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rummaged
among the bodies with a revolted expression. At last, she found a
quiver with a dozen bolts, which she buckled to her belt with
shaking fingers.
    Arxu watched her load a bolt into the
crossbow. He could only hope she would provide support if the
bandits found them. Satisfied, Arxu tethered the donkey to a tree
and ventured ahead. He scouted along the road, looking warily at
the flanking trees. Nishka also eyed the forest around her. She
wanted to suggest turning back and taking another route.
    She bit back the proposal. If the
bandits were in the area, they were almost certainly watching them
already. Perhaps she had no choice but to walk alongside this
unpredictable man into disaster.
    “Arxu—” He raised his hand to silence
her, a gesture she did not appreciate. Suddenly, a crack had Nishka
turning fast to her left. She pointed her crossbow into the
obscurity of the forest. She held the weapon steady for a moment,
her finger resting on the trigger.
    Nothing obliged her and
emerged.
    A keen sense of fear followed her along
the road as she pursued Arxu. That sickly feeling squirmed deep
inside her and grew. Her finger tensed against the trigger of her
weapon. The moment Arxu’s hand leaped to his staff, she knew
something terrible would take place.
    Yells erupted from the surroundings,
and human forms exploded from hiding. Gripped in their hands were
daggers, swords, and maces. They rushed toward their prey with
animalistic screams of rage.
    Nishka took a step backward and raised
her crossbow. Nearly a dozen armed men closed in on her with long
blades gleaming. A heavyset bandit with thick muscles stepped
forward, a cowl drooping low over his face, revealing only his
mouth. His cracked lips pulled back in a foul sneer, and Nishka
could see teeth that resembled fangs. They elongated into
needle-like tips, as though someone had taken a blade and mutilated
his mouth.
    A grinding sound accompanied his
approach, and Nishka saw the mace in his hand dragging along the
ground. Shrapnel protruded from the blunt instrument, tearing long
furrows into the dirt road. Nishka’s eyes rounded in horror as the
gargantuan man approached. She squeezed the trigger.
    The bolt jammed in the crossbow. The
bandit bellowed a guttural roar that sounded inhuman, and he lifted
the enormous mace over his head. Nishka cried out and darted aside
as he plunged forward. The crossbow came down hard on his head. As
Nishka fled, she tried to shoot the men in pursuit. Nishka braced
the crossbow against her hip and loosened a bolt into the crowd.
The missile plunged through a bandit and he toppled rigidly against
a tree.
    In that instant, she almost dropped her
crossbow. She had killed a human being. Nishka felt nauseated
looking at the man splayed against the tree. She tried to justify
the murder, but part of her couldn’t accept it. She struggled to
maintain focus, but her attention kept darting toward
Arxu.
    His movements were a rapid succession
of smooth and intricate jabs, spins, and stances. It was bizarre
how something as repugnant as violence could be so graceful. Arxu
transitioned naturally from one movement to the next, a strike
flowing into a parry. It almost resembled a dance, smooth and
precise, a rhythm to his blows that was confident and
deadly.
    His body dipped below an incoming blade
and his staff whipped across. His fighting prowess was astonishing,
far surpassing anything his foes could throw at him. Nishka
realized the bandits she faced were watching Arxu’s performance as
well. The most foreboding among them nodded at his
companions.
    “Kill him.” Three rogues obeyed without
question. Nishka hoped Arxu could fend off seven men at once. “I’ll
face her alone,” the bandit snarled, claiming her. “Let her
suffering be a lesson to the caravans that resist us.”
    Eight bandits backed away from the
battle. Apparently, he didn’t believe he would need reinforcements
to kill her. Nishka raised the crossbow and leveled it at