And there he was. Golden eyepatch, two large daggers. His other eye full of rage. “Hello sweetie,” he said with wide eyes and a psychotic smile, “how have you been?”

“Who the hell are you?” Fear. This man was full of nothing but hatred, even before she took out his eye.

“I could ask you the same thing,” a smile crawled across his face. Then laughter. Psychotic laughter. It was horrific. “I’m the king of the Bandits! I’m King Ond!” His face went from insane laughter to a cold, reptilian stare.

Duane held Lucinda back, as Charlie barked aggressively at some of the advancing.

“Rain get out here and help.”

“Right here, you take cyclops, I’ll fend off the rest.” The confidence in his voice was unsettling.

“No, you can’t take on all of them.”

“No but I can take five.” As he said this, he took out an elixir.

Cries of pain started coming from the bandits. The few that weren’t screaming ran at Rain, while Ond took up a defensive position against Aleah. A bandit with a sword for a hand swung, Rain easily deflected it towards the ground, getting it stuck. A man with no desirable injuries threw himself at Rain, and was deflected into a man with a wooden leg. Ond charged the way he did before, but instead with both blades in attack position. They were positioned in a way that made it challenging for them to be deflected, so she attacked him. As the wooden leg was being removed from the blade, the man with the sword hand a man with a spear tried to attack. The spear was cut in two, but the sword slashed his back. Aleah cut into Ond’s arm, but his other blade grazed her back. He winced in pain, looking into Aleah’s eyes. She was too busy fighting Ond to look back though.

“Who the hell’s dog is this?” Asked one of the men. Charlie was biting into his wooden leg, when it snapped under him. The man fell to the ground, and wasn’t able to stand. Rain stabbed the man with a sword for a hand as Charlie bit into the normal man’s back. The man with the spear stabbed at Charlie, cutting into his leg. Ran stabbed the man with the spear, making him fall to the ground. Rain lifted Charlie, bringing him back to Lucinda. “Give him a healing potion, keep him calm.”

Meanwhile, Ond swung his baldes, making a wall that couldn’t be pushed past. Aleah stabbed her sword in, and he hit it out. She couldn’t get in. Rain ran towards her.

“Lucinda’s elixir?” Aleah asked.

“Yeah, kinda a life saver huh?”

“Yes, now does she have anything against this?”

“I don’t think she will, let’s just keep him back.”

“All he has to do is walk forward to move us, nothing can get through.”

“I have an idea,” Rain said, as he moved around him. Ond moved one Arm to follow Rain. He then stabbed his blade. Ond expected it to just bounce out, but Rain kept his blade there, stopping him. He stopped his other arm as well, where Aleah then took a stab at Ond. He knew he couldn’t fight the both of them, so he ran into the shadows.

“Calm down sweetie, Charlie will be okay.” Duane wasn’t sure if what he said was true, but Lucinda was crying her eyes out.

“I’m trying to save him, he will be okay. It’s not working.” She was crying so hard her words were barely audible. She was afraid. She didn’t know the dog well, but she never experienced death before. Duane didn’t know how to calm her. Aleah and Rain were still fighting Ond. He ran off, Rain came back to check on Charlie.

“Is he okay?” He asked. He was definitely nervous.

“Maybe, if we can get him to a town,” Duane said, panicked.

“Alright, I can get him there, where’s the nearest town?” Rain cared for the dog more Duane did, and wanted him to survive. Duane wanted him to stay alive as well, only to keep Lucinda happy though.

“About an hour long walk to Alum,” Duane said. Rain picked up the dog, and started running.