John knew that they had been carried off somewhere. He had drifted in and out of consciousness due to the numbing pain on his side. They were bound in rope and straddled over their horses. The same could be said of Minerva. Her black hair was long and was sweeping the ground as the horse moved. She appeared to have been knocked out the moment she hit the ground and was still out of it. He came to a number of times but nothing had changed. How did it come to this? Can't we just go buy some herbs and flasks while without getting attacked, he had thought as he observed the twilight sun.
Minerva woke up amid the noises. It was already nightfall but there was a flaming torch behind them. They were in some sort of encampment because there were tents from which groups of men came in and out. John was tied with his hands behind his back and he was in sitting with his head hanging down. His hair covered his face so she couldn't see if he was awake or not. She looked around her to try and look for a chance to escape. She tried to use her vines to undo the bindings but she more she forced them the tighter they got. These bandits were crafty but this entire situation had been escalated.
"Hey you!" she heard a shouted whisper behind her. The way she was sitting she could not turn her head enough to see behind her. The way she was tied was in such a way that the pole was between her back and the bindings on a wrist, she could turn around but not without getting some new scars. She shuffled around slowly until she was facing the other direction and she quickly discovered they weren't the only ones captured.
Her movement had woken up John who grumbled and shook his head. Seeing her turn around he followed her movements as he lamented the scratches on his hand. His reaction to turning around was similar to hers. It went from we're not alone, who are you and finally to why did they bring us all here.
"You two were the last to be brought here." the woman who had whispered before said. "My name is Hlora(pronounced Lora) I was travelling with my husband and my son when we were ambushed, they demanded everything in our cart, we weren't stupid so we handed everything over but we still ended up here."
"What do they want?" Minerva asked the most obvious question.
"They're slave traders from Inssan, the one's who captured us had thick accents," a young man dressed in fine clothing next to Hlora said. They ambushed my carriage, killed my guards and then brought me here," everyone around them let out a groan of despair. It was common knowledge that even though the country they were in, Tervia, outlawed slavery people often went missing since slavery was practiced in Inssan.
"Our fates have been sealed," Hlora said and everyone seemed to agree.
"Whats going on?" John asked
"Slavers." Minerva responded with a single word.
"Wha-!" John shouted then caught himself and whispered, "what? People do that here?"
"Not here, in the neighboring country." her eyes clearly telling him to keep it down.
"FIREBALL!" he whispered but still stressing the word.
Everyone around them looked on confused not understanding the language but before they had time to react verbally they heard footsteps approaching and the instantly grew quiet. A bunch of the thugs were approaching they slowly untied John, Minerva, Hlora and the young man who hadn't mentioned his name. Everyone thought that it was because they were the ones who were having an open discussion.
They were walked over to the center of the camp. They had only been untied from the posts and then tied again behind their backs About thirty or so men were sitting around drinking with their voices loud. There were several women who had chains around their legs walking around delivering food or standing quietly. John and company were pushed and they fell in the middle and they fell to a thunderous laugh. The laugh died down once one of them raised his hand. He looked like the leader and the indicated to his right.
John looked up and the thug with the dagger stood up and walked towards them. The murmurs died down as he stood in front of them.He pointed at John with his dagger.
"This one is a foreigner, speaks a strange tongue. I am sure he can't understand what I'm saying now. The swords are his but he refuses to unsheathe them," he said while making to punch John but his hand stopped and he reached for Minerva grabbing her by the hair, he yanked her up and she winced in pain.
"This one is interesting, she is an elementalist, she actually tried to fight back." he said and a bunch of whistles emanated from the crowd. "She would fetch a good price in the slave corp." The slave corp was an Inssan military unit that forced slaves who were disobedient or tried to run to fight. They however still bought people with exceptional abilities who were captured and made them join the ranks. It was the most brutal squad since the were sent to the worst skirmishes, those with no hope. They were sent to die when things got bad or when the main Units wanted to retreat. This discouraged many slaves who wanted to revolt from doing so out of fear.
Hlori was looking up at Minerva with a look of pity. Everyone on the continent had heard about the infamous slave corp.
"She's a fine lass, I reckon we should have some fun with her before we sell her off," a shout came from the crowd followed by laughter. John could tell from the look on Minerva's face that they weren't saying anything good. Be creative he thought time and time again but nothing came to mind. The man let go of Minerva who fell next to John. He gave her a look as if to ask what now and she simply nodded. He had to rely on her until he understood the new meaning of the word creativity.
"Fireball?" he whispered to her.
"WHAT ARE YOU WHISPERING ABOUT!?" the dagger thug kicked John in the stomach who fell to the front in pain and the other bandits laughed. He looked over at Minerva and he knew it was about to start, she had her angry face on. As she communed with her spirit her hair turned red even before fireball emerged. This time however it cloaked her in fire and exploded in a five meter radius. The bandit with the knife was thrown towards a few of his comrades who fell from their seats. Besides her hair everything else happened so fast that no one had enough time to react.
John and the other captives were in a flamed encirclement. The fire had passed through them but didn't injure them. It only undid their bindings. She turned towards Hlora and the young man and told her to rescue the others while she held off the bandits. They were quite shocked and didn't act for a moment.
"HURRY!" Minerva emphasized seeing as few of the bandits had summoned their spirits. Not all of them were elementalists so some of them stood behind others. She had fiery wings on her back which settled down into a calf length cape behind her. The situation was unexpected. The leader had grabbed the nearest weapon which was the longer of the katanas. John was focused on him. He looked around and Galad had the other one. At least if he had his swords he had a chance. The leader was focused on the girl as was everyone else. There was a bonfire between her and the leader. The bandits had been sitting in a semicircle around the fire.
John took advantage of this and dashed towards Galad. The man was big and he was only staggered. John grabbed his sword and yanked but Galad had already noticed him. He was pulling so John switched tactics and pushed back and they fell over this time. John grabbed his swords and jumped before he could be caught by this gorilla. A few others had noticed the commotion and made as if to attack John.
"This is getting interesting," the leader shouted as he summoned his spirit. Everyone turned around and the as soon as the other bandits saw this they hey stepped back. John had regrouped with Minerva in this noise. A giant shroud cloaked the leader who was beaming with confidence as the other bandits chanted.
"There it is-"
"I have never seen it before-"
"Those kids are dead now-"
Galad and the dagger thug stood to the left and right of their leader, each with their summoned spirits. This was bad some of the others had noticed that it was just John and Minerva before them and were running towards the direction of the other bandits. Minerva managed to trip a few with her vines but turned her attention foward as the leader begun to charge.
A minotaur seriously, John thought, I have to go through that to get my sword back. Minerva who was slowly backing away swung her right arm and the cape moved towards that side forming a stream of flames along the ground. She had only been blocking the minotaur and didn't expect this outcome. She almost looked like a bullfighter. He dodged to the right and the dagger thug jumped behind her and made a stabbing motion. John quickly blocked with his sheathed blade and pushed back.
"Are you looking down on me boy? Unsheathe the blade and fight me like a man. Johns smirk could be seen a little in the firelight.
"Miner, handle this guy I need to get my swords back!" he said to her and a few vines made to grab his ankles and he managed to jump back. John and Minerva switched position and he was now facing off against Galad and the leader.
Be creative was now a mantra in his head. Screw it, he thought as he dashed towards Galad. He was charging forward like an actual gorilla. John didn't stop and made as if he was about to collide with him that was laughing. By now everyone had recognized that John was not an elementalist however just as the were about to collide John slid between his feet and swing his sword up hitting him in the crotch as he emerged from behind him. Strong spirit or no he had not seen that coming and keeled over holding his crotch. Muscle brain he thought
A few groans were heard from the crowd mixed in with a few chuckled. He noticed that some of the other thugs were now stepping up brandishing their weapons. But that didn't stop him from moving. He was now almost a few meters behind the leader who was charging at Minerva. He was planning on employing the same exact tactic on him. The leader however was not so simple minded and he turned around to face him. John stopped when he stopped this and looked for an opening. This guy was standing on two feet and he could tell he was extremely agile. He wasn't the leader for nothing.
The stop was brief and he charged again this time holding his sword up like he meant to use it. He was about to reach the leader when he was kicked to a nearby tree by the dagger guy.
"Don't forget about me, boy." he said as he licked his blade and pointed it at John. By the time John was on his feet the leader was already charging towards him. The horns on the minotaur had elongated and were pointed directly at him. John wanted to dodge but didn't know the best direction. He moved to his right and hoped that the timing was perfect. He had closed his eyes and in that moment he found himself beneath the next tree.
Survival is the most basic instinct, in his desire to escape his release happened at his legs but instead of a surge it supplemented his muscles making him incredibly fast. When he realized this his immediate thought was, so that's what it means, I can use this. All attention had turned to him and he made a beeline towards the dagger thug. He made to jump as John drew closer but his feet were held by vines. John was in front of him instantaneously and hit him with the pommel of the sword sending him past Minerva. His spirit disappeared like Galad before him, He wasn't getting up.
"Get the horses," John wasn't intending to fight longer than he had to. The other bandits could no longer watch as their mates were so easily beaten. A few more spirits were summoned but none seemed as dangerous as the gorilla or the minotaur. His objective had not changed. Fireball was now back to being a bird as Minerva ran towards the other captives tripping the few bandits in her way with her vines.
The leader had now stood up and was well aware what John wanted and made as if to unsheathe the sword but, nothing.
"Give me a sword," he shouted, "I'll personally kill this shrimp, we don't need to sell him and we can watch the look of despair as his friends look at his head on a spike." A sword was tossed at him and his spirit grabbed it with both its hands. Its horns reduced in size and the sword seemed to grow longer. He held Johns sword in his left hand.
"The phantom sword!!" a few of them knew what was coming. The spirit had imbued its strength on to the blade. Seeing this John knew he was in trouble. He wasn't going to use his hands but the spirit's hands. John was planning to do a surge release as soon as he approached him to stun him and make his escape but seeing as the leader was now cloaked he was not so sure whether that would work.
The minotaur let out a shriek and started charging. Johns hands shook but he had to stand firm and see an opening. He could dodge the phantom sword easily but his objective was to take back his sword. He stood still for a moment then remembered be creative and he smiled. A few of the thugs were in a tremendous uproar and John started to run at a normal speed towards the leader. Do or die he had one chance to verify his idea.
As he approached he held his sword's sheathe with his left hand and the grip with his right. He bent low and dug his toes deep making his natural speed faster. With this small motion the leader stopped with his right foot forward and made to swing the phantom sword from the right with an upward motion. John hadn't predicted this and instinctively made to dodge but instead did a release on his feet releasing a surge as well as boosting his speed and drew the sword. It flashed bright as it cut through the spirits side and severed the leaders arm with a clean cut the sword fell to the floor. Since John was bent so low the phantom sword only managed to touch his hair. He grabbed the sword from the severed hand with his left hand before it hit the ground and jumped back fearing the phantom sword would come again.
He had need to worry since the spirit was making to swing again but stopped short as the leader screamed in pain. Had the sword not been broken the wound on the leaders side would have been deeper and fatal.John wore the long sword on his back, sheathed the broken sword in one swift motion and ran after Minerva. It happened so fast that the other bandits didn't know how to react.
He felt better now that he had Hitokiri on his person.