Chapter 7 - The Wolf and the Eagle.

Chapter 7 - The Wolf and the Eagle.

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Alexius

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This is bad. Seriously bad!

The bandits already looked menacing enough, but one stood out above the others. He was a bandit who wielded a sword, and he was serious trouble.

His open tunic was a faded red, the kind of worn cloth that looked stained from multiple battles. The tunic was hanging loosely on his shoulders, exposing his chest and abdomen like a pirate. His body was well-built, with a toned torso and defined abs.

With just one look, I already knew this was going to be tough. Even in a fair one-versus-one, my rusty dagger was not standing a chance against him. And this wasn’t one-on-one. This was one against five.

He leveled his blade at me, ordering in a harsh tone,

“Get him. Make him pay!”

Three of the bandits charged at me, their daggers gleaming.

Woosh, a sharp rush of air breezed by me as a dagger aimed at my face came at incredible speed. I jerked my head violently to the side, and I saw bits of hair break free and float down.

Another bandit, whom I will call bandit two, lunged in the same instant, his dagger sliced across my arm, drawing blood. A sharp pain flared as blood spilled out of the wound.

The third bandit circled wide, cutting off my escape. Further behind him stood the previous coward, moving hesitantly to join the trap.

Yet still, the swordsman didn’t move. He stood composed, with his eyes locked on me like a wolf.

My back slammed into something as a frozen jolt shot up my spine: the ice wall. The bandits spread out in front of me, and I came to a sudden realization that I, like an animal, had been trapped.

Sweat blurred my vision as I blinked hard, tightening my grip on my dagger. My hands shook with fear, and I clenched my teeth, preparing for the inevitable pain.

“Die already!”

The first bandit, clearly offended by the fact that I wasn’t a mangled corpse yet, lunged at me recklessly. His eyes burned with a raging bloodlust, but at that moment, I saw an opening.

I twisted my wrists, parrying his jab aside with my dagger. A sharp clang rang out as our daggers scraped against each other. Then, before he could recover, I took a step forward and drove my dagger into him. His eyes flew wide open, then slowly, the light drained from them, and he crumpled to the dirt.

“Brother!!”

Bandit number two roared, his face twisting with rage.

“How dare you!”

A flash of light cut toward me from the right, and I threw myself left in a desperate dodge.

Luckily, the dagger missed, but my momentum carried me to the ground in a clumsy roll. My palms scraped against the dirt as I scrambled back to my feet; then, my stomach dropped.

Towering over me, the sword bandit stood. His blade was already raised, ready to come down and split my skull.

Ah, he had been observing the whole time, waiting for me to slip. It’s over! The wolf was closing in on the cornered prey.

Crack! His head exploded in a violent spray. Shards of ice flew out from the ruin along with splinters of bone and flesh.

I staggered back, stunned, and slowly turned.

And there she was: Melanie, perched calmly on the ice wall, her eyes sharp as an eagle’s, and her mouth curled into a smug grin.

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Melanie

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I knew I had said it before, but Alexius was seriously stupid.

Are you kidding me? I’d already warned you about a bandit ambush ahead. All you had to do was be the bait, and I would handle the rest with my ranged projectiles and traps.

Instead, the dithering idiot started yelling at me and, of course, gave away our location.

No time to listen to his complaints. If the bandits realized their ambush had failed, they would come out immediately.

Just as I expected, I saw movements in the dense canopy ahead.

I turned around and bolted. I wasn’t about to get myself dragged into a close-quarters fight. Not that I couldn’t handle it. I could create a hardened ice armor to protect myself, and my nineteen previous lives taught me a fair amount of basic combat skills. But why get cocky? Close combat was risky and completely avoidable.

But thanks to Alexius, a hand-to-hand skirmish was inevitable. Well then, good luck, Alexius, because I ain’t getting dragged in your mess.

After that, I quickly formed an ice wall behind me, blocking the path behind and leaving Alexius with the bandits.

Channeling even more magic, I raised a pillar of ice beneath me, lifting myself onto the wall.

From there, I peered over. The five bandits were closing in on Alexius. Keeping my head low, I observed each one carefully. The three who rushed first? Hot-headed idiots without a doubt.

Looking further off, I noticed the previous bandit hesitantly creeping forward. The sword-wielding bandit, still motionless, was clearly sizing up the situation as I was, making me conclude that he was the leader.

Alexius wasn’t exactly helpless, though. For a sixteen-year-old kid, he had some serious skills. He dodged and weaved between the bandits with ease. I wonder where he learned to fight like that.

I had already channeled my ice magic into a sharp icicle, ready to launch it at a moment's notice. However, Alexius seemed to be handling himself, so I continued watching…waiting.

Not yet, I couldn’t reveal my surprise until the leader got closer.

Then, it happened. Alexius lost his balance, rolling on the ground in a desperate attempt to recover. The sword bandit moved in, raising his blade to finish him off.

That was my cue. I fired.

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Jebs

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I had known somethin’ twas off from the very start, but I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. A girl wanderin’ alone in the forest. Should’ve been easy pickings…or at least that was how it was supposed to go.

Times had been both easy and hard for us bandits. Easy ‘cause Valoria’s patrols had thinned, hard ‘cause most folks carried little worth. Still today…today went completely wrong.

The lad…the boy…he was a monster. He’d knifed our first boss straight through the neck like nothin’. No mercy, no guilt. And he wasn’t done either. He dodged my brethren’s attacks like he was playing, and killed another before I could blink.

And the girl…she was stranger still. She saw us and ran. And yet I knew better than to think she was afraid. The moment I saw that ice wall, my gut screamed trap.

“Blast it all!” I yelled.

But it was too late, our new boss's head blossomed like some frozen flower as an icicle slammed into it at a speed that made me doubt my eyes. My brothers fell left and right, their screams filling the air.

“No! I ain’t dyin’ here!” I shrieked, scramblin’ to run, but then came the searing, frozen pain.

I looked down to discover that my belly was gone, replaced by a jagged hole lined with ice. My feet slipped as I fell into the dirt. Darkness began to creep in.

Then, everything went black.

~ End of chapter ~