Chapter 4:

Attacks and Imps

Dark clouds hung over the landscape near Edgeville, casting small shadows of rocks and trees in the area. Small breezes would come here and there while dark birds in the trees cawed at the motionless sky. It looked as if twilight had come, even though it was morning when they left their camp near the mountain that held the dwarven mines. Then again, they had been traveling for hours and it looked like it was ready to storm so one of the guards fixed up the carriage's top to make sure that Fiona and Tovac wouldn't get rained on. Of course being this close to the wilderness, rain was the least of their worries…

It has been said (at least from what any traveler can hear from a drunk in the bars) that only the most savage men lived in the wilderness because every knight to enter the domain has never been seen again (or at least not alive). There are terrible dangers that lurked in the wilderness that when set free would cause a fate not wished upon any man no matter how vile. It seemed that even the White Knights (the same ones that are using Falador's Castle as a fort) planned on claiming part of the wilderness as their own, but after several short events where their leading soldiers disappeared, the Knights decided to leave the place alone and stop what people they could from entering the place. Of course the Knight's orders were nothing compared to the princess' and so they were traveling along the thin edge between the wilderness and the rest of runescape.

Rain started to pour as Fiona looked outside at a single tree sticking out oddly from the ground. Tovac tensed, and then settled again stroking his long oak bow and twitching his fingers closer to his small stash of arrows at his side whenever he heard thunder. He had heard tales about the wilderness being that his village neighbored Edgeville. Of course it was safe where he used to live (as long as some of the men didn't get drunk and do something stupid like contaminate the winter's food with rum) and he wished he was there rather than in this barren land of the dead.

Suddenly, something bumped the top of the carriage and the guard outside at Fiona's right was thrown to the ground with monstrous strength. This was what Tovac had been waiting for. He grabbed an arrow and set it in his bow, moving swiftly outside. Through the rain he could see a small figure hunched over a guard.

"Don't you dare-"

He released the arrow from the bow with a twang and set another one in a blink of an eye. He shot again and saw the figure catch this arrow as well and throw it to the side with inhuman speed. His heart skipped a beat finally realizing why the wilderness was so dangerous. He had the sharpest shot out of his peers and he couldn't nail a target that wasn't even moving. Of course this target had arms. And a brain.

Something sharp grazed his shoulder and whizzed past his ear as he turned to see what it was. He cried in pain clutching his wound but rainwater ran down his fingers and into it making it sting and burn. He saw the figure coming closer to him but he couldn't do anything. Paralyzed, he fell to his knees and felt millions of raindrops envelope his vision. He couldn't see anything and he passed out just as the figure rose in front of him and reached a muddy hand at his arrows.

Out of nowhere a scimitar grazed the figure's shoulder and the cloak that hid its identity fell to the ground. Fiona found herself staring at a girl only about a year older than she. They surveyed each other for a while taking steps around one another in a circular pattern.

"Who are you?" asked Fiona with a shaken voice.

The girl didn't respond but instead pulled out an oddly curved sword that had dried blood on it. The rain began to lighten and small drops poured onto the sword wetting the blood and making it run down the blade and onto the handle. Fiona's stomach turned and she felt like throwing up right there but she had an opponent to fight. She glanced over at Tavoc's unmoving body and realized he was breathing. She smiled and was about to breathe a sigh of relief but her instincts kicked in and she blocked her face just as her scimitar met steel. Her iron scimitar was nothing against this steel but Fiona pushed harder and found herself forcing her opponent's blade to her throat. The blade was released from the hold and her enemy dodged the attack before striking at her again and again each time Fiona barely blocking each hit. Fiona could swear she saw the girl's eyes glowing red but she stopped focusing on that and started her own offensive maneuvers. With a flurry of blows each girl couldn't do anything but match each others attack while the rain hardened and lightning forked the sky.

"You're good." Was the only thing said the other girl to Fiona.

Fiona was about to say something when they heard a pop and saw a small imp dizzily trying to figure out where it was. Both girls stopped to stare at it.

"Dangit. Can't ever control-" he opened one eye and looked up at Fiona and her scimitar and then the other girl with her wicked blade.

Needless to say it didn't take a chicken to realize this was trouble.

He squinted and then started to concentrate on teleporting to a safer place. He began to glow a faint red colour that spread into a wide radius around Fiona, Tovac, and their attacker.

Fiona gave a cry of surprise and the other girl tried to escape from the field but in a flash of red light, they were gone; white smoke rose from the ground where they stood.

As for the guards, they would be okay: In a few days a villager happened to see the carriage from their house and some warriors came for them…