>>26202748He drew his gun and got his horse moving forwards while Gaia vaulted from hers and landed on the back of the cart. Her urgency was appropriate; a bandit jumped from the roof onto the coach bench and kicked the Deadbeat soldier off of it. He was coughing his lungs out, and minuscule pink crystals seemed to shimmer on his skin. The smoke was probably a candification-based irritant. He hadn’t had the time to put on his mask before gulping a lungful. Shige’s mask was protecting him from the worst of it; the Moriji chuubanite haze prevented a lot of foreign particulates from getting into the user’s mouth and nose. Sabius was similarly incapacitated, while the bandit had a moist scarf over his face as a filter.
He threw off the wheezing Lunaito coach and took a hold of the reins, snapping them hard and expertly.
The carriage, heavy with gold, swerved off the road, to the left toward a small path in the forest, leaving five men coughing in the sand. A bandit stood up on the roof and raised a musket, toward the admiral…
The gunshot echoed through the forest.
The bandit flew back onto the wagon’s roof, hit at the shoulder, smoke billowing out of Shige’s revolver, and he heeled his horse into sprinting. To no one in particular he ordered “With me!”
‘This foolish girl, it’s only gold. We could have caught up with them later, now we risk running into an ambush.’ Shige would have to work better risk management into her.
Speaking of Gaia, she was now also standing on the unsteady roof of the carriage, driving one of her blades into something at her feet, probably executing the bandit. The Commander dropped into a squat while arrows whistled above her. Shige could now see two other mounted bandits, armed with bows.
He glanced back and saw two Luknights riding their horses hard behind him. They caught up and passed him; these knights rode beautifully, as if they were one with the saddle. They split off, each taking one bandit on. The Luknight to his left caught an arrow on his shield before catching up to the brigand and bringing his mace onto his head. His brittle skull cracked loudly. To Shige’s right, the other knight had to work a bit harder to get to his mark. That thief was riding hard after the armored cart. He caught up all the same, though; his brilliant greatsword came down as a silver arc and opened a huge scarlet smile on the man’s back, shoulder to waist.
The supports taken care of, Shige brought his attention back to the cart. It was almost out of sight now, but he could still see the wheel tracks in the soft, sweet forest mosses. Soon, the distance began getting shorter; the wagon was stopped.
When Shige and the two Luknights got there, the four horses were calmly grazing on the mosses, and Gaia was leaning over a man on the coach bench. She saw them arrive and put her boot on a body’s chest before saluting. “Sir. Disturbance is neutralized. A prisoner has been taken into custody.”
The body was actually the other bandit, Shige could hear his pained whimpers. His right arm was cut at the elbow, and Gaia had already put in a field tourniquet in place, so he didn’t bleed out before being questioned. This girl…
Other Deadbeats from the convoy were now reaching them. “Go back to the road and tell them the situation is resolved. Have the convoy come to a stop for now.” He then turned to the Luknights. “Madeleine, Frambois, thank you for your help and bravery. Would you return to Citrora and let her know I request this prisoner be put into the custody of the Black Fleet?” The armored man and woman acquiesced, and carried the message back.
Finally, Shige turned to Gaia, pride and annoyance battling within. “You’re not in the spec ops anymore, Gaia. You’re brass. We’ll speak of this again. Let’s get this dumb bastard and the gold back to the road for now.”
The young Commander saluted, and took off her demonic Death Mask, shaking her hair out in the calm forest air.
“Sir, yes sir.”
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