It was almost 8 o'clock in the morning when an impatient Talin decided to check up on Annabeth. Talin got bored waiting for his boss to arrive and decided he needed rest. Standing and guarding the gate almost all night had taken a toll on his body.
When he tried to think of something to do, his first thought was Annabeth. He grinned at the self-made pun and left his post at the gate, heading towards Annabeth's wagon.
While half-walking and half-dragging his feet, he decided that knowing her family ties took precedence. Despite being a criminal, the fear of provoking powerful nobles still existed within him.
He planned to get the details he wanted, and if a chance presented itself, he would hit on her. The door to the wagon was open and he could see a figure seated inside.
He looked around and grinned when he saw Annabeth's driver seated on a bench far away. Talin straightened his hair using his fingers, a poor attempt at looking presentable.
A sudden chill in the air around him caught him by surprise and made him flinch. About 3 steps in front of him, something shiny with many sides appeared out of the blue and shot up into the sky. It sparkled like a big diamond in the sky and drew the attention of everyone around.
The item in the sky reflected the sun's rays like a mirror but not the exact way a mirror does. An ordinary mirror would reflect any light that hit its shiny surface. As for the shiny object, not all sides that received the sun's rays on them reflected the light. Some sides that were not even getting direct sunlight still reflected light.
To question whether this was a magical ability or not would be stupid, Talin thought. His eyes followed the reflected rays of light from the shiny object to their destination. He noticed that each ray went to a different building within the campsite, but not all buildings had a ray.
Before he could think of any reason for this, his instincts told him to duck. He didn't hesitate for a second and threw himself to the ground, face first. It was these animalistic instincts that saved him countless times in near-death situations.
As he was about to hit the ground, he felt an outrageous gust of wind sweep on his back. But this was only before receiving a kick to his left ribs that sent him flying and later rolling on the ground.
He rolled in the soil helplessly before coming to a stop with his body facing the sky, covered in dirt. His right hand powerlessly reached to feel his chest area where he had been hit. The pain was severe in the area and felt like a stab wound. He let out a nervous sigh of relief when he remembered that he wore an iron armor underneath. To his surprise, the armor had curved in at the spot of impact!
Talin groaned as he was getting up on his feet, his right hand holding on to his chest which felt like it would fall.
He searched for his enemy and found her standing underneath the shiny object. His enemy was staring at him impatiently as though she had been waiting for him to get up.
She wore a short white dress, leather sandals and what looked like a dagger in a sheath strapped to her leg. She put on some gloves and started tying her hair into a ponytail, something Talin's mind translated as a 'ready to whoop some a*s' statement. In as much as this infuriated him, Talin was a little afraid of her now.
His mind was in a daze due to unexpected things happening all at once. The anger and pain on his side also hindered any logical reasoning. All he wanted was revenge and answers. Talin tried to say something but coughed a mouthful of blood instead.
"My body is right!" he thought, "I need to shoot first and ask questions later!"
His face now showed unbridled determination, determination to beat his enemy. If determination alone decided who won fights, this fight was pretty much done and dusted.
A baker's dozen bandits surrounded Annabeth by forming a reasonably wide circle around her. Most of them had drawn their weapons while a few stood with bare hands. Annabeth assumed the ones without weapons would be using either magic or fists in this fight.
Most of them had seen Talin getting kicked so none of them wanted to make the first move. Being the next recipient of such a kick was mortifying.
"Well? Are you going to fight me or did you lose your balls on the way here?" mocked Annabeth.
Visibly upset, they shouted their war cries as they rushed to attack her.
One bandit in her blind spot threw a dagger at her to end the fight quickly. She turned to face him, caught the dagger, and threw it back in one swift motion. The blade pierced the man's forehead, putting a stop to both his war cry and life.
Four bandits that seemed adept at running had already reached within a swords striking distance of Annabeth.
One of them tried to slice her with a diagonal swing of his sword. She dodged by bowing and taking a diagonal step towards him on his open side. A swift low kick sent his legs in the air, with the leg that had received the impact dislocating at the knee. While his body was midair, she yanked his sword and slashed the other three bandits' heads off. She gave the sword back to its rightful owner by planting it in his chest.
"Nice sword," he heard her say before his consciousness faded into nothingness.
Annabeth ran at an unbelievable speed towards another bandit that was running towards her. His mind went blank and he turned to run away. He tried to that is. But a kick to his neck sent him flying with a broken neck.
Taking advantage of the moment Annabeth was kicking the other bandit, another bandit managed to hit her exposed ribs with a heavy punch. He tried a follow-up punch but she shoved him away while she staggered, trying to regain her balance.
The bandit grinned, knowing that he was the first to deliver some pain to the enemy. He was a strength mage and had enchanted his fists while Annabeth was killing the other bandits.
The punch was so strong that Annabeth fell to one knee, clutching the area the punch landed. A bandit tried to go in for the kill with his dagger but he didn't even have time to regret his decision. He blacked out when a punch found its way to his testicles.
The strength mage bandit held his nether regions and let out an 'ooooh' as though he was the one who had been punched.
"Don't worry. You'll get it far much worse," Annabeth said to him as she rose to her feet.
She was now upset.