The Princess of Wrath

Chapter 6 - Part IV: Merciless

Dozens of heavy horse footfalls rumbled the ground, rattling the carriage. Diana pulled the curtain from the window a few inches to look outside and Asura, with newborn nerves, saw her cursing under her breath.

"How m-many are there, Diana?" she asked with a trembling voice. The knightess looked at her and smiled peacefully, putting aside her anger to adjust to the sudden and new circumstances.

"Princess, stay calm. We knew this could happen," she said, reassuringly. She took up her sword and pistol with a confident gaze. "The Wraith and I will take care of this."

"B-but..."

The gallop in thesurroundings slowed down, allowing the travelers to hear the wild screams andlaughter of the bandits as they dismounted from their horses. The first to face them, hopelessly, had been Chalrus.

"Drop the gun, old man! Drop it!" they heard a woman scream. "You move a single inch and I'll make a hole in your head!"

"No, Chal!" the Princess exclaimed, covering her mouth with both hands for fear of him getting hurt, or worse.

"Come out with your hands up!" the rough voice of a man was heard practically on the other side of the door. "If you try something, we'll kill you all, starting with your driver!"

Before Asura could ask, in her growing despair, what they were going to do to save Chalrus and themselves, Lucy knelt on the ground.

"Take your feet away," she ordered, quietly. With the rug covering the floor free of any weight, the Wraith was able to roll it up to expose a small square, removable trap door, secured with four locks. Unlocking it, she picked it up and passed it to Roland. "Get ready, knightess."

Quickly, the Wraith slipped out of the opening and crawled silently across the ground until she was out of sight. Roland returned the little door to its respective place and in a momentary glance when sitting down, he transmitted to Asura the tranquility that she did not have and it was very difficult to have, with the yelling of the bandits out there and their constant threats.

"I'll count to five, and if you haven't come out with your hands up by then, the driver will be the first to die!"

Ignoring the bandit's ultimatum, Diana removed her sword from the scabbard and prepared for the attack, holding her pistol firmly in her other hand. Asura raised her hands to her chest, feeling the uncontrollable beat of her own heart.

"Be careful ... please," she pleaded. The expression with which she gave Sylvana Fowler a swift and merciful death had formed on her beloved's face: there was no doubt that the new Imperial Guard was ready to eliminate any threat to Asura.

"We will finish with this as fast as we can," Instantly, the carriage gave a loud jolt and dozens of screams and gunshots caused the bandit's count to be interrupted and Asura to jump. Diana looked at Roland to give him an order. "Alchemist, lock the door."

The blonde knightess kicked the door open and stepped outside, forcing Roland to quickly grab the knob and lock it.

He took a seat in the same place, observing the disturbed Princess with curiosity and a certain amusement, as if she was much more interesting than the dangerous circumstance they found themselves in.

The gunshots, furious screams, and galloping of frightened horses were an amalgamation of sounds that stimulated Asura's mind with utmost negativity, creating extremely pessimistic scenarios where Diana and Lucy were killed in hundreds of different ways. She would have squeezed her eyes shut to fight her own violent and hostile imagination had it not been for visions of the Eldritch Truth inhabiting that realm of personal darkness that needed to be removed.