Liz and David both frowned when they heard the question. Only Liana, who had lived her whole life within the castle walls, had a slightly confused expression. However, they all didn't say anything and waited for Lillian to continue. Lillian turned to them such that now her whole body was facing the three of them before she continued,
(Lillian) "The place where David says his friends are being held is within the territory of one of the biggest gangs."
Liana, who was quite confused by now, asked,
(Liana) "What are gangs?"
David raised an eyebrow, surprised.
(David) "You've never heard of gangs?"
Liana gave him a sheepish grin.
(Liana) "I had a very sheltered upbringing, so there are a lot of things I don't really know about."
David blinked, obviously not expecting an answer like that. Liz remembered that David didn't know about Liana's background and didn't say anything. Lillian gave David a look and he wisely didn't say anything more after he saw it. Lillian explained to Liana what gangs were,
(Lillian) "Gangs are big groups of people that attack certain places or people for money, or because people hired them to do it, which is technically also for money. Certain gangs also do assassinations if someone wants to hire them for it. Gangs generally don't hold territory, but the bigger ones do. They're like slightly more organized bandits."
Liana thought for a while, then asked,
(Liana) "Then what are mafias?"
Lillian paused a bit before answering,
(Lillian) "Mafias… are more of the assassins for hire, contract killers. They have more order than gangs or groups or bandits. They don't wander around looking for people to attack. There are much more things I could tell you about them but we don't have enough time. Maybe if you ask me another time."
Liana nodded.
(Liana's thoughts) 'Why do I feel like Lillian's answering this question more enthusiastically than the last one? Maybe it's just my imagination.'
Liana shook the thoughts out of her head as Liz sighed and said,
(Liz) "Fine. You can go. Just make sure you don't die."
Lillian smiled and said,
(Lillian) "Have I ever died?"
Liz scoffed. When she turned around, Liana could see the corners of her lips tilted upwards into a small smile. Lillian grinned and whistled, a soft but sharp sound. Within five seconds, they could hear the sound of hooves clomping on the ground approaching them quickly. She slowed and stopped just next to Lillian, nuzzling her snout into Lillian's shoulder lovingly while grunting softly. Liz smiled and walked over to stroke Starlight.
(Liz) "You take care of Lil."
She mumbled into the horse's ear as she stroked her. Starlight snorted softly in response. Lillian stepped over and hugged Liz before mounting Starlight. She waved a little before easing Starlight into a trot, which quickly became a gallop, until they couldn't see her anymore. Liz turned to David and crossed her arms as she said,
(Liz) "We should probably wait till dawn before starting, unless you want to wait until tomorrow."
David turned to face her fully and replied,
(David) "What do you want to do?"
(Liz) "We'll start at dawn. For now, I'll show you where you'll be staying until Lillian's return."
She turned to Liana and said,
(Liz) "You get some rest first."
Liana nodded.
*
Lillian watched her surroundings as she headed for the place where David had said his friends were being held. When she spotted a large clearing, she nudged Starlight a little and the horse immediately slowed into a trot, then to a walk. Starlight stopped when the place came into full view. Lillian dismounted and stroked Starlight's snout while letting her mind wonder what her sister and Liana were doing at that moment.
(Lillian's thoughts) 'Liz probably decided to wait until dawn to start. She's not a big fan of training at night if she has a choice.'
Her eyebrows creased slightly as she thought of Liana's safety but she trusted her sister to protect her if it came down to it. She pushed the thoughts out of her head as she said softly to Starlight,
(Lillian) "Stay out of sight."
Starlight neighed softly and nudged Lillian's hand before trotting off to stand behind some trees. Lillian let her lips curve into a small smile before turning around. She scanned the place. There was a huge building about five hundred metres ahead, after a steep drop. From what she knew, the whole area was the territory of The Viper Band, the third largest Gang in the land. With over one and a half million people worldwide, they certainly were very powerful. Lillian plotted her way in and out, her face grim at the thought of the sheer number of people she'd have to fight just to get the hundred or so captives out safely. She could feel the weight of her many weapons, hidden or visible on her body as she continued thinking and planning.
*
When dawn broke, she started running towards the place. Their sentries were changing shifts, and she managed to silence them before they could raise the alarm. She wagered that she would have less than half an hour to locate the prisoners before the alarm was raised. She ran quicker, sword still out, until she reached the front of the building. She ducked against the building, putting an invisibility spell on herself as four guards walked past. Scanning the building with her magic, she located the area where they were keeping the prisoners. She frowned as she realised just how many of them there were. Sighing, she knew what she had to do and slipped her sword back into its sheath.
*
Two minutes later, another patrol walked past. She waited till the last one was past where she was standing before making a move. Grabbing the one at the back with her palm over his mouth, she used a hidden blade to slice his throat, laying his lifeless body on the ground without making a noise before moving on to the next one. This time, she didn't bother keeping silent and the body dropped to the ground with a thud. The other two spun around, swords slipping out of their sheathes as they took in the scene before them. Dashing forward, she drew her sword again and felled both of them at the same time. Guards streamed out of the building, all armed, weapons drawn. She also noticed archers had been positioned on the top of the building, arrows notched and aiming for her. The alarm had been raised and the battle was about to begin. As the guards approached her, she grabbed the sword attached to her right hip with her left hand and drew it. A cry ran out and a volley of arrows rained down at her. As the dust cleared, the guards stepped forward hesitantly to see the result of the hail of arrows. Before they could react, Lillian ran past them, leaving behind only a blurry afterimage and a trail of dead bodies in her wake. Her sword only visible occasionally as she swung it deftly, not expending more energy than needed. They turned their heads to watch her jump up onto the roof of the building, the rising sun casting a golden glow on her frame as she skilfully dispatched the archers.
Replacing her sword with her bow, Lillian drew back and fired, arrow after arrow, occasionally drawing more than one at once. If the guards looking up at her had time to stop and think, they would wonder why her arrows never seemed to run out. Normally, that wouldn't be possible, but Lillian wasn't using normal arrows, she was using magic ones. Soon after, the ground was littered with thousands of bodies, an arrow or two sticking out of each of them. Her ocean blue eyes were glowing, her silver hair flowing behind her back. She waited until her eyes had stopped glowing and her hair was back in place before keeping her bow and hopping off the roof. She drew her sword and walked into the building cautiously, but not hesitantly. She knew there were still a few guards left inside and wanted to make sure she took them all out before finally getting the prisoners free. She was walking towards the next place where the guards were posted when she stopped suddenly and spun around to face the newcomer.
(Newcomer) "Well, well. The Phoenix herself. What brings you to my humble headquarters? And killing thousands of my men at that."
He gritted his teeth as he finished his sentence. The man was huge, towering over Lillian, his muscles clearly showing underneath his shirt, but she merely smiled and relaxed her wrist, dropping the tip of her sword to the ground.
(Newcomer) "Oh? You're not going to talk? Don't you owe me an explanation for breaking into my headquarters and wiping out half of my elites?"
Lillian shrugged her shoulders. He growled in response, drawing his weapon which was secured behind his back. It was a huge two-handed broadsword, and he swung it above his head, preparing to bring it straight down, which was the best attack for a weapon of that calibre. It was huge and clumsy compared to her small and thin sword, but very strong. If it had been anyone else, that would have been a killing blow. But it was Lillian, and she easily blocked the attack with a flick of her wrist. She twisted her body and jumped out of the way, deciding not to counterattack.
(Leader of the Viper Band) "Oh? This is new. Why aren't you counterattacking? Scared?"
He said, then chuckled, a deep laugh with no humour in it. She simply stared back at him through her mask. She had put it on earlier, just before she started the attack. She had decided the best way to do it was to make sure they only knew her as the Phoenix, and not her face. He ran towards her and attempted an upwards cut, which she easily dodged. This time, however, she counterattacked, but kept the movement slow enough for him to block. He still didn't manage to block it in time and it grazed his shoulder. He grunted in pain as he moved his sword back into position to ready himself for the next attack. Deciding not to attack, he moved into a defensive stance. Lillian saw his movement and humoured him by attacking. She feinted to the right before bringing her sword diagonally upwards from the left. The movement was too quick for him to see and he was unable to block it. He stumbled and hissed from the pain searing across his right side up to his left shoulder. His sword dropped a little, almost touching the ground, but he managed to recover in time to block Lillian's next attack, which was slower. As Lillian continued to rain strike after strike on him, he slowly gave way and collapsed to one knee, the tip of his sword piercing the ground.
(Leader of the Viper Band) "You win. I admit defeat."
Lillian relaxed slightly, but her eyes widened as she jumped out of the way to dodge an arrow fired at her. She turned her face slightly towards the person who fired the arrow, but kept her body facing the guy on the ground. Her eyes narrowed as he laughed.
(Leader of the Viper Band) "You really think I'd admit defeat so easily? See if you can dodge this."
At that, about fifty arrows were fired at her. She deflected most of them and dodged the rest. She grabbed her throwing knives with her left hand and threw about thirty of them. Each and every one of them hit an archer, all falling from their places to the ground. She turned back around to face the guy whose face was pale as he realised what she just did. She raised her sword and rested it on his neck. He dropped his sword in surrender when he realised that attempting to fight back was futile. His eyes moved to the side as he seemed like he was looking at something. At the very last moment, Lillian moved her head slightly to avoid an arrow, which would have gone straight into her temple had she not moved. She turned her sword and knocked the guy out with the hilt, then turned to face the new archer.
(Second Newcomer) "I was wondering when you'd notice me. So, you knew all along, huh."
Lillian half smiled and nodded. He jumped down and slung his bow over his shoulder.
(Second Newcomer) "You're really the Phoenix?"
Lillian nodded again, and he raised his hands in surrender.
(Second Newcomer) "Then I wouldn't stand a chance."
Lillian lowered her sword and walked over to the guy to tie his hands behind his back. He didn't resist, knowing anything he tried wouldn't work anyway. After she tied his hands and legs, she knocked him out, then went to find the place where they were keeping the prisoners.
*
Lillian took off her mask before she opened the door of the room to reveal about a hundred people in chains locked up inside. Some of them were covered in bruises and cuts, showing signs of having given quite a fight. She did a spell and all the chains came loose. She then did another to heal their wounds and they showed their appreciation but didn't try to talk to her. Gesturing that they follow her, Lillian led them outside and to a distance away, where they met David's friends who had received a message from him to meet them at that place.
*
After getting them back to the village, she went back to fetch Starlight and head back to her Clan. They had wanted to give her a gift as thank you for saving their friends and families, but she refused, saying it was not a problem. She didn't reveal to them her identity as the Phoenix, as she assumed David hadn't told them about it either.
*
Meanwhile…
At dawn, David followed one of the villagers to meet Liana and Liz. Liz had asked him to guide David to what David recognized as a training hall. David examined the place before turning to Liz and asking,
(David) "What should we do first?"
Liz raised her eyebrows.
(Liz) "You use swords, right?"
David nodded. Liz smiled and Liana noticed something devious behind it but chose not to say anything and just watch the events play out.
(Liz) "Spar with me."