There were more than one soldier pursuing her, she could now hear the thunderous gallop of many horse's hooves, as Tsuki sped on she attempted to estimate how many men she would have to deal with if her horse dwindled in speed. A breeze flurried by her, brushing the free strands of hair beneath her hat, yet this draft wasn't the winter winds, it was the movement of her follower's horse galloping past her. Tuski abruptly halted before he collided with the soldier's horse that had speed past her and now stood in profile, motionless, blocking his path. Rinoa heard the clear ringing sound of a well-polished sword being drawn from its sheath.

"Are we deaf, miss?" He questioned mockingly as he raised the sword.

"No. Hurry up already, I gotta get going." Replied the girl as informally as she could. Keeping her head tilted in the same manner she had used with the gate attendant so that the wicker head obscured most of her attractive face.

"Oh and where are we speeding off to?"

"I'm a courier, I need to deliver a message to a man in Kan from my master." She enlightened, deciding it would be wise to change her alibi as no doubt the gate attendant would have retold their encounter in great detail to prove is decision in allowing her to pass through.

"Really? Well then miss the sooner you dismount your horse and we check your belongings the sooner you can complete your objective."

Rinoa paused; if they did this it would only be a matter of time before the figured out her true identity. "Don't panic, you're not in any bother, it's just we're looking for a girl, she fits your description that's all." He informed dismounting his horse.

Rinoa descended from Tsuki, slowly, making sure her wooden staff was hidden from view in her loose-fitting garments. If they saw this, they'd know for sure it was her. There were four men in total, the other three neither spoke nor stirred, quietly observing the discourse and actions that took place between the two people before them, with a mild interest. She stood near the soldier's horse, waiting for the opportune moment to act out. The solider began rummaging through the saddlebags for any item that was indicate the girl was indeed the one they were relentlessly scouring the land for. It was when his back was turned that in one gracefully flowing movement Rinoa drew her staff from the material cloaking it and launched a swift attack on the foolishly defenseless soldier's back. The three military men who had taken upon the characteristics of statues suddenly became animate as the leapt from their horses, weapons drawn and organized for combat. Rinoa withdrew her position from the now unconscious solider and backed up holding her hands up in a gesture of defeat, her staff still present in her right hand.

"Look! It is her! It is Lady Heartilly!" exclaimed one of them, noting her staff. Yet by the time he had finished his exclamation, the Lady Heatilly had mounted the unconscious soldier's horse and raced off. Yet this horse was harder to control than Tsuki, it wasn't aware of its rider incapability to direct it and so became confused and stubborn towards rider's commands. It began to slow, causing Rinoa to panic, as the three soldiers were already gaining on her.

"Move you stupid thing!" she hissed, kicking it in its sides as a desperate attempt to make it move more rapidly. It was too late for this though and she knew it, instead of willing the beast any further she took a firm grasp of her staff and intensively listened for indication of the whereabouts of each solider, one was coming up to her right side like the other had done earlier, she allowed the horse to slow further so that the two riders were somewhat inline. Rinoa swiftly struck at the solider with her staff yet found it was blocked by the blade of his sword, she attempted a similar move only to find it was yet again obstructed. Now it was her opponent's turn to unleash an attack, one she did manage to block yet the sheer force of it caused her to lose balance and fall from the speeding animal. The impact of the hard stunned her, leaving her breathless. After somewhat recovering from the fall she pushed herself up, the dirt of the field encrusting her hands and clothing. Rinoa groped around desperately trying to find her staff when the sound of horse's heavy steps halting echoed in her ears. She rose, noting her wicker hat was also missing. The three soldiers now dismounted.

"Listen miss we don't wish to hurt you but you must come back."

"Then it seems that you'll have to use force to do this because I'm not going back there!" She spat, gaining a firm foot hold in the clay like mud and grass beneath her boots, listening intensively all the while, the sound of swords being draw and approaching footsteps could be heard. She waited until confident she knew the position of each solider before she quickly drawing her sword and assaulted the nearest opponent. It had been easier than she had anticipated; as the soldiers were reluctant to fight back, hurting the Lady Heartilly would be a punishable offense. Yet as her blade stuck on of them, causing him to yelp in pain they returned the attack. Rinoa was thankful she had been stopped in an open area as fighting these men in the bamboo barrier seemed unimaginably hard. Keeping up her pace she was able to defend against the series of attacks that were dealt to her but she was becoming tired and still recovering from the fall from the galloping horse as her senses were still somewhat dimmed. This eventually allowed one of the soldiers to gain an advantage on her, he dealt a harsh blow with his sword, the metal scraped across her upper arm, cutting the material of her attire as well as cutting her skin, she swiftly retreated grasping her injured extremity, the cut, though shallow and non life threatening, stun incredibly, causing pain to shoot along her entire arm. Her breathing was heavy and the cool morning air formed ghostly clouds of condensation as she panted. After a moment of recovery she lifted her sword once again, however just as she was about to commence an attack something caught her attention, it was sound of something cutting through the air, traveling at immense speed, the sound was then followed by a thump, as if someone were driving a nail through wood. It was the sound of one of the three soldiers being hit in the head with an arrow. He's now lifeless form slumped to the damp ground whilst the others once collected manners became frantic. More arrows whirled through the cool air yet now the soldiers had been anticipating an attack and so did manage to either out maneuver or defend against them.

"Rebels! It has to be!" She heard one of them exclaim as an arrowhead clattered against his sword. He was correct two rebels had been watching the whole encounter with interest and now were becoming involved in the matter. They rode their horses towards the three figures all the while assaulting the two remaining soldiers with arrows, in hope to either drive them off or extinguish them. It wasn't long until the latter option of their objective had occurred, the three bodies littered the ground, whilst the still unconscious solider lay a fair distance off. Rinoa gripped tightly at the hilt of her weapon, so much so that her already pale hands owned colorless knuckles from her clenching, this was terrible, these people were notorious for their pillaging and killings of travelers, especially female ones. The two rogues dismounted their shabby horses and approached the beautiful young woman. With her mind bustling with all the horrifying possible outcomes of this situation provoked her act out, she launched an attack on the nearest rebel. Though it took him somewhat by surprise he retaliated and proved stronger than the military men she had endured combat with previously.

"Feisty little flower aint we?" he laughed, it angered her that he found her amusing but her head throbbed with a dull pain and her arm stun, she was admittedly weak, so much so that she was beginning to feel light-headed. Riona stumbled forward and fell to her knees. Noting this her opponent sheathed his rusty sword and dragged her up, her frail form slumping against his. She feebly attempted to free herself from his grip yet it was ineffective. "Easy lass, we're on your side." The low voice of the rebel reassured. The once fresh morning air was now tainted with the coppery scent of blood, disturbing her further and causing her to reject his words.

"Let…me.. go!" Were the last words Rinoa uttered before giving in to exhaustion from her travels and combat and slipped into unconsciousness.

"Now what do we do with this pretty little thing?" Questioned the rebel known as Ando as he looked down at the lifeless beauty in his arms.

"Look at this horse, Ando, it has to be from the Qin Empire, it's so huge and well kept." His accomplice, Shirou, said as he brought forth the large black stallion. "Do you think it's hers?"

"Maybe, check the saddle bags, there maybe something useful in them." He instructed, his eyes flickering from the horse to the girl, she didn't look like an average citizen or traveler her face didn't bear the hardships other people's did, it seemed she had lived a sheltered life until now. "Well?"

"I found this!" Shirou exclaimed presenting his friend with the leather bound pass. "I've seen these before! They're gate passes, she must be from Qin!" He handed his comrade the item and watched excitedly as his friend opened and skimmed through the booklet. "Well? What's it say? Who is she?"

"How the hell should I know you flea infested dog, I can't read!" He growled in annoyance at his friend's excitement, it caused him to forget important matters at unsuitable times and threw the pass at him to emphasize his irritation. Shirou was accustom to Ando's fluctuations in moods so he merely brushed off the insult and focused his interest once more on the pass, he also couldn't read, after all only the wealthy were taught such things. He flicked through the book in hope that some of the symbols could be comprehended, one did, it was the symbol used for the Qin Empire.

"Look! Look! The Qin Empire's symbol, she is one of them!" He beamed showing Ando the book and repetitively pointing at the page that the symbol decorated. "So what should we do with her?" He questioned after he was sure his friend had noted the same discovery.

"We give her to the Boss."

"You think he'd want her?"

"Of course you brainless pig, she's obviously apart of the Qin Empire, we could use her for our advantage, you know get their attention by holding her captive."

"That's a great idea! The Boss will be most pleased with us!" Shirou grinned.

"Exactly, and if he doesn't wish to use her as such a device I'm sure he'll think of something else to do with her."

"So either way it's win, win for us right?"

"Right."

"Wat about the horse?"

"A fine horse like that? We take it with use of course! Come on, if we start traveling now we'll get home just before nightfall." He said, carefully hoisting Rinoa onto his horse, he knew she'd probably wouldn't wake throughout the journey, she was incredibly weak, something that had been detectable when she had attempted to attack him. Shirou tied a length of rope to Tsuki's bit piece and fastened it to his own horse, creating a towrope. They hurriedly rode off along the vast field towards the horizon that was golden with the raising sun. The no longer unconscious solider had witnessed their getaway with Lady Heartilly.

Author's Notes: Hey again, sorry it took so long to update, stupid Art exam was eating up all my free time but now that's over and done with I can continue with this! Also thank you for your reviews so far.