Bandit's Revenge Read online

  "I'm getting sick of all this yelling," said Orez, one of the men who dragged the women, irritably.

  "I know, right?" concurred his associate, Connor, "It was amusing yesterday, but today, it's just annoying as hell."

  "All I want to do is relieve some stress," said Winston, a third man, "I shouldn't have to listen to her screams while doing so. I mean, come on! We're from the Land of Power! Why do we have to deal with shit like this?"

  "Then it's settled," remarked Peter, a fourth man, with a smirk, "Instead of "asserting our dominance" over these women…let's make an example out of them."

  "How?" asked Orez with raised eyebrows.

  "Observe," said Peter as he threw Gwen, the woman he had been dragging along, down on the ground.

  Gwen panted heavily as she looked at him with tears in her eyes.

  "Please don't do this to me," she pleaded as he knelt down beside her, "…Let me go… Please…let all of us go… We'll do anything you want…but…please…don't do…that…to us…"

  "Silence," said the man without a single ounce of compassion.

  He pressed his finger against her lips, and proceeded to wrap his hand around her scrawny neck, causing her to shudder in fear.

  "No!" screamed Caroline, the woman Orez had been dragging, in horror, "Don't do it!"

  Orez responded to the woman's outburst by punching her in the nose, causing her to cry in pain as she held her bleeding, broken nose.

  Damn it! thought Wei as he watched the injustice that took place before him.

  "Keep quiet," demanded Orez, "or you'll be next! Now watch as my associate makes an example out of this stupid woman."

  These people are awful! thought Amanda as she gritted her teeth.

  Gwen gasped for breath as Peter tightened his hold on her neck.

  "I want what I want," said the man callously, "Nothing you say is going to change my mind. I have two questions to ask you… You will blink once for "yes"…and twice for "no"… Do you want me…to kill you?"

  The woman trembled as she blinked twice as quickly as possible.

  "Okay…" said the man, "With that being said…"

  "…are you going to let me do what I want with you?"

  The woman gasped once more for air as she looked at him with terror in her eyes. Despite her terror, however, she did not blink once or twice. In fact, she widened her eyes to prevent herself from blinking at all.

  Blink! thought Amanda fearfully, Just blink! If you let them do as they wish, you'll still live!

  Blink, damn it! thought Bruce as sweat dripped down his face.

  "What's wrong with her?" shouted a woman, "If you don't want to die, then do what he wants!"

  "Hurry up…and blink!" yelled a man, "Don't you care about your own life?"

  "No one will judge you if you give in!" promised another woman.

  As multiple people screamed for the woman to blink, a tall man in a furry black coat walked into the area. He had a satchel strapped onto his back, two sheathed swords strapped to his waist, and wore a fur, duckbill cap that obscured his eyes, keeping his full face from being seen.

  Bastards, he thought as he walked into the middle of the street and towards the group of ruffians who had everyone scared out of their minds.

  "That bitch sure is stupid," said Orez with a smirk, "She really is about to throw her life away just because she wants to keep herself pure. She should know better."

  Why is she being so damn stubborn? thought Amanda as she trembled in fear, She's gonna die if she doesn't comply!

  She's dealing with one of the most powerful leaders of this group of scoundrels, thought Wei as his heartbeat increased, yet she's still refusing to do what he wants! Blink already, for your own sake!

  After having tried to resist the urge to give in to what the man wanted, the woman finally blinked, and Peter smirked at her when she did so.

  "Smart move," he said as the bystanders smiled in relief.

  To his surprise, however, she blinked again, and that made the man furious. The cocky smirk on his face quickly shifted to an expression of utter rage, and the bystanders who saw his expression gritted their teeth when they realized what that meant.

  She blinked twice! a number of them thought, What was she thinking?

  "Fine!" yelled Peter, "You leave me no choice!"

  He tightened his grip on the woman's throat, and the woman struggled to gasp for air, but his grip on her throat was too tight, and was only getting tighter. It was truly useless. She had stuck to her principles, but now she was going to pay for it. Now, there was absolutely nothing any of the bystanders could do to help her escape her current situation.

  Caroline screamed in terror as Peter strangled her friend, while the man in the duckbill cap walked closer to the group of ruffians. Orez quickly took notice of him, and yelled for him to back away.

  "You're coming too close to us," he asserted, "Don't you know who we are?"

  "Don't take another step," asserted Connor, "or we'll kill you,too."

  "Get away from them!" exclaimed Wei fearfully to the man in the duckbill cap.

  "They're gonna kill you!" shouted a nervous Bruce.

  Hurry up and stop, dammit! he thought as he gritted his teeth, We don't need someone else dying here!

  What's wrong with you? thought Amanda, Stop! Just stop!

  Thankfully, the man in the duckbill cap stopped, and they sighed in relief.

  However, to their surprise, he took a single step forward, and they all looked at him like he was insane.

  Why? they all thought, Why would you do something so stupid?

  That single step put the man in the duckbill cap within five yards of the hooligans, and as soon as he took that step, he took one of his hands out of his pockets, and quickly grabbed onto the hilt of one of his swords.

  It all happened so fast. One moment, Orez and his allies, except for Peter, who had been in the middle of strangling Gwen, were about to assault the man in the duckbill cap, and the next, they all lied dead, having been sliced apart, and their blood was splattered in various places on the ground.

  The man in the duckbill cap did not stop to speak to anyone or to help the women the ruffians had apprehended. The blood of the ruffians had splattered a bit on the clothing of the women, but nevertheless, he walked on, leaving the bystanders to look at the small amount of carnage he left in his wake in utter shock and awe.

  "What the…?" they stammered as a number of them ran over to Gwen, Caroline, and their friends.

  Fortunately for Gwen, Peter had fallen at the hands of the mysterious man before he could do any more damage to her. Once it sank in that someone had actually stood up to the ruffians and saved her life, she gritted her teeth as tears streamed down her face.

  He…saved me… He actually…saved me…

  "Whoa!" exclaimed Wei in shock, "Did you see that? He took them all down in an instant! He saved her! He saved all of them!"

  "He's a hero!" exclaimed Amanda as she cried tears of joy.

  Everyone watched as the man in the duckbill cap walked out of the area, while Gwen slowly sat up and looked at her savior.

  "Wait!" she cried out, "Thank you… Thank you so much! I'll never forget this! I'll never forget you!"

  The mysterious man continued to walk away, but he acknowledged the woman by raising his hand and giving her a thumbs up.

  Who is that man? she thought as she looked at her enigmatic savior in awe and admiration.

  Poisonous Love

  Bandit walked through the city of Sog, and frowned as he looked at the muscular Landians he saw all over the place.

  The Landians looked quite similar to the Icelanders, but it was not hard to tell the difference between them because most Landians had scales that covered their skin.

  This is strange…he thought as he watched a small group of Landians drink while walking through the street, What are all these Landians doing here…? Did they immigrate here…? Although…immigration between realms isn't all t
hat common… What is going on here…?

  His eyes widened in surprise when a new thought occurred to him.

  Are they the reason I sensed that something was wrong in the Ice Lands?

  "It's so great to see you again," said Mary excitedly after taking a sip of her tea.

  Rachel smiled as she responded.

  "Believe me, the feeling is mutual."

  "So, have you seen the others yet?" asked Mary.

  "No, not yet, though I imagine we'll be seeing them soon enough."

  "Knowing them, we'll probably end up hearing about them before we actually see them," sighed Mary, "There's no way those three aren't gonna do something outrageous, considering the current situation the Ice Lands are in."

  Rachel giggled as Mary took a bite of her muffin.

  "You couldn't be more right," she said with a smile, "Let's just hope they don't do anything too crazy."

  "Oh, I'm sure they will," said Mary, "In fact, it wouldn't surprise me at all if one of them had already done something to these guys from the Land of Power. But it can't be helped…and honestly, I'm not so sure anyone around here would really mind if those guys roughed these goons up a bit. I'm sure you've thought about it, too. Since the Icelandic rebellion didn't stand a chance against these guys, the only people who do are probably…"

  "…us," finished Rachel, "Yes, I was thinking the exact same thing earlier. I still don't know what we're really gonna do about this invasion, though."

  "Why would the Land of Power let their people come here anyway?" asked Mary as Rachel took a sip of her iced tea, "From what I saw during our mission, they're already the most powerful realm around. Why bother taking over the Ice Lands?"

  "That's a good question," said Rachel as she put her teacup down, "The Land of Power was filled with many kind people when we went there. I don't think they would do something like this…but…if that's the case, then these men might be ruffians who tried to take over the Land of Power, and when they failed, they were kicked out, so decided to come and take over this realm instead."

  She sighed before she continued.

  "It's just a theory, though."

  "That's a pretty good theory," said Mary with raised eyebrows, "You're probably right, too. When it comes to your theories, you're rarely wrong. Anyway, whatever happens, I know everything will be alright. We made it through that three year mission of ours, and that was a much larger threat than this. Besides, we have those three powerhouses on our side. Speaking of which…"

  Mary looked at Rachel with a sly smile.

  "…I've never asked you this before because I never really gave it much thought, but…you wouldn't happen to have a crush on a certain red-haired icemaker, would you?"

  Rachel gasped in surprise, and Mary giggled when she saw her begin to blush.

  "Wh… What makes you say that…?" asked Rachel, uncomfortable with the new topic of conversation.

  "I saw the way you were looking at him when he left for Vast Expanse on that caravel. You wouldn't happen to…love him, would you?"

  Rachel tensed up and blushed even more as she tried to come up with an adequate response.

  "Wha… What? I… No… I… Uh… Well I…"

  Mary giggled as she put her hand on her friend's shoulder.

  "Relax, Rachel, I'm just teasing. He's your friend, and as such, you had every reason to worry about him. I was worried, too, but it doesn't mean I love him, at least, not that way. I just wanted to see how the great Rachel Thomas would respond to such a personal question…and you didn't disappoint."

  Speechless, Rachel simply smiled and shook her head before taking another sip of her tea.

  The two continued to converse, and while they did so, two Landians, that is, men from the Land of Power, walked into the coffee shop, causing everyone to gasp in fear and surprise. The Landians scanned the shop as though they were looking for someone, and while they did so, the Icelanders in the shop whispered amongst themselves.

  "Damn it…"

  "Why did they have to show up when we're still here?"

  "What are they looking for?"

  "Who are they looking for?"

  "I hope they aren't going to try to steal money from the shop again. That poor barista needs to make a living. The bastards..."

  "Who knows? They could just be here to get a good cup of coffee."

  "Oh, please. No… They're gonna do something they shouldn't… We'll just have to wait to see what."

  "Listen up!" announced Cole, one of the Landians, with a smirk, "We don't want any trouble, so you can just relax and take it easy! All we want are two beautiful Icelandic women to…have a little fun with."

  "Don't worry about volunteering yourselves," said Drake, the other Landian, "we'll choose the girls we want on our own…"

  Drake's voice trailed off when he noticed two beautiful Icelandic women sitting at the café counter.

  "…As a matter of fact," he continued as he nudged his friend to look in his direction, "I think we just found the perfect girls."

  Everyone besides Mary and Rachel, who had not paid the Landians any attention whatsoever, watched as the two men walked towards them. Some of them closed their eyes in shame, for they knew they did not have the power to save the women from the hooligans.

  I hate these guys…thought one man as he opened his eyes slightly to look at the girls, They think they can take anything they want…and the worst part is…they can… Who's gonna stop them…?

  Damn it…thought another man, Why do I have to, once again, see innocent Icelandic women get taken away by these bastards? It's so upsetting!

  This is the thirtieth time Landians have come into this shop looking for women to hook up with, thought a woman, disgusted, Why don't they just go back where they came from and fuck their own women up?

  Mary and Rachel stopped their conversation when the two men walked up to the counter where they sat.

  "Hey, barista," said Cole as he smirked at the barista, "We'll have two cups of iced coffee, please, and of course, those cups will be free."

  "O-Of course!" complied the barista in fear.

  She frantically began to make the coffee, while Cole and Drake looked at Mary and Rachel.

  The red head's really hot! thought Cole as he smiled at Mary.

  "Hello," greeted Cole in the smoothest voice he could as he looked into Mary's eyes, "My name's Cole. I noticed you when I came in, and…I must say…you really do look beautiful up close."

  Damn it! thought the barista as she gritted her teeth nervously, Don't tell me these thugs are trying to get with these two girls… What did they ever do to deserve that?

  The rest of the customers in the shop sweated as they watched Cole and Drake come on to the innocent girls.

  "Uh…" stammered Mary, uncomfortable with the man being so close to hers, "…thanks… You, uh…don't look too bad yourself…"

  Of course, Mary did not actually mean that, but she did not really know the best way to respond to the man, so she said the only thing she could come up with.

  "Hi," greeted Drake as he followed his friend's lead and looked into Rachel's eyes, "I'm Drake."

  "Hello," said Rachel with slight discomfort, "Do we know you?"

  The men chuckled as they pulled their faces away from the women, and the women looked at each other from the corner of their eyes.

  Why are they laughing? thought Rachel, truly confused by the situation, I didn't think I made a joke…

  Are they hitting on us? thought Mary as her heart rate increased, Creepy!

  "No," responded Drake confidently, "but you're about to get to know us."

  "What are your names?" asked Cole with a smile only he would call charming.

  Rachel was about to answer them, but Cole cut her off before she could.

  "I'm just kidding," he said, "It doesn't matter what your names are. The only thing that matters…is that we like what we see."

  Wow, thought Mary as she rolled her eyes, These guys sure know how to mak
e a girl feel special…

  I still don't know what's happening here…thought Rachel as she frowned, Judging by the look on Mary's face, though, whatever these men are talking about is making her nervous.