"Keep it down," I said. We weren't even halfway through the next day and already we had encountered a major problem.
A group of men clad from head to knee with iron armor was passing by with most of them on board a wooden carriage. Three men on horses lead the group while seven others surrounded the flanks of the carriage. The horses as well were clad in iron armor from neck to waist. The sound of heavy armor jingling after each step they took alerted my enhanced senses and fortunately we were able to hide in the thick undergrowth. It was strange to find a heavily armed group like them traversing a dense forest like this, especially on horseback. There was a peculiar man among the three lead horsemen who held a flag. On the said flag was a white bird pasted against a black background. I assumed it was the leader. My psychic sense was telling me that these people were bad news.
Nina and Yuna were terrified. I saw it on their faces, the look of agony and terror plastered all over. The sisters obviously had some sort of connection with the men whom I had determined to be soldiers for a state or a lord judging by the flag. If my assumption that this world relied on a feudal monarchy as a system of government was correct then these men were sent by their lord to do something in this forest.
Patrol? Perhaps.
I needed to be sure.
We waited for them to get out of range before we began talking. I asked Nina who those men were, she gave me no answer. She was silent and did not want to open her mouth. This was a problem. If I didn't know the enemy then we would be at a disadvantage.
I was getting impatient.
"Who are those people?" I asked again. This time, she gave me an answer but her answer only fed my headache.
"I don't know," She lied.
I wanted to force her into telling me the truth but doing so would traumatize her and her little sister. Normally I wouldn't mind but this felt different for some reason. I couldn't bring myself to hurt them, I couldn't.
"This is the last time I'll be asking you, who are they?" I warned, "I know you're lying. If you don't tell me the truth, I will be forced to move my hand in a way that will be unsightly for both of you... and painful for them,"
It was my only warning. I obviously wasn't going to let a group of soldiers like these stay within our vicinity for they may or may not be here to find the sisters but my suspicions were high and my senses tingling. Suddenly, Nina burst into tears. Yuna tried hugging her sister to comfort her but to no avail. She was exhibiting symptoms of trauma and I only made it worse. I felt guilty but the main culprits were these men.
Since she wasn't going to tell me any time soon, I had no choice but to deal with them my way.
"Stay here," I told Yuna. I stood up and left the cover of the trees and headed out to the direction of the group. Yuna looked at me with a concerned expression, she must have thought I was going to abandon them.
"I'll be back," I assured her with a smile before heading off.
I needed to deal with them as quickly as possible and that meant killing them all and sparing the leader.
Until he gave me what I needed. I desired no survivors.
I sprinted through the trees and broke a few branches that alerted the soldiers that something was up, I wanted them to be aware. I then sent a psychic wave on a frequency that only affected the horses. The horses went mad, toppled their riders from their backs, and scurried off into the trees. The men hit the ground hard because of their armor. The two horses pulling the carriage managed to break loose of their chains but not after flipping the carriage to its side. The men from the carriage then ran out with swords and shields on each hand and regrouped with the others. There were fourteen men in total. They formed a circle around the overturned carriage. The leader, the one with the flag, ran in the center surrounded by the other men. There were no clouds in the sky and the sun was raging bright. The clearing was exposed to the sunlight while I exploited the cover of the thick forest above my head.
"An assassin?" I heard them speak. They were quick to determine that whatever was in the darkness of the forest was not a wild animal. I circled around them, breaking multiple branches from different angles with my psychic grip giving the illusion that there was more than one of me.
"Ambush!" The leader cried. The soldiers around him clenched their shields and swords tight/ They were ready to fight.
Then the leader did something that gave away my advantage.
"Explosive Light!" He shouted this nonsense and suddenly there was a bright flash of light that came from the tip of his flag. It bathed the surrounding forest with a bright white light that would blind a normal man. His men did not look at the light so they were at least aware of the potential consequences of such a bright light. Unfortunately for me, the light gave away my position and exposed me to their vision. I was going to toy with them for a few more moments, yeah so much for killing them as fast as possible.
"It's just one person!" One of the men pointed out. All of them then ran and formed a line facing me. They now had this smug look on their faces, it was obvious they were looking down on me. Underestimating the enemy was really not that smart, I expected quite more from these buffoons.
"Who is this weasel?" I got called a weasel by the man holding a flag like a monkey strung to a pole. The leader foolishly stepped out of the safety of his men's shields and walked in front. As if those shields would have made a difference anyway. He was no psychic, I sensed no psychic force from his brain. However, I sensed an unknown concentration of energy circulating his body through his circulatory system. It did not change the fact that he was, to put it mildly,
A showoff.
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