"Don't make this harder than it needs to be." A gruff-looking man stepped toward the girl brandishing a dagger. His expression was distorted by the shadows cast by the dense canopy overhead, but she didn't have to see his face to know that he was smiling. "I promise to make it quick," He said condescendingly.
The girl took a breath. "I said..." Determination flashed in her eyes as she took a step further into the shadows. "Get away." Her voice sounded like a distant echo as she seemed to vanish entirely,
Isabelle and Egan paused for a moment.
"Where did she go?" whispered Isabelle.
"I don't know I can't tell."
"She looked like she was in pain," said Isabelle, recalling how the girl was holding her chest. "We should find her quickly—"
THUD
A loud thumping sound caught their attention. Creeping closer, they were met with the man from before being viciously thrown around by his own shadow. He was flung passed them and into a tree. It looked as though he still had some fight left in him despite his thrashing. He stumbled to his feet, fighting back the aching in his head. A scowl made its way onto his face when his vision finally focussed and his gaze settled on the pair in the bushes.
"Who the hell—"
"Uh oh. I think we've been spotted," said Isabelle.
Egan chuckled. "I'm surprised he can walk let alone see straight after a beating like that."
The man grasped his dagger tight and lunged at them with the ferocity of a crazed animal.
"Looks like he didn't get enough. Should we teach him a lesson?"
Egan smiled. "You should learn when to give up. You're only going to embarrass yourself like this.
The pair swiftly dodged the man's attack. Isabelle's skin became cool to the touch as it lost its colour completely and was turned to stone. She smashed her fist together, shattering the spirit stones on her rings. When the stones were shattered, out came two small gargoyles.
"Val! Halla! Do your thing!" Encouraged Isabelle.
The small round gargoyles chirped with excitement and rolled into each other, their forms crumbling as they moulded together. Isabelle's fingertips glowed in a mystical shade of blue as she grabbed a hold of them and worked her magic. From her hands sprouted a large stone mallet that was decorated with the same patterns that littered the bodies of her familiars.
The man picked himself up and lunged toward them again. This time though he was met with scattering chunks of stone as Isabelle brought her mallet down in one swift motion, sending dirt and dust everywhere and raising a small stone wall that separated them from the man. Behind her, Egan was readying a shot from his bow. Flames sparked from his hands as he lit the arrow on fire. As soon as he was ready, Isabelle brought the barrier down and he let his arrow loose.
Still disoriented, the man barely had time to process the barrier going down before the arrow came flying towards his head. In a fit of panic, he fell onto his back, the arrow just barely grazing the side of his face. Before he could get up, Isabelle's form was looming over him with her mallet over her head.
"W-Wait! Please! I'm just carrying out an order I—"
Without a shred of hesitation, Isabelle swung her mallet once more, crushing one of his knees. A shrill wail erupted from his throat as the pain surged through him. Resting her mallet on her shoulder, Isabelle stepped back a bit, letting Egan walk over to him.
"Who gave you the order to hunt these people?" Asked Egan.
Despite his shattered bones, the man seemed unwilling to share any more than he already had. Rolling his eyes, Egan sparked up another ball of fire in his hands.
"I promise whatever you're scared of them doing to you, we'll do far worse if you don't start talking. Now would you rather I melt your eyes right out of your head, or do you prefer my friend here to take another swing at you? I should warn you though, she's quite the hard hitter, although it seems you've already found that out the hard way," he said, gesturing towards the broken leg that the man was desperately clinging to.
A whimper ripped through him when Isabelle raised her mallet again. "WAIT! I'll talk! Some nobles came to our guild and made a request. They didn't give us a whole lot of information. They just told us to clean up some facility over on the outskirts."
Isabelle glanced at the crossed swords sewn into the man's tunic. She recognized it to be the crest of a Southern mercenary guild. "What facility did they want destroyed?"
"I-I don't...I don't remember!" The man huffed exasperatedly. "Listen if you let me go I'll give you a cut of my pay! I'll do anything just—"
The mallet came crashing down again, this time between the man's legs. He swallowed his remaining pleas, meekly looking up at Isabelle who was smiling sweetly at him.
Egan yanked the man to his feet. "We don't want your money. We want you to screw off," he said, pushing him forward.
The man struggled to stay standing with his broken leg. "I'll go! I'll leave now! I promise!"
"Good, good. Just a warning though. We won't spare your life a second time. If we see you around here again we'll do more than break a leg."
Isabelle giggled. "I don't think any amount of money is worth your life sir. You should take better care of yourself!"
The man nodded frantically before hobbling away as fast as he could, leaving Isabelle and Egan seemingly by themselves.
Isabelle looked around cautiously. "Where did that girl go?"
"...You can come out now! We're not enemies!"
Egan's call was met with nothing more than the quiet rustle of leaves from above.
"We're members of the resistance. We're not here to hurt you," said Isabelle holding up a Solarian crest.
Silence followed once more but just as they were thinking about giving up, a shadowy mass began to form in front of them and from it stepped the girl from before. Her chest heaved as she struggled to take breaths.
"Hel-help..."
"Hey, are you—"
Before Isabelle could finish her sentence, the girl's legs gave way. Luckily Isabelle managed to catch her before she hit the ground. "...She passed out...let's carry her back home so she can get treatment."
Isabelle's mallet shattered as Val and Halla made their way back onto her rings. Settling in, spirit stones formed over them once more and Isabelle carefully lifted the girl onto Egan's back. She gently held her close, making sure she wouldn't fall off as Egan took off, the sound of his hooves echoing through the empty forest as they left.102Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCNXOXc5ZbB
