A Song of Silence

Chapter 8: A Song in the Dark.

I rode Millie as fast and as far as she'd go each day. I loved my horse and I would never usually exhaust her this much, but Brynn would kill me if I wasn't at her recital. At this rate, she I would be able to make it into Brightton maybe an hour before Brynn's recital, depending on the weather. Brynn wouldn't be able to sing if Axel or I wasn't present and Axel was at the Capital Lands, trying to make some good money for his crops at the far away markets. Brynn had probably been expecting me for days and was probably stressing about her performance because of my absence. Maybe the songbird I had nicked from the Grand Assassin would make up for it.

Stopping Millie after another long days ride, I set up camp before it gets too dark. I had started riding for longer hours in order to reach Brightton in time and my legs and ass were killing me because of it. Stretching out my tired muscles on my sleeping mat, I settle for hard cheese as a meal. I'm too exhausted to go hunting for rabbit or foul at this time of day. Settling myself once more into a fitful rest, I prepare myself for the mouthful I'm going to get from Brynn when I return.

The morning comes sooner than I'd like. I slept awfully and my mood was worsened by the sad breakfast I forced myself to choke down on the saddle. Little more than two days ride from Brightton, I allow myself to daydream of the comfortable beds, hot meals, and cool breezes that will await me once I get back to the city. Despite Brynns eventual angry mood with me once I get back to town, it does little to dampen my excitement over the luxuries of not being a traveler any longer.

My daydreaming leads me to forget to check my surroundings. Fire springs up around me and Millie paces at the heat. Again? Bandits this close to Brightton. I might as well stake out the main road leading into the mountain stretch, for all the miserable miscreants that want to stake out the goods coming and going. "Off ya horse, bitch!" Someone screams the words at me once more before I comply. My hood was a burden to wear in the heat of the day so I had elected to take it off. A mistake on my part. Due to my temporary victory against the Grand Assassin, I had gotten complacent, a mistake I wouldn't be making again.

The circle of fire creeps closer and closer to me as I await the new orders of my captors. "Step away from the horse!" The words are yelled at me only once before I walk several feet from Millie. She whinnies her unhappiness at the situation, but stays quiet once more when the fire faces closer. The wielders must be well trained to hold their fire for this long and outcasts as well, for no fire wielders would be caught dead away from the Red Lands. My eyes finally detect a dark shape approaching me, finally a leader in this stupid robbery.

He pulls back his mask once he sees that I am a female. Typical male attitude thinking fae females are weak and helpless. "Well lookie what we've got here boys!" He leers at my form tightly covered in dark leathers, "We've got a pretty one on our hands!" I quell the instinct to roll my eyes at his comment. Let a common robber discern how pretty a female is after weeks on the road. Some of the robbers men start going for my saddle bags and throwing things with little value to the dirt. My belongings quickly become scattered on the dusty road.

"I think we should take this one back to our camp and have a little fun with her, don't ya think boys?" The leader asks. His men laugh and hurrah at his suggestion. The leader motions for his men to grab me. My knife sticks into the neck of the first that tries. The robbers were too convinced of the weakness of the other sex, that they didn't bother to check me for weapons. Foolish, the lot of them. After the death of the first of their companions, the rest charge at me. They don't stand a chance.

The first slashes me me with a mace. He misses. The next do the same with their weapons. None are a challenge or even worth mourning their deaths. The leader flees his during men, once he sees the battle is lost. My knife finds his back. Weaponless, I dispatch the remaining men with ease. A quickly broken arm leads to a face on the dirt. My hands punch and hit with ease, while theirs rarely hits my body. They are all soft flesh while I am hard muscle. They all weak-willed against my strong-willed strength. They don't stand a chance. Once all incapacitated, I grab my knife from their coward leader and slit the throats of all their unconscious forms.