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Happy for the long-awaited peace and quiet, Lienna lounged in the seat of the weapons cart, eyes closed and head lolled back on the backrest as she enjoyed every possible ray of the late midday sun. This certainly wasn’t a luxury she got back in Hima, and she made a mental note to find some time back at the Monastery to enjoy the sun when she could manage it. Hopefully it would be just as warm up there as it was down in this valley—iat the very least, it would be warmer than home. 

Veronica felt the need to inform her that she was leaving, and Lienna cracked one eye open to check why; if she were to hazard a guess, she’d say she was off to find a spot to relieve herself. Ha; a future Queen, pissing in the woods. There was a sight. Lienna allowed herself a petty smirk, scattering light across herself and the carriage as she lazily turned the wand in her hands. It wasn’t usually like her to prod at people, but that exchange with Veronica had been oddly fun while it lasted. Who knew, maybe she was picking up on highborn life faster than she thought. And speaking of, that little piece of ‘advice’ she gave the princess would probably amuse her for the next few days, especially if she tried to decipher its meaning. She wouldn’t have much luck: it was just a line of gibberish. But, seeing as Veronica didn’t call her bluff on the spot, maybe the Imperial rose really did think it was a piece of lowborn wisdom in some distant old language only the peasants bothered to speak. Saints above, she hoped so. Maybe that would show that smug know-it-all that money and status didn’t teach you everything. 

A warm breeze brushed over the valley, and Lienna took a deep breath, hoping to savour the sweet smells of golden fields and fresh air. However, what she got instead was the faint, acrid smell of smoke she’d been expecting from earlier, sweeping across the plain like a cloud of unwelcome pests. The smoke from the explosion must have finally made its way over. A glance in the direction of the village confirmed it; more smoke was rising now, too, in a few separate columns. Collateral damage, no doubt. Either that or the bandits had started to torch the place, as they so often did. Goddess, the scene on the ground there must have been destitute: houses burning, children separated from their mothers, townspeople scrambling for safety over bodies and debris—sometimes over each other. Lienna’s former scowl returned in full force, the girl narrowing her eyes at the black clouds in the distance. That was always how it went. They probably crowed their courage and virtue, only to trample each other in the race to safety. Prided themselves on their community, but turned their backs on anyone who dared upset the balance. Silently hoping they’d come back to a pile of ash, solving their problem for them. 

Hmph. And then they expected help to come running. 

Tearing her gaze away in disgust, something else caught Lienna’s attention: a few figures on the road, growing ever so slightly bigger. More riders? They were coming from the village too. But why would they send more people out? They’d gotten all the help they could expect from around here. Or maybe these people were just fleeing?

Lienna squinted down the road, peering carefully at the figures in the distance. No, it didn’t look like they were moving fast enough to be fleeing. In fact, they took an almost leisurely pace, a stark contrast to the plumes of smoke rising up from the village behind them. But who would ride past [i]that[/i] without a hint of urgency in their step?

Before she even consciously realized it, her heart jumped into her throat, the girl flattening herself against the carriage seat. What if they weren’t panicked because [i]they[/i] were the source of the fire? What if those were the bandits from the town? There was no way so few could have done so much damage, but maybe that was all that was left of them after the others charged in. Did that mean the others were dead? 

[color=baa7c7][i]“Fuck,”[/i][/color] Lienna hissed, a forboding feeling gripping her stomach. As slowly as she could manage, she started carefully climbing over the back of the driver’s seat, eyes locked on the figures on the horizon. They were still tiny to her eyes, just a few vaguely horse- and human-sized blotches—with any luck, they’d yet to notice her. But the banners of the Knights of Seiros still flew from these carriages, they’d have to be fools to continue in this direction, right? That was the conclusion she came to earlier, but her former certainty was fading fast; if they were ready to pass brazenly by a Knights of Seiros caravan, they must have been certain of its occupants’ fates. Was she truly alone, then? 

After an excruciating moment, she finally dropped into the back of the weapons’ cart, out of sight of the approaching bandits—for now. Would they just pass by? Would they try to steal the carriages? What would become of her if they found her?

A mass of gruesome images flashed through her head at the thought; charred bones and broken women left in the wake of Srengese raiders, confusing pictures of blood and chaos she couldn’t place—a whole mess of disturbing possibilities, harsh memory indistinguishable from cruel imagination. Pressed into a corner of the mostly-emptied cart, she squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head as she tried to dispel the gruesome imagery from her mind. Goddess damn this, she’d done so much, sacrificed so much, come so far to [i]escape[/i] this fate! Had she only sealed it? Was she always destined to die young at the hands of brigands, helpless to save herself no matter how far she fled?! 

The wet heat of tears on her cheeks snapped Lienna from her spiral, and she wiped one away with her finger, staring at it for a moment in awe. What was she doing? Cowering in a box, waiting for death to come claim her? What was she, livestock? A spike of anger pushed aside her fear, and she flicked the water from her hand, wiping her face angrily with the hem of her skirt. Like hell she was going to die curled up in a ball in a carriage. She’d done a lot of legwork to be able to die old and wrinkled in a feather bed, warm and comfortable in the castle of a Faerghian Count. No one was about to take that away from her without a fight, much less the quartet of village-torching assholes on their way to a nasty surprise. 

Her first idea, of course, was the wand; however, when she pulled it from her waist, she thought better of it. Activating the spell might hide her from view, but the sudden appearance of a fog bank in an otherwise crystal clear field would be a dead giveaway to those bandits that someone was here. If they were going to come—and judging by the faint voices on the wind, they showed no signs of stopping—then Lienna wanted them to come as unprepared as possible. 

Tucking the wand back into her sash, she surveyed the inside of the weapons’ cart. Her classmates had largely cleaned it out: all that remained were a set of iron gauntlets, a one-handed hammer, and a bow. The former two being useless to her, Lienna immediately went for the bow, pulling the corresponding quiver to the corner with her. Ha, she’d naively thought that once she secured her engagement and no longer needed to hunt her own food, she’d never have to touch one of these things again. But, while this bow wasn’t packed for her, she wasn’t confident enough in her black magic yet to trust it with her life. Besides, as much as she hated it, she was good enough at picking off rabbits; it might not do her as well in close quarters, but it was better than nothing. 

As she prepared herself, though, the band of riders moved steadily nearer; where snippets of voices could be heard moments ago on the wind, they were now becoming clearer, bits of conversation audible between the clopping of horse’s hooves. 

“...they’d leave it unguarded.”

“...you saw how many…” 

“Worth a shot, if they…” 

Hearing this, Lienna wedged herself back into the front corner of the carriage, realizing her time was up. If they were going to check it, they’d come around back and swing down the door there; she could catch at least one of them in the face from this distance, and… do something after that. It wasn’t the best plan, but she’d run out of time to think of a new one. All she could do was wait, straining her ears to hear the bandits’ approach over the pounding of her own heart. 

[i]Thump, thump, thump…[/i]  
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