Celestial Discord

Chapter 21- City Dwellers

The girl glared at Tucker, her eyes getting more ferocious by the second. It was clear that Tucker was panicking, even if he didn't show it outwardly. That meant it probably wasn't best for him to do the explaining. I looked over to Mary and Mr. Reginald, who also had arrows pointed at them and sharp tips lightly jabbing their backs. Mr. Reginald looked concerned while Mary looked rather unfazed.

I had to think about it. Mary isn't a people person so I'd rather not have her negotiate when our lives are on the line and I don't know enough about Mr. Reginald's people skills to trust him to get out of this situation. Welp, that means it's up to me. Better than dying I guess.

I raised my hands up, trying my best to be as innocuous and as little of a threat as possible. Sadly, it wasn't reciprocated well, as one of the archers reacted by trying to end me with a quick shot. Fortunately, I sidestepped it.

Weird, I thought. It didn't feel like my body was taken over. That couldn't have been my reflexes, could it? I shook my head. That's not important right now. I need to talk my way out of our current predicament.

I let out a nervous smile. "Umm, I'm sorry if we're intruding, but we didn't mean to cause any trouble."

The girl currently threatening Tucker's life gazed over at me, but kept the knife up to Tucker's neck. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she lowered her knife and started walking over to me. I felt the spear on my back let up as the muscular woman backed up a few steps.

The girl walking over was slightly taller than me, with long black hair and brown eyes, with a leather homemade ribbon tying some of her hair into a small braid. The clothes she was wearing could only be described as woodland clothing as they were leather and most likely made from animal hides. Unsurprisingly, she was barefoot.

She walked up right to me, with little more than an inch between us. Without warning, she took a step back and threw a punch at me. My first reaction was to dodge but Miss Mya's voice chimed in my head.

Just take the punch.

Trusting her words, I took a bullet to the gut and fell to the ground in pain.

"Sir Arthur!" A voice yelled. Probably Mr. Reginald.

It didn't hurt as much as I expected, but it was still painful enough to make me want to throw up, which was surprising considering the girl who punched me looked like the weakest out of everyone who was surrounding us. I wanted to roll over and groan, but I knew better than to show weakness to the Amazons.

I jumped up and looked back at the girl. I put my hands up once again. "We don't want any trouble," I repeated.

Hearing this, she looked at her knife for a moment, as if deciding whether she'll need it or not before ultimately slipping it into a sash that was on her leg.

"Then..." she said in almost perfect English, "why did you hurt Baihu?"

"Baihu?"

She gestured over to the Liger who was now lying on the ground with its one good eye closed while several of the women were treating its paws.

"He randomly attacked us," I tried to explain. "We fended him off but he wouldn't leave us alone."

"I see..." The distrust didn't leave her eyes, not that I could blame her. We are strangers walking into her territory. If someone was randomly walking around the area of the mansion I'd be pretty suspicious as well.

The girl looked back at Tucker, then Mr. Reginald, before stopping at Mary.

"I'd be willing to believe your plea of innocence, If your friend didn't reek of our scouting dog's blood."