Astraea - The Lost Crown - Book 1

Chapter 19

"Rae, wake up!" Alastor shouted urgently. She sat up, still groggy from her brief sleep.

"W- what..?" She rubbed her eyes furiously. "What's wrong?"

"Bandits! We're under attack!" Alastor grabbed his sword and the lantern, and sprinted out of the tent. Bandits?! Amot! She stumbled to her feet, her vision still blurry as she madly searched for her sword. Not even slipping into her shoes, she sprinted out to see Alastor fending off a bandit clad in leather armour and fur. The sound of clanging metal broke through the frosty night air.

"Watch out!" Rae yelled, rushing to his aid as a second bandit tried to get the drop on him from behind. These guys fight dirty! She fought back her outrage as she defended her friend, swinging the sword, and taking the stance like he had shown her days before. She kept blocking, searching for an opening and waiting to strike. Finally, she got one. Rae jutted her sword forward and nicked the bandit's arm, causing him to drop his sword. Then she pivoted, sweeping her left leg and kicking the man to the ground. Holding the point of her sword to his throat, she demanded, "Why are you here?! Did someone send you?" Is this Darian's doing? Did these people see the wanted posters? The man simply sneered at her and began to back away, scuffing up dirt. Suddenly he grabbed a fist full and threw it in her eyes. "Damnit!" She cried, desperately trying to rub the grit out of her face and regain her vision. When she did, she saw the bandit had scurried away and Alastor was now busy dealing with a new brigand. Just how many of these guys are there?! She then spotted a fourth, stealing from the tent. We're outnumbered! "Get away from there!" She yelled, charging after her. She brandished an axe as Rae drew near, and began swinging. It caught her sleeve as she tried dodging, and ended up falling to the ground. The new marauder stood over her and brought down her axe with two hands, fully intending to split her skull. Rae yelped and rolled to her right in the nick of time. Her axe now stuck in the ground, Rae took the opportunity to off balance her by kicking the back of her knees. She keeled over, groaning in outrage and before she could climb to her feet, Rae delivered a heavy blow to her head with the base of her own axe, knocking her out. Where did that first guy go?! Still pissed about his cheap trick to blind her, Rae stormed to the edge of the clearing and found him busy cutting the rope that tied their equinn.

"Oh, no you don't!" She yelled, and threw the axe directly above his head, splintering the bark of the tree behind him. Rae glared, her eyes flaring as she marched over to him. For a brief second his eyes glazed with pure terror, then shifted to behind her. Suddenly, a hand grabbed a fistful of Rae's hair and yanked her backwards. She let out a screech of rage, her adrenaline numbing any pain she felt. She turned slightly to see the first bandit Alastor had been fighting, now towered over her and pulled his left arm back, aiming to deliver a swift blow to her head. As his fist came within inches of her head, she shifted, grabbed his wrist with both hands and pulled as hard as she could, over her shoulder and threw him to the ground. Then she yanked hard, and heard a sickening pop as his arm was wrenched out of socket, provoking a pained yell from the marauder. Ignoring as he writhed in pain on the ground, Rae stalked back over to her target, only to see he had successfully cut the rope and freed Alastor's equinn. "No!" She shouted as he, and the woman from earlier mounted the animal and rode off into the night.

"Damnit!" She heard Alastor yell and raced over to see that his attacker had escaped too, along with the man whose arm Rae had injured. She now began to feel a twinge of guilt over all the pain she had inflicted. At least no one died... She tried to ease her conscience. "Damnit!" He repeated. "How did this happen?!"

"They took your equin." She stated flatly, equally frustrated as she joined him near the dying fire pit. He set his lantern down and kicked the dirt in outrage, yelling into the night air.