The bandit in front of them was huge and he had his eyes trained on Freya. While she imagined that he could take him if ti was just her she also needed to protect Rowan.
"Where do you think you are going your highness?" He drawled.
She didn’t answer but raised the rusty knife in her hand. He lifted her sword and pointed it at her.
“Just let us go!” Rowan pleaded. “There is a gorgon on this camp.”
The bandit didn’t take his eyes off Freya. She knew she needed to get rid of him fast. They had more important things to worry about, but by having a sword he had a longer reach and he was stronger than her. she needed to be careful.
He lunged, sending the sword towards her and grunting.
She sidestepped and heard Rowan yelp when the edge of the blade barely missed her. There was a breeze from how fast it moved. Spinning around Freya slashed with the knife. But she wasn’t close enough and as she tried to get in closer she was almost caught on the sword. She danced away from him and sweat broke out on her forehead. She needed a plan and fast. She sensed Buddy was near by and glanced behind the bandit and towards the ground. There she spotted his small fuzzy shape moving along the grass. He wasn’t very fast but she sensed that he was going as quick as he could. Watching him, she was sure he had a plan. He just needed some time.
She dropped her knife and let her fear show on her face by her eyes welling up and her lips shaking. “Please don’t hurt us.”
The bandit scanned her head to toe and took a tentative step forward. “Giving up so easily warrior princess? I wonder what we will do with you now.”
She didn’t dare look at Buddy for fear of giving away his position. Instead she stared into the bandits milky eyes and did her best to look defenseless. He must have remembered her display earlier in the fighting ring because he was approaching very slowly. Perfect. That gave Buddy time to catch up.
Just then Rowan cleared his throat and stepped in front of her. His hands were shaking and he smelt like sweat. “You will not be doing anything with her.”
“Rowan? What are you doing? I can handle this.” She did her best to keep the annoyance out of her tone. He was trying to save her and he didn’t know that he was throwing a spanner in her plan.
“No this is my job. I am no one, you are the future queen, The world can afford to loose me.”
Freya was struck silent by his words. Is that how he thought of her? not as a friend but as someone more important then him.
All these years she had thought that the title she had had meant nothing to either of them, that it was just something that her dad made him call her. But maybe to Rowan the title meant more than she thought. He seemed to think that it meant her life was more valuable than his. She dreaded to think of the value he placed on Cade and Elora.
“If you wanna die before your queen then be my guest.” The brute stomped over to Rowan and Freya’s blood ran cold. If he kept up at that pace she wasn’t sure that Buddy could catch up. Without some kind of help she wouldn’t be able to get her and Rowan safely past this bandit.
That was when she saw Buddy, waving a leg in greeting, up on the bandit’s shoulder. The sunlight shone through the long hairs on his legs.
Freya nodded at him and smiled. She spoke before the bandit reached Rowan. “You have something on your shoulder.”
The bandit stopped in his tracks and gave her a doubtful look. Rowan cast his eyes towards her and shook his head. He thought that she was stalling for time and would get herself hurt.
Then he followed her gaze to the spider on the bandits shoulder and took a step back.
“Take a look.” Freya smirked.
The bandit turned his head slowly. He had only just caught sight of Buddy when the spider ran over and bit him on the cheek. The man howled, whether in pain or panic Freya didn’t know. He started to thrash around like a man on fire and dropped her sword. She dove over and collected it. she waited for Buddy. The mad was swiping at his shoulder and patting himself down but Buddy was no longer on him. He ran over to Freya and she scooped him up.
“Good job Buddy.” She petted him gently with one finger before putting him in her pocket and starting to run.
Rowan was gawking at the bandit until Freya streaked past him. He fell into step with her.
“Everyone hates spiders,” He laughed.
Freya didn’t mind that. it meant she and Buddy always had a trick up their sleeves.
***
Cade burst through the door of the cabin to see his sister standing among a lot of discarded clothes. She was leaned over a chest which Cade presumed the clothes had come out of. The cabin was lit by the sunlight coming through the window and the thickness of the walls meant it was strangely quiet in here compared to outside.
“What on earth are you doing?” Cade asked.
Elora started and spun around. Her mouth fell open and she ran to him. Hugging him tight enough to hurt she said “I am so glad you are okay.”
“Me?” Cade did another take of the room. It was a residence for sure, not a prison and there was a bed in the corner. His mind wandered without his consent as he imagined what could have happened to his sister in a room like this with a horde of bandits. “What happened to you? Are you okay?”
“We need to find Azura. She is trapped somewhere nearby, I can feel it.” Elora made for the door and cade grabbed her by the arm.
“El stop. Tell me what they did. Did they…. Did they touch you?” He looked at the ground when he spoke. He didn’t want to see what she would look like if she had to admit that they had. His sister was strong and he wanted to keep thinking of her in that way. He knew it was selfish but he couldn’t stop himself.
Elora rolled her eyes. “Nothing happened to me. I have just been standing in here alone. Come on, I will find you an excuse to play hero some place else.” She took his hand and hauled him out the door.
Cade was embarrassed that he had assumed and did his best to recover from it. “They mustn’t have found you attractive.”
Once they were outside Cade missed the silence of the cabin. There was screaming and roaring everywhere and it made is head hurt. Stone statues that used to be men were standing around the camp and Cade stepped in a puddle of something that he didn’t want to look at.
Elora dragged him along as she ran but both were stopped dead in their tracks when a piercing scream ripped through the clearing. Cade turned on instinct to source it and was lucky that the gorgon had her back to him. she was a few feet away with a throwing knife sticking out of her face and her hands lifted. She screamed loud enough to rattle his bones.
“Get around behind it and behead it!” a deep voice yelled.
The gorgon started to glance from one side to the other. Cade had to concentrate to shut his eyes whenever she would have been looking at him. He felt a stab of guilt at the thought of leaving her behind. She had led them here and she was only hurting these people for revenge. They had taken a loved one from her. he looked towards the manticore, hoping that it would offer help. It was surrounded by men with spears and was munching on one corpse while lashing out with its claws and tail. The spiked end of its tail impaled a bandit and he screeched in agony as the manitcore flung him off the end of its tail and over the tops of the trees.
So the manticore was too busy fighting its own fights to help the gorgon. Cade told himself that he didn’t owe her anything but he found he couldn’t make himself take a step while watching her all alone and surrounded by enemies.
She turned to the side and from behind her another knife was thrown. This one stabbed into her back and she went down with a dull thump.
“Cade come on!”
Cade hadn’t noticed but his sister had been trying to get him to move for some time now. She was yanking on his arm and shaking him.
“We have to help her.”
“Help who?” Elora scanned the surrounding area but Cade knew she wouldn’t even think to stop at the gorgon.
“The gorgon.”
“Are you crazy!?” She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “We need to find Azura and get out of here before we die.”
“You go and find Azura and I will help the gorgon.” He shook her off and started to run. “It couldn’t hurt to have a gorgon on side,” he shouted over his shoulder.
He came up behind the gorgon. She was struggling to stand and the knife was still sticking out of her back. given that there were enemies everywhere he didn’t have time to close his eyes. Instead he raced up behind her and started to speak as quickly as he could.
“Hey don’t look around its Cade.”
She started to turn and he quickly added. “Pretty boy, its one of the pretty boys.”
She froze. “What do you want?” Her voice was strained and her breathes wheezy.
“I am going to help you to get out of here.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You don’t have a choice.” Cade tried to keep the frantic edge out of his voice but it crept in anyway. There were bandits closing in at every side and he needed to get the gorgon on her feet. Too scared to wait for an answer Cade took a chance and lifted her onto her feet. She hissed in pain but she didn’t turn him to stone so that was a bonus. He threw her arm over his shoulders and let her lean against him so they could walk.
A yell came from their left and Cade turned just in time for the gorgon to glare at the coming man. The man staggered and emitted a kind of choking sound. He froze to the spot and moaned in agony until he became a stone version of himself. That didn’t look pleasant Cade thought. He swallowed his fear and trudged on. the gorgon had closed her eyes so that she wouldn’t look at him by accident and Cade’s muscles were shaking with the effort of carrying her. she wasn’t a large woman but she was unable to hold any of her own body weight and kept spasming from the pain of the knife in her back.
“Pretty boy shut your eyes and let me guide us.” She hissed.
“What?” Cade paled. He didn’t like the idea of her wandering around looking at people in case she turned his sister or the princess to stone. He wanted to help but not badly enough to make décor out of his friends.
“Its is either that or you try to defend us while also carrying us.”
She had a point. As it was they had only gone a few steps and had already been attacked by one man. if another came Cade wasn’t sure he would be able to fight them off.
“Fine just be careful not to look at my sister or the princess.” He screwed his eyes shut and sent out a prayer for luck.
“A princess? Are you her prince?” The gorgon laughed before cringing in pain.
Cade ignored her comment. He could think about Freya when they were out of here alive.
***
Elora watched Azura finish off the man with grim satisfaction. When she had reached the cage where Azura was being kept there was no one about. They were more concerned with the manticore and the gorgon than anything else.
The bolt on the cage was heavy and the cage was only tall enough to allow Azura to lie down in it. Elora had released her as fast as her shaky hands would let her. One of the bandits saw her doing it and came to try and stop her. he was too slow and by the time he noticed that the leopard was free it was too late for him to get away.
Azura lifted her head from the corpse. Her once white chest was stained varying degrees of pink and red. She licked her lips and fell into step beside Elora.
Elora scanned the area for her brother. What was he thinking, helping a gorgon? She hadn’t wanted to leave him but she needed Azura by her side. she only needed to remember what Cade was like when Thor died to know how badly. He had become a shell of himself with a death wish. Thinking about it now she thought he might still have it.
She jogged through the chaos, avoiding bodies and limbs on the ground. She came to stop and saw Cade, dragging the gorgon into the trees. He had her by the arms and she was passed out. His face was red from effort and his eyes were fixed on something. Elora followed his gaze and her throat closed up. standing a few feet from them was Axel. He had a throwing knife in one hand and tossed it into the air a few times while watching Cade. He drew back his hand and aimed it at Cade’s face. Elora felt a scream it stuck in her throat as she imagined that blade flying into her brother’s skull. She started to run.
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