It only took Amelia a split second to start running toward the soldiers. Julius was about to hold her back, but she was too quick to move, so he pursued her instead.
The two of them quickly reached some of the soldiers and attacked them to stop the group from reaching Lucius. Amelia had no sword with her, so she had to fight them off with her bare hands.
The swordsman lunged forward, slashing his blade through the air. Amelia quickly stepped back to avoid the attack and retaliated with a roundhouse kick. Although the soldier managed to block the kick with his sword, the force of the kick sent him staggering back a few steps. The fight continued, and another soldier joined the fight.
Julius had his hands full as he was fighting two more soldiers. His brother ran in a zigzag between the trees to create a diversion. He hadn't realized the other two had attacked some of his chasers and fallen behind.
Amelia kept dodging and parrying the blows coming from her two fighters. Finally, she found an opening in their defenses, got a hold of one of the swords, and drove it through one of the soldiers. With one down and a sword in her hand, the fight didn't take much longer, and she subdued the other.
The situation for Julius had turned dire in the meantime. He was lying on the floor, trying to escape the strong hits from the hovering two soldiers. Julius was about to be sliced into two pieces when Amelia stepped in to protect him.
Another fierce battle broke loose, but Amelia was bravely fighting off the last two opponents. She hadn't realized that the sword in her hand had started to glow slightly. Julius didn't understand what he was witnessing, but it seemed she was yielding magic.
A couple of minutes passed until Amelia stood there panting triumphantly. "Are you alright?" she asked Julius, who recovered his composure and nodded. He stood up and pointed toward the direction of the meeting point so that they would move ahead and not delay their departure any further.
Lucius had arrived at their meeting point before them and was worried about his brother. When Amelia and Julius came into his sight, his gladness was evident.
"What on earth took you two so long?"
"You know, for an experienced thief. You are unaware of your surroundings!" Amelia was annoyed about his reaction. "We ran after the soldiers who chased you and fought off four of them so you could get away, you idiot!"
He took a few steps until he stood before Amelia and glared at her from above. "I didn't ask you to do that. If you had only followed my plan, I would have been able to shake them off. But you had to play the hero and put my brother in danger."
Julius came to step in between them and explained what had occurred using his sign language. He didn't say anything about the glowing sword, though.
Lucius calmed down since he understood that Amelia was the one who had saved his brother, and even if he didn't admit it, she also had saved him.
"Alright, let's not talk about this here. We need to keep moving." Torres came to stand next to them, handing them the reigns of their horses. They rode off rapidly because they didn't know if more soldiers would go after them.
The mission didn't go smoothly, but they reached their end goal. Amelia was pondering about what went wrong. She had to question Lucius later. They were not the ideal fake guards to accompany her, but Amelia wouldn't find anyone else in this short time. She had to convince them somehow so that she could carry on with her plan to pose as Aurora and find her killer.
They stopped at the next village. It started to get dark, and the four of them found shelter in one of the lodges in town. This town was larger than the last one Amelia had been to and had become lively as the farmers gathered for dinner and drinks in the center of the town. It appeared to be a tradition for them to do so after a long workday.
Amelia had her room. Lucius had told her to meet them after an hour, giving her time to rest and refresh herself. As discussed, she met the others in the dining hall after an hour.
The atmosphere in the dining hall was cheerful, with guests eating, drinking, and conversing. The three men had found a table in the right corner, giving them a little more privacy.
She was a little surprised to find them there. There had been a chance for them to sell the necklace and leave without giving her her cut.
She sat down next to Julius, facing Lucius and Torres. Lucius took a huge sip from his beer and said, "You seem surprised to see us?"
"I'm not going to lie; maybe you wouldn't keep your promise…."
"Fair enough, we are thieves, but as you get to know us better, you will comprehend that we kept our honor to some extent."
"I suppose so. Were you able to sell the necklace?"
"Yes, here this is your part." he handed her a pouch with gold coins in it, "Admitting that our mission didn't go as planned today, I still think we were a good team, and as mentioned before, we would like to welcome you as a new member."
All three of them were looking at Amelia expectedly. Lucius and Julius seemed more eager than Torres, although less hostility radiated from him.
"Does that mean you are not angry with me anymore?" Amelia responded with a question.
"I confess that I overreacted a little, but you need to understand that it is important to follow the plan so that we can focus on our task and depend on each other blindly."
Amelia disagreed with his statement but decided to keep that to herself for now, "Then what happened that the soldiers figured you out?"
"One of them recognized me from the army and knew that I wasn't part of the duke's household."
"So, you three were in the army before? How did you change your profession?"
"I think it would only be fair for you to answer my question before we answer any more of yours."