>>5967400Your first instinct is to rush to the passenger cars where you can hear screaming. People, your people, are under attack and you simply cannot stand idly by and let brigands terrorize them. But second to that is a hit of pragmatism, your people may be in an even worse situation should more bandits be allowed to stop the train. Outside the magifuel storage room, you see one of the ruffians take a shot at the engine cart. Why they’ve decided to stop the train with horses and guns you don’t know, but right now it seems to be working as the train starts to slow, allowing the horses to keep pace. Wouldn’t it have been simpler to just destroy the tracks?
You shake your head, now is not the time to ponder the bandit’s plot. The conductor is left behind as you break into a sprint the practically crash through the door to the front of the train. The sight of a terrified crew greets you, an engine stands from where he was hiding to try and usher you out only for a shot to blast through the window, striking him with both lead and glass. He falls, you’re not sure about his state.
The panic sets in on the men as they see their friend fall though your training does not let you falter, even as fear creeps its ugly tendril inside you as well. Your head snaps to the now “open” window to spot three riders, you unholster Cinder and return fire at the rider without much thought or aim. You don’t even know if you intended to hit the bandit or the man but regardless your shot strikes true, a mist of blood erupts from the closest rider's shoulder, knocking him from his saddle and under his horse. You do not stare long enough to witness the man get trampled by his frightened steed.
“What do you think you’re doing?! Your Princess stands before you and yet you cower! Keep this train moving no matter what!” You roar to the crew, shocking them to action. Good, that means you said the right thing! Probably!
The train driver is the first to stand from his position and rush to the controls, only to be greeted with more fire from the bandits. Never before have you thanked the impracticality of Cinder and her sisters until now. Or maybe shooting a train from horseback is simply a difficult task that the lowlives failed miserably at as both shots fail to hit anything but the metal of the chassis. The three other riders on the opposite side of the train look to conceal their shots until it’s already too late, only being able to shoot inside the passenger trains, for reasons currently unknown. It’s doubtful any of them will be able to reload in time for it to matter as the train goes faster and faster and the riders get farther and farther.
