(Lara’s POV)

I, Lara Bronston, comforted my daughter and son while we are locked in this cell. We were returning from a visit to the capital of the Ira Kingdom to our home, the Faye Fortress, ruled by my husband, Duke Bronston, who is now sick.

Our voyage was secret, so I doubt that these bandits know who they have captured, since they mentioned that they would send a ransom letter to Faye. When my husband notices that we have not arrived, he will be worried and will send a detachment to search for us.

We have at least three days until we are rescued. Until there, I have to make sure that these filthy bandits don’t come near my daughter or my son. I look up, to the barred window. The stars shine through the bars, with the moon shining through.

I hear the sound of the door at the end of the corridor opening, and steps coming through the corridor. A pair of vulgar laughs echo through the cell.

(Lara): “Mary, John, stay behind me.”

I say, putting my son and daughter behind me. The servants also go to the back of the cell. Two bandits appear in front of my cell, both with red faces and reeking of alcohol, clearly drunk. Seeing me, one of them says:

(Bndt 1): “Look at that! We kidnaped a blonde beauty today!”

(bndt 2): “Yeah… the raid group came back with something good!”

The start to laugh, opening the cell and coming in, daggers in hand. One of them grabs my arm and pulls my face close to his, and says to his comrade:

(bndt 1): “Watch the others, I’m going to have fun with this one!”

(bndt 2): “Sure, just let me have a round later too!”

The others watch, too terrified to move as the bandit rips my dress over my chest, exposing my breasts. How humiliating! I cry as he licks my face. However, before he could force a kiss, something falls on the ground behind him. He releases me, annoyed.

I also open my eyes, free from his grasp. Behind him, on the ground, his comrade is on the ground, his back turned to us. However, his face, with a dirty smile, is looking to us over his shoulder, blood dripping from his lips.

The bandit sees his comrade on the ground and can’t process what he is seeing immediately. While he is stunned, a Shadow appears behind him, coming out from nowhere, cover his mouth and raises a dagger, burying it on the neck of the bandit.

He struggles for a few seconds and stops moving. The Shadow lays down the man slowly, not making any noise. The Shadow than turns around, stepping in the moonlight, allowing me to finally see its identity.

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A hooded figure with it’s face covered by a mask. Taking a blanket out of nowhere, he quickly approached me. I tried to get away from it, but he was quicker. It passed it’s arms under my arms, as if hugging me. He then pulled back, wrapping the blanket around me, tying it up and covering my exposed chest.

(Lara): “T-thank you.”

(Shadow): “Can you walk?”

The Shadow asked. I nodded, and he helped me to stand up. He then helped the others to stand up, saying:

(Shadow): “Follow me. We don’t have much time. The fire should start by now.”

(Mary): “Fire?”

My daughter asked, confused. Suddenly, a commotion started outside. The Shadow passed by me, grabbing my hand, and pulling outside of the cell.

(Shadow): “Quickly!”

We followed the Shadow to the exit. As we approached, I asked in a low voice:

(Lara): “What about the guards?”

(Shadow): “Don’t worry about them.”

When we got to the exit, two guards were standing there… no, not standing. Both were hanging by the neck on both sides of the door. It was dark, so it was hard to see, even from up close. On the other side of the road cutting through the fort, the houses of the bandits are burning greedily, lighting up the night.

The Shadow pushes me back inside the prison, hiding just behind the wall as bandits from the houses behind us run to the other side because of the fire. After they were gone, Shadow guided us to the houses behind the prison.

(Shadow): “Silence until the wall. If they discover us, it’s the end.”

I nodded at the blue eyes looking from under the hood. My son hugged me, my daughter held the blanket wrapped around me. Me and the servants followed Shadow through the houses is silence.

The place was almost deserted, with no one around because of the fire. Well, almost. One or two bandits were sitting outside their houses drinking and talking, worried about the fire, but no doing anything to help.

As if he knew the place, Shadow guided us through the houses. In a few minutes, we arrived at the limit of where the houses are, and there’s a wide space until the wall. We went in straight line.

I noticed that we passed over a line of piles of rocks in regular intervals, with a rope connecting them, going under the stones. Before I could even feel confused, we stopped at the wall, where a rope is waiting for us, with five loose knots.

Taking the rope, Shadow loosened even more one of the knots, and throws it around me, tightening it around my waist.

(Shadow): “I will tie you guys together and pull all of you over the wall. After we get up there, I will drop you guys slowly on the other side. Understood?”

I nodded, helping him to tie my children and the servants. Taking the end of the rope, he tied it to his belt and jumped on the wall, climbing it as fast as if he was running. After he got to the top, I felt a tug on the rope, and suddenly, the tug got way stronger, and I was pulled from the ground.

This Shadow… has an amazing physical strength! It is as if ten men were pulling ups five up without any difficult! However, when I get to the top, he is completely alone, pulling us. As he pulls up the last person, the coachmen, we hear a scream:

(Bandit): “The prisoners are escaping!”

I look back at the houses. Mora than twenty bandits are coming in our direction, with some more also responding to the call of the bandit that did the call. I almost panicked, but the calm voice of Shadow made me feel a bit more safe.

(Shadow): “They discovered us later than I imagined. Well, at least my trap won’t go unused.”

He says, taking out a throwing knife from the pouch on his back, saying:

(Shadow): “Don’t untie the rope, and get down.”

He says, throwing the knife on the direction of the bandits. However, he misses badly, hitting the ground. But when the dagger hits the ground, it hits a stone, and creates sparks on the rope that’s near, of the stone where the knife hit.

The rope easily ignites, creating a line of fire on the field below. Pushing my back, Shadow forces me to crouch, and orders for the others crouch as well. My confusion for this action vanished when I heard successive strong explosions.

From here, I could see the stone piles exploding, throwing them at high speed, piercing the bodies of the bandits, killing a lot of them and injuring even more.

(Shadow): “To the other side of the wall, the horses are on the forest, just behind the trees.”