Sergeant Perrin watched from her seat beside the driver, Herken, of the second carriage, disappointed that she was the one assigned with this mission. Convoy protections like this were never interrupted, who would dare attack them this deep in their own territory? Screamers never made it this far in, and only smaller monsters and creatures could. It was boring. The young human woman waved lazily ahead at a man on a raft, poling his way toward the capital. 

She wondered what her scouts would've hunted for supper when they made camp. Probably just rabbit. At least once she was in the capital, she could get some proper food and a bath. A nice comfortable time, not filled with the discomfort of a wooden seat and lurching over a bumpy road. Then there was a startling noise, loud popping, and she saw their horses rear up in surprise. These were work horses, not warhorses, and weren't trained to ignore loud and unexpected noises.

She watched as Herken struggled with the reins to keep the horses with him, though the other four horses had manage to pull away, leaving the fore and aft carriages abandoned behind them. She looked around, trying to find the source of the noise, her eyes falling on the scraps of the firecrackers between her horses and the carriage ahead. She immediately drew her scimitar and eyes cast upward, [color=f6989d][b]"We're under att--!"[/b][/color]

The world went black. She didn't go unconscious, but rather, everything around the carriages, Megumi's tree included, were shrouded in blackness. It wasn't smoke or anything, just utter darkness. There were many sounds, easily heard by Megumi's slightly sharper hearing. She would be able to make out the sounds of breaths leaving bodies, thin blades cutting through flesh and cloth, then the sound of creaking wood and falling sounds.

Then just as quickly as it appeared, the darkness was gone. Megumi would see no blood, no corpses, just two very confused horses, and twelve wagon wheels laying in the dirt. The man on the raft was sitting there staring directly at Megumi's position in the tree, smiling. [color=39b54a][b]"Her name is Amaretta, she can be found nightly at the children's clinic across from the Maiden's Bane Tavern. Show her the coin, but don't give it to her. Good luck Megumi Cateyes!"[/b][/color]