27 Hiking

The flames licked high in the sky as the oza melts. Dishes, midday meal, and broken black loldun bands lay scattered across the ground. Other than Irvin facing against three women in camouflage full body leotards, there's no one else.

I stare at Irvin facing the three women alone in concern. There's one group rumored to dress in full body leotards. Some believe they're a myth; others think half the assassinations in the kingdom is their work. Including many powerful nobles. The Rionne, an organization of female assassins. They take in young, beautiful, orphaned girls and raise them to be killers. They're said to be deadly beauties who use their feminine wiles to get close to their target to kill them.

My jaw drops when Irvin manages to hold off all three on his own. He has size and strength, but they have the numbers and speed. Irvin keeps moving to keep from getting surrounded, but he's tiring. They slide under his guard throwing jabs and kicks and withdraw before he can retaliate. He manages to block a punch and uses the chance to grab her arm and swing her around into the second. The two go down, but before he can block the third, she kicks his ribs. Landing a solid blow, he stumbles but doesn't go down. The other two get up, and they try to exploit his stumble, but he manages to drop low and kick his leg out catching the second in the leg. She buckles while he rolls to the side. The second gets up but stands with difficulty. When the other two saw this, through some unspoken communication, decided it was time to make a getaway.

The women turn and run at me. Like a genius, I stand there doing nothing except holding sticks of wood to my chest. Thank the gods my life didn't depend on me responding or I'd be exchanging hugs with my long passed grandmother. Rather than attack, they continue to move by me as though I didn't exist. Irvin is shocked to see me, and he comes over to make sure I'm alright. He's tense, wearing his 'cross me and die' face. Before he gets a chance to bow, I jump in.

Tossing the branches I'm holding I yell, "where's Daric? Is he okay? Nothing happened to him right?" In my frantic concern, I unknowingly switch to English. "{So help me God if something happened to him, I will find a way to hunt down the Rionne and beat seven shades of hell into their ass}!"

Wrapped up in panic, I don't notice the odd look Irvin gave me when I switched languages. I wring my hands with worry when Irvin doesn't answer me quick enough, "well!"

"Princess, the child is safe. The camp came under attack, and the prisoners escaped, but this soldier had Lark take the others to safety. We'll meet up with them three miles to the northeast. As soon as we salvage supplies and Andri reaches us, we will depart."

Right after he spoke, Andri appears. Shocked confusion widens his eyes when he sees the still melting oza.

"Andri, glad you decided to join us," I mutter.

Irvin pins Andri with a glare, "I would love nothing more than to hear the reason why you left the Princess alone, but there's no time. The flames will attract attention. Gather what we can be salvaged and let's go."

"Yes, Commander," Andri replies grabbing the few supplies that survived. A sack of dried rations, water, pots as well as a few gems with preloaded level 6 spells. The fire destroyed many things including the green metallic wayoc.

We walk, and the landscape is in the middle of transitioning from forest to mountain. The ground becomes more uneven and is beginning to slope upward. I quickly learn Irvin's three miles is much much farther than my three miles. After what feels like ten miles and several hours we hike to the top of a small mountain. I lean against a tree shaking from exertion. It feels like a boulder is on my chest making it difficult to breathe. I'm soaked through with sweat and getting dizzy. My damned enhanced abilities are helping very little with handling oxygen deprivation. Concerned about what happened to Daric I refused to stop despite Andri and Irvin's constant pestering. At this point, I collapse using a small tree as support to keep from sprawling out on the ground.

Indistinctive voices sound in the distance and get louder as they come toward us. Irvin and Andri tense, but I'm using what little clarity I had left to sit up, so I was going to be any help, shortly after, Lark shows up with the others. Relief floods my system when Daric comes into view. I would have pulled him into a hug, but my concern was the only thing powering me. As soon as I saw he is okay, I pass out.

____________________

Emma comes into view and Daric makes eyes contact with her, as soon as he sees her his heart settles, but jumps back into his throat when she passes out cold. He rushes to her side with Andri on his heels. Before Daric can say or do anything, he's dragged to the side by Lark.

"Let Andri handle this, he'll make sure the Princess is alright," Lark comforts.

Unwilling to cause trouble that can harm Emma in any way, Daric stays out of the way. Andri's hand glows orange with Asura of Soma and touches her forehead. He turns to Irvin to say something, but Daric is too far away to hear anything, judging by their faces, it's nothing good. Daric fidgets with worry.

Lark is about to say something to distract him when Daric speaks up with heavy concern, "Emma is going to be fine, right?"

Lark looks at him odd, "Emma?" putting the pieces together he asks, "why do you call the Princess, Emma?"

Now it's Daric's turn to give an odd look, "because it's her name?" he says uncertainly. Everyone else calls her Princess Nadia, but she never told him to change how he calls her and deep down he feels special for it. She's a noble, but to Daric, she'll always be just 'Emma.'

Lark falls into quiet contemplation. When he doesn't say anything else, Daric turns back to Emma. Her deathly pale face has a blue tint, and Daric's heart squeezes.

/She's so small and delicate with such thin and frail arms, won't people bully her in the future?/

Once he has that thought, a fire burns in his eyes.

/I don't want to be a burden or someone she has to protect. I want to be stronger and keep her safe./

Daric is determined to get martial arts lessons from Irvin, but for now, he snuggles next to Nadia when Andri says Emma will be fine after resting.