February 20. Fourteen and a half years old. Saishuu Riku.

Turnips covered every part of Kabuba, a village close to Anzenkai. Towers of the vegetable filled the carts and stores we passed by. Dried slices hung on posts, like shrivelled streamers. Shopkeepers stopped us on our way, bragging about the flavour of their turnips. A pleasant wind carried chopping noises from the shops. I wrinkled my nose, I'd never liked turnips, to begin with.

We strolled toward an inn. The village, situated along the shortest route to Anzenkai, was a blessing. It meant proper food and a real bed. As much as I loved nature, finding a couple of spiders in your sleeping bag can disillusion you.

Something crashed further down the street. Close to a shop, with a mound of turnips tumbled down on the floor, a man waved a knife. Around his arm hung a purse.

‘Thief! Give back my bag,’ cried an old lady, swaying as she pointed with her cane.

I narrowed my eyes. Bandit.

People closed in, shouting at the man. But his knife held them at bay. I turned to Kei with a frown. The swordsmen of Kabuba, if it even had any, weren't present, so it would be up to us. He nodded and took out his boomerangs. I unsheathed my sword. My heart raced, as we approached the commotion.

The man's eyes widened when he saw us, or rather, our weapons. With a yelp, he took off. Everyone on the road backed away at the sight of his knife. We ran after him, twisting and turning around bystanders too slow to stand aside.

He took a side road to our left, kicking a box of turnips on the way. The vegetables rolled around like large marbles. Skipping around them, we kept up, closing in on him. Before long, we reached the edge of town. The cobblestone path ended in the wild grass of a forest.

Leaning on a knobbled tree was a decrepit horse cart.

‘Help me!’ called out the man, as he reached the cart, banging on its walls.

Maya and Cho stood behind, while Kei and I stalked toward him. We kept close to each other. Who knew how many friends he had.

Three people stepped out, two women and a man. The one we'd chased rushed into the vehicle. The bandits’ hair hung lank and grimy, with clothes that had long lost their colour. Their sneering faces looked as if they hadn't washed it in ages.

And all of them brandished a sword.

I parried the first blade. The woman's grip was sloppy. Her sword nearly jumped out of her hands as mine hit it. I fended off another, this one close to Kei's head. With every clash, my arms grew heavy. Kei stared at something above, not moving a muscle. He held some wires in his hands. My heart beat in my ears as I kept the swords away from both of us. What was he doing?

As soon as I thought it, something hit two of the bandits at the back of their heads. Both of them toppled to the ground. With a jerk at his wires, Kei pulled back his boomerangs. Smirking, he threw them again.

Show off.

The last one standing, a woman with bright blue eyes, glared and came at me. I warded her sword away before it slashed my nose off. A moment later, I saw the boomerang coming. But with a smirk, the woman leapt away from its path.

Kei tugged at his wires, and his weapon hit the back of her head. She fell like a sack of potatoes.

I panted and wiped the sweat from my face. ‘Good one.’

‘Put your weapons down and go away. Leave us!’ said a man's voice. The first bandit now aimed a crossbow at us, the purse still hanging from his arm.

Long ranged weapons were the worst. While I could jump away from the arrow, what about Maya? What about Cho? A bag wasn't worth the risk. I glanced at Kei, expecting his sign to retreat.

But he stood smirking as before.

Just as I noticed wires leading from Kei to the ground around us, they snapped up. With a whoosh, they wrapped around the man, tying his limbs together. Kei's boomerangs flew back to him, the wires tied to them growing tauter with distance. His crossbow now useless in his hands, the man stared at us wide-eyed.

‘Get him, Tahro.’ Kei pulled on his wires as the man struggled.

I ran forward, sword at ready. If I hurt his arms, then his crossbow will remain useless and we could take the purse away safely. Just enough to wound, not kill. I raised my blade.

An image of a hacked off limb, of blood spewing onto the ground, flashed in front of me. What if I hurt him too much? What if this time, his life really did leave his eyes?

I sheathed my sword and took out a dagger. We just needed the purse anyway.

‘Tahro, what are you doing?’ snapped Kei. He pulled at the wires again, as the man almost wriggled one of his hands out.

‘I'm going to cut out the purse.’

‘Then stop wasting time posing with a sword.’

The irritation I'd filled in a bottle throughout this trip seeped out. ‘I'm not posing with a sword,’ I turned around and snapped.

A click came from behind me. Kei's face paled, and the wires in his hands hung loose. Horror bloomed within me, as I swirled around.

The bandit clasped a small knife between two fingers and aimed the crossbow at my heart. The wires pooled around his feet. ‘I told you to put your weapons down,’ he sneered.

Something cracked, and he collapsed to the ground.

Cho stood behind him, clutching a rock. How she'd gotten so close to the bandit I didn't know. She threw the stone away and crossed her arms. ‘Really guys? While you two were busy arguing, a medic had to take him down.’

***

After we'd tied the bandits up with rope, we trudged back to the main street of Kabuba. A cheer rang in the air, as the villagers crowded around us and slapped our backs. Kei ordered someone to house the bandits, now prisoners, somewhere safe. They'd be taken to Anzenkai's jail.

The old woman approached us, a smile wrinkling her already lined face. Cho handed the purse back to her. As if suspicious the bandit had taken whatever she'd had in it, she flipped it open and squinted inside. Her smile grew wider.

‘My food is safe,’ she said and pulled out a shrivelled up turnip.

I blinked. All this trouble for a vegetable. It didn't even look fresh.

Perhaps it was the adrenaline that still coursed through our system. Or the happy villagers applauding us. Or perhaps even the realization that we could've just bought her a turnip and ended it there. But whatever it was, we, even Kei, burst out laughing.

On the way to the inn, Kei fell in step beside me.

‘When we get back to Heikisato, I’ll take you to my mum’s armoury,’ he said.

I frowned. ‘Why?’

‘Just come to the armoury,’ he said with a sigh, taking quicker steps and leaving me behind.

This was no doubt another attempt to insult me, though maybe in front of his mother now. Whatever. Time to take Maya’s tip.