Anna was going to die. It was the only thought that crossed her mind as she was dragged by her hands over the rough forest terrain.
Why else would this man come in the middle of the night and steal her away? Her six-year-old mind could only come up with so many ideas, all of them equally scary.
Her foot caught on a root, and with a gasp, she fell flat on her face. Twigs poked at her eyes, her nose filled with the wet smell of dirt, and she just wanted to go back to the wagon and back to her mother where it was safe.
"Oi! Wot's got you held up now?" came a voice from above.
Before Anna could reply, a force roughly hauled her to her feet by her hair, forcing her to meet a pair of narrow, brown eyes. She tried to shrink back, blinking back terrified tears, but a pair of nails dug into her chin and held her in place. The man towering over her scowled as he yanked her head from side to side.
"Be more careful, won't you? Can't sell you at full price if you're damaged, and nobody wants that."
Anna wanted to cry, but the only sound that escaped the dirty, damp rag over her mouth was a quiet sob. The man didn't care, too busy looking over her skin for any marks. When he found none, he turned around and continued on his way.
"Naga dammit. I'm just gonna look at you later," he said, and he tugged on the rope holding her arms together. "Get on, brat! We don't got the entire bloody day to keep standin' around!"
"Where were they going? Where was he taking her?" she wanted to ask, but even if she could, she knew he would just hurt her to shut her up, like he'd done before.
It took all the strength she had left to keep herself standing as the man pulled her through the thorny bushes, and all the will she still had to push past the pain as the plants pricked her legs.
At last, they broke through the treeline and onto a dirt road. It stretched on and disappeared into the forest at the left and right ends, meaning they were already too far from the town for any hope of rescue.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the man yanked her rope suddenly, and as she stumbled into his side, he jabbed a greasy finger into her face and snarled, "Don't you even think about leggin' it. You are gonna wait right here with me until the wagon gets here. Then, you'll fetch us a nice, tidy profit for I and my brother at the market. You got anything to say to that?"
Anna just shook her head and whimpered.
"That's what I thought." As the man stood back up, he added under his breath, "Stupid brat."
She didn't want to believe it. Anna wasn't going to accept it. She was just six years old. There were so many things she still wanted to do! Someone would save her and bring her back to her mother, and she could pretend none of this ever happened.
But as the seconds stretched on, Anna was hit with the sinking realization that no one would save her. She would never see her mother again.
A wagon appeared at the end of the road, pulled by a single horse. The last slivers of hope slipped from her with every clop of the horse's hooves. Above her, the man smiled. Anna could only cry.
And then, she appeared.
Her war-torn cloak fluttering in the wind behind her like the wings of an angel, a woman stepped out onto the road between them and the approaching wagon, her stance steady and her boots planted firmly in the ground.
She looked so different from before it took Anna a second to recognize her. Marth had come to save her.
The man, just as shocked as her, sputtered out, "W-what?! Who are you? What do you want?"
Marth pointed down at Anna. "Her," she said.
"Her?" The man threw Anna a glance. A sneaky smile wormed its way onto his face, and he stepped in front of her. "What's it to you? You can't take my girl. Her momma would be so sad."
"Take me for a fool and it will be the last thing you do," Marth replied, as certain of it as if it were a fact. "Besides, I do not think her mother could be any more upset than she is now."
The bandit cursed. Before Anna could react, the back of his shoe slammed into her face and sent her tumbling back.
"Don't you even think it," he growled at her, before he turned back to Marth. "How'd you get here so quick? I had to walk a hundred miles to get here!"
"There are only so many roads that run through this part of Ylisse. I figured a bandit would seek the only road that doesn't lead into town."
"Well," the man snarled, clenching his fists, "you found me. What are you gonna do now, missy?"
"I'm going to put you down."
"Big words for such a tiny girl. You think you can order us around?" He shot a look over her shoulder at the wagon fast approaching."Oi, here's an idea! How about you surrender to us? I'd hate to ruin such a pretty face like yours."
Narrow blue eyes glared at the man with a fiery cold. Her lips held tight in an unbreakable line. "Not a chance."
"A shame," the man said. "I'm sure you'd have sold for a nice price, if it weren't for that nasty head of–"
The woman sprang forward and cracked a soup ladle across the man's jaw. The man's head snapped to the side. Blood spurted out his mouth. Anna watched wide-eyed as the man stumbled back, a hand to his chin.
"Wha–What did–" Slowly, the man turned to face Marth again.
The woman had barely moved, but the red staining the end of the spoon was proof enough that she had struck the first blow.
"You–you wench! I'll rip that pretty head from your shoulders!"
With a roar, the man tore the axe from his hip and swung for the woman's neck.
Marth ducked. The blade cut through air. Before he could react, she smashed her ladle into his chin. Teeth cracked. The man tumbled backward.
Anna yelped as her hands were yanked along with him. That got the man to remember she was there. His eyes bore into hers. Anna gulped. Her eyes flicked to the woman, desperate. Snarling, the man dropped her rope, grabbed his axe with his other hand, and raised it to block an incoming strike to the back of his head.
Marth cursed. Anna gasped. The man twisted his axe, deflecting Marth's blow to the side. Marth tried to step away. The man stepped with her. Her ladle swung for his head again. Again, he blocked it. Before Marth could retreat, the man drove his foot into her gut.
"Gah!"
She staggered back, clutching her stomach. The man grinned viciously. Anna watched, horrified as he reared his axe back to strike.
"Look out!" she cried through her gag.
A metal screech ripped Anna's ears in two. Marth's legs buckled beneath her. The axe stopped an inch from her face, its blade caught on the crook of her ladle. Marth wrenched it to the side. As the man struggled to raise his axe again, Marth lunged into his guard and drove her ladle into his chin.
Her arm stopped mid-air. His fingers wrapped around the handle of her weapon, holding it in place. Before Marth could rip it away, the man smashed his elbow into her face. She cried out. The man released her arm. Marth stumbled back again. Before she could regain her balance, the man was already swinging for her yet again.
Marth's eyes widened. She raised her ladle to block the strike. The axe ground against the kitchen tool, then snapped it in half. To Anna, it only seemed to slow for half a second. To Marth, it was enough for her to dance away from her attacker's range.
Suddenly, Marth's eyes were on her. "What are you waiting for?" she yelled. "Get out of here!"
The man's gaze snapped back onto her as well, and then Anna realized that, all this time, she'd been standing there like an idiot. The man snarled. His rough hand reached out to grab her.
With a roar, Marth grabbed him from behind and yanked his hands away.
"Move!"
And then, Anna was gone.
Leaves crackled and snapped as she sprinted through the unfamiliar forest. Branches swung out to strike her face. Roots dragged her feet down, but Anna pushed through.
The leaves above began to part above. Up ahead, Anna could see another road come into view.
"You ain't goin' nowhere, brat!"
Hands grasped at the back of her head and, before Anna could realize what was happening, slammed her face into the ground. The dirt muffled her cries of pain.
"I told you, you ain't goin' nowhere!" the man's scratchy voice bellowed from above her.
He grabbed her leg. From the corner of her eye, Anna watched in terror as he raised his axe. She tried to struggle, tried to slip away. The man's fingers only gripped tighter. The axe came down. The wooden handle struck her leg.
A horrible snapping sound broke the air.
Pain was quick to follow.
"Now look at what you've gone and made me do," the man said. "You see, this is what happens to naughty little girls who don't listen."
A scream tore itself from Anna's lips. She tried to push herself away. The man didn't stop her. He just watched, smiling as she flailed in the dirt. There was nothing she could do, and he knew it. He had her cornered.
Something moved over his shoulder. It was so sudden, Anna couldn't help but flick her eyes to it. Maybe that was what alerted the man to the attack. He looked over his shoulder and swore.
The metal handle in Marth's hands met nothing but air. The man jumped back, and his boots crashed back down into the dirt, kicking some of it into Anna's eyes. She fell back with a cry.
The man, undeterred, stepped away to draw his axe back. Marth rushed after him. The axe swung across. It would have separated her head from her shoulders, had she not caught it between the two halves of the ladle still in her hands.
Again, Lucina drove the axe into the ground. The bandit reached to tear it out of the dirt. Marth was quick to stamp out that option, just like she stomped her boot down on the man's axe and smashed her elbow into his face. A small victory, but she would take what she could get.
The bandit staggered back, blood pouring from his nose and bloodlust burning in his eyes. She'd pissed him off. Bandits were simple like that. Every motion they made, they made to kill. Killing and stealing were all they did.
That really helped when Lucina was at such a big disadvantage.
She was smaller than the bandit, she had no weapon in hand, and she had a girl to rescue. All the bandit had to do was kill her.
That was going to be a lot harder without his axe, though. The bandit recognized it too, as the second he recovered, he lunged for his axe.
Lucina knocked him aside with a swipe of the ladle's handle.
Pain shot up her wrist, returned to her from every strike she made with the flimsy object in her hands. Lucina ignored it and pressed onward. Every swing she took forced the bandit back. A jab to the next earned her a step away. A jab to the chest earned her a step to the side. Gritting her teeth, Lucina aimed a thrust for his stomach.
A hand crushed her extended arm and dragged her forward. The bandit smashed his fist into her chin. Lucina reeled back. Her foot snagged on a thorny bush. She quickly caught herself with her other foot. It wasn't quick enough to block the follow-up kick to her chest.
Lucina slammed into the tree behind her hard enough that the leaves trembled. The rough bark clawed into her back, but all she let through her teeth was a hiss. She swung her arms up to block an incoming strike to her face.
The bandit's fists crashed into her like a hammer. She could almost hear her bones crack with the sheer force behind each blow. Again, the bandit raised his arms and brought his weight down onto her. Her arms buckled. The bandit reared back for a third strike.
Lucina had no plans to let him land it. As his hands came down Lucina grabbed his arms and dragged him forward. The thorn bushes on the forest floor welcomed him with an open embrace, leaving him a cursing and flailing mess tangled in the undergrowth.
Lucina was quick to pin him down. The bandit struggled and kicked at her, but with the thorns holding him down, he was helpless. Taking the metal handle in both hands, Lucina pushed it over his throat and began to choke him.
His hands grasped at hers. His nails dug into her skin, hard enough to draw blood. Lucina's grip faltered. She responded by pressing harder. The bandit's gasps for air quickly turned dry and hoarse. He scrabbled at her face, but his blows weakened with each second. She didn't care how much he struggled. She was going to win this.
A part of her recognized that this was wrong. It was brutal, it was ugly. As much as they acted like Risen, bandits were still people, and what she was doing wasn't something that she should be doing to people. This wasn't a battle that needed such desperate measures. What did she care if Anna died here?
Any reservations she might have held vanished as something moved in the corner of her eye. Lucina whirled around just in time to catch a man swinging an axe at her. With a curse, she released the first bandit and leaped away.
A wooden snap behind her revealed a second attacker almost a second too late.
Lucina spun around and raised her arm to defend herself. Another axe soared under her guard and carved into her thigh. Blood sprayed free from the wound, painting the bushes red as she tumbled away.
She glanced at her leg. A nasty gash ran down her thigh. Thankfully, the blow hadn't been strong enough to chop it off, but it did mean she would be severely weakened.
"Oi! Vincent! You still there?"
Lucina raised her eyes back up as the bandits rushed over to the first one, forgetting about her for the moment. She tried to drag herself to her feet to stop them, but her weakened leg crumbled beneath her weight.
"I'm fine, I'm fine!" the first bandit, Vincent, rasped. "What took you idiots so long?!"
As one of the bandits helped him up, he replied, "That don't matter now, boss! We gotta get outta here! There's a rescue party comin' to get us!"
"There is?! Well don't just stand there, morons! Grab the girl over there and go!"
"What about her?" the other bandit asked, and he pointed at Lucina.
"Her? She don't–" Vincent broke down into a coughing fit, before continuing, "She ain't going nowhere with her leg messed up like that. You ain't gotta worry about her."
The other bandit let his eyes linger on her, before he shrugged and leaned over to pick Anna's daughter off the ground.
"Help!" she cried. "Miss Marth! Help me!"
But Lucina could do nothing. All she could do was stand and watch as the bandits stole her away and disappeared into the forest.
No. She wasn't helpless. She'd been nothing but helpless since she'd come back. She could take action. She would take action.
Lucina took a step forward. Her injured leg trembled. Lucina suppressed the fresh wave of pain and took another step forward. This time, her leg collapsed. She stumbled, only to catch herself on a branch. Lucina pulled herself up. Pushed herself on.
The girl's helpless cries rang in her ear. Like a lifeline, Lucina grabbed onto it and used it to drag herself forward. She forced twigs out of her way, dragged her feet through the dirt, until at last, she came across the road again.
Up ahead, she could see the bandits helping each other into a merchant wagon, the girl hoisted over one of their shoulders. It was only a few more feet, but with her wounded leg, it felt like much longer.
A whip cracked. The horse at the front gave a loud whine, before the wheels started to turn. She could feel the mocking gaze of the bandits on her, so smug, so sure that they'd already won.
They hadn't. Not if she had anything to say about it.
I was supposed to upload this chapter last night, but, being the idiot that I am, I completely forgot. Anyway, here's the bi-weekly update I promised, after an entire month of waiting. Yeah, I know, really doesn't look good for me if I can't keep up with the things I say, but sometimes life just does ya dirty. I've been slowly pulling myself along, sorting things out on my own, all that jazz.
To make up for the lack of stuff, I'll try to get something out next week. This entire fight was going to be a single chapter, but it began to stretch on and at some point, I decided I really wanted to get something out and split it into two chapters. Hopefully wrapping it all up won't take as long. Remember to take care of yourselves out there, and stay safe!