Dust billowed behind a team of horses along a trail. The bandits riding them held a desperate attitude and their eyes were locked onto the distant dust of their target. The leader of the group noticed the large dust cloud branching off and his expression turned dark.
He gestured to 6 men on his side to follow that branching trail. Moments later, another branch broke off. The leader paled once more as he knew dividing their forces would only hinder their chances, however he had no choice. Once again, a group was signaled to break off.
The main group continued their chase down the road meeting up with various scouts along the way to get an idea of the situation. The small boost in troop numbers helped to refill the numbers that split off earlier, yet it did little to encourage the man. Their lives were on the line and until he had the head of the girl in his hands, his nerves wouldn’t settle down.
Finally, the men reached where Sol branched off from the main trail. The leader nearly passed the side trail, however his eyes caught the series of broken twigs and branches diving deeper into the forest. Despite Leory’s efforts, it remained too difficult to cover the tracks of a team of horses. The leader halted his men and hesitated for a moment.
It was clear they were catching up to the carriage in the distance, but he couldn’t allow any opportunity for the girl to escape. He split half his team and sent the men into the trail. The designated troop leader took command and issued the order to chase while the other leader ordered his men to chase the carriage.
Branches, twigs, brushes, and fallen limbs littered the trail, yet the men pushed in. The initial evidence became more obvious as the forest became more dense. It was nearly impossible to claim a team didn’t escape through the trail. As the evidence became more obvious, the bloodlust in the trailing team started to rise.
Sol and Leory were only a few hundred meters from the trail when they heard the horses neighing and the iconic pounding of the horses. Both of them could easily discern the team had at least 12 horses from the impacts traveling through the ground. Despite their distance, Sol and Leory remained hidden on the far side of a tree. They had only split off from their horse 5 minutes ago.
The horses might be fast, however they still had to break through the cluttered forestry. Sol did her mental calculations and was terrified to conclude that those men who acted as a decoy for them would engage the tracking team in only 2-3 more minutes. The moment the that group realized there was an empty horse with the Knights, it wasn’t too far fetched that they would immediately scour the edges of the trail.
Sir Leory wasn’t faring much better than Sol. His brows were furrowed at his own thoughts. He was hoping they’d have a few more minutes before the team found them. His gaze drifted to the young girl peeking from the tree beside him. She must have felt the attention as Sol turned to look at him with a grim expression.
Her eyes were filled with slight guilt and pity as she said. “Sir Leory, we might have gotten unlucky.”
Leory chuckled at the girl’s expression. Despite the terrible situation they were in, the girl looked adorable to him. He patted her head and revealed a smile.
“No worries, Lady Reviarra. It’s not that big an issue yet, but we need to start preparing. If you have any ideas, let me know.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t have any ideas himself, it was just they all eventually left Sol alone in the end. He knew the state of Dominatic Forest. The odds of surviving on your own as a trained fighter were already slim. Toss in her youth and health and Sir Leory couldn’t see a chance of survival in the girl’s future.
As if to read his mind, Sol held a wry smile. Despite that, her mind never ceased working. Her gaze drifted to the forest canopy and then to the sky beyond it. Near midday. They still had 6 hours of sunlight before predators became active. She grasped the hand petting her and smiled at the man with a wide grin.
“There’s only about 12 of them. We have the element of surprise and they’re limited in how long they can effectively search. There’s no dogs, so they can’t track us down quickly. Before they catch up to the men sent ahead of us, we should prepare our traps.”
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Sol had a degree of trust in the Knight’s combat abilities. If the group hunting them didn’t out number them so badly, Sol would have chosen a direct engagement instead. However, that was no longer a choice. The two escapees waited a few seconds after the bandits passed them before sprinting deeper into the forest.
As they rushed, Sol made sure to gather vines and any other material potentially usable. Her mind was working in overdrive and ideas for contraptions she never knew of flowed through her mind. Her surprise was only momentary due to the situation and she digested the plans on the move.
Sol and Leory continued their trek while gathering supplies. They had only made it 2-3 kilometers into the forest before they heard the first signs of their trackers. Perhaps a horse came across a snake or maybe it was being pushed too hard inside unfamiliar terrain, however the creature neighed loudly enough to notify Leory and Sol.
The two nodded at each other before setting off once more. Left behind them were crude traps. Nothing too durable could be laid down however by funneling the trackers into another natural trail, the traps could at least be focused.
While Sol and Leory were rushing down the trail, they heard the sound of their first victim. The bandits must have been impatient as they rushed the horses down the trail. The horse stepped between a few vines and slipped on a few stacked stones. It’s leg immediately buckled and tangled in the vines. Weight carried it forward and a sickening crack resounded as the horse’s leg snapped at its joint.
The resounding screams weren’t enough to tell if the man riding the horse was affected, however the horse was certainly knocked out of commission. Not only that, Sol was confident the remaining bandits would slow their pace slightly after being bitten.
Her lungs were burning from the overexertion and despite being inside a forest shaded by leaves, the humidity and heat started to get to her. Sol only managed to run another 10 minutes before tripping over her own legs. She felt as if the exhaustion stemmed from her soul. Despite knowing the risks of stopping, Sol found herself unable to press on.
Leory knew the Lady was weak and forgoed all courtesies. His gait hardly stumbled when he reached down and snatched Sol from the ground. The girl was wheezing in his arms for air, however they just didn’t have the luxury of stopping to rest. He did what he could to toss her onto his back and keep running. Attached to his side was a small bag holding many of the resources they collected along the way.
While Leory was carrying Sol, the bandits tracking the two were rather unlucky. Sol and Leory thought their trap only snagged one horse, however the group was traveling in a tight pack to help speed the chase up. Once the lead horse went down, it took out the immediate horse behind it as well. As for the bandit atop the first horse, he became a new crumpled smear across the ground flattened by the horse behind him.
The bandits cursed out over their loss, however they did little to slow down as Sol hoped for. Despite losing a man and two horses, the team pressed forward as quickly as before. The only difference being two men atop one horse. Their decision to maintain their speed only proved how desperate the men were, however it also provided Sol and Leory opportunity.
Initially, Sol had Leory set up a few cheap contraptions. She never expected most of them to work, but as it only took a few seconds to create each one, she hoped a few of them would at least slow the team down. Had she known how effective her ‘simple’ traps were, Sol would have rejoiced.
Undeterred by their first fall, the bandits never looked into how the horse tripped. Their goal was to catch Sol and the forest was filled with hazards. A horse tripping on a trail in terrain it was unused to seemed to be normal. As such, the men pushed on following the trail and occasional footprints at full speed.
Just as the team turned the trail between two trees at full speed, their faces blanched at the sight of 6 thick vines stretched across the trail at various heights. The men stood no chance with such little warning. Their horses ran under vines slamming their riders straight into them. Three of the men bailed off their horse taking only slight damage from the roll.
A few more ran straight into the vines and were knocked from their horse. They were injured, but it was nothing serious. Two of the men however were incredibly unlucky. It was unknown if it was on purpose, however two of the vines came loose from one of their anchors and whipped around their necks. As the horses carried the men through the vines, the vines turned taunt and snapped the men’s necks.
The dozen men then became 9. The horses remained unaware of their riders' plight and continued for a few hundred meters before stopping to graze. Each bandit struggled to their feet and the team exchanged frustrated glances with each other. They limped and ran as fast as they could to the horses before continuing their pursuit. This time, however, the team slowed their pace slightly. Their faces held a solemn look as if the fear of death had calmed them down.
Pushing further into the trail, the men came across a small stream. At first glance, they were unable to see any evidence of their prey in the river or the bank immediately across from them. The leader cursed out in frustration before dividing the team in three directions. He sent a team upstream, downstream, and took his own team directly across the river.