The horse slowed down, more exhausted by the moodiness of its rider than by the four-hour trip across difficult terrain. That morning, Tessa cursed her stupidity for the dozenth time. She had anticipated that Captain Leo would vent his rage on her, but she had not anticipated the extent of his actions.
That morning, a messenger with a missive asking her to deliver a personal letter from Leo to the Captain in charge of Outpost 5 on the fringes of the Greenlands was waiting for her in front of her rooms. Of course, her superior's decision to write to the station that frequently came under No-Lander bombardment because of its proximity to Greenland food supplies was probably not a coincidence. It was also difficult to believe it was a coincidence that when Tessa went to round up some riders to go with her, all the troops up to the duty had been conveniently dispatched on various errands, along with the horses they would have used.
Warriors did not travel through the No-Lander Zone on their own, but there was no law that forbade it. A regulation to that effect was probably going to be implemented shortly given the increased frequency of ambushes, but as of right now, it is not in place. However, she was not allowed to defy her superiors' orders by law. She would be put in jail and demoted if she persisted.
Despite having little aptitude for his work, Captain Leo had to be commended for the skill with which he had planned his retaliation.
So there she was, riding alone into a place she knew was filled with No-Lander raiders. She realised Leo was probably hoping she would pass away. Her lips twisted into a cruel smile. He didn't know her well enough, I guess. She would make it. She would live to retaliate against the idiot.
The horse's gait shifted when the ground underneath him softened. The Warrior lands' once-grey, desolate environment had long before given way to more pliable soil and plants, but now trees were proliferating and the area had turned green. Tessa had previously travelled here on assignments and was aware that as the following hour progressed, the trees would only continue to swell in number and height. The streams would then start to develop; they were branches of the Blue River, which cut through the centre of the Greenlands. The snow-capped peak of Deadman's Mountain to the right and the distant peaks of the Three Sleeping Sisters to the left caught her attention as she peered over the tops of the trees. Since before the Blue Men arrived and before Gaia's written history started, the three volcanoes have remained dormant.
A change in the direction of the leaves ahead alerted her. Her demeanour remained unchanged, but she tightened the reins with her other hand and slid her right hand down to her belt. She had been anticipating this.
She steered her horse slightly to the right, angling away from the larger trees up ahead, maintaining her expression of impassiveness. She had to be prepared for the chance that a Ra-Innu archer would be among them, based on the most recent raids. The archer would be waiting in one of the trees up ahead if that were the case.
Shrubs to her left have undergone another change. She inhaled deeply, controlling her breathing to keep her heart from racing. She then slowed her horse and firmly planted her feet in the stirrups. They were following her and attempting to persuade her to flee in the direction of the archer hiding in the trees up ahead. Although it had strengths, the plan was flawed. See what you do right now. Tessa halted her horse abruptly by tightening her thighs and pulling on the lead.
After a brief period of silence, a shout penetrated the silence.
Six No-Landers emerged from the bushes and charged her with battle axes and swords. Tessa raised her bow and arrow as she moved her horse towards them and allowed the animal to rear its front legs. She fired as soon as its hooves landed on the ground again. Men one through five were killed, and man six fled before her arrows could hit their targets. Tessa expected to see more of them positioned higher up, close to the archer, but no one else showed up. She got off her horse easily and moved swiftly.
As she drew near, the wounded soldiers on the ground moaned; each had an arrow lodged in their shoulder and achilles tendon, rendering them unable to stand or use a weapon. As Tessa removed her arrows from the bodies of the injured soldiers, the smell of blood lingered in the air. She opened her senses and focused on the sounds farther away, past the painful groans. The rest of them would approach her because she wasn't moving ahead.
She started moving as she heard a faint whistle in the air. She dodged the lethal shot and quickly lifted her sword to repel the sixth assailant, who had returned with three other assailants. Both of their arms felt the shockwaves caused by the collision of metal. She was larger, thicker, and taller than the man in front of her, but he moved slowly. Before confronting the final man, she quickly dispatched him and the other two. He was the fastest and smartest of the group, and he was slim and black. He still couldn't hold a candle to a warrior.
Tessa put him between herself and the archer, who hadn't yet manifested himself, by ducking under his subsequent strike and advancing behind him. The man swung once more while growling behind his bushy moustache, cursing as an arrow nearly struck him in the side.
It provided her with the desired diversion. She quickly pushed the blade back while bending low, extending her arms forward, and cutting across the back of her attacker's ankles. The man collapsed while wailing in agony. Tessa didn't halt because there wasn't any time to think. She slid the final few feet back to her horse while running, ditching her sword in favour of her bow and arrow. Nothing took place. Her neck began to perspire as she made her calculations. By now, more foot soldiers would have emerged, if there were any. The archer was probably the only one left, and the interval between his arrows suggested he was moving. But where would he go, exactly?
She looked over the bushes and smaller trees behind them. Since there were other people to keep her attention, he had been shooting from behind a plant facing due west. He was probably worried now that all of his teammates were wounded. Which meant that he would distance himself from her, and if he did, the only place from which to watch her covertly would be from higher ground.
She studied every tree in her line of sight with her arms lifted and her bow drawn, trying to find one with lower branches that could support a man's weight. Just as he released his arrow, she caught sight of him. She rolled out of the way, tucked her weapon away, and fired as she stood back up. After a faint cry, the sound of branches breaking could be heard.
Tessa dropped her weapon and hurried to her saddle bag since she was sure the archer wouldn't fire again. She grabbed her rope and quickly bound the No-Landers, tying their hands to their feet as they swore at her. Her breath came in short bursts.
As she completed tying up the final man, she felt a jolt under her knee. Oh, dear Diya! She pushed the final tied man out of the way and then laid down on the ground with her ear to the ground. Horses. They were approaching her in groups of five. In the No-Lander tribes, horses were extremely uncommon; only the best warriors and tribal chiefs would own them. Could her bad luck truly be this bad? Tessa, you must think! She would not have had time to outrun them for that long, as the closest outpost was still two hours away by horseback.
She took her bow and stood where she could view the road clearly yet not be easily seen by oncoming traffic. The ground trembled. The ground in front of her was covered with blood-coated arrows. Five horse combatants were unlikely to be defeated by her; all it would take for them to kill her would be one simultaneous attack from all five of them. She might be able to survive if she could shoot far enough to reduce their numbers before they got close to her. But from where she was standing, the heat was the only option.
She would only have a brief window after calling the Heat before the accompanying pain rendered her unable to resist. Before going unconscious, she would have to defeat them all.
Tessa set an arrow on her bow, closed her eyes, and inhaled slowly, oblivious to the burning in her arms. Everything started to disappear, and a shimmering green-blue stripe appeared on the ground in place of the chained men's cries, the sound of the wind tearing at the bushes, and the pounding of horses as the enemy drew near.