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Too Late

     It didn't take the follower long to realize he was in for it.

Ashton blocked and attacked in fluid motions, not allowing her sword to stay in one place for long. The follower fought strongly, but not gracefully. He wasn't used to fighting a more agile fighter than him. He started tiring quickly.

Ashton, on the other hand, felt almost dead but she didn't show it.

"So," she commented casually, "how's your mom?"

His face registered confusion. She took the opportunity to slash at his thigh. Then, she hurled herself at him, throwing him to the ground. She placed the sword on his throat. He looked nervous. She noticed his dark hood had fallen off. Somehow, he looked sinister but not dangerous at the moment. Ashton decided that didn't make a lot of sense. She kept the sword poised at his throat.

She had expected to suddenly be swarmed by guards, but her reaction was incredibly logical.

She didn't remove the sword from his throat.

Her eyes scanned the faces of the guards nearby.  None of them wanted her to kill him, for reasons as different as snowflakes. An inexperienced observer would only be able to see the simplest of similarities, such as no one wanting their master dead. But Ashton could see the differences in their reasons. A burly man nearby made no effort to hide the fact that he was just doing the job for money and couldn't care less if his boss died. A woman with purple hair appeared to have a crush on him. A somewhat taller man appeared to have a family to support. As Ashton scanned the faces, she slowly brought the sword away from the follower's throat and put it up in a ready stance. She was lucky no one had called her bluff. She could never kill a person. But she continued backing away, the sword up and ready.

"Stay away from me." She had whispered, but her voice seemed to echo with a power she never knew she had.

She lashed out with the sword, just to show she wasn't kidding. Everyone took a step back, except the follower, who had to roll out of the way. Ashton stepped around him but picked up his sword. Now she was holding two swords. She skirted around the clump of guards and ran towards the steamcraft. That seemed to spring the guards into action. Most of them dove for Ashton, using all their forward momentum to make attempts at football tackles. Purple hair barely missed. Ashton rolled her eyes. If purple hair aimed a little more to the right, she would have taken Ashton out.

The burly man who just wanted money had some kind of weapon. It looked like a gun, but it was sleek and silver and the barrel was too small to shoot bullets. He raised it and fired.

A thin bolt of electricity jolted from the barrel. Ashton held her swords out. The electricity arced towards the swords, like Ashton had planned. If anyone had looked, they would have seem the lighting reflected in her eyes. It seemed to linger in her storm-gray irises just the tiniest bit longer than the electricity stayed in the air. But maybe that was just an illusion.

Thank goodness for those rubber grips, Ashton thought. She spotted sparks moving along the length of the blades of the swords. Lightning jumped from one sword to the other. She was ready.

It hit her that carrying electrically charged swords into a metal vehicle might not be advisable, especially with the boys still inside. She made her decision. She marched up to a nearby light pole and stood a small distance away. Then, she aimed the swords forward and allowed the electricity to flow into the light pole. However, she made sure that a small charge stayed on the swords. She nodded in satisfaction. Now she could go get the boys.

Ashton ran towards the steamtrack. No one seemed to be inside.

"Hello?" Ashton called cautiously. No one answered.

"Ashton?" came Liam's voice. "Wait, Ashton, run!"

It was too late.