Well, here we are again. I hope yall enjoy this chapter ~

Dislaimer ~ As always

Chapter 11: Bandits

Leyanne looked at Jet. The two stood there for long strenuous moments before the black haired teen noticed a glimmer in her friend's eye. Worry washed over her and Leyanne finally broke the silence.

"To the Arena? For what? Money? Fame? You could get killed…or worse! Captured! Do you know what they'll do to women!" A tear rolled down the woman's face. Jet gripped tighter onto Leyanne's wrist.

"I'm not going there for those stupid reasons. If I win, I win. If I don't, then I know I wasn't meant to save my home…I'm going there because it will get me better suited for the fight I'll have to go through." She understood completely what Jet meant.

"You still are going to face him? There is no way-" Jet looked at her weird,

"I thought you said that I had the blood, or at least you believed I did." Leyanne nodded,

"I did and I still do but you still don't have experience!"

"That's why I'm going!" Both girls stopped and stared. Leyanne's calm nature allowed her to step back for a moment and look at what she was seeing. It was then she noticed something about Jet. Her grip had yet to let up and the light in her eyes shined brightly, burning like a forest fire.

With her free hand Leyanne grasped Jet's gripping one and held it. Jet watched for a moment before turning her eyes back to Leyanne's brown ones. Her friend nodded. Jet smiled lightly and let go and Leyanne's other hand came up and gripped Jet's. With both hands on one of Jet's, she squeezed silently communicating with her new friend.

"Alright…I'm not going to stop you and I won't tell anyone. Just promise me this: you will come back alive…Promise?" Jet opened her mouth to make her promise but a young boy came running up to them.

"HELP! Bandits are attacking!" Before Leyanne could protest Jet bolted off, putting her mask on. Leyanne stood there, blonde hair swaying in the wind, watching her friend run off.

"You didn't promise…"

/)^3^(\

Jet was thankful that the intruders were not Balverines but bandits. She was about to let out a sigh of relief when she found that when the kid yelled bandits, that there would be five of them, three of which obviously lifted tree trunks to build muscle. The teenager turned her face to the sky.

"Really Avo? You heal me then bring me these bandits my way? Will you make up your mind!" One of the men came forward and Jet turned her head toward him. Jet pulled her blade out and held it at ready. The man laughed.

He was bald and had a high pitched voice. The armor he wore was rather intimidating though. It was hard for Jet to take him seriously, the only thing that kept her attention was his muscles.

"Girl, step aside, you aint gotta chance against the five of us." Jet did not lower her blade.

"I really don't care what you say. All I know is that I'm going to stop you from raiding this village." The man laughed and it grinded on her nerves.

"You know what? I'll take you up on that challenge. C'mon!" On que, the other two burly men came up along with the leader and circled Jet. That feeling of despair clutched to Jet again.

'I'm screwed…wait…where are the…?' An arrowed zipped passed her head, cutting her neck lightly and a few strands of hair falling to the ground. She turned and found one of the slimmer men pointing a bow and arrow at her. 'They're archers!' With that realization she knew she had to eliminate them first.

The first man charged her and Jet barely made the blocking move. With her body sore, she would be slower to move and harder to keep up with her enemies. The man used his body weight and height against Jet pushing her back. Swaying her body back and forth she confused him until she really moved out of his control making him stumble forward and onto the floor.

'Avo…am I really going to win this? I'm just doing what I can think of! These men not only have height against me but weight, strength, and armor against me! They're pretty quick in that armor too! Someone help!' Absentmindedly she raised her blade and charged forward. Her focus was the man struggling to get up with the armor trying to pull him back down. Taking an opportunity she plunged her blade into his back.

A big letdown. The blade only sunk so far, his armor kept it from going too deep. Another couple of arrows cut along her skin. With a strong jerk, Jet pulled her blade back out only to be whacked in the side with a blunt object.

Jet flew a ways and landed on her back sliding across the rough patchy grass. Heat radiated from her back as she lay motionless. She sat up slowly adjusting herself to the rough pain. The bandit leader stood still as his crony rushed at Jet.

Running short on time and losing her common sense Jet reacted the best way she could, cover herself.

Her blade stuck out and for a few moments she only heart the feet stomping against the grass as the well built man came to her. Suddenly a howl and gush of blood filled the air. Jet felt the edge of a blade run down her arm as the man topples over her and lands ungracefully on his back.

She looked down to her arm and found a nasty gash, blood flowing freely from it. With a little bit of her own clothing she tore it and wrapped the wound. The blood slowed allowing Jet to focus on the man behind her. His leg had been sliced deeply, cutting muscle. She turned her eyes to her own blade and sure enough blood dripped from the edge.

Gathering herself she towered over the man and plunged her blade in his arm. It was then she noticed that his torso had been well armored but not his appendages. She smiled down at the man who only grunted in pain.

A glint in the corner of her eye caught her short span attention tilting her head back quickly to avoid a buzzing arrow. Jet heard a grunt behind her and she spun to find the leader glaring at her.

"You got lucky brat! You're luck's run out!" And Jet felt his words far more true than anything.

"WAIT!" The men looked to her with bloodlust. "Do you really want to waste your energy on me? My guess is that you're headed to the Arena right now, right?" The men looked to one another and Jet felt relief. "I've only been acting like I don't know how to fight. I'm actually a skilled assassin, so if you want to get through those doors over there," she pointed up the hill, "you better leave me be."

The leader looked at her quizzically.

"You couldn't even get your blade through my man's armor. How could you be an assassin?" Jet let out a light laugh.

"In school I was the best actress. Plus, why would I be wearing a mask and dark colors?" Finally, she got through to them. Or at least she had hoped. The leader turned from his men and back to Jet.

"You're pretty convincing but one more thing," Jet mentally cursed. What else could he ask her? "Why didn't you kill Torrex," he asked motioning to the man behind her. Jet laughed again.

"Simple, I wasn't hired to kill him. I find it useless to kill for nothing." There were a few long, tense moments before the leader sheathed his weapon. Jet mentally patted her back. If she could not beat them by brute force beat them by their stupidity.

One of the other men came and picked up his fallen comrade, which Jet allowed and looked to the leader who smiled a toothy grin.

"See ya there girly. Show us your best when you get there." Jet nodded and watched the men walk off.

When the men were out of sight she plopped down before a tree and relaxed. The mask she wore came off and settled down in her lap. Her mind began to muddle over recent events before finally burying her face in her hands. A few tears streamed down her face, leaving a dark trail behind it.

She began to sob, her shoulders shaking with pain. Reality set in with her as despair, anger, and humiliation invaded her heart. Her hiccups echoed through the forest.

"I…I can't…I keep losing! Those ghosts tore me to pieces, the Balverines are more than a match for me, and I can't even take down my own race!" She let out a few more hiccups. "Who am I kidding….I can't do anything for this country…"

Jet sat there for a long time thinking and her hiccups became less and less until they quit. She thought of her parents and her two siblings. Jack crossed her mind and remembered the fear on his face when he was being drug off. Guilt came back to her thinking of why he was taken. Had she not been in the graveyard none of this would be happening.

Weakly she grabbed her blade and stood. Tired and weak she looked to the hill.

"I'll go…only because I have a debt to pay…I'll keep going for you little brother…" Barely with a resolve she sheathed her blade and muttered, "Arena…here I come…" Jet forced herself forward with a heavy heart.