A chill ran down my spine every time the cart slowed. Judging from the man’s words, we were being taken to the Gelling’s estate, wherever that was. I knew that I could break out of this enclosure with ease; several of us trapped inside could, though what we would do once we did break out was the real question to ask. How many people were out there? I never saw any of them use any magic, so I didn’t know the level of their strength.

What worried me the most, though, was Charlotte’s condition. She had been frightened when they had mentioned Gelling, and her mood was only growing worse as time passed.

After an extended period of worry, the cart came to a complete stop.

The hatch closing them in screeched open to show two shrouded faces framed by the bright sky.

“Get out.” One of them said, stepping back.

Charlotte was the first to exit, her entire body shaking. I followed after her to see at least two dozen people standing around the cart. Outside this ring of people were multiple carts of varying design, carrying multiple kinds of goods to ship.

“Split them up. We’ll have one ship her to Gelling and take the rest back to the hideout.” One of them, possibly the leader, called out.

Several of them moved to the open hatch and started dragging out the girls still inside.

Before they could split them up, though, another voice came from a small distance away.

“There’s been a change!” They shouted.

Their leader raised his arm, gesturing for them all to stop. “Report.” He said, looking down on the man that had just spoken.

“Gelling says that he wants all of them. He’ll pay full price for ‘em.”

“That certainly takes a lot of difficulty out of this for us. Did he say why?” The leader asked.

“No, just that he wants them all.”

“Well, I’m not gonna say no. Load ‘em up!” The leader called out. “We split up. I’ll take the girl and the higher value ones through the bog. The rest of you go through normal routes.”

With that order, we were all forced back into the secret compartments of various carts and split up. I had been put with Charlotte and Clementine in an odd looking cart. You wouldn’t notice unless it had been placed next to several others like it had been. Its bed was higher up, the wheels much larger and wrapped in iron and its team made up of oxen instead of horses.

Any hope that had remained in Charlotte’s eyes was now long gone.

╚╩╩╩╝ Hamil ╚╩╩╩╝

Running with Dame Austen, we quickly arrived at where the carriage had been stowed away. Without a second thought, she drew out her sword and cut the bindings off of a horse and leapt onto its back. Thankfully, the hitch also worked as a rough saddle, so the ride wouldn’t be too bad. Then she grabbed onto my collar like a mother cat would carry her kittens and set me behind her.

Dame Austen urged the horse forward and headed in the direction of Wark’s estate. It was in the direction that we would be going, so it was a good idea to stop by and gather some support.

Stopping at the gates to the estate, I leapt off of the horse. “Keep going. We won’t be far behind.” I said to the lady knight before she urged the horse forward again.

I ran as hard as I could to our home and hurried to Pert’s office to find him together with Licilia and Astrid and Damian.

Seeing me, a shadow passed over Pert’s face. “What happened?” He asked.

“They were taken… The Gelling’s... We need to hurry.”

“What?” He asked again, worried.

“The Gellings kidnapped Jaime.” I answered.

Eyes wide, Pert stood fast, knocking his chair back. ”Gather the guards. We leave immediately.” He turned toward Astrid and Damian and nodded his head.

The two turned and rushed out of the room.

“Was there anyone else?” Pert asked, stepping around his desk.

“Yes. They took Charlotte and everyone else that came with us.”

“That pig’s finally lost his mind…” Pert clenched his fist and I noticed as sparks danced across his knuckles. “If we can catch them, then that’ll give me reason to turn him and his brood to ash.”

“A knight from the Renae’s estate is on her way there.” I explained.

Pert nodded his head and looked down at me. “Tell Astrid and Damian to follow after her. We’ll need an advance party to track them.”

Nodding quickly, I rushed out of the room and outside to see the two Freelancers ordering people around. Before I could approach them though, I felt something brush up against my leg. Looking down, I saw Bark sitting obediently at my feet. I could tell at a glance that it wanted to help. Right as I bent down to pick up the golem, I had a thought. With this many guards leaving the estate, we would be lacking in defense if anything were to happen.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Not this time, Bark. I need you to stay here and protect Licilia and Veria.” I said, patting it on the head.

╚╩╩╩╝ Astrid Nile ╚╩╩╩╝

It had been some time since I last rode a horse, so old bruises were quickly becoming familiar. Damian, on the other hand, looked perfectly fine. He actually looked quite majestic with his long, brown hair blowing behind him like a flag billowing in the wind.

This Dame Austen had a large lead on us, so we were pushing our horses hard to catch up. Luckily neither Damian nor I wore any armor to weigh us down. Normally, a Warrior would carry some kind of weapon, but Damian was firm in his stance on not needing one.

Eventually, a figure on a horse came into view. She looked enough like the very brief description that Hamil had given us, so we figured that we had found who we were looking for.

Pulling up beside her, we slowed our riding speed to match hers.

She turned and looked at us, but before she could say anything, I spoke. “Lord Wark sent us.”

Dame Austen closed her mouth and nodded before focusing ahead. Coming into view was a cart covered with a thick canvas blanket. The Renae’s knight rushed beside the cart and moved in front of it, startling the horses pulling it. The man driving the cart tugged on the reigns to stop them.

“Under orders of Lord Renae, we will search your cargo.” Dame Austen spoke, her eyes vicious.

“Y-yes, ma’am.” The driver stammered, gesturing to his covered cart.

The lady knight met my eyes and glanced back to the cart.

Riding alongside the covering, I grabbed the cover and yanked it upward. Beneath the cover were stacks of neatly folded clothes. Everything looked to be normal.

However, before I could replace the cover, Damian rode to the back of the cart, lifted the cover and shoved his hand beneath the clothes. He was grimacing like I’d never seen before. I heard a click and suddenly the clothes all lifted up as a trapdoor was opened.

“Our covers blo-” The driver tried to shout, but couldn’t finish before Dame Austen drew her sword and, in one quick motion, removed the man’s head.

Several cloaked bandits skulked out from the trees, each of them activating their auras. Who had the advantage? It was hard to say without knowing how many more were still hiding.

Damian climbed down from his horse and looked down into the cavity hidden below the trapdoor. “I’m going to close this again, but don’t be afraid. I’ll be right back, and then we’ll bring you all home.” He then closed the hatch and walked over to me.

I was about to dismount as well when he raised his hand. “These guys use poison, so it’ll be safer for you to stay mobile.”

Without another word, Damian stepped toward one side of the trail and his aura blazed into being.

“You help him. I can take care of the guys on this side.” Dame Austen said, climbing off of her horse and approaching the side opposite of Damian.

Activating my own aura, I glanced back at the lady knight to see her holding a simple stance, no aura. I needed to check on her to make sure that she doesn’t get hurt later. Turning back to Damian, I noticed that he seemed especially tense.

Suddenly, Damian’s hand snapped up. In his fingers was something that looked like a small arrowhead. In one quick motion, he flicked it back into the trees. I heard a gurgling sound and then a heavy thud.

“Fire.” Damian spoke simply, still staring down the bandits just outside of the tree line. “Burn them out.”

Nodding slowly, I raised a hand and summoned a Magic Ring. The spell to use for things like this was harder to make than one would think. Fire, when created by a Mage, would only stay burning as long as the spell was active, even if the conditions were perfect for it to stay burning. The only way around this was to specifically cast a spell to keep the fire burning. Doing this would drain a large amount of mana, despite the simplicity of the spell itself.

From the Magic Ring flowed a stream of glowing red embers and stuck to the base and roots of the trees bordering the road. The embers seemed to be melting through the tree, smoke rising up from where they had been stuck. After a couple of seconds, flames erupted from the trees.

Looking back to the bandits in front of the fire, I paused, wondering why they weren’t moving. Then I noticed that they were looking behind us.

I panicked and turned around, expecting to see Dame Austen in trouble, only to see the exact opposite. She stood, sword still drawn, surrounded by the corpses of at least four men. They’d made no noise whatsoever, but in the span of less than a minute, the lady knight had cut them all down.

Turning back to the bandits still alive, I noticed that there was fear in their eyes. They had frozen in terror, watching their comrades be mercilessly slaughtered.

“Surrender now, and your lives will be spared.” Dame Austen spoke, cleaning the blood from her sword with her pants.

Hearing this, the bandits went berserk and charged forward. Their rampage was stopped short however, as Damian attacked. I’d been by Damian’s side for quite a while now, but I’ve never seen him fight with such… ferocity before. He stopped one man with an elbow to the chest, knocking the wind out of him. This would normally be enough, but Damian didn’t stop there, grabbing the man’s head and crashing it into his knee. He then twisted the man’s arm until it snapped and twisted the wrong way.

Even after seeing this, the other bandits didn’t stand down. It was like they wanted to die.

Dame Austen stepped forward, sword still drawn and cut down all but two of them, leaving only the one that Damian had brutalized and the one he was doing the same to. Not waiting for him to finish, the lady knight grabbed the one still alive and not being beaten by the hair, dragging him a short distance away.

“Who hired you?” She demanded, stepping on the man’s hand.

The man cried out in pain and started sobbing. “Please… just kill me. If I tell you, he won’t let me die. He’ll turn me.” The man started to beg, but Dame Austen didn’t care.

No matter what she did to the bandit, he wouldn’t do anything but beg for death. Sighing, the lady knight drove her sword into the man’s chest. With his last breath, the bandit thanked her and fell limp.

Walking over to Damian who stood over the last bandit remaining, she pushed him back and crouched down to interrogate him, only to receive the same answers as before. Frustrated, she stabbed him in the chest and turned to the cart.

She then turned to me. “Kill the fire and bury the bodies.”

Being commanded like that certainly wasn’t something I liked, but she was right in asking for it.

I cast two spells for the fire, one that choked out the fire and another to drown the embers. Then I cast another that pulled all the bodies under the dirt and covered them.

Nodding her head as I finished, the lady knight stepped back to the cart and opened the trapdoor.

Before she could ask any of them a question, one of them cried out. “They separated us. They said something about taking Charlotte through a bog.”

“If that’s the case, then we have far less time than I thought.” Dame Austen spoke.

Shortly after that, the ground started shaking as a team of soldiers arrived with Hamil and Pert at its head.

We explained the situation to them as fast as we could.

“I know the paths through the bog.” Hamil spoke up. “And one of them leads directly to the Gelling’s estate.”

“Then we need to move as fast as possible.” Pert announced. “We move as light and as quickly as we can.”

The lord ordered a couple of his men to bring the girls home safely and the rest of us continued south.

On our journey, I noticed an odd atmosphere surrounding Damian and the Renae’s knight.

This feeling continued until Dame Austen finally spoke up. “Do you practice the Weeping Fist?”

“Do you practice the Silent Sword?”

Neither of them answered the other’s question, and the mood became even weirder.