Elizabeth stayed with Luna when she was about to sleep for the next two days. Luna had to admit that if the child stayed by her side, the nightmares would stop, and she was extremely grateful to her for that. They've made great strides through the countryside and are almost out of Ostrin. The walled sea will be visible once they passed through the province. With luck, they'll be able to find a boat and sail to Aspana.

By the fifth day in Ostrin, Sylvie and Baldric, riding on the mechanical horse, which he named Caesar were riding ahead and acted as their scouts. They saw something ahead and ordered the landraider to stop.

It was a poorly planned ambush. The heads of the people can be seen in the bushes. As the two of them crept up on the ambushers, Luna got down and joined them. But it became more disturbing as they got closer.

They were children's bodies. The dead children were propped up with sticks and poles to resemble an ambush. Both of them looked closely, and among them was a boy with a sealed letter in his mouth. On the message was Luna’s name, and it was written in blood. With her ears pounding, she opened the letter and found a note.

It was a ransom note saying that an orphanage in a nearby town was being held hostage and the only way to save them was to bring Princess Elizabeth to the town and surrender her. They promised one death of a child a day if she ignored them. As Baldric read the note, Luna shook with rage.

"It’s a trap." Baldric said to her, but Luna had an incredibly pained look on her face. "It’s an obvious trap." He repeated.

"I know." She rubbed her face in frustration as she gritted her teeth.

"So we keep going." When Luna looked up, she saw that Baldric had regretted saying those words. "Luna. We are so close."

Her chest felt tight and she couldn’t even say anything.

"Luna." Baldric held her by the shoulders. "We cannot save everyone."

"We can’t leave them." Luna said shakily. “Baldric, we can’t leave them. I’m killing them."

"You're not!" He shook her. "You did not do this!" Luna however, shook her head. "We will hunt every single one who was behind all this, but not now. We bring Elizabeth home, and then we will go after them all. I swear."

Luna knew Baldric was right, but the thought of abandoning innocent children to die because of her broke her heart. Baldric was concerned about how they knew how to get under Luna's skin by using children against her as they made their way back.

=0o0=

The day passed, and they continued on, but they came across many more corpses, all of which had the same note written on their bodies. Baldric observed Luna's reaction. She wasn't saying anything, and her hands and fingers trembled relentlessly.

Baldric noticed Luna weeping away from everyone that night. He stayed a safe distance away from her as he listened to Luna beg, pray, and cry for forgiveness. Baldric prayed for Luna as he listened to her agony because he didn't know what else to do.

=0o0=

The following day was more of the same. The closer they got to Gairton, the last major city on Ostrin's outskirts, the more corpses with notes they discovered. They were still a few days away, but Baldric was certain they would find more.

No one spoke when they camped to rest and maintain the Landraider that night. Luna stayed away from everyone and even declined when Annie and Tinkerton-G brought her some food or when Baldric and Ada offered her some water. None of them could do anything but watch the anguish that was destroying her.

Elizabeth made an attempt, and she, along with Willow and Shiny, approached Luna and offered her some bread. Luna simply looked at them before continuing to stare into the distance. The child insisted on taking the bread until it was close to her face. Luna took a piece and held it in her fingers before returning it to her. She took it and ate it as Luna stroked her head and gave Elizabeth a weak smile.

=0o0=

The next morning, Luna rode on Caesar, and along with Sylvie, they scouted ahead. They were close to a nearby town when they saw people running towards them. At first, Luna thought it was an attack, but both of them saw they were unarmed and yelling for help. It was a crowd of families and various people fleeing away from the town. One teenager carrying an infant ran up to her.

"Help us! Help us please!"

"What is going on?" Luna stopped Caesar.

My mother and my sisters! They are taking them! They killed my father! Please help us!"

"Baldric, are you all hearing this?!" Luna said to Sylvie, who was communicating the message back to the landraider.

"Unfortunately, yes." Baldric’s voice came out of Sylvie.

"We can't ignore this!"

"Luna I know you mean well, but we don’t-"

"I don’t care anymore! Stay here! I'm going in alone!"

"Luna don’t-"

Luna reared Caesar and rode towards the town.

When Luna arrived, she saw bounty hunters, undeniable bounty hunters, fully armed and wreaking havoc on the town. They were openly targeting civilians while burning down houses. Luna flared with rage as she charged in with Caesar.

The bounty hunters saw her and started firing back, but Luna was proving too fast for them to hit. She leapt off of Caesar and started engaging them with her staff and pistol. While the mechanical horse kicked and trampled any that dared get too close.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

When the bounty hunters knew they were starting to get overpowered, someone barked an order that Luna heard as well.

"Aim for the civilians! Split her attention!"

Some of the bounty hunters increased their attacks on civilians, and their strategy worked.

No matter how skilled Luna was, she could not be everywhere all at once. The bounty hunters were now targeting her as she rushed to assist the residents. The bullets were deflected by her coat and hat, but Luna could feel the impact of the hits beneath. When the bounty hunters began yelling about her reinforcements, she was cornered.

Luna peered out from behind cover to see Sylvie and Baldric riding into town, both their guns blazing. More bounty hunters arrived at their location, and the fight quickly became even, but some of the hunters had gotten to the rooftops and gained high ground. They began firing down, causing Baldric and Luna to take cover.

Then they heard the sound of a gattling cannon and realized the landraider had arrived in town. Annie manned the cannon, firing continuous freeze rounds. She wore parts of her handyman armour as cover and easily dispatched the hunters. Willow burst from the landraider and began attacking the hunters, with Tinkerton-G riding the large beast.

Luna, Sylvie, and Baldric charged back into the fray, and the three of them were now engaged in a firefight. The bounty hunters were pinned by the gattling cannon and couldn't counter fire.

One hunter, who was hiding in a building, threw a fire grenade at the landraider, narrowly missing Annie. It exploded, and she had to jump out as the fire spread. The bounty hunters began throwing fire bombs and grenades at the landraider, which ignited the engines. As the landraider began to burn, Annie rushed inside and recovered Elizabeth, Shiny, and Ada's head. As the four of them got out and ran for cover, they were cornered in a building.

Luna fought her way closer to them, but there were far too many obstacles in her way. A bounty hunter broke into the building where Annie and Elizabeth were hiding and recognized the child.

He put on a mask and released a thick purple plume from a canister. He then threw it at them, engulfing Annie and Elizabeth in smoke. The man attacked them from behind while they were coughing, but Annie managed to fight him off. He overpowered her, but Elizabeth used her abilities to send the bounty hunter flying through a wall. Willow caught the man outside and repeatedly slammed him to the ground, breaking all of his bones.

=0o0=

It wasn’t long before the battle outside was finished. They had won the fight, but all of them got injured as well. The civilians, sensing they were saved, assisted in rounding up and apprehending the bounty hunters.

Baldric and Luna came across a hunter who was fleeing. Baldric shot him in the foot, and the man collapsed. Luna stepped on him and thrust her staff into his wound, causing him to howl in pain.

When she turned the man to face them, her eyes widened with horror, then rage.

She knew who it was. It was the same man she left hanging from a tree weeks ago in the mines. His wounds had not even healed and his face was covered with heavy blue bruises, but Luna knew it was him. Enraged, she grabbed his throat.

"You should have killed me." The man smirked, and she slammed him hard on the ground.

All of the destruction around them, all the dead innocents they encountered along the way. All of it was because of her. Everything was her fault. Her hands shook violently but still she held on to the bounty hunters throat.

"Which guild are you from?" Luna roared. But the bounty hunter spat at her defiantly.

"Baldric! Make him talk!"

"You won't break me!"

"Really?! Give me thirty seconds!" Baldric began to restrain him and whisper in his ear. When Luna saw Annie and Elizabeth being escorted by G and Sylvie, she quickly ran up to them.

"Are you two alright? Elizabeth? Annie?"

{We're good} Annie gestured.

"I’m fine." Elizabeth said, and Luna gave them both a quick hug. Then she checked both of them.

"Do you feel anything? No cuts or bruises? If you feel anything, anything at all, you two tell me right away alright?"

"We will." Elizabeth said, while Annie nodded.

"Luna! He’s ready to sing."

Luna approached the bounty hunter and stepped down on the man’s chest.

"What guild are you all from?" She seethed with rage that Baldric stayed close to her.

"No guild ma’am." The man said shakily. "We are freelancers. We have been hired."

"By who?" Baldric asked.

"We don’t know. Someone just meets us, hands us money, and tell us where to attack."

"Who?!" Luna stomped down on the man’s chest. "Who sent you?!"

"They change every time. The first it was a man, then a woman, then a different man the next time, then a different woman after that."

"Why?! Why are you attacking these people?" Luna stepped down harder, causing the man to wheeze in pain.

"We just do what we are told, ma’am. Then after the attack, we were told to fix some corpses and put envelopes-"

Luna stomped hard on the man’s chest repeatedly, then put her foot on the man’s throat and pressed down until his face started to turn blue.

"Luna!" Baldric tried to snap her out of it. "Luna stop! The kids are right here! "

Luna remembered Annie and Elizabeth were watching, so she stepped off. Once the color on the man’s face returned, she stepped down on his chest again.

"Do you know who we are?" Baldric asked.

"You are the castless shadows. There is a bounty of twenty-five million for each of you."

"How many others did you kill?!" Luna lashed out again and struck the man on the ground, repeatedly pummeling him until Baldric held her back. "How many?! Answer me?! How many?!"

"Luna enough!" Baldric pulled her back.

The man had already fallen unconscious, and his face was a bloody mess.

"They killed innocent children to get to us! To get to me! They all deserve to die!" Luna pushed Baldric off and returned to striking the man’s face.

"You are not like them! You are not a murderer! And if you kill them, then you are one of them!"

His words seemed to have reached her as she stopped. As he sputtered out blood, the bounty hunter was barely alive.

"They will pay for their crimes. But not like this."

Luna screamed in frustration and struck the man one last time. Baldric could hear a crack in the man's skull. The townspeople began tying the bounty hunters, and some citizens began striking or throwing rocks at them.

It was futile for Luna, Baldric, Annie, Ada, Tinkerton-G, and Sylvie to put out the fire and save the landraider. It had completely burned down. They did manage to get some of their luggage, weapons, supplies, and belongings out, but the Landraider could never be used again. Luna desperately tried to save Princess Alice's collar, but the fire destroyed it. She knelt on the ground, holding the collar, and watched as her land train burned in front of her eyes. Her hands and fingers kept trembling. Frustrated, she slammed it into the ground to get it back under control. Annie and Baldric intervened quickly to prevent her from further injuring herself.

To compensate for their loss, what they did was take one of the large trucks the bounty hunters were using and make it their own.

As they prepared to leave, the leader of the townspeople thanked them all.

"We will deal with them. We will send for enforcers and soldiers from Gairton, and we will see them punished for what they have done to us and to the others as well. We swear it."

Luna and Baldric shared all the information they had about the other villages, the corpses along the way, and the orphanages being held hostage. Both of them also asked to buy some supplies, but the townspeople shared with them what little they had left in gratitude for what they had done. The town leader shook their hands as he vowed to send help to the other villages.

As they began to drive off, Luna saw the teenager holding an infant who begged her for help. She saw that she had reunited with her mother and siblings.