Chapter 9 - Raiders

They waved goodbye to Fate as he took off from the Kalamon border. The six companions then headed towards the sandiness that was the Kalamon Desert. The desert was hot and scolding and the group was finding it hard to deal with the heat, all except Neraka who wasn't affected by the heat.

"Siera, spray me with your water thing" nagged Kiara

"No I don't want to share" replied Siera "I need it all for myself!"

Siera quickly sprayed some water into Toran's hands hoping that Kiara didn't see, but she did and this got her very angry.

"Oh my gosh Siera! I can't believe how selfish you are!" shouted Kiara "I just asked for a tiny bit of water and you…

"Alright!" snapped Siera "You want water! Oh ill give you water!"

An icy wind then shot from Siera's hands and in a split second, Kiara was frozen on the spot. Siera, Ewan and Jaelie were rolling on the ground laughing; Toran too gave a chuckle but then tried to hide it by looking like he disapproved. Neraka however did disapprove as she wanted to get a move on.

"Oh real nice Siera" said Neraka angrily "That's so mature of you"

Neraka started a wave of fire around Kiara to melt the ice away from her; the fire however cut too close the Kiara's clothing, setting her skirt on fire. Kiara began running and screaming trying to put the fire out.

"Oh yeah much better!" said Siera with a sly tone.

Kiara had been screaming so loud that she had woken a near by village of Tuscan Raiders. Siera put the fire out and then the group heard a large groan coming from over the sand dunes. They looked to see what had made the horrible sound but could see nothing. Kiara then let out a huge cry of agony and tumbled to the ground. Neraka worried about her screaming sister, ran over to see what was wrong. Neraka found that Kiara had been shot in the leg with an arrow. This was no ordinary arrow, it had red feathers on the end and a symbol engraved on the side.

"Get it out of me!" screamed Kiara in much agony

"Ok, ok" said Neraka calmly "I'll count to three and then ill pull it out"

Neraka began to count to but instead of removing the arrow on 3, she pulled the arrow out on the count of 2 so that Kira didn't have time to pull away. Neraka through the arrow away and it landed near Ewan's feet.

Ewan picked up the arrow to look at the strange markings on the side of it. They symbol he saw make his eyes widen in horror.

"What is it?" asked Jaelie worried.

"GET DOWN!" Ewan shouted at the top of his lungs.

Everybody dropped to the ground in seconds. All except Siera who was day-dreaming about Toran.

"Siera get down!" Warned Toran.

"Huh?" Siera asked as she turned around to see her companions on the ground. Toran then lifted up his staff and hit Siera hard at the back of her ankles causing her to fall to the ground with a 'thud'. Siera hit the ground just in time as hundreds of arrows flew over the companions' heads', right where Siera had been a second ago.

"What the hell is happening?" Shouted Neraka.

"We're under attack!" Replied Toran.

"Ya think?" Exclaimed Siera sarcastically. She was mad at Toran for hitting her ankles.

"Who is attacking us?" Jaelie asked.

"They are called Tuskan Raiders, also known as sand people." Began Ewan.

"They're an aggressive tribe and will kill anyone that dares to cross their desert."

"Neraka when I say go stand up and form a shield around us." Ordered Toran.

"Ok." Answered Neraka hesitantly.

The next wave of arrows was launched and Ewan shouted "Now Neraka!"

Neraka jumped to her feet and summoned her great tornado of fire around the group.

The next wave of arrows burnt instantly on impact with the fire shield. The raiders soon came to realize their arrows were no longer of any use. They instead began to charge at the group with battle axes raised, ready to attack.

The four princesses creatures, hearing the commotion from outside, emerged from their slumber inside their lockets to help fight.

"You ready for this?" Asked Toran fondly at Siera.

Siera smirked as she answered, "I was born ready!"

"What about me?" Cried Kiara, "I'm injured, I can't fight."

"Jaelie heal your sister." Pegasus suggested.

"What, how do I do that?" Inquired Jaelie.

"Just concentrate princess, it will come to you." Replied Pegasus.

"I will try" Confirmed Jaelie.

"I'll cover you!" Ewan offered smiling.

Jaelie ran over to Kiara and kneeled beside her. She put her hands over Kiara's wound and whispered 'heal'. Kiara felt a slight tingle in her leg and in a matter of seconds the pain subsided. Jaelie and Kiara stood up just as the raiders began to attack.

The group then fought back, each taking a section of the raiders. Ewan charged in with his mighty sword, while Toran vaporized them with his mystical staff.

Siera shouted out…

"Ice Beam!" and a jet of cold sparkling ice shot out from her hands wiping out the raiders approaching her.

Neraka soon followed Siera's lead and shouted 'Flame Thrower' then watched as her mighty fire blast wiped out many more of their attackers.

Kiara joined in and attacked with 'Oak Evolution'. Sharp leaves appeared out of thin air and cut deep into the Tuskan Warriors, turning them to dust.

Jaelie finished the rest of the raiders off with her powerful attack 'Hand of Fate' which was a golden light that shone like the sun and turned the enemies to dust.

They looked around to see if ay Tuskan Raiders remained, but they were no more. The dust on the sand dunes settled , revealing the large iron gates of Kalamon.