You stepped forward and gave Gilvina a fake bow. “I will gladly be your opponent madam.” You said to her causing the bandit leader to laugh with pride.
“Oh this should be easy. You think I didn't overhear you and your little friends conversation over there about your skills and abilities?" Givina said unsheathing her sword. The sword appeared to be made of a different type of metal than most swords. The blade, instead of being silver, had a whitish tint to it. If this wasn’t enough to peak your interest in the strange blade, then strange markings that were engraved onto the blade was. Master Titus taught you and your companions a little bit of ancient dialect and this blades symbols were similar in markings, but overall you couldn’t tell what it was saying.
Not a good sign.
You shrugged your shoulders and gave her a grin that showed her just how excited you were. "You didn't hear everything." You said causing her own smile to fade from her face.
"If you say so mage. Do you not have a weapon? You can loan one from one of my boys if you like." She offered.
You shook your head and pulled out a knife from your robe. You always kept little knives and daggers on you so you could surprise you're unsuspecting enemies. "No. I'm sure this should suffice."
Gilvina let what seemed like a small scoff before getting into her fighting stance. "It’ll be your funeral."
Fenris let out a large groan and facepalmed. "We're so screwed."
Linnan laughed and punched Fenris in the arm. "Come on have a little faith. I'm pretty sure Aether has a few tricks up his sleeve that even we don't know about.” Fenris, who was not sure about that. Shook his head and proceeded to watch the fight unveil itself.
Gilvina struck first, with the use of her wings she closed the distance between the two of you. She let out one hearty swing of her blade but you quickly anticipated this and duck below her, elbowing her in her ribs. She tumbled on the ground and quickly got back up. You swiftly threw both of your knives at her but she used her shield to block them.
Her many bandit friends began to yell out and cheer. Apparently they didn’t really care who won or who lost. One guy pulled out what looked like a leather flask and began passing it around, someone else began placing bets. Something both you and Linnan found hilarious, but you refrained from doing so since you were in a life and death situation.
This woman was a lot more resistant than any man you’ve ever come across. While you didn’t aim for life threatening injuries such as she did. You saw that the hits you did you inflicted on her didn't really slow her down, in fact it only succeeded in causing her to become more agitated thus making her attacks more fierce and quicker.
“You can't dodge all of your opponent's attacks, no matter how much you don't want to harm the other person, you will find out that there is sometimes no other way, but to harm them." Your master's voice said popping up.
Realizing this to be true; when you saw an opening in her technique you quickly let out a quick slash of your dagger to her lower mid section, but she swiftly spun out of the way and hit you directly in the nose with the hilt of her sword. Surprised by this action, you quickly stumbled backwards. Taking the initiative she leaped into the air and tried to bring the sword down into your chest. You rolled out of the way and watched as her sword sank into the ground where your body used to be.
Standing back up, you tried to deliver a quick stab to her shoulder, but immediately spun around in a circle and used her wings to knock you on your back. When you tried to get back up she bashed her shield into your face. “What’s wrong with you? You fight like woman. I thought you were supposed to be a mage? So why not attack me with one of your fancy little magic spells?” She taunted, taking her sword out of the ground and backing up.
“She’s insulting him.” Fenris pointed out.
“Hush. I can see that,” Linnan stated.
If she wanted you to show off your magic, then you would gladly make her regret those words.
While not the most fancy spell, it is one the most versatile ones. It is one of the first conjuration spells that are taught to a young mage, and will definitely be one of the most used spells in a mages arsenal.
Your horn lit up a fiery tint of red. The signal that a fire spell was being casted. Flames quickly began to manifest itself around your hands. You didn’t put much magic into the spell due to there being no need. Just a little bit would be needed to incapacitate her. As you cast the spell, releasing the raging flames from your hands and watched as it hurtled towards your opponent.
Many of the bandits backed away from the sheer heat of the flames, Galivina herself, though, remained strong and held her sword as the only thing blocking your attack. While usually this would be seen as one of the stupidest things you’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing in your young life, this ended up being extremely surprising.
You watched as the blade she was wielding protected her from your magical blast. You then watched in awe along with your comrades as she directed the blast back towards you giving you barely enough time to put up a magical shield to protect yourself. Due to the crappy nature of your shield spell and the amount of time you had to cast it, it immediately broke upon being hit with your own spell.
You quickly stumbled to the ground, bruising what felt like your ribs and scraping your knee.
“This is bad.” Fenris stated.
“I can agree with you on that one.” Linnan said growing more concerned by the second. “She’s in possession of an Ancient Arcane Sword.”
These swords were used by a secret order of soldier that consisted of all races in order to combat against the destructive power of magic by redirecting it back at the caster or completely nullifying it. Despite its capabilities the number of Ancient Artifacts are limited and very few as Discord had most of them destroyed and those he couldn't destroy he locked away.
“One of her family members must have been apart of the Arcanes.” Linna stated, growing less confident about the outcome of this battle.
Sweating from the heat and dazed by the impact, you slowly dragged yourself along the ground in order to gather some distance away from Galvina. “I can see that you’re speechless.” She smiled.
You shook your head and stood back up. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t, but I can’t say I wasn’t expecting it. You rarely see swords made with that type of craft unless it was unique in some way, plus you egging me on gave me the expression that you were hiding a trump card.” You boasted while picking up your daggers.
You let out one good sigh and wiped the sweat from your brow. The heat from the flames caused her blade to become red hot. Getting hit would cauterize your wound if she were to cut off a limb and easily break through your daggers if you tried to block.
You weren’t the best fighter in the world, you knew that. You also knew that you were at a disadvantage, now that she revealed that she has a weapon that can repel any magic it comes in contact with. So disarming her would place the odds back in your favor again.
Seeing as you were still winded, Gilvina quickly began to attack you, letting out a swift barrage of slashes, doing whatever she could to wound you even if just a little.
Despite her skill with a blade, she only succeeded in tiring herself out. She threw one large sword thrust in which you barely evaded by use of ducking. Trying to regain her stance, you delivered a crushing blow to her ribs, causing her to to fall onto her knees.
Before she could defend herself, you got to your feet and drop kicked her in her face. She let out a loud yelp as she dropped her sword and grabbed her face. Seeing the opportunity, you quickly kicked the sword away and let out a moderate red concussive blast hitting her square in her chest, knocking her on her back. You then took you knife stabbed it deep into her right hand, causing to yell even louder in pain.
The bandits began to boo loudly as you showed that you were a fully capable fighter, who was able to adapt to any situation. A smirk began to appear across Fenris’ face as he realized that you just won the fight. Linnan however remained serious and calm.
Fighting back tears in her eyes, Gilvina looked up at you from the ground and began to speak. “You're a pretty good fighter…” Gilvina said, grimacing at the pain you inflicted to her hand.
You gave her a smirk and outstretched your hand in order to help her up, which she accepted. “I can’t rely on magic all the time now can I? It takes quick wit and skill to beat a superior foe.”
“That it does. You had no intention of killing me did you?”
You smiled. “I see no reason too. Your a great fighter and you must be a great leader if you keep these men in check. You don’t seem to be bad, yet you're not good either. You’re just another product of a bad country.”
Using her free hand, Gilvina rubbed her bloody nose. “You…don’t agree with what the Princesses do?”
“Taxes are at an all time high, jobs are low, and we’re in a constant war with an equally powerful nation. The only ways you can really make a profit nowadays is to join the army and fight a war that probably won’t end in your lifetime, become a mercenary and try to make a difference, or become an outlaw and try to make a profit stealing from those around you. So how can I? Discord ran the country better and there were no rules. So no I don’t agree.” You looked back at your companions and smiled.
“Is he just talking to her? Why doesn't he just kill her already so we can leave?” Fenris said expressing great urgency to leave.
Linnan shook her head. “I didn’t take you as a man to thirsts for violence. I would have thought that all of those years in the temples would have fixed that.”
“Shut it. Bandits don’t deserve mercy, and we don’t need to be out here if he’s going to plan on playing savior.” Fenris said angrily.
“If he wants to help people, then let him, but as long as we get some profit out of it then I’m fine with it.”
As you looked at your friends, you could hear the shuffling of your feet, as you turned around to see Gilvina raise her hand up as if she was about to strike you. You were about to move out of the way, but you were still caught by her attack. Her razor sharp claws easily ripped through the flesh on your cheek, causing three long slashes to form. As response your teammates quickly came to your aid but you held them back, when all the bandits began to take out their weapons.
You took a step back and cringed as your face began to sting. “Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.” She said licking the blood from off of her claws. “Since we made a pact, I’ll help you with whatever job you’ll have for me.
”Excuse me? What pact?” You asked trying to form distance between the two of you.
“In my culture, that scar I inflicted on you represents brotherhood and promise. It shows other people of my culture that’ve already created a pact and you've been taken.”
“So you’re going to help us just like that? Offering nothing in return?” Fenris said skeptical of her offer.
Gilvina gave your comrade a pained smile. “Not everyone has an ulterior motive, Fenris.”
“How do you know my name?”
Gilvina didn’t respond to him. She just pointed to her ears and smiled again. She then looked back at you and bowed. “From here on out, my bandits and I will forever serve you and your group, Aetherrant. In anyway you deem fit.” She says playfully.
You raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “Forever is a long time, no?”
She just shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not doing anything else. I’ll live longer than you anyway.”
“Boss does that mean we have to take orders from these three now?” One bandit asked.
“Why do we have to submit to them? Their just a bunch of mages.” Another one added.
Gilvina sighed. “No, you dolts. You will be taking orders from me, I will be taking orders from him.” She said pointing at you and then Linnan. “Seeing as your leader doesn’t seem to have an objections about me joining you, then will you be so kind as to heal me. I think I have a gaping hole through my hand, that needs a boo-boo.” She winced.
Nodding your head towards Linnan, she responded with a sigh. “I can already tell she’s going to be a pain the ass.”