2.7 Princess of the Wandering Sands

The furball exploded. Everyone lived. They plopped onto the sand as though someone had spilled them out of a bag, which was, to some degree, what had just happened.

Unnatural, multicolored smoke rose from the battle nearby. Metal clashed against metal, spell against spell, screams and laughter so similar that it became impossible to tell each other apart. Cérise was the first to stand up, because of course he was. Snail was second, naturally. She helped Mish and Akiha up, one for each hand, though the former held onto her as though they were still airborne. "We have to get out of here," Mish said, to no one and nothing. "We have to get out of here we have to—"

A guttural roar made her sink to her knees. There she was, the princess of the wandering sands, very famous around these parts, in all her full glory. Akiha, flushed due to insolation, wasn't faring much better, though he at least managed to stand by clinging onto Snail's arm. Two-Rabbit seemed to be recovering from... whatever it was he'd just done. They were a nuisance, and they'd be useless. Nothing new.

They'd landed behind a cluster of yurts that acted as a barrier of sorts against the battle, though it was a matter of time before somebody saw them. "Snail," said Cérise. "Take them to one of the tents. Stay there. The one beside you is empty."

"What about..." Snail trailed off. Even she knew how stupid the question was.

"Can any of you cast a basic illusion spell?" He asked. "It should be in the handbook. The pink section. Quick."

Akiha took out the handbook from his satchel, though he had to lean on Snail to check through it. "...ah, yes, the one where... I got it."

Did he, though? "Good. Use it as soon as you get there and don't come out unless I tell you to."

"I will, but..."

"I'll be fine. One of them is my cousin." Whether they believed him or not (they didn't) was irrelevant; herded by Snail, they walked, crawled, rolled, and were carried into the yurt. With Snail there, if the worst were to happen, they'd probably be able to buy enough time for Cérise to get back to them once he heard their inevitable, cowardly screaming.

And thus, with the nuisances gone, he walked, crawled, rolled, and carried himself towards the bandits.

***

Mish earned, not inherited, her status as a liberator; such was her greatest secret. A long, long time ago, the night stars had witnessed her birth as a heroine, as blood, steel and fire forged a symphony of... of...

"We'll be safe here," Snail comforted her. "It's okay. Cér is strong. He knows what he's doing."

...bravery, wisdom, and beauty. Such was her tale.

"There are eighteen of them," said Two-Rabbit, who wasn't done smoothing down his fur. "Fourteen against four."

Such was her legacy.

"Fourteen against..." Akiha trailed off. "...I suppose the other four were..." He slumped against one of the chairs, then held his head. Despair, or exhaustion? From the way he breathed, it seemed to be mostly the latter. He'd mentioned being from Shiou before, which was as opposite as it got to this region, climate-wise. The fact alone that he hadn't passed out was impressive. "...also tricked."

Mish was too busy hyperventilating to speak, but she agreed.

No, no, not hyperventilating.

Planning. Such was her duty.

Snail had been crouching next to Mish, rubbing her back, and only then did she realize. Only then did the world come into focus. Without context, this tent could belong to a bandit as much as it could to a common adventurer—clothes on the floor, a sack with food, a novel next to the blanket-turned-bed, which Mish had also read; the protagonist was the weakest knight in her generation, but she slowly pushed her way to the top.

"I see some water next to the sack," Akiha said. "Can someone... thank you. Thank you."

Snail handed him the waterskin. Come to think of it, Mish's mouth was sandpaper. Once he finished drinking, he offered it to Snail, who smiled, shaking her head, because she was a good child. Two-Rabbit did the same, less affably.

...damn...

...now Mish would have to shake her head as well or she'd stand out in a bad way... but...

She shook her head. Akiha, thus, took the rest for himself. Mish listened to him drink. Torture. Endless pain.

The protagonist in the novel fought bandits. Did whoever read this copy in particular root for her, or his fictionalized form?

Mish could finally breathe again.

Did whoever read this book agree when the protagonist captured, not killed evildoers, for the life of her enemy was as precious as her own?

Since Mish could finally breathe again, she said, "I'll hel—"

"N-no!"

"No."

"No."

Snail, Akiha, Two-Rabbit, in that order. "Oh, but I must," she musted. "Our comrade is in danger."

Did that bandit cheer as the protagonist became a heroine against all odds? Because Mish did.

"Please don't," urged Snail. "Please. He'll be fine."

Mish believed. "It's not that I don't trust your... father's...? Fighting capabilities, sweetie, but fourteen against four—five, perhaps—does not bode well."

"It, um, it doesn't, but he'll be fine. Trust me."

The last time Mish had heard those words, everyone but her had died, but to say this out loud would destroy the group's morale. Besides, none of them knew what'd happened at the weapon shop—how Mish had saved Cérise from imminent death. She'd even sacrificed herself for his sake... but alas, in lieu of a thank you, he'd used a poor guard as bait, treating her not like a comrade, but a sack of sugar. They hadn't seen the way he'd all but passed out as they'd gotten into the carriage. Strong as he might be, he was still human.

At last, Mish stood up. She declared, "I must go."

Akiha sighed, slowly, closing his eyes.

"You guys stay here."

"Mish," he said. "Don't. Please."

Two-Rabbit's ears twitched. They were twice as long as Mish's, almost as long as her forearm. "Cheery isn't fighting. He has a plan. I think. You'll ruin it if you go."

"And he might die if I don't." When none of them responded, Mish added: "Where is your sense of camaraderie? Must justice require sacrifice? Must we stay here and cower while our friend—"

"You just had a panic attack," Akiha said.

"—fights in our stead? Again? No, Akiha, you don't understand."

"What don't I understand?"

"These aren't ordinary bandits."

"Clearly."

But he didn't. None of them did. None of them should, because in a world like this, where justice was a shadow of itself that needed sacrifice to exist, she'd had to endure things so most of them wouldn't. "I can enhance my own speed," Mish said, obviating how she'd turned herself into a bullet twice during her last rescue. "If the worst comes to pass, I'll grab Cérise and come back here. Very fast. Um. Swiftly. I'll be fine. Trust me."

It was true, now that she could focus her hearing again. Cérise wasn't fighting... yet. However, something about the way metal rattled in the middle of the fight was oddly familiar...

"Guys."

That was Akiha.

Mish closed her eyes, cupped her hands next to her ears. What was it? Why were those sounds so familiar?

"There's something I must confess."

...the southerners.

"I've yet to have any real combat experience."

The ones that'd held Mish hostage to bait Cérise into rescuing her once she'd rescued him and used a bit too much speed enhancement on herself, thus zooming into the armory's wall and knocking herself unconscious.

"I have no idea what I'm doing, though I think all of you know that by now. No idea. I'm just... I didn't think it'd be like this."

So the southerners had been tricked by these bandits, too, but... weren't there three of them instead of four? Who was the fourth one? No matter.

"My first internship was taking care of meat storage."

If Cérise were to encounter them, then he'd have to fight both the bandits and the southerners. A one-to-one encounter had almost killed him. One-to-eighteen would be suicide.

"I don't know how to fight. That's why Haku..."

"I don't know how to fight, either," said Two-Rabbit. "It's clear no one does."

"...then why did you join?"

"Yes."

"That's not—that's not..."

Cheery/Cérise burst into the yurt. All of them jumped. "Out," he said, with what had to be the first flicker of emotion Mish had seen from him. "We're running."

Mish didn't hear any footsteps rushing their way. With that said... "Where?" She asked.

"Anywhere."

Even Snail saw him as though he'd lost his mind.

"Quick," he said. "The rest will be fine, just—move."

'Anywhere'. The desert, then? Under the sun? Casting cooling spells with the oasis's water would alert the brigands for sure. None of them moved, because they knew how stupid this was, so Cérise marched forward, seized Snail by the wrist, who squeaked, then began to drag her out. Thus, Mish yanked Snail by the other arm.

Cérise's scowl was vicious, but Mish had seen worse. "We'll die," she told him.

"Yes," he replied. "You will. But she won't."

"You both will die if you escape to the desert!"

She spoke, she yanked. He spoke, he yanked. "Snail," Cérise ordered. "Move."

Snail's response? To glance at the rest of them. The message was clear: help.

"Please."

This almost seemed to sway her. Almost.

Mish, on her part, now had to deal with the fact that two out of five comrades had no fighting experience, one was a child, and the other one had gone insane. Thus, the team's fate rested on her shoulders. Nay—everyone's. The southerners. Even the bandits. Evil as they were, they, too, rooted for kindness deep inside. They had to work as a team. The last time Mish had been in this situation, they hadn't, out of fear, out of doubt, and thus they'd all died but her. This time, no one would die. No one had to die. Time to tell them this, to boost morale. "We have to—"

Cérise yanked especially hard, which made Mish lose her balance, and Snail to stumble forward, and so, with such momentum, he began to drag her out. Akiha scrambled up, as did Two-Rabbit. Against a group of three—nay, four—he was nothing. "Let go," he snapped, "You useless..." but then he let go, not because he'd seen the power of teamwork but because he drew his weapon and pointed it at them because he was insane, and Snail agreed, based on the way she gasped, and thus it was up to Mish to save Cérise from himself despite panicking earlier because she didn't want to be a slave again thank you very much, but then Two-Rabbit said something like 'they're coming' which Mish agreed to since she heard the footsteps, too, heard them approaching, the laughter and taunts from evildoers who'd buried their heart so deep that they'd forgotten how it felt like to have one, and so they'd sell Mish and her friends again as though they were commodities and everyone would die and then—

"Gotcha!"

—everyone would die everyone would die why was this happening? Why? Why couldn't she ever save anyone? The bandit who tore the yurt apart with his bare hand had a very familiar tattoo on his forearm, a very familiar face, always smiling, because he'd frozen his own heart, and so Kaz was the last survivor of the Sand Wraiths after all. No wonder Cérise had freaked out, because that's what he'd done—panicked, just like Mish. That's what he did now, as he told them all to run, to run anywhere, anywhere, but Mish did not. Snail did not. None of them did. He didn't aim his blade at Kaz because he knew it would be futile to do so.

However, Kaz didn't attack. He glanced at them, up and down, as he gestured for the bandits behind him to stop. "Good afternoon," he greeted. "If you guys hadn't started fighting, I wouldn't have even noticed you, so that's cool. Anyway, let's try to do this the good way, all right? Or are you heroes, too?"

No one replied.

Kaz snorted when Snail crouched behind Cérise, as though that'd do anything. "Hello," he told her. "Been a while, huh? Did you think I wouldn't recognize you? And..." He trailed off, glancing at Mish with his single eye, the one she hadn't ripped out. "...only one woman, huh? Anyway, follow me or you guys will have horrible deaths. Kidding."

The bandits laughed, as if commanded to. Grinning at the reception, Kaz gestured for them to seize the group. He didn't look at Mish again.

There was nowhere to go, no way to fight. Again. Every time.

Akiha seized Two-Rabbit, then Mish, then Cérise, but when he tried to reach out for Snail, she flinched, mumbling, "Don't touch me don't touch me don't touch me," and didn't stop even when Cérise reached out for her, or Mish, or anyone, or when the world blurred and reassembled itself.

One moment they were in a ripped tent, surrounded by bandits, the next in the air. A moment later, they landed on sand—in the middle of nowhere.

No.

Voices.

Merchants?

There was a city nearby.

"What just..." Two-Rabbit sat up. "...did we just...?"

Akiha used Two-Rabbit as he followed. "I can't believe... worked..." He ran a trembling hand down his face.

Mish hadn't even begun to assimilate what happened when Cérise asked, "Where's Snail?" He'd landed on his feet because he was more of a cat than Mish.

He asked as though he didn't know the answer: that when Akiha, prey to the same beast that'd taken over Cérise and Mish earlier, had decided to teleport, and Snail had broken off mid-spell, and thus stayed behind.

Teleporting wasn't possible.

It shouldn't be possible.

Due to how dangerous it was, the spell had been banned a long, long time ago.

If Akiha "had no combat experience", how could he use magic so ridiculously strong?

If Cérise cared for Snail, why was his reaction so muted?

If bandits, too, read about heroes, why didn't they stray from their path?

Could they?