Under the Storming Sky

The wet ground gives way with each passing step Robina takes, and the rain batters her as she gains even more speed. She shouts as she rapidly closes the distance on her targets, they barely manage to swap their weapons before she bares down on them! She targets the first archer, felling them with a furious ballad of slices! She turns her attention to the next, “It’s over!” Her blade clashed against theirs with a resounding ring!

“Stop the redhead!” the leader shouted to the other archers. The bulk of their forces were tied up with the two swordsmen, but a few were able to rush towards Robina. When the leader turned back around he saw that she had defeated another archer, and began to panic. ‘Three Psyki users?!’ He looked at her with disgust, "I can't believe this!”

His daggers began to glow, “I’ll take you down myself!” He rushed over to her just as she began on another combatant, his backup wasn’t far behind. “Back off!!!” He sprinted forward, hoping to stop her from striking down another of his allies.

Robina was using all her might to speed blitz the enemies before they could lay a hit on her, as she dashed around them at high velocities. Her movements were too fast to fully track, and somewhat unpredictable.

Just as she was about to strike down another of the archers, their leader intercepted her blow as their weapons collided in a thunderous pang! Robina managed to regain her footing in a flash, and pressed the attack. The leader was having trouble keeping up with her but found a rhythm to her wild strikes! She put a lot of heft behind each swing, a remnant from all the days she had spent swinging a baseball bat.

Kennedy had taken down two more, but his sword was in even worse condition. The other adventurer was slowing down, and hadn’t managed to break through the enemy formation. It seemed to only moments away that they’d give out, leaving both swordsmen at the mercy of their enemies.

‘Just one final push, that's all I need!’ Kennedy’s focus sharpened and he dashed forward with a burst of energy. His blade shattered as he took down three more bandits with a rapid combination attack! He looked at the shattered weapon in his hands and then back to his remaining enemies, “Well, seems a few of you are still standing!” He smirked at them and took on a hand-to-hand stance. He taunted them to come at him, his resolve never wavering.

‘He’s reading me!’ Robina found that even with her speed advantage, the bandit leader was able to adapt to the situation. His defense only seemed to be getting more accurate, while Robina felt that her strength was straining due to her use of Psyki. ‘How long can I even keep this up?’ She was trying to think of a plan that could get her out of this situation.

“C’mon, c’mon! Surround her!” The leader ordered the five available allies to surround the red haired girl. “Think you're special just because you can use Psyki? Ha ha!” He flashed a disturbing smile at her, “I just love to play with my food…Who wants a good show?!” The group hooted and jeered at her as they spread around her.

“I’ve met stray cats scarier than you, you clown!” She hit back with a provocation of her own, drawing the ire of the leader. ‘Shoot! Maybe making them angrier isn’t the best plan!’

Back at the wagon, Mason had managed to stop the bleeding from the first arrow but the second one was still leaking. He grunted in pain as he wrapped it in cloth. Dragging himself through the mud, he slowly made his way over to the back of the wagon. “I-is anyone alive back there.” He called out to his three remaining passengers.

The mother peeked out, “Mr. Driver!” she climbed down to him and began to help him to his feet. “You need to get in too!” She tried to rush him into the wagon, but his large figure was hard to maneuver.

“Hrkk” He grunted while slowly climbing up the back of the wagon. The woman pushed him in after he was half way up, and she followed shortly after. He rolled on to the wooden flooring, drenched in rain, dirty with mud, and badly injured. “Medical… I have medical supplies just there” he pointed to a brown leather bag that was securely tied to the back of the driver's seat.

After retrieving it, the woman plopped it down in front of him and unbound it. It had various medical tools, including some saws. There were also bandages and medicine. “Can you give me a hand, miss? I can barely use this arm right now” he pleaded, and so she went to work.

Both of her children had partially crawled out from under the blanket to have a look at what she was doing, they watched with intrigue as their mother treated the wounds. “Mommy patches daddy up too!” one said, “Yeah, yeah! She’ll make your owwies go away mister!” the other concluded.

A flash of lightning drew their attention outward briefly. One of the children couldn’t help but notice the battle that was going on some meters away. “Mommy, are they gonna be okay?” Their mother hissed at them to get back to hiding.

“They’ll be okay, dear… but you have to hide so you can stay safe too!” She shot them a worried smile, cause she knew that if they weren’t okay neither would she or her children be safe. So, reluctantly she had been forced to put her faith in complete strangers.

She had seen some of the battle herself, when she was safeguarding her children. The speed at which Robina moved was unlike anything she’d seen before, “Maybe there’s a chance” She whispered to herself as she finished dressing Mason’s injuries.

The grey skies began to give way to the early darkness of the evening, and shadow would soon fall on everyone. But what would they do with only one horse? The night only welcomed further troubles, and it seemed that no-body would be ready to face it.