The Long Road

Hours had gone by, and yet the storm persisted. It had lightened to some degree, however, it remained. The patter of the horses had become a comforting lull, and Robina felt herself drifting off even as she tried to fight against it. Sleep took her, and she dreamed.

“Dinner will be ready soon dear, why don’t you go find mommy?” A man was preparing dinner in the kitchen, but she couldn’t make out his face.

Robina looked at her hands, and they were smaller. Looking around the room, she couldn’t even see over the countertops. She felt compelled to find her mom, so she stepped out of the room and into a hallway. The hall was long and had lockers on either wall, stretching into the distance. She turned back around only to find that the kitchen had vanished. “Daddy?” she called out, but there was no answer.

“Honey, come here!” A woman stood in a doorway, beckoning her to come over. And Robina tried to run, but each step sank her legs further into the floor. She reached out a hand towards the woman, “Mommy!!” but the doorway pulled away from her, leaving her surrounded by darkness. “Please… come back…” she begged, but she was all alone. Suddenly, she saw lights approaching her. “No, no… no!” The lights grew closer, and soon the sound of screeching tires!

“AHHH!!!!” Robina awoke in a cold sweat with a scream, starling the others. She looked at her hands, “ A dream?” she whispered.

“Gave me a fright there, lass. You alright?” Kennedy leaned over to her, unsure of what just transpired.

One of the children hid behind their mother, while the other just stared at the red haired girl. “You scared me… are you troubled, young lady?” the woman asked sympathetically.

Robina looked embarrassed, “I get bad dreams sometimes… sorry everyone.” She waived off Kennedy, and turned away from them to look outside.

“Well, if you-” Kennedy started, but Robina interrupted him with a shushing hand.

“It’s fine,” she clutched her locket “I’m okay.”

Kennedy left her alone, ‘Poor kid, she’s been through a lot.’ He couldn’t help but feel for her.

“Hate to break up whatever it is you’ve got going on back there! But we’ve got bandits!” Mason fearfully yelled back to the passengers. Just ahead of them, a merchant wagon lay capsized and surrounded by a group of bandits. Mason pulled hard on the reins, “We’re stopping here!” The horses slowed quickly almost to a dragging stop. There was still quite some distance between them and the new hostiles. Mason pulled out a crossbow from under his cloak, “Ken, seems I need you!”

Kennedy promptly sprang into action, drawing his sword and exiting the wagon. “Just our luck…” He noticed that Robina was trying to follow him, but he put up a hand to stop her “Hey!! I don’t think you're ready for something like this, lass!”

She shoved his hand out of her face, “You can’t be serious? You’re outnumbered, and I can fight!” She argued but then felt a heavy hand on her shoulder.

“I’ll help too…” it was the other adventurer, they’d exited so fast that she hadn’t even noticed them. “Can you keep them safe?” the adventurer pointed to the mother and her children, who all had looks of dread painted across their faces and tears in their eyes.

“I…I can do that” she replied defeated, but it was clear that they needed to be protected too. Robina drew her sword, “Don’t get killed, you jerk!”

Kennedy smiled, “Just watch, I’m sure you’ll learn something” he nodded at the other adventurer and they made their way to the bandits. Mason kept his crossbow trained on the bandits.

Robina was miffed that she couldn’t join them, and she never really had to protect anyone like this before. ‘I guess protecting them makes sense… but I don’t feel great just watching.’

“Momma, are we gonna be okay?” one of the children asks their mother, and she gives them a reassuring hug before asking them to keep their heads and voices down.

Robina looks over to them, and gives thumbs up. Hoping that that will help keep them a bit calmer, one of the kids returns the gesture before their mother covers them up in a blanket.

Kennedy and the other adventurer stop their approach a few meters away from the group of bandits. “Getting in a bit of trouble, lads?” He calls out to them.

The group didn’t seem too concerned about the presence of these new interlopers, and one of the bandits steps forward with a dagger in each hand. “Well, well… not often that we get willing visitors. Ha ha!” he was a tall man, his clothing looked too well made to Ken compared to what most bandits wear. “Why don’t you hand over what you’ve got in that wagon, and we all have a pleasant day?”

“You see lad, the thing about that is… that what’s in that wagon isn’t all mine.” Kennedy tilted his head to the side and smirked, “So, I don’t think that would be fair.”

The bandit leader laughed and turned to his compatriots, “You hear that? We get a free show with all our new loot?” The others began to laugh, but the leader raised a fist in the air and they soon fell silent again. “Why can’t we all just get along?” The leader charged at Kennedy, slashing for his throat. His blows were parried but he followed up with another flurry of slashes, each missing their mark. “You’re a damn adventurer aren’t you!?” His voice grew with fury, “Get em!” The others quickly moved to surround the pair.

“We’re in for it now… One-eye.” The adventurer commented to Kennedy, as they moved back to back.

Kennedy’s blade started to glow, “Well, someone is in for it.” They waited for their opponents to make a move.

A bandit leapt towards them from the flank, axe in hand and ready to cleave! But they were shot down mid jump, as a bolt pierced their shoulder. The bandit fell to the ground writhing in pain, and the others looked over to Mason who was loading another round.