Deathless

Deathless Chapter Two: Request

Chapter Two: Request

A small convoy of bandits plodded on through the darkness hidden from view, concealed in the shadows of the dense forest. The trees, standing tall and foreboding high above them, making them seem like ants before their mighty stature, seemed to close in upon the bandits. They grew uneasy, but it was all going to be over soon.

These bandits were on a mission. They had been tasked to transport ten crates of supplies to their satellite camp, directly east of Ninquelen, capital of Arlenia. Their brethren were stretched thin, and were desperately in need of aid. They traveled in the darkness, to avoid detection by the Sentinels, the official police force of the Empire.

They were fugitives with a bounty on their heads. If they were caught, they would be sent to prison for the rest of their lives. They had to hurry. Dawn was approaching, and it was only a matter of time before the Sentinels performed their daily sweep of Ninquelen’s surrounding areas.

However, unbeknownst to them, three shadowed figures stalked them in the darkness. One awaited them in a tree branch, directly ahead of them, a small, lithe woman, her long, curly hair tied in a ponytail, the dim moonlight slightly illuminating her twin daggers, which she held drawn in her hands.

Another figure was concealed in the bushes and ferns behind them, silently following them, careful not to make a noise. This one was yet another woman, taller this time, more muscular and well built. She had short, shoulder-length hair, messy and unkempt. Her keen, piercing blue eyes seemed to glow in the darkness as she closed in on her prey, which were slowly wandering into the trap. In her hand glinted a deadly steel mace, designed to pierce armor and crush bone.

The last figure was a man, who lay on his stomach in a fern directly opposite the figure in the tree. He was a huge, hulking man, with muscles that could crush stone. His skin was pale and sickly looking, which stood out, even in the darkness of the forest at night. A dense forest of straight jet-black hair completed his look, the only part of him that was unseen to the well-observant eye. Across his back was slung a huge two-handed battle-axe, which he wielded with ease.The figure that followed the bandits behind was called Vanya, renowned explorer and bounty hunter. Ruthless, greedy, and merciless, her name was enough to bring fear into the heart of even the most hardened criminal.

Vanya’s eyes narrowed as she found her target, the tall, burly man with messy, shoulder-length hair, led the group through the forest. His name was Angard, infamous bandit, murderer, and thief. There was a sizable bounty on his head, one which Vanya aimed to obtain.

Slowly and surely, the bandits closed into their trap. Soon, Angard, who walked alongside two other men on either side, passed by the place where her other two companions lay in wait.

It was all over in a matter of seconds. Forty seconds, to be exact.

Firstly, the figure that lay concealed in the tree leapt gracefully from her lofty perch, her daggers glinting, bloodthirsty, in the moonlight, as if they could already taste the blood that would flow along their lengths.

She moved like a hurricane, fast and deadly, speeding her way through the bandit convoy as they yelled out in surprise as she slit throats, stabbed chests, and slashed open stomachs. Five seconds.

Immediately after, perfectly timed, the man in the bushes to their right stood up, drawing his battle axe as he went, and charged into the fray, swinging his huge axe like it was nothing, severing limbs and heads as he charged. Fifteen seconds.

Vanya then saw her chance. The other two fighters kept the bandits busy on either side, and a path emerged at their center. Her brisk walk then transitioned into a lightning fast sprint, and her mace flashed in the moonlight as she toppled the bandits’ rear guard. Twenty seconds.