Cinderella vs. Happily Ever After

Chapter 24

            “Are any of you injured?” Valerie asked, wiping the worst of the blood from her sword on the shirt of the nearest corpse.

            The man holding the tree branch looked at her, looked down at the corpses, looked back at his hands which were covered in blood then looked at the back of his skull. Or rather, his eyes rolled up and he dropped like a stone. She sighed. Now they’d have to check him by hand for injuries. “How about you?” she asked the remaining man.

            “I…I do not-I do not believe so. I…where is Marisie? Is she safe?” He said, the tremors in his body causing his sword point to bob frantically.

            She leaned back until she could see around the edge of the carriage. Miette sat with her back against, arms around the weeping woman. She turned back to the man and shrugged. “She’s crying and she was being dragged around so I’m sure she has some cuts and bruises. But I think she’ll live. I’m afraid two of your men weren’t so lucky.”

            He nodded, gulping. “O-our guards. They killed them first. I had tried to stop them and they fought bravely but… They got behind us, cut us off and grabbed Marisie. I heard one of them say something about ransom. They were trying to take everything of any value. I…I thought were going to die. Y-you, I do not know who you are but…thank you! I cannot properly express my gratitude. Without you, I…w-we would all be dead.”

            “We were nearby and heard you. I’m afraid your carriage is done for, one of those wheels is smashed to bits. But your horses are still here. They’re going to take some calming down. And some resting,” she said, eyeing the two animals who were only now starting to calm down. But ever sudden movement made their ears go back and their eyes show white. Their sides were dark with sweat and she could tell there were marks on their necks from where they’d been pulling at the straps tethering them to the carriage.

            He nodded, slowly sinking to his knees. Isaac shook his head and leaned down, pulling the sword from his hands and dropping down beside him to clean it. Val did the same but checked the ground first for blood. As splattered with it as she was, she didn’t want to sit into a pool of it. “Isaac, Miette,” she called. “I think we’ll spend the night here with our new friends. I don’t think they’re well enough to be left on their own.”

            Isaac nodded. “I want to look these two over. I think they may have wounds they haven’t noticed yet. I did a quick check on the unconscious one and he doesn’t seem to be bleeding anywhere so there’s a blessing. But he may have broken something or have internal bleeding.”

           Miette didn’t say anything but waved her hand in acknowledgement. Valerie nodded. “Well then I’m going to start by moving the bodies. I’m tossing the bandits in the woods. We can try and dig a grave for the guards but…we don’t have shovels.”

            “We can do a stone cairn,” Isaac said. “And check the bodies for anything useful before you toss them. And make sure to dump them far enough away from us that we won’t get any nocturnal visitors. I’m going to cut the horses free and tie them as far away from the blood as I can. I don’t think it’s helping them stay calm.”

            She nodded, thankful he was dealing with them. She’d wanted to do the same but wasn’t sure one of the horses wouldn’t run away with her. Despite three months of riding lessons, there were times, especially when they reared, that horses scared her.

            She picked her way over to the farthest bodies first, trying to avoid stepping on anything pointy or wet. She waved to Miette who nodded in reply, gently stroking Marisie’s hair, the woman still weeping so hard she could barely breathe. Taking a deep breath, the idea of touching dead bodies freaked her out more than a little, Val rummaged through the pouches they wore on their belts, finding a handful of coins, a few knives, some disgusting looking bread with the consistency of a rock, and some jewellery.

            She carefully poured all the coins and jewellery into one pouch, hurled the bread as far into the trees as she could and made a pile of the knives. She tossed the lot near the carriage before, with a shudder, grabbing the arms of the first dead bandit. She dragged him down the road until she felt any animals would stay away from them, then pulled him a few feet into the woods before dropped the arms.

By the time she’d dragged the second body there, she was sweating and panting. By the third her arms were trembling. By then Isaac had the horses calmer and picketed in a nearby clearing where he’d had their new friend brings his unconscious companion. As soon as the woman stopped crying, which Miette thought would be soon, they’d move her there as well. He saw her struggling with her fourth body and hurried after her, dragging a fifth. When she dumped this one with the others, he sent her to the clearing, telling her to rest.

Dropping down onto the grass beside the man, whose face was still pale but edged in green, she realized she’d forgotten something important. “Hey, what’s your name?”

“What?” He said, turning to stare at her

“Your name? I never asked and I’m not going to just say ‘Hey you’ for the rest of the day.”

            “I am Sir Bonar of Griffedours. Who do I have the honour of addressing?” He said, the formal speech bring some colour back to his cheeks as if it reminded him of happier things.

            Val choked slightly at his name and promised herself to try and keep Isaac from finding out what it was. He’d have a field day. Then his question registered with her. “Umm…well it’s better for both of us if I don’t tell you my name. You can call me Ash,” she said, remembering when she’d been younger and that’s all her friends had called her.

            “Then it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance Ash. I hope we meet again in the future so that I may learn your true name,” he replied, bowing at the waist.

            She grinned. “Me too. It’d mean I’ve survived this invasion nonsense.”

            “Then you are from Armith. You have not the accent.”

            “Eh… I’m kind of from Armith. It’s complicated. And you? You sound a bit like Miette so I’m guessing you’re from Ifely. Were you heading back there?” She asked, wrapping her arms around her knees as she looked at him.

            He nodded. “With so much unrest in the north, we decided it best to return home as soon as possible. We had no expected bandits.”

            She shrugged. “I don’t think anyone ever does. Well, in the morning you can take your horses and follow the road. There are at least two villages between here and the Ifely border so you’ll be able to pick up some provisions. Oh and if any of the militias give you trouble, tell them that Miss Ash says to stop wasting time.”

            He smiled at that, making him look even younger than Miette. “I will. And you have my thanks.”

            “The whole world’s gone insane. We have no choice but to stick together, eh?”

            Bonar looked started for a moment then nodded emphatically.