"Now be a good lad and keep your hand away from your knife before someone gets hurt," Jeze said and freed her ax from the table as she slid onto the bench beside the bandit with the cap.
A giggle could be heard from under the table, where Conan saw a pair of glowing red eyes.
"Aah! What devilry is this!" He cried.
The ruffians next to him glanced over once. Upon seeing a young girl with a flat nose, a scarred face, and armed with an ax that she clearly knew how to use, they moved to another table.
"Did you just wet yourself? It''s sour!" The red-eyed monster squealed from under the table.
"Ziplocke! That''s gross," the teenage girl said, but she maintained a firm grip on Conan''s neck, and her ax was readied for violence.
"Okay! I''ll be good. I''m sorry about before. Can ye consider it a misunderstanding among professionals?" Conan stammered.
Jeze grinned and replied, "That depends. How much coin do you have?"
Conan''s face scrunched up, and Jeze heard Ziplocke slap his forehead from the shadows beneath the table.
"Honey, if you are going to shake people up, you need to work on your delivery," Conan criticized.
Jeze squeezed the back of his neck harder. Her hands were calloused and strong from years of climbing, ax throwing, and farm labor.
"Alright! I''m sure we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement," Conan muttered.
"We have company," Ziplocke whispered a warning.
Jeze glanced up as Conan whimpered in her vice-like grip. Two men in crisp, dark blue uniforms materialized into view along the path. She recognized the Light aspect illusion she witnessed from Drake''s rune caster. The first person I killed, Jeze, reflected and pushed that thought aside in order to focus on the situation at hand.
Both men wore heavy, long coats that were opened where Jeze could see the Emperor''s insignia, an image of the rising sun, emblazoned upon the chests of their collared white shirts. One of the men stepped forward with his hands clasped behind him. On his head was an officer''s hat with a roaring Silver Dragon stitched into the front. Jeze recognized the second man to be a Rune caster as he held a golden rod with intricately carved Runes along its polished service. He had high cheekbones and short gray hair and appeared older than the man in the officer''s hat. Both men maintained their uniforms in immaculate condition that reflected their rigid military personalities that could be seen in their posture and their eyes.
"On order of our Immortal Emperor I, Janus Clemens Flavius, I am here to arrest wanted fugitives that are believed to be among you," the officer in the cap declared loudly in a voice that pierced through the clearing like the cry of a hawk.
The small crowd of patrons remained quiet for a moment, and the ruffians glanced at each other with uncertainty. The rotund waitress was the first to respond.
"Ain''t no fugitives here. Now, unless you want a drink, you best sod off," she barked.
Her comment broke the tension in the crowd like a rock thrown through a glass window. The rough-looking group of men chuckled and returned to their drinking and conversations.
The officer took off his hat and nodded. A twang could be heard from the trees, and a split second later, the waitress collapsed to the ground with a cross bolt sticking out of her chest. This shocked the crowd back into silence, and many of the patrons reached for their weapons with fierce scowls on their stained faces.
"Before you all do anything rash. I must warn you, I have the area surrounded." Janus said and nodded to his colleague.
The older man with the rod completed a gesture, and the shimmering veil faded away to reveal a dozen armed legionnaires like the ones Jeze had faced earlier. They wore heavy padded armor coats with hard leather caps over their heads. Each soldier pointed their spears toward the tavern patrons.
"There is no need for further bloodshed, though I am prepared for it. Turn over the fugitives, and you all can carry on your day with the blessing from our glorious Emperor," the officer barked.
The tavern patrons remained quiet, and their fear was palpable in the air like a heavy fog. They glanced amongst each other and murmured.
"How did they find us so quickly?" Jeze whispered to Ziplocke.
In the shadows under the table, the Goblin''s glowing red eyes moved as he shrugged his tiny shoulders. "It might not be you they are looking for," he suggested.
Jeze glanced around the area at the other patrons. There were over a dozen that sat amongst eight tables lined with benches. None really stood out to her as being any more dangerous than the bandit in the cap she followed here. They appeared rough, and some were beefy with muscle, but to Jeze, they all had the softness of one that didn''t train hard every day like she had. Except for a pair in the far corner that continued to drink and talk quietly to each other as if nothing had happened. It was a man and a woman, and they had an edge to them, but before Jeze could study them further, the bandit she followed rose up from his chair.
"Here''s your fugitive!" Conan declared and pointed at Jeze.
The teenager was shocked and then scolded herself for talking out loud to Ziplocke. She had forgotten the man she followed, and this was a harsh reminder that she needed to remain focused if she were to continue on this path as an adventurer.
Cap man walked away from the table and continued, "She''s a witch and has a bloody demon, I tell you, that follows her!"
Jeze froze in place as she felt the eyes of Janus and his legionnaires lock on her. The officer unrolled a scroll and studied it as he glanced at her. Did Drake somehow get a message to the legion before he tracked her in the Deep Wood? Jeze wondered. She didn''t care for the royal politics and the fact that the Emperor was not immortal, but would it have such a destabilizing effect as to warrant them sending agents after her to the far reaches of the empire?
"Since I obliged your request, can I leave?" Conan asked.
Janus scowled at the bandit and talked quietly to the older Rune caster. Conan continued to walk slowly out of the clearing toward the ring of tense legionnaires. Janus shook his head to one of them, and the soldier struck Conan in the head with the butt end of his spear. The bandit collapsed to the ground like a dropped sack of flour. The tavern patrons began to rise from the benches as it became clear that the legionnaires had no intention of letting them free.
"What''s your name, girl?" Janus asked, ignoring the commotion that was brewing like a coming storm around him.
Jeze glanced around her as the patrons gripped their weapons and the legionnaires tensed with their spear tips moving closer. Now was as good of a time as any for her to make her escape. Jeze gestured to Summon shadows around her.
"Stop her!" Janus cried.
Jeze gestured and Shaped the shadows into a sphere of pure darkness that engulfed her and several tables and hid them from view. Her casting was the catalyst that sparked everyone into action. Patrons fled blindly, and fighting and screams could be heard as some clashed with the legionnaires. Jeze had mapped out her escape before she Shaped the sphere and crept along the ground when, in the blink of an eye, the Darkness was gone. The military Rune caster had used the Light aspect to dispel her incantation, and the two locked eyes.
All around Jeze, fighting had erupted between the criminal patrons and the legionnaires. Her Darkness spell was a major disruption as the soldiers were forced to split their attention between chasing after fleeing fugitives and fighting the ones that remained. The military Rune stuck his chin out in determination and gestured glyphs that Summoned moisture in the air. The Water Aspect, Jeze recognized.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"A magic duel!" Shrieked Ziplocke from the shadows.
Jeze Summoned a curse and felt the affliction energy taut and ready. The military caster Shaped the water into frigid ice. He needed to then Control the ice in order to attack Jeze and his spell was more complicated than her''s. It took longer as she only needed two Foci for her curse spell, and she launched the small ball of red affliction energy at her opponent. Jeze had put a good amount of her Will into the spell, and the old Rune caster sneezed. His Shaped ice shattered and spilled to the ground as water droplets. He glared at Jeze and began to Shape the water back to ice. She ran at him. He weaved his arms to Control the ice, and they rose into the air as frozen spears. Jeze punched the older man in the face, and the spears fell apart in a splash of water. The military Rune caster fell to the ground unconscious.
Half of the patrons attempted to flee and encountered more legionnaires in the forest. The other half roared and fought like cornered raccoons. At some point in the commotion, the officer had equipped a curved saber and a round buckler in his hands. He stood back and barked orders. His eyes landed on the unconscious Rune caster and immediately swept over to glare at Jeze.
"Seize her!" He roared.
"Crap!" Jeze cursed as two spearmen broke away from the perimeter and charged her.
She crouched and readied her ax and long knife as the closest legionnaire thrust his spear at her. Jeze blocked the weapon''s tip and hooked it to the side with her ax. The spearman was stronger and continued forward, which allowed Jeze to circle and slash his hand with her knife. The legionnaire fell back, nursing his deep wound as his colleague attacked. Jeze dodged, moved, and created distance. The second legionnaire snarled as he stalked and prodded with his spear. Jeze threw her ax, and the soldier''s eyes went wide as they tried to knock the projectile out of the air and missed. The ax thudded painfully through his armor and into his shoulder. The legionnaire collapsed in pain.
This was her chance to escape! Jeze thought, and she made a run for it but was cordoned off by more spears. She skidded to a halt, and a bolt thudded into a table next to her. She had forgotten about the crossbowmen! Two more spearmen broke off and advanced on her as Jeze reached for her hand ax, only to discover that she was all out. One ax was in a soldier''s shoulder, and the other was back at the pyramid in another soldier''s head, she remembered darkly.
Armed only with a long knife against spears was a losing proposition. She attempted to Summon soil, but her concentration broke as she was forced to dodge a spear thrust. They came at her, and she ducked and rolled out of the way of each of the attacks. Jeze was off balance, landed on a table, and spilled a tankard of ale. This was the corner table where the mysterious pair she saw earlier were drinking. One, the man, looked at her with wide eyes as if she ruined their quiet evening. As if there was not a full-fledged battle happening around them.
"My ale!" The man roared and rose from his seat.
He had long dark hair that was tied back into a bun at the back of his head, and the rest of his hair fell down to his shoulders. His body was draped in a dark cloak that matched his dark loose pants, and Jeze saw the handles of two swords sticking out from underneath. His colleague was a young woman that Jeze guessed to be in her mid-twenties with strange multi-colored hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. The bottom half of her face was obscured by the high collar of her thick black and purple jacket, and only her piercing dark eyes were visible to Jeze.
The legionnaires paused a moment before they resumed their attacks. One went after Jeze, and the other tried to stab the man. Jeze rolled off the table, and the man deftly caught the spear below the tip. In a flurry of acrobatic movements, he kicked both legionnaires to the ground.
The man stepped away from the table and shrugged off his cloak to reveal bare arms that were lean and rippled with muscle. He crossed his arms to grip each handle of his swords and drew them in a flourish out to his sides. The blades were long and single-edged with a sharp silver sheen that represented hours of polishing and care. By this time, a half dozen spearmen formed a semi-circle before Jeze and the two strangers. The teenager crouched low and was worried about the crossbowmen in the woods. But they never fired, and she wondered why.
The swordsman held one blade over his head, and the other he pointed to the collective legionnaires before him.
"You all have the privilege and the honor of facing me, Swordslayer!" the man boomed.
Swordslayer? Jeze wondered, what kind of name was that?
As if reading her thoughts, the woman with the multi-colored hair said, "He is a bit eccentric." She tapped the bench and added, "Have a seat. This will be over soon."
"There are crossbowmen in the woods," Jeze cautioned.
"Don''t worry about them," the stranger answered.
That was when Jeze recognized the assorted wooden rings and leather bands that adorned the woman''s hands and wrists. They were lined with intricate Runes that Jeze guessed to be the Nature and Life aspects. Jeze looked to the woods to see several men entangled by thick green vines that were lined with vicious thorns. The soldiers squirmed and twitched as if they were having seizures.
"Poison," the rainbow-haired woman said and shrugged, "some should recover, I think."
"We have been looking for you!" Janus, the man in the officer''s cap, declared.
He joined the legionnaires armed with his saber and buckler. Of course, they were after the duo! Jeze realized and felt ridiculous, thinking she was the one that they were looking for. It was a dark reminder that she was just a teenage girl from the edge of nowhere. Swordslayer grinned and launched himself toward his opponents in a swirl of sharp steel.
"You were impressive," the woman said to Jeze and extended her hand to introduce herself, "I''m Rainbow."
"Jeze," the teenager responded. What was with the odd names? She wondered and was enthralled with how easily Swordslayer weaved in between his opponents with a skill that reminded Jeze of art.
Rainbow took a sip of her ale and shuddered. "This stuff is horrible. I don''t get why he likes it so much."
Swordslayer parried a spear thrust and countered in one smooth motion that caused the legionnaire to drop to their knees in pain. The swordsman ducked, weaved, and sliced two more attackers. They stumbled away with injuries. The officer moved in and out, searching for an opportunity to strike, but his saber was unable to connect the elusive Swordslayer. In moments, he had no more legionnaires to hide behind and stood alone across from the deadly swordsman. Fear passed for a brief moment along the officer''s stony face.
"For our Immortal Emperor," he declared with resolve.
The officer slashed and missed. He intercepted an attack with his buckler and lunged with a counter that failed to connect. Jeze had trained and fought enough to admire the two highly skilled combatants. On their fifth exchange, Swordslayer landed a deep gash on his opponent''s hand, which caused the officer to drop his saber.
Janus blocked the next two attacks with his buckler but stumbled. His hand was bleeding, and his death was inevitable. If he stayed. The officer turned and fled at the first opportunity.
"Huh? I thought he would have died with honor," Swordslayer said with a shrug and did not pursue.
Maddie''s outdoor tavern was littered with squirming bodies. Some were unmoving, and others, legionnaires and bandits alike, groaned and limped away. Aside from the moans, the clearing was quiet.
"More will be returning," Rainbow said.
The multi-colored-haired lady searched the bodies, both moving and unmoving, and seized their coins and other valuables.
"No, no, no. If you resist, I will have to kill you," Rainbow cautioned one beefy bandit.
Swordslayer was cleaning his two swords before putting them back into his sheaths. He went over to the table and gathered his cloak. Jeze was enthralled by these two. They were clearly real adventurers. Probably Adventurer ranked! They had to be based on their skill. Real career adventurers and fugitives! She could learn so much from them.
"Are you two heading to the Spire?" Jeze asked.
Her question caused Swordslayer and Rainbow to stop and look at her. It was as if they had forgotten she existed until she spoke. They glanced at each other, and Jeze saw the familiarity the two fugitives had and their ability to communicate sentences with just facial expressions. Rainbow tilted her, and Swordslayer shrugged.
"Yeah," Rainbow answered and tossed Jeze her hand ax.
"Me too!" The teenager answered as she deftly caught her weapon.
"She''s too young," Swordslayer observed.
"We are short team members," Rainbow replied.
The swordsmen nodded and added, "But she can fight."
"Pretty decent Rune caster," the multi-colored-haired lady said.
"She''s right here," Jeze growled. Her fists were at her sides.
Swordslayer and Rainbow quickly looted the conscious and unconscious bandits and legionnaires. Rainbow walked over to Jeze with the channeling rod from the military Rune caster.
"She needs to learn how to scavenge after a battle," the multi-colored-haired lady said and handed Jeze the rod.
Swordslayer also approached Jeze with a long knife with a sharp curved blade and brass-colored handguard. He handed it to her, and she accepted both items from the two. For the channeling rod, she would need to learn the Light and Water aspects, and Jeze recognized their utility. The blade was well-balanced and an upgrade from the one she currently had.
"Thank you," she said.
"Let''s go," Rainbow said without looking back. The lady was already running off.
"You owe me an ale," Swordslayer growled and ran off.
"I''m on a team!" Jeze exclaimed to Ziplocke as the Goblin scampered up her shoulder.
"Yeah, they seem like a good bunch of wanted fugitives. Good crowd you are joining," the small demon muttered.
"Did you not see how good they fought?" Jeze asked excitedly.
"We can talk about it, or you can run after them!" Ziplocke observed.
Jeze nodded and ran off after the two. She found a team!