The carriage comes to a sudden stop, and Clyde and Aithne feel a huge crash from the wheel lodging itself in the ground. “We are stuck!” Allister yells.

Suddenly, with a booming snap, two trees come crashing down, blocking the carriage in. “Oh, and blocked off, “ the driver adds.

Aithne sighs. “I guess it’s time to stretch my legs.” She picks up her staff and looks back at Clyde, “Watch closely.”

She pushes the carriage door open, slamming it against its walls and jumps out of the carriage. She raises her staff and exclaims “Who is foolish enough to stop me! I will have you pay dearly for such impertinence!”

A man comes from behind the carriage and circles around to the front while talking.

“Oh, did I interrupt something important? M'lady, my deepest apologies.” He bows sarcastically. “But, you see- me and the boys were just cutting trees down for firewood.”

Two other masked men appear behind the roadblock, both wielding axes and donning rugged leather armor. Four additional men step out from behind the carriage, carrying small wooden shields and battle axes. They grin, and puff out their chests behind the busted-up plate armor.

One of the bandits that came from behind yells out “We have you outnumbered! Surrender, we just want your coin!”

The man with the crossbow chuckles “Oh, don’t lie to her, lad. We’ll also take her!”

Aithne looks at the carriage driver. “Alistair, get the ones behind and do not spare a single one” she states firmly.

“Yes, m'lady .” Alistair runs over the top of the carriage and slides down the back. He draws the two swords from his side, both sabers. One short at 36” and the other long at 46”.

Aithne looks toward the man with the crossbow. “You have made a grave mistake to threaten me. I am Lady Raine, widow to Knight Commander Raine.”

She unsheathes her shortsword from her side. “I will post your head on a pike.”

The man raises his crossbow and aims it toward Aithne. He releases the catch on the crossbow, shooting the bolt toward her. She side steps, and the bolt misses.

The thug smirks. “Go get her boys!” The other two bandits start rushing toward Aithne.

Unphased, Aithne points her staff toward the bandit that is closest and starts an incantation “Presence of Mind, Fire Blast.” A burst of fire shoots forth, hitting her target as soon as the incantation ends.

The magical flames envelop him, making him frail.

Clyde watches in awe as thoughts race through his mind. Fire blast is a magic ability that inflicts the frail state, which means his constitution is meaningless! And she’s using presence of mind to change the full incantation to just the name of the spell.

The bandit now realizes the danger he faces. Without his constitution, the huge gaps in his armor meant there were many targets for Aithne to hit to seriously wound him. But he couldn’t stop the momentum he had built with his body. He looked into her eyes and saw death. The bandit tried to plead, “Please, d…” But Aithne cut off his head without hesitation.

She points to the other bandit. “Presence of Mind, Fire Blast.” Unwavering, the bandit presses on toward Aithne, swiping with his blade as he passes by.

She twirls to the side, causing him to completely miss. Unable to stop his momentum, he stumbles forward.

Aithne continues her magic attacks. “Presence of mind, Immolate.” The bandit’s body instantly burns to a crisp.

Clyde watches on intently. Immolate is a spell that kills any person that has been inflicted with the frail status.

Using the excitement as cover, the crossbow bandit hid in the woods. Aithne, standing ready, could hear wrestling of leaves and sticks in the woods. She tries to pinpoint the location of the crossbow welder.

He snaps a twig while moving. “Ready or not, here I come!” Aithne yells. She darts toward her hidden target. The twang of the crossbow releasing sounds off from the trees.

SNAP!

Aithne tries to side step out of the way, but the bolt hits her leg with an evanescent red glow, signifying the protection of her constitution. She continues toward him.

Another bolt flies, but Aithne doesn't falter. Her focus was completely and utterly on her prey. She was a spider with a fly caught in her web. She runs into range of him and slides to stop. As soon as her feet are planted, Aithne yells “Presence of Mind, Fire Blast.” The flame comes forth again as another bolt springs from the crossbow, narrowly missing her.

The bandit stands up. “You have no health left bitch- I’m going to fucking kill you!” He pulls back the string on his crossbow and loads it with efficiency.

Aithne dashes straight toward him as he aims for her heart. She does not waver.

He allows her to get closer, waiting before she's on top of him, before letting the bolt loose- sure of his shot.

She guards the bolt from entering her chest with her left arm. The thug falls, dropping his crossbow. Aithne towers over him, blood dripping down the arrow that’s lodged in her arm. She looks down upon him with blazing lividity. Afraid for his life, he starts crawling backward.

She keeps walking toward him, til his back hits a tree. She lifts up her sword and stabs one of his legs, making him bleed out.

“Please!” he cries out. “Have mercy!”

She looks toward the bolt that struck her arm, and sternly says “No.”

She stabs his right leg, severing his artery and letting his blood flow out like a river.

“Please, please, don’t!!” He cries out as his vision gets dimmer.