something to render the mage speechless! He gazed down at the beautiful girl in front of him, watching her navy hair blow softly in the breeze.
Sain slowly took his hands off Andraya's shoulders in favor of linking them around her waist, pulling her gently towards him. Andraya gasped softly, but didn't resist his touch.
Sain's heart skipped a beat as the mage brought her own hands to rest on his, never taking her eyes off the sunset. He sighed in content, still gazing down at Andraya, now in his arms.
Andraya was slightly surprised by Sain's gesture, but was even more surprised by her own. What am I doing…she thought, but she didn't push away. She couldn't. She was too happy to even think about moving out of Sain's arms.
The mage sighed, and for the first time in a while, it was from content, not agony.
A/N: Yeah, now we're getting somewhere! *scrolls up* wow, this is a long one!
R&R Please!