6-16: Ambush!

The empty caravan kept pulling and pulling. Aviris, Sirtia, Cassidy and Sable were in the forward most cart. Cassidy tried to catch a few more winks of sleep as Aviris tried to keep a lookout.

"You should leave that to us." Sable said, patting Aviris on the shoulder.

"It's fine. I need to do something to keep my skills sharp." Aviris responded, keeping her eyes focused on their surroundings.

All seemed fine for the first few hours. Though, at some point, something seemed odd. Dark shadows darting from tree to tree. Rustling bushes.

"Animals?" Aviris whispered to herself.

"What do you see?"

"We're being followed. Skilled trackers, maybe. They haven't attacked yet, but we should stay on gua-" Aviris was interrupted as a ball of fire flung itself towards the rear carriage.

Without missing a beat the girls jumped out of the caravan, and Cassidy was, obviously, wide awake. Everyone survived the initial ambush, but there were many bandits.

More bandits than should be possible.

And clearly, they aimed for more than valuables.

"Your gold or your life!" A bandit demanded.

The girls only kept their weapons in a steady guard, waiting for an attack.

"Your life it is. Try to take them alive, but no harm in killing them!"

The fight was on. Bandits rushed out from the treeline and started to clash with the girls. Rose Garden were holding their own, though their underclassmen held them back. After all, six people to protect is much harder than two.

The bandits were organized. Dirty and sloppy, but organized enough to have some kind of plan.

It didn't help when a mage took out Veronica. Aviris had enough. There's no time to be defending.

The desert woman went on the offensive, using her skills and abilities to get behind the bandits staying from back. And, ruthlessly and unfeeling, she slit each if their throats. She kept cirling around, thinning their numbers. With a quick glance, she could see Cassidy freaking out, Eleanora was focused on healing, and Rose Garden were slowly, but steadily taking down bandits. However, Veronica was nowhere to be seen.

She looked around where Veronica was launched, and found nothing. Not a single thing. It was clearly that she was launched, but she was simply gone. Kidnapped.

Aviris clicked her tongue and went back to her own slaughter. There's no point trying to look for Veronica right now.

She slowly closed in towards Rose Garden, slowly killing the bandits in her way. She was skilled. And it clearly wasn't the first time she was covered in blood.

Soon, a loud whistle was heard and all the bandits disengaged, running away. Either this was a retreat, or they got what they wanted.

Things had started to calm down, so everyone had to report in.

"Everyone good?"

Cassidy didn't answer, still clearly shaking. Perhaps being an adventurer is something that she never should have done.

"Ver's been taken. I don't know where, but she's gone." Aviris stated. Everyone's eyes widened.

"What!? Oh Goddess... Ver!" Aviris probably shouldn't have said that. Cassidy was truly broken at this point.

"Cassidy, look at me." Seraph ordered, holding Cassidy head in place. "You're an adventurer. Bad things like this happen. You need to strengthen yourself, or you'll die. Don't learn that lesson the hard way, like I did. Calm down. We need to find Veronica. Okay?"

Cassidy still shook, but she did seem to calm down some.

"Y-Yeah. Okay. Right." Cassidy breathed in deeply, trying to calm down.

"Good, good. You'll need to redirect all that emotion towards those people who took Veronica."

Cassidy nodded her hands and clenched her fists.

"Aviris, anything you can do?"

"Yeah. Their foot prints are fresh. We can follow them for a while. They've most likely tried to cover up their footprints further on. But I've got a skill for that. More specifically, I'm going to track Ver." Aviris answered, taking the lead, still covered in blood.

No one dared to ask questions. Adrenaline was too high, and a comrade was missing.

So, following the tracks and Aviris' tracking skills, they were able to find a small abandoned fortress by sundown. Or, it used to be abandoned until bandits took it over.

"Lara should've taken these bandits down... what happened to her?" Seraph whispered.

"I'll need to scout around for a bit. We'll need a plan."

The girls nodded, filled with anger and fear.

Now, they'll need to rescue a dear friend.