First Boss Fight

Nona dropped her weapon and raised her hands conciliatorily.

“What are you doing, dummy?!” Thorny hissed in her ear, still concealed thanks to his invisible spell.

“Please, don’t hurt them.” Nona heard the facepalm that Thorny did at that moment. “They are just kids.”

“Kids that were fool enough to steal from the Governor himself.” The woman snapped her fingers and one of the knights approached to drop a sack almost as big as the kids. “If they had been less greedy perhaps they would have managed to be successful. But they bit off more than they could chew, and now they must pay the price for it.”

“I told you those vases were too heavy,” one of the kids said with a resigned tone that made his companion blush.

“B-But Miss Enia told us to take everything we could, and they looked valuable.”

“Wait,” Nona’s eyes opened wide while looking at the children, “did Enia send you here?”

“Damn, I knew it,” Thorny hissed again. “I bet my horns that that big oaf took so much time because he was helping those rascals in. And now we’re screwed because of them!”

“So you know Enia, the Princess of Thieves,” the woman said before snorting. “Poor thing. Everyone with a minimum of common sense knows that that woman is not to be trusted. But enough. The time to talk is over.” Nona didn’t have time to feel disappointment setting in, because at that moment the armored woman unsheathed her own heavy sword and pointed at Nona with it. “You three are coming with me. So get close, slowly. I do not want to see any suspicious moves.”

Those words seemed to be the cue so that the knights carrying crossbows pointed towards the group. Nona gulped, wondering if that’s how her mission was going to end because it was clear to her that she was not putting anyone’s life at stake.

She was about to obey and take a step closer when she caught a glimpse of a big shadow behind the knights.

It happened so fast that probably anyone else would have missed it. But she wasn’t just anyone. She was a Wish Bearer; and she had been training her whole life to face situations like this.

That was the reminder she needed not to give up so soon.

“Vesper, that spell you threw against the worgs and spiders, you think you can do it again?” Nona said through her gritted teeth.

“What are you mumbling?” snarled the armored woman suspicious.

“I think so, but I need a few seconds to cast it,” Vesper answered in the same whispering tone.

“Captain Ania, I think they are plotting something,” one of the knights warned, getting a stronger grip of his crossbow.

“I can win you time,” Thorny whispered. “But leader, that Captain’s stats are even higher than yours. I don’t think you can beat her in your current condition.”

“Okay, I think I’ve been patient enough,” Captain Ania lost patience and raising her free hand again. “Knights, shoot at my signal–”

Several things happened at the same time.

Before Captain Ania could finish her order, Boris appeared right behind the knights holding the kids captive, and knocked them down slamming their heads together.

Nona didn’t waste the opportunity. She swiftly recovered her sword from the ground and lunged against the captain, who predictably blocked her attack without even flinching.

“Run, NOW!”

The order Boris shouted towards the kids made two of the knights wearing crossbows avert their eyes from the main group to point towards the fleeing kids. However, the fireballs that Thorny cast in their direction prevented them from hitting a single target.

By then, Vesper had already summoned spikes and tendrils in the terrain, holding captive the remaining knights.

“Focus on liberating the monsters!” Nona shouted towards the group before being forced to do a cartwheel on the ground to avoid a powerful attack from Captain Ania’s that made the ground tremble.

“Careful, leader! She is attacking from your right–no, no, no, it was left, dammit!”

Nona was about to curse when the captain changed the direction of the attack at the last second, forcing her to do a new cartwheel instead of a proper block.

Despite her heavy armor, the captain was way faster and more agile than Nona had predicted. Also, her defense was the toughest that Nona had met until then. Each attack that she was forced to either block or parry made her short sword clink in a way that made Nona worry for the first time about her sword durability.

In summary, it was the first time since she had started the journey that she was being forced to give her all in a battle.

And for the time being, that was not going to be enough to win.

“So that was your goal? Liberating those beasts?” This time Nona managed to block Captain Ania’s attack, but she struggled to keep her stance firm when the captain loomed over her, putting more pressure on the attack. “Don’t tell me that you are one of those delusional fools that refuse to kill monsters.”

The captain suddenly released the pressure to deliver a strong side kick that took Nona by surprise. The hit impacted against her stomach and threw her against one of the cages that had just been emptied after Vesper convinced the bats inside to leave.

“Nona!” Vesper called with worry from another of the cages that Boris had just opened while Nona struggled to breathe from both the kick and the impact.

“I’m fine," she managed to say. “Just focus on the monsters. I have it under contro–”

Since Nona was still recovering from the recent attack, the new cartwheel that she was forced to do lacked perfect timing. The piercing attack that the captain had thrown grazed her thigh. Nona exhaled a pained gasp, feeling her trousers getting damp with blood.

“You, egocentric moustached idiot!!” Thorny revealed himself and rushed towards Horace - who was just doing vocals hiding behind Boris’ imposing figure. He grabbed the lapels of the bard’s shirt and shook him furiously, almost making him drop his lute. “Do something useful and cast some fucking boosts to the leader RIGHT NOW!”

“O-Oh, you could have said that sooner, my little friend!”

Horace played some notes on his lute, and almost instantly, Nona felt a rush of energy coursing through her body. She also stopped feeling the wound of her leg, which allowed her to stand up with dexterity.

With renewed confidence she faced Captain Ania, who was mockingly looking at her, clearly considering herself victorious.

“We have killed monsters,” Nona said. Captain Ania tilted her helmet in a clear mocking way.

“Oh, so now you are answering the question I formulated five minutes ago? Well, better late than ever.”

Nona wasn’t affected by the sarcasm - she noted herself a win when recognizing it as such - and grabbed her sword with both hands before lightly bending her legs.

“But one thing is killing them in a fair fight, or for self-defense, and another keeping them caged to make profit of their suffering. And that,” Nona bent her legs more firmly, increasing the grip on her sword, “I’m not going to allow it.”

Nona lunged against the captain, and for the first time in the entire fight, she managed to make her opponent give a couple of steps back.

“You have her!! Don’t let her recover!!”

Nona made the most of the momentum. She continued delivering hit after hit non-stop while following Thorny’s instructions to block the now less precise attacks that the captain was throwing at her. At the same time, she shouted Thorny instructions so that he threw fire bolts at the joints of the captain’s heavy armor to make her lose balance, a weakness that she had seen from the very beginning of the fight, but that she hadn’t managed to exploit until then.

Finally, after a few minutes of frenetic attacks, Nona managed to deliver a hit that made the captain trip against a tree root, making her kneel. Nona made the most of the new opening and the height advantage, and delivered a heavy strike towards the captain’s helmet.

The blow split the headgear in two, finally revealing Captain Ania’s face.

And that’s when Nona lowered her guard.

“Enia?!”

“Dummy, don’t get fooled, she’s not her!!”

But the harm was done.

The brief hesitation that Nona showed when staring at Enia - or someone incredibly similar to her - was enough for the captain to disarm Nona, sending her short sword flying a few meters away. By then, Horace’s boosts were starting to lose effect, so the punch that the captain delivered to Nona’s wounded thigh made Nona see stars and drop on the ground with a surprised groan.

“I think it’s the first time that looking like my big sister gives me an advantage.” Captain Ania said, their position now reversed as she stared down at Nona. “Last chance, kid: surrender, or you’ll end up in a coffin instead of in jail. And you, little pest,” Nona’s eyes opened wide when the captain managed to get a hold on Thorny when the imp was about to approach her face to scratch it. “You better stay still. I do not particularly enjoy slaughtering little creatures, but I won’t hesitate if you force my hand–”

“GUYS, WATCH OUT!!”

Hearing Vesper shout was reason enough to worry. But the fact that she did in her unfiltered, born voice just made Nona get in alert while turning around towards the cages.

By what she could deduce, there had been some kind of coordination issue between Boris opening the cage, Vesper throwing a Reduce spell, and Horace casting Sleep, and a miniature version of the burgundy dragon - that was still bigger than a horse - was now soaring at them.

It was the first time that Nona saw a dragon up close, and though she didn’t know much about dragon’s biology, the way the beast’s chest was shining brightly, as if lava was accumulating under its skin, was not a good signal. And neither was the murdering intent in the dragon’s eyes when they locked right in Captain Ania, who probably was facing a dragon for the first time in her life, and seemed to have frozen in the spot.

Thorny made the most of the captain’s shocked state to liberate himself.

“Come on, leader, it is our chance to–what the hell are you doing?!”

Without thinking, Nona grabbed the captain’s forearm and pulled as hard as she could instead of running after Thorny. The woman fell right next to her, just in time to avoid the beam of flames that the dragon breathed, calcinating the ground where the captain had been standing less than a split second before.

Nona feared that the dragon planned to repeat the attack, but the beast huffed in a way that looked a bit disappointed and flew away, soon disappearing in the sky.

“You just saved me,” the captain muttered, staring at Nona in disbelief. “Why?”

Before Nona could answer or stand up, a new group of armed knights pointed at her head with their weapons.

And they hadn’t come alone.

“For Yenom’s sake, what is the meaning of this, Captain Ania?!”

“Daddy, my beautiful monkey is gone!! He’s gooooone!!!!”

“Rigobert, please, a grown man of your status should not ugly cry like that, so stop at once, son!”

“Fuck, you have to be kidding me…”

This time Nona couldn’t reprimand Thorny for cursing.

Because definitely meeting the Governor and his son had not been part of the plan.