The sound of screams were heard throughout the area. "There!" said Samuel, pointing to the light on the other hills.

There was a cluster of people carrying torches on the nearby hill. "We have to get out of here," cried Haruko.

"Quick, get into your wagons and get out of here." shouted Dylan. "If we get separated, we meet at Riyadh."

Everyone scrambled into their wagons and attempted to flee back in the direction they came from. However, they were too late. They saw more lights coming from different directions. They had already been surrounded.

"There's no way out of here," Dylan screamed. "We're already surrounded."

Just then, one of the men got close. "That's the man fixing the bridge," shouted Akiza.

As Akiza shouted this, Dylan pulled a sword out of his ring and stabbed the man. "So it was a trick," Dylan said. "The construction was just a way to trap travelers so that they could attack everyone in one spot. I will hold them off here. Haruko, you must take Akiza and run."

"Okay," replied Haruko.

Dylan hugged Haruko once. Then, he picked up Akiza and said, "Listen to your mother Aki. If she tells you to be quiet, you must be quiet." Akiza nodded in agreement.

Haruko picked up Akiza and began to run towards the bridge. Dylan began running towards the direction of the fire, shouting at them to draw their attention. Meanwhile, Haruko was running in the other direction with Akiza in her arms. Haruko began to speak, "Do not worry Akiza, your dad will be fine." Haruko was trying to calm Akiza down, but she knew that Dylan would most likely be dead. This had been a well coordinated attack and they had no chance of escape.

At the bridge, there were several others there. They had used their wagons to build a small barricade in order to hold off the bandits. One of the wagons was on fire. The bandits had been using flaming arrows with their torches. Haruko did not want to get close as she could have been mistaken for a bandit. However, she had nowhere else to run and stood by the river. "Our only chance is for help to arrive now," she said. Akiza nodded.

Just then, screams were heard again. The group that had barricaded themselves with their wagons were under attack again. This time, nearly all the wagons were on fire. "They're getting closer aren't they?" asked Akiza.

"Yes," replied Haruko. "But, we should be safe here for a while. They will start looking for us soon though."

"Something smells," said Akiza.

"That is the smell of all the bad things that are happening around us," Haruko replied. "This is the smell of death."

The two of them sat there in the dark, waiting for help, but help never arrived. The roads were blocked off, so they could not leave by land. At their backs were a river. It would take a long time before any of the local areas could amass a force to break through the barricade to help them.

"Here, put these on," said Haruko. Haruko took out eight rings, each with a different colored gem on them. "The blue one is called a sapphire and it contains water. The red one is called a ruby and it contains meat. The light green one is an emerald, and it contains vegetables. The dark green one is jade, and it contains clothes. The other three are empty, but you can put anything you want in them. Each of these rings can hold hundreds of square meters of items. Keep in mind that any items stored in the rings do not age unless you take them out."

Akiza heard every word, but was distracted when she looked at the rings with amazement and watched as Haruko put them on her fingers. "They're so pretty," she said.

"Yes, but they are also very important," replied Haruko. "You must keep them safe and with you at all times. They are important to us and you must make sure you never lose them. If something happens to me, these rings will help you survive until you can find somewhere safe."

Akiza nodded. "Good," Haruko said. The two continued waiting through the night. Akiza fell asleep, but Haruko had to stay awake.

"Wake up, Aki!" Haruko was pushing on Akiza's shoulder, trying to get her awake. "It's morning."

Akiza opened her eyes and saw the face of her mother. "We made it through the night." Haruko took Akiza's finger with the emerald on it and took out a few pieces of celery. "Here, eat this."

As the two were eating, voices could be heard coming from the forest. "Aki, stay behind me," Haruko said. Akiza ran behind the leg of her mother and held onto it.

A group of three men came out of the forest. They were bandits. "It looks like we missed a few, good thing we stayed around till morning to clean up. I think these two will fetch a nice price on the market."

"I'm sorry for what I'm about to do Aki," said Haruko as she hugged Akiza. "Now, remember everything that I told you and stay safe." As Haruko said these words, she threw Akiza into the river. "At least with this, you have a chance."

These were the last words that Akiza heard from her mother. As she was falling, she could make out her mother pulling out a sword, but Akiza fell into the water and was washed away. She struggled as hard as she could to stay above the water and shouted, "Mother!"

However, the waves were too strong and Akiza lost consciousness while struggling to stay above the water.