While Ralph generally liked chaos, this was not the kind that he found so entertaining. There was so much noise that it was hard for him to concentrate. Some children were screaming as they were carried off, where they sat scared, or over a loved one who had been killed. People fighting and yelling, so much of which Ralph couldn't make out what was being said.
He was only able to keep moving because he was taking the time to block out most of what was happening in his peripheral vision. He made sure to just focus on what was ahead of him. Which meant it wasn't his business to save anyone directly. He was there to eliminate as many bandits as he could.
He couldn't be sure if they really were bandits, it was just the word that came to mind for him in regards to the bandits. Not that he was going to try to make sure he was thinking of the correct term for them. All he cared about was the fact that they were killing people who hadn't done anything to them and carrying off their children.
Which meant to Ralph that he needed to find where they were taking the children, so as to save any that he could. If he could. Since he didn't know precisely what was going on, he couldn't be sure that they weren't taking the children for a horrific sacrifice or something.
He didn't want to think that something like that would happen, but he really didn't know enough of this world, so he couldn't be sure which was not only likely but also what might be more possible than other possibilities.
He wanted to ride his raptor through, but he was sure that it would only make him more of a target than on foot like he currently was. He had his raptor attacking bandits behind him, more to cause a commotion to distract from his movements. Which he was sure was working, given how many bandits had passed him by to deal with the velociraptor that was just tearing through the other bandits and wasn't going down easily. Especially with the armor he'd created on it as well.
He moved slower than he'd have liked, but that was more because when the raptor was attacked, it couldn't continue moving on until it dealt with the threat, one way or another. There were a few that the raptor didn't kill, but only because they'd stopped being a threat, so Ralph knew he could move on.
Eventually, though he got to a point where the raptor wasn't as noticeable. Largely because he was moving through some trees and bushes. As he continued on, he wondered if he should leave the raptor behind and have it help the villagers who were fighting the bandits. A few of the villagers were holding their own, but most didn't look like they were doing well. Which he would want the raptor to help.
If he needed more, he was sure that he'd be able to create more raptors, or something else, if it came to mind, and take care of whatever he found that he felt needed to be dealt with.
So, he continued on ahead, making sure to move more carefully, so as to not draw any attention to himself. Not that it was too hard to do. It felt like there were eyes all around looking at him, but he was sure that was just his imagination. He noticed that there wasn't any fighting in the area he was currently in, but there were a few bandits walking back and forth: Some carrying a captive, typically a small child, but occasionally an older child.
It felt like it should have taken days if not maybe an hour or so before he finally reached where the children were being taken. It was a wagon that had a kind of cage built over it. Ralph could see several children in it, but he was a little surprised to see a few older teenagers in it, and maybe one or two men.
Ralph still didn't like thinking of the men of this world as 'men.' Not with them wearing dresses and being the ones who raised the children. It wasn't that he felt like it should be women in that place, but rather it was so far outside what he'd even conceived of witnessing, that his mind was rebelling against the very idea, if only to help him keep his mind closer to what he was used to.
Yet at the same time, if he imagined the men of this world as 'trans' then he didn't have as much trouble with it. Although, it was a little difficult to do that all the time.
Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Ralph looked around. Looking for anything that he could be of any relevance to the area.
There wasn't any fighting going on around there; at least at the moment. There were a couple bandits standing guard over the three wagons with the caged villagers. Every so often another bandit would come carrying a child or two and would drop them in one of the caged wagons before heading back towards the village.
While Ralph couldn't see what was going on, he definitely didn't like the look of the cages over the wagons. It was almost like this was a raid and all they were taking, at least at the moment, were the people. Primarily the children rather than most of the adults and older teens.
However, he was sure that the captives in the cage were as safe as they could be with anything he might try. At least as long as he didn't try something that would incorporate that wagon in the area of effect. Not that he planned on anything extravagant. Just a pack of 'wild' velociraptors.
He quickly pulled on his magic while clutching his focus. It wasn't until this moment that he started to regret using a bicycle seat as his focus. Primarily because he could see how convenient having a piece of jewelry, or armband in Ameila's case, as a focus was. It would allow him to keep his hands free, but he'd made his choice. So unless there was something that happened to his focus, he didn't plan on trying to switch it out.
He thought about making a large pack of raptors, but in the end, decided to just go the Jurassic Park method and only have three. There weren't that many bandits and he was sure that when the bandits first saw the raptors, they wouldn't immediately react, which would give him a moment, at least, in which the raptors would be able to do serious damage at the very least to the bandits.
Yet, he needed to have the raptors wait for a more opportune time, such as when there weren't as many of the bandits bringing back more captives. He really wanted to send them out right away, but he knew if he did that, they wouldn't be as effective, due to how many bandits were there right then.
When the four bandits that had brought the latest captives left about a minute after he'd set the raptors to waiting, Ralph knew the time had arrived. He had the first raptor come out, while he was ready to have the two from the sides.
Or as near to the sides as he was able to have them, considering he didn't want them to be discovered while they were hiding.
"What the…?" he heard one of the bandits ask as the raptor walked out past the wagons, as if it did this all the time.
Yet, before any of the bandits could do more, he had the other raptors come out and catch them by surprise and then drag the bodies off, as if they were real predators. Before they started to wait for the next round of bandits to appear and learn that the ones they'd left to guard the wagons were gone.
Ralph didn't dare move out of where he was hiding just yet. He wanted the sense of security the bandits had to melt away. The more unsettled they were, the easier it would be for him to make a move to free those they'd already captured. Although, he wasn't sure how well his plan would work out, since he couldn't say he knew anything about those who were attacking the village.
He heard more bandits carrying victims coming before he could see them. He wasn't sure if he should have the raptors go the moment the bandits came into view or wait for them to leave their victims in the cages. He suspected that one of the bandits that he'd had carried off had a set of keys to the cages, but he couldn't be sure.
Yet, as he saw the next group of bandits coming into view, he couldn't hold back and threw out his original plan of letting the bandit's sense of security to melt away. He sent out the raptors to attack, wanting to keep the children from being put in the cages in the first place, in the even that he couldn't get the ones inside the cages out. As far as he knew, the bandits might decide to take off and run if they felt that the resistance was too much for them.
At first it seemed to go well, though some of the children wouldn't leave when they had the chance as their captors had dropped them when they were killed. Ralph felt an urge to just run out there and pull them to safety, but he could hear more bandits on their way. Above all else, he knew if the bandits saw him, that would severely limit his ability to help here.
When the fourth bandit entered the area, the raptors turned towards her and charged at her. The woman, however, said something that Ralph didn't quite catch and the raptors vaporized in an instant. Ralph wasn't sure what exactly happened, but he had a hunch that magic was involved. Which meant this was much more dangerous than he had originally thought it was.
"Not bad," the bandit called out with a deep voice, her gaze sweeping around, giving Ralph the sensation that she was looking for him. "I almost thought they were exotic predators."
Ralph juggled the thought of trying something else, but he had a feeling his best option was to fall back as quietly as he could. He really didn't want to get involved in a fight, even if it was with magic. At least not if death was on the table for either of them as a strong potential outcome.
"If you come out on your own, I promise to go easy on you," the bandit was saying as Ralph slowly began to back away, not wanting to risk using his magic to make himself invisible on the off chance this bandit could locate him through that.
Now, if he came down with any of his friends, he was sure they'd be able to deal with this bandit, although, he couldn't be sure how quickly he'd be able to get any of his friends there. All he knew at that moment was if he wasn't able to do something, those who were in that cage were going to be left to whatever fate the bandits had in mind for them.
_
Beth hopped off her raptor as she reached the village. She saw the bodies of the people that Tim and Wes had mentioned. She hoped that it wouldn't take long. Although, she also hoped that they were still alive. While it probably would let her go faster if they weren't, she didn't want to wish death on anyone just to make things easier for herself.
It really didn't take long for her to check their vitals, but couldn't find any signs of life. Maybe they were alive when Tim and Wes had been here, maybe they died before the bandits were dealt with, but it didn't matter because they were dead now and Beth couldn't do anything about it.
Shaking her head, she turned back to her raptor and quickly climbed on its back, before she had it start running on from there. She wanted to do something. It might have only taken her about fifteen minutes to half an hour for her to reach this point on the raptor, but she couldn't say how much more time she had before things really looked bad.
From what she knew about things like this, it could take mere minutes for it to be over, yet from what she heard from her friends, there was resistance in parts of the village, some being taken towards the center where some people who weren't either old enough to fight or were just otherwise non-combatants had been put.
Beth was sure she should head there to make sure that no matter what, that place didn't fall. She just hoped she'd be there fast enough that things wouldn't take a turn for the worse. Not that she'd be able to do anything about it at this distance if it did right then.
In the back of her mind, she also hoped that she wouldn't find anyone she wouldn't be able to help. Not only would it waste her time checking on them, but it would also mean that she'd feel even worse about not being able to do more.
Even though she didn't say it out loud, she had a suspicion that whoever dealt with jinxes or Murphy's Law or whatever, took exception of her hope. She had crossed about half of the remaining distance to where she knew the villagers were making their main frontline when she saw a little girl crying over a body.
Beth sighed as she changed her course. She doubted she'd be able to help whoever the girl was crying over, but that didn't matter. If nothing else, she'd at least be able to help the girl. Which meant that she'd be able to at least help someone.
However, as she got closer, she realized that the girl wasn't as little as she had first thought. It was the girl who she had recognized had magic and wasn't very friendly towards her. Which made her groan inwardly about the entire situation.
Still, no matter how disagreeable she found the girl, her sister, and the other two girls she hung out with, this wasn't the time to press any such issue. This was a time to help where possible, regardless of whether she like that person or not.
She dismounted next to the girl, who Beth couldn't be sure if she had noticed her or not. She only was shaking the body of the one-armed woman who was laying on the ground, her eyes fixed and glazed over. Beth checked the woman's vitals, despite knowing she wasn't going to find anything.
Beth turned to the girl, only to realize she was talking softly. Beth assumed it was to the woman who was on the ground, but she couldn't really make any sense of the girl's words, simply because she was just talking so softly.
While she would like to give the girl time to do whatever it was she was doing, Beth was pretty sure that it was probably going to take longer than they had. Which meant she was probably going to need to pick the girl up, since she doubted she was going to accompany her under her own power at the moment.
Yet, she didn't want to assume what the girl would or wouldn't do, mostly because it would be easier for both of them if it wasn't necessary. Not to mention that if she did, the girl might assume she was one of the bandits, which would just complicate things more. So, she lightly put her hand on the girl's shoulder, making her jump in surprise.
The girl looked at Beth, her tear streaked face one of naked fear, loss, sorrow, and pain. Beth couldn't be sure if the girl recognized her or not, but as long as the girl wasn't resisting Beth's help, then it didn't matter to her.
"If you come with me, I'll take you to where the villagers are gathering," Beth said quietly. Partly because she knew it would probably be comforting to the girl and partly because she didn't want her voice to carry and attract any of the bandit's attention unnecessarily.
"Is that where my mother was taking me?" the girl asked, her voice sounding a little hoarse, which Beth could only imagine was from the crying.
So this was probably her mother. Beth thought to herself, not sure what she could do with that information. Or if it even mattered to what Beth needed to do.
"I don't really know, but I'm sure it'll be the safest place at the moment," Beth said, not really sure if that was true or not.
Sometimes being where everyone was gathering was the safest, but other times it wasn't. Yet, generally that could only be determined through hindsight, which was never of any real help for those who didn't survive, if it was a life or death kind of situation.
"My mother said that she was taking me where I would be safe," the girl said, turning back to look at her mother again. "Then she'd go to get my sister."
Hearing that, Beth felt her heart fall to the pit of her stomach and she began cursing Murphy's Law silently. While she couldn't say if the girl's sister was okay or not, unless the girl didn't know where her sister was, then Beth was going to need the girl to guide her. Which she suspected was going to be a likely scenario. Which meant that this was going to take even longer than she'd really like.
"Do you know where your sister is?" Beth asked gently.