Chapter 3 Wandering Warrior
Chapter 3
Wandering Warrior
The sky grew dark above the forest and the clouds began to let out rain drops like knives falling from the heavens. Nya stood closely beside Mr. Theo, purposely choosing the side opposite of the rain’s direction, to avoid getting wet as much as possible. He got a bit annoyed but he didn’t care much.
“Geez Nya! I’m not your rain shield!” complained Mr. Theo.
Nya just smiled as she retorted, “I just hate the rain!” and gave him the best large puppy eyes she could.
He just rolled his eyes and said, “Fine, do as you please...”
They finally took a break under the tree to take shelter from the rain. As they were dropping their bags, Theo felt an odd presence behind him, perhaps the movement of a shadow. But when he turned around, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
“I thought I felt something but I guess not. . . ” he thought, brushing the event off his shoulder.
Mr. Theo thought it was a good chance to rest after a long journey. He opened up his sack to see what was inside; and found a box of magic matches, some fruits, a little dagger for protection and some magic tomes he kept just in case.
He sighed, “Nya I wasn’t prepared so I didn’t bring much food or anything… so we'll have to stop by a town or something.”
He opened one of the martial tomes and it displayed a holographic map of Anteria. He stared the hologram intensely until he randomly blurted out:
“Oh I thought I saw a stain here... Hey! These were really expensive you know! But back on topic, if we just walk straight north, we can reach the a town of Nante in about a week.”
He closed the scroll and took note of the fact that the rain had stopped. The rays of sunlight began piercing through the grey clouds, cracking through the gloomy veil. Mr. Theo looked up and said to himself, “This must be a good omen.”
Nya was just playing in the rain puddles while Mr. Theo just looked at her and thought, “She must be strong to stay this positive after what she has been through...”
“Nya stop playing around! We have to go now!” said Mr. Theo.
“Okie!” replied Nya, looking backwards.
As she started skipping towards Mr. Theo, she noticed a startled expression on his face, even though his voice had remained mostly calm. He had felt a presence, perhaps several presences actually, following them. Mr. Theo focused into the distance, trying to see through the fog left by the rain. There was a dark moving silhouette, but it seemed really far away. But as the seconds passed, the single silhouette multiplied into several, and spread across into each direction! They were surrounded!
“Oh no,” thought Mr. Theo . He started to sweat intensely but tried his best to conceal his uneasiness, as he didn’t want to scare Nya.
“Are you okie, Mr Theo?” she asked with a worried look on her face.
She grabbed his arm and felt it trembling a little. His mind was racing because he had never been in a fight, but he did learn some self-defense magic in the past. He was confident that he could at least protect Nya and distract the assailants until she could run away.
He looked up in the sky and sighed, “Well I didn’t think that my life would be this short,” and laughed because he knew that even he fended some off, he could not handle them all.
Then, out of the bushes, several men appeared, some cladded in leather armor. Others were a mix n’ match of heavy and light armor, likely because a full set of heavy armor was very expensive. It was obvious to Mr. Theo that they were bandits, but Nya did not know this.
Nya looked at him and asked, “Are they your friends?”
“No, they are not,” sighed Mr. Theo.
One of the bandits appeared like the leader of the group. He had almost a full set of armor but missing some joint pieces. His skin was tanned and his hair was a complete mess.
“Sure wee areeee?? We are just trying to take back what is ours; meaning all of your items and gold,” he smirked as he looking at Nya, “also leave the cute demi-cat lady here hehe...” he added as he drooled.
Mr. Theo had already devised a plan in his head and started chanting some defense magic on Nya. As a Furlyn, he did not need a staff to gather magic chi, but rather, he could simply use his paw.
“Ta ke mes te tsk meh ke!”
Suddenly a glowing shield encased both Nya and Mr. Theo. However, he had purposely strengthened Nya’s more at the cost of his own.
He took a serious look at Nya and said, “Run. Now!”
“Get them!!” yelled the bandit leader, but Nya was too frightened to move.
They unsheathed their blades and ran towards Nya, but Theo repelled them with a wind spell, pushing them back. He looked at Nya and pleaded for her to run, but she was stunned in the state of shock, reminded of her memories back in the village. Theo realized this after yelling at her a few times. While he could easily repel most of the attackers, he was becoming exhausted because his mana was
Theoy depleting. He simply wasn’t that strong of a mage. Although he was stronger than the average mage, he did not have the stamina of an experienced one.
“Awww the itty bitty fur ball is tired!” mocked the bandit leader, laughing.
Theo hissed at the leader in anger, but as a result, he became distracted and lowered his guard. Some of the bandit goons attacked him from behind and broke the shield that protected him from projectiles. An arrow coated in a muscle-numbing poison then pierced his arm, rendering it useless. He managed to repel the goons that were behind him, but he didn’t have enough mana to recast his own shield while maintaining Nya’s. As long as he stayed alive, the shield would protect her.
He swore as he collapsed then said, “You guys need so many people to fight little ol’ me,” in a mocking tone.
The bandit leader’s eyes became blood red and he slTheoy walked towards Mr. theo, with a sword in his hand.
“Do you know what kind of situation you're in?” he said in a stern tone and kicked him while he laid on his side. Mr. Theo was sent flying through the air, smashing into a small tree that broke immediately upon impact. The leader then laughed and said, “The kitty is gone!”
He had already thought he was victorious but as he walked towards Nya, the shield was still present, repelling anybody who approached her. The leader looked back at the tree where he thought Mr. Theo landed and saw him struggling to get back up as the smoke was clearing.
Mr. Theo was all bruised up and spitting out blood, but he glared at the bandit leader and said, “I will never give up! Remember, cats have nine lives!”
He smirked at the leader. Nya also wasn’t too far from himself, so he started reaching his paw towards Nya, attempting to push her away using magic. Unfortunately he was stopped by a bandit. The leader then walked over and smashed his paw until it cracked.
“Just die like the filthy bug that you are!” shouted the leader furiously. His veins were popping out of his eyes in anger.
He kicked him nonstop. Nya still had a blank expression on her face, but started to snap out of it as she saw Mr. Theo helplessly getting kicked and beaten up. She yelled and cried for the leader to stop hurting Mr. Theo, who was likely unconscious yet still maintained the shield that was protecting Nya.
The crystal around her neck started to glow as she willingly broke the shield on her own. She ran towards Mr. Theo and hugged him so the bandit leader would stop hurting him.
“Thank you for everything,” she whispered. She put the crystal on his paw that her father gave her and closed it. She was in tears but continued, “You can take me but don’t hurt Theo.”
The air grew still and everything around grew silent. The bandit leader let out a snarl of victory then shouted, “Take the girl and kill the filthy furball!”
“NOOOO!” shrieked Nya. Then—
—Slice.
A bandit fell to his knees. The leader then whipped around and yelled, “Did I say you could take a break?”
The bandit’s lifeless body collapsed to the ground and gasps were let out. Several quick flashes of light along with a fury of gust sliced through the night sky as bandits begin to fall left and right onto the forest floor.
“Show yourself you coward!” the leader shouted.
A voice emerged from the brush directly in front of the leader and a man began to walk forward. “I have been in plain sight the entire time. You have just failed to notice it due to your ignorance.”
This struck a nerve with the leader as he snarled, “I will kill you and this girl and make you swallow those words!”
From the shadows, the mysterious figure stood tall, slender with long arms. Two swords were fastened to his back, both as long as his arms. He had bright red hair that flowed down to his shoulders, held together with a tie, forming a ponytail. His eyes glowed magenta and emitted a fierce demeanor that would send even the mightiest beast running with its tail tucked between its legs. He was wearing gray pants and a red shirt under a black button-up trench coat that fit snugly.
He spoke again, “What you fail to see is the mere difference in skill that should’ve been apparent by now. I will give you one last opportunity to take your remaining men and leave the area immediately and never return. If you choose to refuse, I cannot guarantee that any of you shall survive.”
The leader began to hTheo hysterically and shouted, “We outnumber you! There is no chance you can beat all of us! Attack!”
“How naive,” whispered the mysterious warrior.
After a few seconds, the henchmen were no more and the only one that remained was the leader. He began to look a little panicked as he rushed in, swinging his sword with a mighty thrust down. The mysterious warrior reversed his grip, letting the sword clash against his blade and rode it all the way down until the bandit leader’s sword struck the ground. The bandit fell to one knee and looked up to see a blade directly in front of his face, while the mysterious warrior had crouched straight down with his back to the bandit. The moonlight was shining straight down onto the red-headed warrior.
A small breeze gently passed by as the bandit leader asked, “What is your name?”
“Kenji,” the warrior replied as he sliced his sword across the bandit's neck, administering the finishing blow.
He stood up and extended his sword, swinging off the blood and sending it into the night sky before sheathing it. He walked towards Nya and Mr. Theo. She could not fathom what she had just witnessed.
She was in sheer fear for her and Mr. Theo’s life, although this mysterious warrior appeared to be helping her.
He knelt down and asked, “Are you alright? I am sorry I didn’t arrive sooner to help. You are very brave for what you were going to do for your friend. It seems like he fought hard to protect you which means you mean a lot to him. Why don’t we get you guys cleaned up and something to eat.”
Nya asked, “Wha…wha...what is your name?” as she started to sniffle.
The warrior replied, “My name is Kenji. Nice to meet you,” as he let off a smile and closed his eyes.
She looked up at him realizing that he was not a threat and started to calm down.
“Kenji whe-where can we see a doctor for Theo?”
Nya was worried sick.
“There is a small village close by and I think we can make it there by sundown.”
Nya had hard time carrying Theo and still had wobbly legs from the attack. Kenji sighed and carried both Nya and Theo in between his arms and headed straight for village. When they arrived, Nya had already fallen asleep while being carried. Two village elders were waiting for them in the front of the house and saw the injured Theo, immediately calling the doctor and they took over.
Kenji explained what happened to one of the elders, “These two were attacked by the bandits and I happened to pass by while they were getting attacked. At first, I thought Theo could just protect themselves but then I realized that he was still a novice when it came into magic, judging from how tired he looked. Some of the bandits had some magic resist armor as well.
