Chapter 7 - Raid

 Music Inspiration

Chapter 7

Raid

Marianne and Duke rode along the road at a wild gallop.

Ascendary, still invisible, flew above them.

After a seemingly endless time, they slowed down to spare the exhausted horses.

They stopped at a lake and let the horses drink from the water.

"I should have known," Duke said angrily.

Marianne looked at him questioningly.

"That the Inquisiton is also after the document. You can't ignore the DENERIAS INCIDENT," he sighed.

"What happened there?" Marianne Duke asked directly. "WHAT?"

Duke dodged and looked at the scroll container.

"Now tell me..." Marianne slowly grew angry, because she was a running target because of the scroll.

"Yes, have a look. Who do we have here?" comes a voice from behind. "Today is our lucky day."

Marianne and Duke turned around and were confronted with 5 figures. With drawn weapons.

Highwayman.

"Give us everything you have, then maybe we'll leave you with your life," laughed the one inthe  middle, who seemed to be the leader.

The others laughed along.

Duke grabbed the sword, but Marianne's hand stopped him.

"THEY are MINE!" she said in a hard voice.

"Very well." Duke took a step back and gestured with his hand to let her go first.

The bandits all looked at each other in confusion and then began to laugh as Marianne stood up in front of them.

"How cute," the leader laughed as Marianne stood in front of him without weapons.

Suddenly, she swung her hand and a blade came out of her sleeve and penetrated the leader's thigh.

The latter screamed in pain and falling back, holding his thigh.

The other bandits were completely surprised. Marianne whirled around in an almost ballerina-like turn and another blade was already coming out of the other sleeves.

While she was spinning around, she got down on one knee and rammed both blades into the thighs of the left 2 bandits, who also screamed in pain and staggered back.

Now the other two reacted and attacked with their axes.

Marianne ducked under the first blow and spun around the bandit, ramming the left blade into his thigh from behind. With the second blade she parried the second axe blow. In the process, another blade came out of her left shoe, which she sank into the thigh of the last bandit.

Marianne turned elegantly away from the bandits, who were all lying on the ground, whimpering and wailing with injured thighs.

"Duke clapped. " I've never seen an Aranasera in action, that was impressive."

"She's an Aranasera?" wailed the leader of the bandits. "If we had known that...."

"... it would have made no difference, you would have made more robberies. Someone had to stop you." Marianne wiped the blood from the blades and the blades all returned to their original positions.

"The horses are watered, let's keep riding," Duke said.

Marianne nodded and sat up.

"And you! You look for honest work, otherwise I will come back and then my blades will no longer go into the thigh, but higher, significantly higher. Did we understand each other?"

"Yes.... yes.... YES!" stammered the bandits in confusion.

Duke smiled and they rode on.

The invisible Ascendary also rose again. He had been ready to intervene, but Marianne didn't need any help.

*

"THE librarian of the empire?" Beredion still had wide eyes. "But what are you doing HERE in our humble little village."

"Getting on my nerves!" Cecile hissed and looked at him angrily.

"Dearest Cecile, I know you don't like me, but I also go on vacation sometimes. The fact that you had to go here is not my fault. I'm here to relax and find out about the legend of the dragons. That's all." He spread his arms.

Dexter intervened. "Enough, we're just losing time here."

At that moment, a raven landed on Dexter's shoulders and made croaking sounds.

"They were here and are heading north with horses. Back to the ship, let's follow them!"

Cecile looked at Dexter in surprise and looked at the raven.

He seemed to smile at her amusedly, as far as you can tell from his beak.

"Very well," she said and opened a portal.

"Until then, Lysander." She walked through it.

"Excuse me, Master Lysander, but that's just the way she is." Dexter nodded his head and walked through the gate with the raven on his shoulder.

"No worries, Inquestor." Lysander looked after him.

When the portal disappeared, he looked at Beredion. "The Inquestor never ceases to surprise me. An animal as an assistant."

Beredion nodded. "And now?"

"Now the hunt for the Arnasera is on." Lysander looked serious.