Alright, this time, I don't have any excuses for the lack of an update. Call it life. Or laziness. Whatever. Here's the next chapter…
But first, reviews. You guys are the greatest! Thanks for all of the reviews:
amanda burton- Of course it's going to end well! My pen name is "Well-Well," after all…
Cathy7- Glad you're enjoying it. And what's a romance without a good, eventful plot?
StickyRice- Thanks for the good luck. Luck always comes in handy.
Widower- Ah, my ever-faithful fan. Glad Chapter Five was a "kick As" chapter.
Captain Spam- Well, well (no pun intended), another loyal fan. Sorry about not updating as often as you wanted me to. I hope to update more now, though I won't give any guarantees. But common! It was the last week of school and life was actually starting to look up. I was too happy to update. And I'll see about adding more Roland…
Lily (Lena) Evans- Hope I won't disappoint you. Glad you like it!
pikinanou- Another faithful fan! Glad you think I write well, though I'm not so sure myself. I've found some really stupid grammar mistakes that I could kick myself for. Anywho, I hope you enjoy this action packed chapter.
Here we go:
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Chapter 6: Seven Figures in Black
Chris paced with stiff legs back and forth in the supplies tent as she racked her mind for a plan. Salome, too, seemed to have trouble thinking of one.
"Milady, we could send a small battalion and attack them by surprise," offered Salome.
"No," Chris shook her head, her braids swaying to and fro. "They would get to Louis before any of us had the chance." Salome slowly nodded his agreement. A silence overtook the room as Chris stopped pacing, and Salome saw her swift brain working at its max as she formulated a plan. He momentarily reflected on her amazing mind. It worked just as fast as any genius's brain and could always conquer the impossible when the need arose. He did not know in detail how much Chris had studied in school, but her wisdom was easily ten times that of any average woman, or man, at her age.
Her eyes suddenly lit with her brain's approval of an idea, and she turned to Salome with a serious, almost excited expression.
"Salome, how many mages, no matter if they are apprentices, do we currently have in camp?" Salome quickly calculated.
"We've four, milady, though one is currently in the infirmary after–"
"–Putting too much energy into healing me, yes, I know. So we have three…"
"What do you plan to do milady?" Chris's eyes creased with momentary sadness. "Captain?" The look disappeared.
"Salome, what of Percival and Roland? Are they here?"
"We sent for them a couple days before. It seems they ran into trouble with more bandits, but last we heard, they were heading this way today."
"Get one of the men on lookout for them. Tell him to pass this message to them." She quickly scrolled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Salome. "Then fetch Leo and Borus. Quickly, we've no time to lose."
"Aye, milady." Rather than ask questions, Salome hurried from the tent to accomplish his tasks. He trusted his leader more than even himself, especially when it came down to the safety of her soldiers and companions, especially a squire who risked so much to stay by her side. He knew that even though usually Chris appeared to have a rock-hard personality, she was rather a softhearted woman who was always there when needed and would never let anyone down. That was the truth behind the serious Captain of the Zexen Knights; just another woman who was putting her life on the line for the people of her nation. Just an ordinary, loving, joking young woman who he knew would rather sit in a quiet bar and chat with friends than be stained by the blood of an enemy.
But Salome knew that she was no ordinary woman. Far from it, in fact.
Salome found a group of off-duty knights who all straitened up as he approached. "I need one of you to be a look out for Lord Roland and Lord Percival. Any volunteers?"
……
They had questioned the bandit messenger, but he spoke no words, and before they locked him away, he used an escape technique and disappeared.
Now Chris walked as fast as her legs would allow her, her tiredness weighing her down like lead. A group of eight, all but one in black, were in the barren plains just ahead of her, waiting.
Six of the figures straitened as she approached, standing in a partially circular formation around the other two. One was Louis, sagging in the other's arms with a black eye. The other held a saber of some sort to Louis's throat.
Chris stepped within five yards of the eight people, and the bandit with the sword spoke in a calm, drawling voice.
"Stop where you stand, woman. Unless you would enjoy my slicing this boys neck." Chris stopped, eyeing the seven enemies cautiously. No part of their body was shown except for their eyes, which were veiled in shadow. The man in the middle smiled, the cloth across his face creasing to show this. He had a white band across tied to his arm, but Chris knew it could not have been the same man from Vinay del Zexay. That meant that she was dealing with subordinates; the leader was still out there somewhere.
"Who are you? And what is it you wish to accomplish with my rune?"
"To answer your first question, we call ourselves the Black Bandits. But we'll take any name, from common bandit to dirty slime. And seeing as you'll all die anyway, I'll answer your second question as well, though it will take some explaining. Our group is based on the very research that the group founders accomplished."
"And that research?" Chris asked, sensing an annoyingly long explanation on its way. On the other hand, she was happy the man liked to talk.
"The True Runes, of course. The first theory was that the 27 True Runes powered themselves. That an infinite well of power was in each and every True Rune and this well supplied the magic and energy needed for usage of the rune. But after extensive research, mainly the discovery of the 27 True Runes' abilities, this theory was considered impossible."
Chris arched an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because of the fact that once one has used all of their rune's powers, one must rest for the rune to rejuvenate. Why would it have to rejuvenate if the runes had an infinite power well? With that theory proven wrong, many more theories came out, such as the runes receive power from the sun, or the runes power each other. But each of these theories were proven wrong as well. Finally, a theory came out from one of the founders that stated that the 27 True Runes were originally one extremely powerful rune. But there were two problems with this, one new, one old. Who or what created this 'Grand Rune' of sorts, and what powered this rune?" The man quickly looked around to see if there was any surprise attacks coming, so emerged in his explanation that he had forgotten the situation. Satisfied that there were none, he continued.
"Both problems were answered when we came across an ancient Sindar journal. In the journal, a man described how there was an amazing power source within this earth, at the very core, fed by the rotation of the planet. In other words, the very force that holds our feet to the ground feeds the core of this earth with its energy. In the journal, a tournament was told of how wizards and mages would try and harness some of this power. One great wizard accomplished this, putting the power into a small sphere that he called a rune. He, however, lost his life in the process, and was disqualified from this tournament because the amount of energy he was able to harness was a minuscule amount of the huge well within this earth. An amount that would add up to approximately 0.001 percent! Do you know what that means?"
Chris calculated her answer in her head. "It means… that even one of the 27 True Runes, with the ability to level cities and towns, and crush enemies, is a mere 0.00004 percent…"
"Of the entire well within this earth!" The head bandit grew excited.
"But the Grand Rune you speak of… How were the 27 True Runes borne of it?"
"It's quite simple. The great wizard who created the Grand Rune was a fool, for within this rune, he placed many opposite powers, such as water and fire, earth and air. Take, for instance, the Godspeed Rune and the True Time Rune. The Godspeed Rune gives speed to its owner, whereas the True Time Rune gives the owner an ability to slow things down. Fast and slow do not mix. Think of the Grand Rune as 27 positively charged magnets all shoved into one tiny ball. The ball would burst, as did the Grand Rune! Thus, the 27 powers within the Grand Rune each went in a different direction, forming the 27 True Runes we know of today. Our objective is simple: To collect the 27 True Runes and use them to draw raw power from this earth's core into other empty runes. With these false runes, the Black Bandits will easily conquer the main powers of the planet and send this world back to the dark ages, an age over which we will rule. No one will stand in our path!" The man paused, pleased with his explanation. "Any more questions before you give us the rune?"
"Yes," Chris nodded, inching her hand toward her sword. "Why do you want my rune first? Why not start with another True Rune?"
"The Grand Rune burst apart because of opposites, correct? Well, when you think about the water rune's 'opposites,' you can put out a fire, erode earth and stone, slow down an enemy, push someone who's slow through water pressure, and block teleportation. That means the True Water Rune overpowers the True Fire Rune, the True Earth Rune, the Godspeed Rune, the True Time Rune, and the True Blinking Rune; five True Runes. Put simply, with just one rune, we can easily gain five more. With six True Runes, all the other runes will fall in just a matter of time. Nothing would be able to stand in our way!" The man was obviously thrilled to prove that their plan would work.
The full weight of the situation bore down on her. If she gave them the True Water Rune, there would be no stopping them. The plan was a little farfetched, but Chris realized that all he spoke of was true.
"One more question. Tell me… what is seven minus two?"
"What? What type of question is that? It's five, of course." That was their queue. Right on time, two of the guarding bandits fell to the ground. The head bandit swished around, releasing his grip on Louis. Sagging Louis suddenly gained renewed energy, and he dashed out of the circle of bandits toward Chris.
Invisible hands grabbed Louis and hoisted him over an invisible shoulder, and invisible legs ran him to safety about twenty yards away. The invisibility spell wore off, and a smiling Salome appeared. Chris unsheathed her sword as three bandits sprinted toward her. The other minion had his hands full with a now visible Borus and Leo. The head bandit scowled at Chris, but decided to watch rather than fight.
With a swift swing, Chris sword crashed into the shoulder of the first bandit to reach her; he fell to the ground, cringing in agony. A second one reached her and his sword went flying toward her waist. With a quick sidestep, she avoided the blow and proceeded to bring her sword to his back. But just then, the third one appeared from behind. She used the momentum from her swing to push herself out of a direct blow, but was unable to avoid a slash to her upper left arm. With clenched teeth, she wrenched her sword from the back of the second attacker and with a backwards slash, brought the blade into the third's face, who was sent flying backward. She turned around, beads of sweat forming on her forehead, just in time to partially sidestep a blow to her waist from the head bandit.
She held back a cry of pain as the head bandit's blade cleaved through her armor and into the side of her waist. With a scream of rage, her fist met his face, and he stumbled backwards, clutching his nose.
Borus finally managed to get his blade into the bandits flesh. The bandit was fast, too fast for Leo with his heavy ax. He kept on avoiding every swing with ease. Borus had finally managed to get behind him and surprise him. With the troublesome bandit finished, he turned to see how his captain fared.
To his horror, she was on the ground, clutching her side with an armored hand. The head bandit stood over her, his sword raised just above her heart.
"Milady!" Leo bellowed, running toward her.
"Stop!" the bandit cried. Leo stopped uncertainly. "Tell your captain to give me the True Water Rune, and I will let her live. If you don't soon, she'll die of that wound anyway." He laughed haughtily. His voice was nasally; Chris had granted him a broken nose. "I see now. She asked me those questions to give you time for your mages to complete an invisible spell on you three. Then you snuck up around us, and as soon as she gave the signal, you attacked. Very smart, but not smart enough, as you can see. Now. Make her give me the rune, or she will die!"
Borus stared with complete shock. But then he shook his head. "You have forgotten one thing," he chuckled. The bandit glared at him.
"And what would that be?"
Borus held up a finger as if scolding a child. "Roland and Percival."
"Wha–" the bandit started, but was stopped short in his sentence as an arrow pierced his chest armor, going deep. He fell to the ground with a clatter of armor. Pushing his head off the ground, he watched as two figures came riding toward them on horses. Both dismounted, and one came forward, a bow and arrow in his hands.
The bandit let his head fall back down to the ground. With a cough of blood, he muttered, "Damn you…" Then came silence, followed by six people dashing toward Chris. The first there was Roland, who gingerly helped Chris to her feet. Her eyes were barely open, and she was breathing heavily. Gathered around them were Louis, Salome, Leo, Percival, and Borus. Chris flashed a quick smile to Roland, then turned to Louis. She took a wobbly step toward him, fell to her knees, and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.
"Are… you okay, Louis?" she whispered, the loudest voice she could manage. Everyone stared in awe. She had never embraced anyone before, especially in front of them. Louis seemed the most prepared for such a situation, and though still stunned, returned Chris's hug with a smile.
"Y-yes, milady, I am fine, thanks to you." Chris dropped her arms to her sides and Borus, the first to recover of the adults in the group, helped her to her feet again.
She was dimly aware of Borus helping her back to camp, menders bustling around her, and Borus taking a seat at her bedside, before finally falling into a dreamless, peaceful sleep.
………