Amadeus' abrupt yell snapped Reid out of his concentration.
"We need to go now!" The boy shouted.
"Now? What happened?" Aron asked, confused by his sudden urgency.
"Reid I have the perfect spell for this situation. Rush in and head straight for the girls, I'll have the spell prepped and ready to take care of the rest."
Without hesitation, the boy rushed past the bushes. He sprinted as fast as he could, straight past the guards who both turned in confusion.
"Oii! What are you-" His voice was cut off as his throat was slit unceremoniously.
The second guard tries to pull his sword from its scabbard while shouting.
"You-" but he was cut off as well. Aron's short sword had found its mark, piercing straight through his skull. The guardsman's movement was far too fast for these criminals to even react. In a few short moments both men were cut down, victims to their own incompetence.
Meanwhile, Reid continued his sprint. Just past the main entrance he found a deep cutout filled with beds and supplies. Inside two men, one, large and imposing, the other, small in stature, look at Reid with absolute bewilderment.
"A kid? How did you get in here? Hey get back here!" The short man screeched at the boy, but Reid paid him no mind. Instead he continued his reckless charge as he followed Faeth's scent.
He only had to run a short distance before he entered a large open cavern. Inside Faeth, Faerie, and Cynthia had their hands and feet bound by rope at the back of the cavern. Cynthia's normally ankle length skirt was torn and ripped to shreds, only going as low as the midpoint of her thighs.
In front of them was a disgusting looking man with wild unkempt hair who wore a dirty fleece vest. In his hands was the torn fabric of Cynthia's dress.
"Oh, stop whining. That was just the beginning. The next few cuts are where I'll get to have some real fun. That's when I'll give you exactly what you wanted." A devilish grin appeared on his face as he starts to lick his lips.
The wide stocky man was so focused on the moment that he didn't even hear Reid approach until he was directly behind him. The second the man heard Reid's footsteps, he whipped around with unexpected speed, launching a wide swing with his longsword.
"DON'T INTERRUPT ME, YOU BASTARD!!!"
Reid was easily able to slide under the mans reckless swing, slashing at his ankle as he went. The boy's momentum carried him all the way to Cynthia and the twins. Her face widens with shock as the boy turns to face the bandit.
"Reid?" Cynthia asks under her breath.
"Huh?!? Who the hell are you kid?" The man asks with an irritated tone.
Reid looks down at the ankle he slashed, only to find a small scratch, even though he struck him with all his might. The man's defense was way out of his league.
"Well?!" He demanded an answer as his fellow slavers ran into the room behind him.
"You little shit! Where do you think you're going" The screecher asked.
Sweat began to form on Reid's forehead as he finds himself surrounded. Behind him Cynthia, Faerie, and Faeth were bound to the ground while in front of him three slavers stood ready to strike him down.
"Sorry, it took longer than expected to prepare."
Immediately after Amadeus' remark, two complex brown-glowing runic circles formed around Reid and the girls, one above and one below. The two similar, yet slightly different, circles activated simultaneously.
"Stop him!" The small man shrieked.
"No you don't" The disgusting man shouted, but it was too late.
The ground under the runic circle began to glow and shift. The whole cave began to shake as the floor beneath the boys feet began to move. The spell created a pillar of earth that began to climb towards the ceiling.
At the same time, Aron ran into the open room. He took quick stock of the unusual situation before him, then yelled to Reid.
"Take them and run, I'll catch up later."
The wide disgusting man tries to jump on top of the rising stone pillar, but he only managed to have one arm crest the top. With a weak grip, he desperately held on. In his mind, he figured the boy wanted to create a pillar to keep themself safe, far away from him and his fellow bandits, while the other intruder handled the fighting. Unfortunately for him that wasn't the actual plan.
Unknown to him the second runic magic circle was carving the stone above the pillar, just wide enough for it to fit through. Higher and higher it went, until it neared the ceiling. Seeing that it wasn't slowing down in the slightest the man tried to pull his arm away but it was too late. The edge of the pillar and the edge of the hole in the ceiling acted as a giant pair of scissors and sheared straight through the mans arm, severing it just above the elbow.
"AAAAHHHH!!!" He shouts as he falls to the floor with a hard thud. He lands just behind his fellow slavers who are already in a combat stance.
"That kid really is something else." Aron calmly compliments the boy before looking back to his enemies. He notices a familiar fabric behind them, one that is normally worn by the girl he loved.
"Shredded huh?"
His spirit energy suddenly burst forth, coating him in a veil of energy, as his expression takes a dark turn.
"THEN THAT WILL BE YOUR FATE AS WELL!"
Seeing such powerful spirit in front of him the small man could only mutter a quick curse to himself before Aron flashed forward with all his fury.
⁘⁘⁘⁘
The rock pillar finally slows to a stop as cloud covered sunlight begins to illuminate the group. Reid and Cynthia look at the flabby severed arm that had unceremoniously plopped down in front of them. The boy then peeked over at the twins, hoping they didn't have to see such a gruesome sight. Thankfully their eyes were still closed.
"Are they still asleep?" The boy asks quietly.
"Yes, their leader said they were too noisy, so he reapplied a sleep spell to keep them quiet. They'll probably be out for a while still."
She looks at the two young girls in front of her with a bit of relief. She knew if they had been awake, the recent scene would have scarred the young girls for life. She then looks up at the boy, as if she had just remembered something important.
"But Reid, why are you here? Don't you know how dangerous this is!?" Cynthia chides him out of concern for his safety.
"I'm here to save you guys obviously." Reid pulls out a carving knife from its sheath on his waist as he kneels down next to Cynthia. He cautiously cuts the ropes that were binding her wrists.
"You know," he begins slowly. "Someone once told me that I wasn't born lucky… With everything that's happened recently, I'm starting to think he was right about that." He chuckles for a second before looking directly into Cynthia's eyes.
"He also told me for that very reason, because I wasn't born lucky, if there's something I want, I can't just sit around hoping and dreaming for it. I need to get it myself... That's why I'm here. I'm not gonna sit around hoping everything will just work out. I'm going to do everything I can to bring you all back myself." His little speech ends right as he finally frees her wrists.
The second her wrists are free she wraps him in a warm embrace.
"C-Cynthia be careful! I'm still holding a knife!"
"Sorry, I couldn't help it."
Despite his protest, Reid made no attempt to escape. They sat there in a warm embrace for a short while, her motherly affection soothing his soul.
"You can save the emotional moments for later, this won't be done until you make it back to the city."
With his usual heavy handed approach, Amadeus brings Reid back to the mission at hand. The boy quickly separates himself from Cynthia before cutting through her ankle bindings.
"Amadeus can you try to find a path down while I free the twins?"
"Yes."
Amadeus began taking in the environment around them using his soul sense. They currently sat atop a tall grassy hill. In front of them was the cliff face they had seen from the cave entrance. The steep drop, littered with sharp rocks, meant they had no way to safely get down, especially if they had to carry the sleeping twins. To the sides and rear were forests as far as the eye can see.
"Reid, our best path forward will be to go right, while following the cliff's edge. Once we reach the forest it should only be a few thousand meters until we reach the main road. We should be fairly safe to return home from there."
"Alright, but can't you just take us back down the cliff using that spell that brought us up here?"
"No, those two earth spells were novice level. It took over 70% of my total mana to make it up here, I wont have enough to get us back down."
"Understood." As he finishes cutting the last of the ropes, he puts his knife away and picks up Faeth. "Can you carry Faerie?"
"Yes, that won't be a problem."
"Then we need to get going." Before he moves, he takes one last look at his make shift elevator.
Cynthia could see the apprehension on his face.
"You don't have to worry about Aron, he'll be just fine. He isn't Captain of the town's guard for nothing."
"Yeah… Wait, Captain!?!"
"Oh, didn't he tell you? Well no need to worry, other than some of the higher ranked hunters, he's the strongest man in the city."
Reid's jaw nearly hit the floor at Cynthia's casual reveal.
⁘⁘⁘⁘
After walking a little over 20 minutes, Reid's group finally reaches the edge of the forest as it opens up to the main road leading toward Alcacia. At long last the end of the girls nightmare was in sight.
"*Phew* It'll be so much easier to carry them now that were out of the forest." The strain on Reid's voice was a testament to how rough the trek had been.
"Yes. Hopefully everyone back home isn't too worried. With this happening so soon after the other incident… Well, its going to be tough on everyone."
"You're definitely right about that... Honestly I'm more worried Lance is gonna try to escape the city and go looking for you." He tried his best to lighten the mood, even if just a bit.
"You might be right about that. I mean you already did." Cynthia says while a smile creeps onto her face.
The pair continued walking for a few minutes when Reid hears something off in the distance. The unmistakable rhythmic clopping of draft animals was drawing ever closer. Worse still, he knew they weren't coming from town since Alcacia's gates were already closed.
Reid felt a chill roll down his spine. With everything that had happened so far, he wasn't willing to bet this new group was friendly. Worse still, the noise was approaching fast. He knew they didn't have time to head back and hide.
"Here." He turns and hands Faeth over to a confused Cynthia.
"What's wrong? Is she too heavy for you?"
Rather than answer her Reid draws the spear from his back and holds it toward the rapidly approaching carriage. Within seconds it burst forth from behind a bend in the road. The vehicle charges toward the group before stopping with a screech of their wheels. The momentum carried them just past Reid as he stares at the canvas flap at the rear of the carriage.
It flung open a moment later as a man with a dark blue cloak jumps out. Behind him, still seated inside the carriage, were 8 men, all wearing matching chainmail topped with a pelt cloak made of frost wolf fur.
"Well, well, what do we have here? Don't tell me our merchandise is trying to run away with this mongrel? Just what in the hell are those idiots doing." The cloaked man slowly steps forward. His long graying hair, short thick beard, lithe body, and intelligent demeanor seemed to pin him as a mage.
"Who are you? And who are they?" Reid asks, trying his best not to panic.
"Geez kid, don't you know its rude not to introduce yourself first? Well my names Zell, and these fine gentleman here are my clients. They're here to purchase those women behind you and resell them in Zangate. So if you wouldn't mind stepping aside, that'd make this a lot easier."
"Cynthia, take the twins and run! I'll hold them off." He yells. Cynthia hesitates but eventually does as he says. She runs into the forest at a slow and ragged pace, the weight of the two girls slowing her considerably. "Crap! What do we do Amadeus?"
"I doubt he has any intention of letting you live, regardless of what we do. We need to strike first, before they're ready to fight back. Our best chance is to target that group while they're all huddled up in the back. Here's the plan…"
"I guess I can take that as a no?" He pulls a black and gold scepter out from under his dark blue robes. "Guess we have to do this the hard way."
He starts casually walking toward the boy, barely registering him as a threat. The boy holds his hand out, palm up, and creates a stack of runic magic circles above it. Zell stops in his tracks as the unknown magic forms before him. As the rune activates, a small stone in the shape of a ball forms in the boys hand.
"Ha! HAhhaahaaha! You had me worried there for a second boy. What are you gonna do with that little rock? Throw it?"
The boy did just that, he threw the rock right into the back of the carriage. It landed right in the middle, not even close to hitting any of the passengers. It bounces on the floor a couple times before rolling to a stop. Zell stares at the carriage for a moment before him and his men all burst out laughing.
"Seriously? What was with that throw? HAhahaa! Seriously my sides are gonna start hurting from laughing!"
*Poof*
The rock suddenly erupts from within the carriage filling it completely with smoke.
"The hell? A smoke sc-" The man's sentence is cut short as he sees a spear hurdling toward his face out of the corner of his eye. His scepter barely makes it in time to deflect the bladed spearhead, but it still digs deeply into his cheek.
As he kicks the boy away, he looks straight into his eyes. The boys emerald and brown multicolored eyes had transformed. The two colors had seperated into different layers. The emerald green layer now sat stretched into a horizontal line similar to a toads, while the brown layer turned into a thin vertical slit similar to a cat. The two lines converged to make his iris' look like a fierce star.
As the kick pushes the kid back, rage overtakes Zell. He wants nothing more than to smash this kid into the ground with his mace-like scepter. As his foot lands back on the ground he tries to push off it with all his might, but to his surprise, he slips. He is barely able to keep himself on his feet. In his confusion, he looks down to see the sole of his boot covered in ice.
The shock of that unseen spell stops Zell for a brief moment. The boy on the other hand, doesn't waste the opportunity and launches forward with a wide slash towards the unbalanced man. Zell just barely manages to bring his scepter up to defend, but his compromised position doesn't allow him to put any weight behind it. The spearhead slams into his scepter, pushing past his guard and digging into his side.
"AAAgghhh!!!" He screams out in pain.
Zell slams his foot into the ground, breaking the ice from his boot, then he pushes the boy back once again.
"Hey you idiots! Get over here and help me!" Zell screams to his allies in the caravan, but he gets no response.
He looks over toward the caravan to see a scene of absolute chaos and confusion. The few men that had made it out of the carriage were stuck coughing up blood and falling to the ground while writhing in pain. They were clearly in no position to help the man.
He realized in that moment that if he doesn't pull out all the stops now, he might actually die here.
"Hell no! I'm not gonna be put out by some mongrel!" He puts everything he has into defending against the boys fierce slashes as he begins his short chant.
"ZENTILI SELIP MORIS!!" The quick chant sleep spell finishes as the boy pulls his spear back for a thrust, but he was too late.
Before the boy could launch his attack, his eyes shut and his body went limp. A wicked smile paints Zell's lips as he brings his weapon high above his head, preparing for a heavy strike filled with all his anger. He intended to finish this with one wicked blow.
"Die you-"
Zell's blood suddenly runs cold. The boy's eyes shoot open as he catches himself mid fall, in the same motion he continues his already prepared thrust. The spear charges toward Zell.
With his scepter high above his head, Zell had no way to counter. His world slowed to a crawl as he realized his impending doom. He looked into the boy's eyes again, his pure white, circular, and pupil-less eyes.
"Wait, weren't his eyes-" His final thoughts were pure confusion as the spear drives into his throat and out the back of his head.