Lore/Story Angels And Demons: Chapter 23

Hub thread: https://forums.wynncraft.com/threads/angels-and-demons-a-legends-story-hub-wynncraft-novel.163016/
Previous Chapter: https://forums.wynncraft.com/threads/angels-and-demons-chapter-22.177455/

Chapter 23: Horse Bandits
~Katherine~


The crops of the horse's hooves hitting the ground come to a halt. Laris jumps off his horse, then turns to face Nico, Luke and me.

"You can follow this path towards Detlas. The road should be safe, compared to Ancient Nemract, I guess." Laris says and smiles. "Safe travels to you."

We thank the boy. "How are your injuries, Laris?" I ask him.

Laris scratches his head. "I've recovered enough to get back to Nemract alone." He says.

"Thank you for the free stay at Nemract," Luke says.

Laris shakes his head. "That's nothing compared to what you faced when you tried to rescue me. Thank you."

My memory flashes back to the image of the Necromancer and the ghosts of my past. I shake my head to get rid of the images.

"If you ever come back to Nemract," Laris says. "Feel free to ask my father and me anything."

Nicolas nods. "Thanks. Are you sure you're feeling okay, though? You still look pale."

Laris laughs weakly and nods. "To be honest, I still feel the coldness of the monster's power. But I'll be okay. What 'bout you, Nicolas?"

"My chest's okay, believe it or not. My wings, though..." Nico spreads his wings. Bandages cover half of each wing. He winces in pain as he closes them. "I won't be flying anytime soon."

"Oh well. It can't be helped." Luke says. "My heal spell isn't powerful enough to fix broken bones and muscles."

"One more thing," Laris says. "The Purifiers you told me about are apparently in Detlas. They are testing every street for mutants. They apparently found some."

Nicolas nods. "Alright. But then we should still take the path to as close to Detlas as possible." He says. "Luke can go in and get supplies." We agree.

"Take care, Laris." I say and raise my hand. The boy smiles and shakes my hand. He does the same with Luke and Nico.

We say farewell with Laris and move on on our way towards Detlas.

Luke fiddles with his wooden wand uncomfortably. Ever since Mylo replaced Luke's lost wand with an army wand, he's been like this.

"I can't focus my magic properly in this." Luke complains. "It's not that this wand is bad, it's not compatible with my level of power."

Being well rested for a few days, we cover the distance better in a shorter time than we did when we first came here. As I think this, I remember something important.

"Didn't we come to Nemract by a request to retrieve a will for this Sayleros guy?" I say. Nico and Luke suddenly stop walking.

"Oh, crap." Nico mumbles. "I completely forgot about it."

Luke smiles and nods. "Me too. He probably thinks we're dead or something."

I turn around to them. "That's one more thing for Luke to do in Detlas, then."

Nicolas sighs. "That was one hell of a job that guy gave us."

I grin and turn back to face the shape of Detlas in the distance.


***


"That took you quite a long time." Nico says to Luke as he comes walking towards us outside Detlas where we were sparring.

I sheath my dagger and wipe the sweat off my brow. Nicolas's moves were dull and slower than usual. I was a bit worried about that.

Luke shakes a large leather bag. "Sayleros gave us quite a lot of emeralds." He passes the bag to me. I look inside and see a stack of emeralds. I pass it to Nico and frown. "That's it?"

Luke grins. "Nah. I have a lot more inside my bank. I'll give it to you guys later."

Nico nods. "So where are we heading?" He says that while handing the bag back to Luke.

"That's what the map is for, right?" I say, and pull out my army map from my sack. I roll it out onto the ground. Many green lights glow on the map. There are a few in Detlas, but there is one near us, at the...

"The Black Road." I say aloud and look Southeast. "There is a guy who needs help."

"Alright." Luke says. "Let's go!"


***


"You... mustn't speak of this again." The assistant says. "It was for the...better."

We accept the few emeralds from the man and start to walk away. We had fought a crazy doctor who has drank a potion that contained the essence of corruption. We managed to kill him before he became toon dangerous.

As I walk beside Nico down the Black Road, I ask to him, "Did killing Essren bother you?"

Nico shakes his head. "No." He says. "He was already corrupted at heart."

I bite my lips and nod. I had to remind myself that the ghosts I saw under Ancient Nemract were just illusions. None of those who I watch die would come in front of my eyes again.

"So is it okay that we're spending the night in Ternaves?" Luke says. Nico nods. "Faster we get there, the better. See, the sun's starting to set."

I suddenly feel something behind us. I draw my dagger and whirl around, just as a Mushroom rush past me. I look at the beast, surprised. It could've caught me if it wasn't aiming for me. I frown. Then what was it chasing?

I hear a ring of bells in front of us. The Mushroom snorts loudly and bolts towards the sound. In the distance, I see a figure of a boy running around, gracefully avoiding Mushrooms as they charge past him.

"Hey, he needs help..." Nicolas starts to say when I stop him.

"Look, it's like he's toying with them." I tell to Luke and Nico, pointing at the boy. The boy was now gathering the Mushrooms to one spot. He unslings his bow from his shoulder, and knock an arrow from his quiver. With a yell, he shoots the arrow into the ground. A force of wind make the boy fly into the air.

The boy pulls out two arrows in the air and knocks them in his bow. He releases them, which turns blue with energy and explodes upon contact with the Mushrooms. The boy lands in a huge pile of, well, normal mushrooms.

The boy grins and looks up. He finally notices us.

His eyes widen as his smile fades. The boy crouches onto the ground and starts to collect the mushrooms.

I look at Nico and Luke. Something was off.

The boy finished collecting the mushrooms into a bag as we reach him. The boy stands up, and without looking at us, starts running towards the east, down the Black Road.

"Hey!" I shout as I start running after the boy. He ignores me as he starts to gain speed. I grit my teeth and will my elf-blood to take over. My legs start to move extremely fast, and the distance between the boy and me starts to get smaller.

I grasp at the boy's shoulder as to stop him. The boy whirls around and releases an arrow right at my face. I dodge to the side, but I feel the sharp pain of the arrow catching and yanking off a few of my hair. The boy knocks another arrow, but I jump and land behind him.

"Why..." I start to say when I feel a fist connect to my ribs. I gasp and stagger back as the boy steps forward.

So fast. It was so fast, I couldn't feel or see the punch coming.

The boy points his bow at my face.

A shape tackles the boy to the side. The arrow buries itself into the ground next to my right ear.

Nico and the boy get up at the same time. Behind Nico, Luke shouts, "Hardà!"

The boy gives a small oof as he is sent spiraling into the air as if he was hit by some kind of force. He lands on his side and groans.

Nico pull me up as Luke comes running. "Thanks." I say to both of them.

We go over to the boy. As Nico approaches, the boy reaches for his bow. Luke kicks it away.

The boy growls. "I know you took Zeena, you traitorous scums!"

"What are you talking about?" Nico says.

"Stop acting innocent. Just because you're young doesn't make you innocent of your crime for being a bandit."

"Bandit?" I say. "We're no bandits."

"They why are you armed? Why are you cloaked? Why are you heading to Ternaves? Why were you in that evil doctor's house?"

Luke sighs. "We're Ragni soldiers."

The boy opens his mouth. He looks genuinely surprised. "Ragni... soldiers?"

"Yes." Nico says. "We were heading to Ternaves because we needed to stay there for a night."

"Why not Detlas, then?" The boy asks suspiciously.

"There are a few people we want to avoid."

"Humph." The boy sits up. He doesn't reach for his bow. "I guess that if you were bandits, you would already have killed me." He looks up at us. "Sorry for the way I acted."

"It's fine." I say. I pick the boy's bow up and hand it to him. He nods and stands up.

"I'm Daila. People call me Day."

"I'm Nicolas." Nico says. "This is Lucius and Katherine." I smile.

"Day, what did you mean by when you said about bandits in Ternaves?" Luke says.

Day looks away from us, towards the direction of Ternaves. "About a week ago, powerful bandits with strong magical powers started attacking our town. They didn't dare attack us full on, not when we had little of what was left of Almuj's army helping us. They did slip between our guards, however, and stole our horses, and kidnaped some of us."

"That's horrible." I say.

"They took my stepsister, Zeena." Day clenches his fist. "The bandits are too powerful for the Almuj soldiers. I'm sure for Ragni ones, too. Who's your captain?"

"This guy called Mestin." Nico says. "And we're not..."

"You're one of his?" Day suddenly brightens up. "That's great!"

"Why?" Luke asks.

"Mestin's squad is one of the strongest in the whole of Wynn. He was a great warrior, as good as Ragnar, but he was crippled in an accident and he can't fight anymore. If you're in Mestin's squad, and you're working alone, you must be powerful!"

I shift uncomfortably. "Well, I'm not sure if we will meet up to your expectations. But we'll help in any way we can."

Day nods. "I understand. Would you assist the people of Ternaves to banish the bandits from our village?"

Nico nods and smiles. "That's what we're here for."


***


I walk down the night street with three other young girls around thirteen to twenty. Day had told us that the bandits normally targetted women for kidnapping. I found it outrageous, and so did these girls. They personally volunteered for this job.

The three girls, Mina, Nemula, and Zara looks very comfortable in each other's presence. I try to join in their conversations, and they try to accept me in, but we just end up separated.

It doesn't matter. I think. I'm different from them: what was bad about that? I fiddle with my hidden dagger on my thigh. The others had weapons hidden under their dress. This type of weapons is called frying pans.

Zara, the thirteen-year-old girl, giggles loudly to Nemula's joke. This was one of our plans: to draw the bandits' attention out by making loud noises.

We are about to turn the corner, out of the alley, when I see a figure standing in front of us. The girls slow down, starting to look worried. I look back and see three figures in hoods. Another man joins the figure in the front of us.

I smile. Five to one. A fair fight, it was.

We wait for them to come closer. Mina looks up fearfully at the man in front of her. "Excuse me." She says in a soft voice. "Anything we can help you with?"

The man grins, revealing his yellow, crooked teeth. "Of course, missy." He says. "You'll be coming with us."

The other four rush forward to grab each of us. Zara, Mina, and Nemula scream and struggle as the bandits grab them. I wait for the man to come to me, then grab his outstretched arm and twist it with all my power. The bandit screams and fall to the ground. I kick him hard under his chin, and he loses consciousness.

The other bandits cry in alarm. I draw my hidden dagger, a wicked blade retrieved from the Decrepit Sewers, and swing it in a circle around me. The girls all jump to the ground, just as my Spell takes effect. Green particles spin around me, cutting the wooden wall and the bandits' clothes.

The bandits snort and draw their weapons. I smile.

"Come, humans." I say. "Let's see what you've got!"

I jump and cast a Vanish spell. I land silently behind one of the bandits and hit him hard with the hilt of my dagger. He collapses down onto the ground. I turn around and give another bandit a roundhouse kick to his chest. He staggers back, the air knocked out of him, and I disable him with a cut on his leg.

I turn around to face the fourth bandit when I see that the girls have hit the man with their frying pans until he lost consciousness. I smile. Zara's eyes widen in fear. "Katherine, look out!" She shouts.

Something heavy hits the back of my head hard. For a moment, light flash in my vision. I fall to the ground, as the last bandit place his heavy boots onto my back. I gasp in pain.

"Too bad, soldier." The bandit growls. "Your operation ends here."

I summon a Smoke Bomb and throw it onto the ground beneath me. The bandit staggers back, coughing and wheezing. I jump up and roll my shoulders. With my dagger, I charge again.

I yell as I attack him with a series of extremely fast blows, which can only be seen as blurs. I slowly push the man back.

Why isn't any of my blows hitting him? I think, bewildered.

The man catches my dagger with his own short blade. The man looks at me into the eye and says, "Just because you're a girl doesn't mean I'll go easy on you." He smirks.

I feel a heavy punch hit my ribs, exactly where Day has punched me earlier. It flares up in pain, which weakens my limbs and makes me fall to the ground. I stay there wheezing. I spit blood to the side. The man kicks me again in my stomach. I cry and roll away from him.

The bandit laughs out loud. "I'm stronger than any man!" He shouts at me.

In a flash, I am in front of the man. I see his eyes widen in surprise as he catches my punch with his right hand. He was still fast.

"Let's see if you're stronger than an elf." I grin. I push him with all my power, and send him reeling back. I jump, spin midair, and grab his shoulder. I curl my legs around the man's neck as we fall to the ground. I squeeze tight, blocking his windpipe. I use my arms for extra power.

I whisper to him, "Too bad, pig." The man struggles in vain at first, but he becomes still soon after.


Next Chapter: https://forums.wynncraft.com/threads/angels-and-demons-chapter-24.179273/