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“She will be arriving this afternoon.” Gaudi notified Avery with his head poking out of the office door. The Commander wondered why Gaudi bothered to knock when he wouldn’t wait for a response to open the door anyway.
“Noted.” Avery responded curtly before going back to filling out paperwork.
“And Avery? Be nice.”
“When am I not nice?” Avery looked up from his paperwork again back at Gaudi, somewhat offended.
Gaudi stared at him with a raised eyebrow.
“I’ve dealt with politicians before, Director. I will not do anything that hinders the development of the settlement. You know that.” Avery contended.
“Right,” Gaudi murmured, “Just give her a chance. I think you’ll like her.” He winked.
Avery darted his eyes back to his paperwork again; although he had more trouble getting his pen to move. “As long as the new Governor is capable, I do not anticipate any problems I cannot solve."
Aria looked out the window of the carriage towards the horizon and the looming ruins that drew ever closer. It felt that every passing minute made her heart beat faster. Part of her still couldn’t believe she had agreed to this, but it was too late to run back to Tallsky now. Good. She was tired of running. She needed to face herself again and honor the life her arrogance lost. Aria clutched the pendant she had wrapped around her wrist and took a deep breath. She gazed towards the sky- the sun had just passed its zenith. It wouldn’t be much longer now. Aria leaned back into the leather of the carriage seat. It was probably best to get some sleep while she could.
“How much longer, Ari?”
No.
“We’re almost done, Annie!” Aria beamed.
Not this again. Not now!
“I didn’t know patrols could be so booooring!” Annie complained mid-yawn.
Why now? Why during the day?
“I know I know, they can be.” Aria sighed, “But when you’re old enough to join the Civil Corp, we’ll be able to patrol together! We’ll be able to fight anything off, nothing will be able to stop the Downwinder Duo!” Aria playfully put her fists up and threw slow punches at her little friend, who deftly dodged and giggled before picking up a nearby stick.
“You’re no match for me, bandit!” Annie bravely exclaimed at Aria with her stick pointed at the co-captain.
Please wake up. Please!
“Oi, hand over that stick if ye know what’s good for ya!” Aria growled in her best bandit accent.
Annie began to charge.
PLEASE!
A large shadow charges at Annie.
ANNIE-
“Bandits! Protect the governor!”
Shouts surrounded the wagon and Aria woke up gasping.
“This is as far as ya get!” A stranger taunts the guards outside.
Aria wiped the tears from her eyes and grabbed her scimitars from their scabbards placed on the seat beside her.
Countless bandits were quickly surrounding the carriage. Aria tightened her grip around her scimitars and approached the captain of the guard.
“What’s the situation, Captain?” She inquired while scanning their surroundings. Aria took note of the terrain, the increasing number of bandits, and the equipment they carried. The majority carried stone weapons and leather armor. A few bandits, assumingly the higher ranked ones, held iron weapons and sturdier leather. The biggest seemed to be carrying a relic weapon. Typical.
“Governor! You should be back in the carria-”
“We don’t have time,” Aria interjected, “I can handle myself, I promise.”
The captain blinked at her and nodded intently. “Tigers- local bandits around the Evershine area. We’ve never seen them in these numbers, though.”
Bandits already infested this area? Maybe there was more to the ruins around here than the Free Cities knew.
“That one has a relic weapon,” Aria pointed to the captain, “My guess is that one of ‘em got lucky and others are following for easier raids.”
The captain nodded. “I’ll have my men focus on him in the hopes his defeat disperses the others. May I ask for your aid in diverting the other bandits?”
“Of course.” Aria nodded back. It was a fine plan, but they’re still at a disadvantage. Yet the settlement wasn’t that far. Just maybe… “Captain, can I make a suggestion?”
“Governor?”
“Once we free up some of the guards, send a couple towards the settlement. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”
The captain chuckled darkly as more bandits crept from the surrounding forest. “You’re damn right we will.”
The clashing of metal rang in the air as the bandits closed in. Three bandits sauntered towards Aria and were chuckling to themselves.
“We saw ya get out of the carriage, miss,” the middle of the three cooed mockingly while waving an iron short sword, “I reckon that means you’d be more valuable than whatever loot we get off these guards. Come along quietly and we’ll only break a few bones, yeah?”
Aria only readied her scimitars. The days where she’d play along to a bandit’s taunts were long gone.
“Have it your way,” he chuckled, “Fellas, let’s get our reward!”
Aria’s eyes darted quickly between the charging bandits. Years of experience that she once abandoned came back to her all at once and her mind played their attacks in slow motion. The loud mouth’s charge was overeager. Aria dodged to the side of his lunge and used the hilts of her blades to push his momentum past whatever balance he was haphazardly maintaining. His lackeys weren’t far behind him and charged at Aria with stone handaxes. She used one of her scimitars to catch the first axe behind its blade and leaned into the blocked attacker to dodge the other’s axe aimed for her right shoulder. As the right bandit’s axe fell into nothing but air, Aria guided her other blade across his back before releasing her first sword from the first axe and jumping away from the aftermath of their charge. Her swords were readied once more as they turned around to face her again. Her eyes were cold and focused as they started yelling expletives at her. Aria missed this.
They charged again. This time, the injured bandit was slowed enough to stagger their attacks and allow Aria to go on the offense. She dodged the first leader’s attack, slashed her sword at the belly of the second attacker before his blade could meet hers, and used her other blade to force the previously injured bandit back before his chest could be cut into like the bandit before him. The second bandit fell to his knees, but the leader of the trio prepared a counter attack quicker than Aria anticipated. She felt the sting of his blade graze her right cheek and shoulder. She readjusted her right arm to shake off the pain as the adrenaline set in and fought to keep her breathing steady. The repositioning towards the rest of the battle made Aria understand just how dire the situation was: The guards that were supposed to focus on the leader were quickly being cut down by his lackeys. Several guards were lying face down and many others were quickly being overwhelmed. There wasn’t going to be any guards to lead to the settlement at this rate. They needed help. Now. Aria could take a horse herself, but she would never leave these men sworn to protect her to their fate. She’d never let someone die without a fight again. Aria is taken out of her thoughts as the leader gained on her once again and forced her to backpedal, but she knew that fighting the remaining two would waste precious time.
Aria rushed past the bandit swordsman after he swung at her again and ran towards the carriage.
“Ha! It’s too late to run back to your safe space now, lass!” The swordsman hollered as he chased her.
Aria darted her eyes around the battlefield for any hopes of the Captain, but there weren’t any signs of him among the tussle of clanging metal and the panicking horses tied to the carriage. A piece of gold caught her eye on the horses: The symbol of Evershine! With the swordsman hot on her heels, she had no time to think. Aria took the blood from her cheek and stained the saddles of the horses before severing the rope. The two horses frantically galloped towards the horizon- heading towards the settlement. Aria let go of a breath she didn’t know she was holding. All she could do now is hope -SHNK!- and pay attention to the sword that sunk into the wood of the carriage beside her.
“Where you gonna go now, miss?” The bandit grinned deviously at her. Aria quickly used the pommel of one of her swords to bash into the bandit’s face and blood started gushing out of his nose. “AH! SON OF A-”
Before he could recover, Aria used the sword sunk into the carriage as a ledge to climb on top of the carriage and took another survey of the area. She needed to save her strength to last until help arrived, but she couldn’t just run around and let the guards die. They couldn’t fall back- they were surrounded- and going for a height advantage led to the forest where they were at risk of being trapped by any bandits waiting for stragglers. With both horses used as a bet towards outward help, Aria may have doomed them.
The settlement was empty besides the few rangers that patrolled the boundaries with Commander Avery so when two panicked horses practically stampeded into the little structure they had, it alerted every resident there. By the time Avery came to investigate the terrified animals, some rangers were already gripping on the reins in an effort to calm the bucking horses. Avery approached the scene to assist and smelled the blood before he saw it.
"Captain Violet," the Commander addressed one of the Rangers gravely, "Are all Rangers accounted for?"
Violet looked at him confused before she saw what he was staring at- and smelled it. "Y-yes sir, all are accounted for. These are not Ranger-assigned horses." She shuddered. Avery cursed under his breath.
"Calm these horses and bring them back using the path they came from," Commander Avery ordered, "Call for all Rangers we can spare. The governor has been attacked." Violet's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to affirm the command, but Avery had already mounted his horse and was galloping to where the horses came from.
By the time Avery arrived at the scene, the bandits were closing in. Avery could estimate about 15 fallen- most of the them wore bandit garb, but the remaining guards were overwhelmingly outnumbered. The carriage was damaged, but the doors were in tact and he could see a silhouette inside. Good. The guards were doing well in keeping the bandits distracted. The Commander turned his attention to an unusual scene- 5 bandits had surrounded a woman with dual scimitars. Strange, Avery observed as he closed the distance, She's not wearing the same cloth as the guards. Did they hire a mercenary? Her fighting style was indeed unusual from the guards that he had worked with. She had a well-trained concept of defensive and counter offensive movement: The bandits acted like they were toying with her, but their hesitance to go for the final strike showed that she had a striking sense of awareness around her surroundings. Her balance of defensive strikes with two blades reminded her of a soldier he had observed in the eastern part of the Free Alliance. A Highwind mercenary? Still, the blood running from her wounds were taking a toll on her. There was no time to waste.
The Commander had arrived just in time. The bandit swordsman had yelled at her as he chased her past the carriage and caused a scene that attracted more of his "buddies." Before she knew what they were doing, she found herself in the middle of a pit they created around her. Parrying their axes and swords was all she can do to stay alive. They laughed with each hit they landed on her and cheered each other on. The wounds were most likely superficial, but exhaustion was taking its toll. She was making more mistakes and giving them more opportunities to attack her without the ability to counter attack properly. She had thought it was the exhaustion getting to her when the sound of a galloping horse soon turned into an imposing figure that cut through the barrier around her like butter. He exuded strength and the way he held his sword told more about his battle experience than the decorated medals ever could.
"Commander Avery." She marveled breathlessly.
She knew who he was. Of course she did. There wasn't a single soldier, Civil Corp or otherwise, that hadn't heard of the Eagle of Atara and the many victories he had won for the Alliance. Gaudi had mentioned to her that the Commander would assist her in the settlement, but knowing and actually being around him were two very different things. His confidence made him larger than life and his golden eyes pierced hers when he took his place behind her.
"Situation report." The Commander demanded urgently as the bandits were starting to recover from his surprise attack. The order shook Aria out of being starstruck.
"Bandit ambush," Aria answered promptly, "Most of the guards are wounded. Their leader has a relic weapon."
"What is the status of the governor?" Avery inquired.
"Actually I-" Aria was interrupted by an axe thrown between their heads.
"We'll discuss after the battle." The Commander stated and Aria nodded. "Are you still combat-ready?"
"Yeah," Aria confirmed wearily. "Thanks for letting me catch my breath."
Aria and Avery had their weapons readied back to back as the bandits circled around them again. Avery glanced at Aria who was glancing back at him expectantly and nodded to him. She was ready to follow his lead. Leaning on the experience that he had with other dual wielders, the Commander boldly approached part of the "wall" made up of some axe-wielding bandits who were already beginning to lose morale as he approached them. With a single upper cleave, Avery left the three in front of him off-balance and Aria quickly followed through under the motion of his sword to take advantage of the bandits' faltering balance. She used her scimitars to slash two in the chest and cut into the remaining one's leg as he tried to back away from her. Avery used the opening to cut down the next closest bandits as the others retreated. Aria wordlessly motioned to the leader who was using a club-like relic to fight off the last of the standing guards.
The Commander's presence had taken a toll on the bandits' courage. The raid had already been tougher than they had accounted for. Therefore, when the Eagle of Atara and the annoying brat charged towards the leader, the other bandits dispersed around them. The leader of the bandits scoffed at their cowardice. The guard that had so valiantly let themselves be toyed by the leader yelled as they ran towards him. While keeping direct eye contact with the approaching duo, he pressed a button on his strange club-like relic weapon and heard the volts enter the guard's chest. He smiled at the approaching duo as the guard's body collapsed and convulsed. The woman with the Eagle was horrified but the Commander was unphased. The leader smirked at them and ignored the Rangers approaching from the horizon. If he was going down, he was going to take that dual-wielding brat with him.
Without so much as a sound, the Commander engaged with the leader. The bandit leader's build matched Avery's, if not a bit more rotund, and surprised Avery with how well he was able to hold his smaller weapon against the Commander's large sword. The leader's stance and strength enabled him to hold the clash against the Commander. That is, until Aria forced him back by threatening to slice his chest under their locked weapons. The annoyed leader swung his relic weapon towards her with a surprising amount of speed and hit her square in the back, smearing the club with the blood of her previous wound. The hit knocked the breath out of Aria and stunned her for a moment, but Avery blocked the leader's next hit and charged him with his shoulder. The leader was growing impatient and irritated with exhaustion. He yelled and kept the onslaught of attacks on Aria who deftly dodged each swing. However, she was panting and the dodges were getting slower- and more predictable. The leader grinned desperately and pushed the button on his weapon to let electricity emanate from his club before aiming for where Aria had dodged before she even finished dodging. Avery's blade intercepted the attack by blocking the weapon with his own, but the voltage transferred from the leader's weapon into his own and throughout his body. The strong shock disarmed Avery and knocked him on to one knee. Ever the opportunist, the bandit leader switched his target to the recovering Eagle. Avery braced himself to take the hit, but Aria used her remaining strength to kick the weapon out of the exhausted bandit's hands before he could land the hit. Using the window of opportunity that Aria gave him, Avery picked up his sword again and plunged it into the surprised leader's chest. With a final scoff, the leader fell.
Aria stared at the fallen leader, watched the approaching rangers chase the remaining bandits that dispersed into the forest, and took a minute to catch her breath while leaning on one leg. "The... others." Aria urged the Commander through her pants."Let's check on the others." The Commander nodded. He needed to check on the Governor. He had only hoped that the governor was worth all the bloodshed today.
They approached the carriage together and starting to tend to the wounded, but Avery couldn't find their expected guest.
Avery approached the exhausted mercenary and inquired, "Where is the-"
"Governor!" One of the wounded guards called out and, to Avery's surprise, the woman he fought with was who the guard was addressing. Then who was in the carriage? "The Captain!"
"Is he okay?" Aria asked and approached the carriage.
Avery followed closely, evaluating the situation, and Aria opened the carriage door to reveal the heavily wounded captain of the guard inside. The guard that called out to her answered her, "I'm not sure, mam'. But he's awake."
"Please just call me Aria," the woman begged listlessly before addressing the groggy captain. "How are you holding up, Captain?" Aria. He knew that name from her file- so she was the governor after all. Before the captain of the guard could answer, the Commander took note of the state of their new governor- bleeding and exhausted- and the gravity of the situation fell on Avery all at once.
"Governor. You're the governor? Why are you outside of the carriage?" Avery scowled.
"I-I take full responsibility, Commander" the Captain hurriedly responded, his face had whitened with Avery's presence. "We were overwhelmed-"
"So you put the governor on the front lines?" Avery fumed.
"I came out of my own volition!" Aria put herself in between them. "You saw me fight, Commander, I'm more than capab-"
"You were on the cusp of death," the Commander chided, "You should've escaped. Who cut the horses from the carriage-"
"Also me," Aria doubled down. "We were quickly overwhelmed and didn't have the men to get help without the bandits cutting us down. I wasn't going to just let them die!"
"That's part of their duty, governor." Avery retorted. Before Aria could protest, the Commander continued, "We need you alive at all costs. We're on a mission, Governor. Duvos is bound to notice our settlement at any moment. If we do not have you to help develop the settlement and its defenses, the settlement will fall: all of its citizens and Rangers with it. Duvos will be able to expand and the northern development will fail. I need you to understand how important your role is to the future of the Alliance." Aria was stunned into silence.
"He's right, Governor," the Captain lamented. "I failed my duty as your protector. Forgive me."
"No, it's-" Aria began but stopped herself. "I'm just glad you're alive. I'm sorry too, I-" Aria stepped away and Avery recognized something in her expression. It was an expression he had worn so many times that it was sometimes indistinguishable to his normal expression. The Commander wondered for a moment who she must have lost but quickly pushed it down. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that they brought her back alive.
"Let's get to the settlement. The wounded can be looked into further." Avery relented. "I'll lead the way for the rest of the journey. It won't be much longer now."
Aria quietly entered the carriage next to the captain. They continued the journey with an exchanged glance and sat together in silence.
The rest of the journey was uneventful but Avery's mind was all but quiet. "And Avery? Be nice." repeated in his head. Was he too harsh? The governor- Aria was reckless. Yet there was something he recognized within her. "I wasn't going to just let them die!" She was certainly unlike any politician he had met. He doubted that she had any experience, but he knew Gaudi had chosen her after meticulous planning and consideration. Why would he enlist her as a Governor when she is clearly more suited to being a Ranger? Come to think of it, why did the Director trust her? She clearly had a past. Avery wouldn't normally be interested in looking into the files of the citizens, but the very safety of the settlement could be at stake. Why would the Director take risks so recently after the discovery of Duvosian spies?
The sun was setting when Aria was beckoned out of the carriage. She had finally made it. But was she really what the settlement needed? Did she have what it takes? She shook her head. She had to try. But she realized now that she couldn't do this by trusting her own instinct alone.
Avery had returned to his office and had just sat down with Aria's file when there was a knock on his door. The knock was unfamiliar to him- it must be the governor. He spread some papers over the folder. "Enter."
Aria sheepishly opened the door. "Hey Av- Commander."
"Governor." He carefully greeted.
"Please- call me Aria. I obviously haven't earned my title yet." She smiled half-heartedly while looking away. "I... actually wanted to talk to you about that."
Was she quitting already?
"I thought a lot about what you said. It's probably no secret that I haven't done this before, but I really am trying to be prepared! I read through our history over and over again to prevent us from making the same mistakes and even though I can be impulsive, I-" She took a deep breath. "What I'm trying to say is- can I rely on your advice? I want to be a good leader and you have much more experience with that than I do. I'll of course try to make decisions myself, but I want to learn."
Avery stared at her, surprised and intrigued by her request. "Just give her a chance. I think you'll like her." Avery had to stop himself from smirking. "Very well." Aria's face lightened up immediately, "We'll meet in front of the townhall at sunrise tomorrow."
Aria nodded. "Thank you, Commander! I'll uh- let you get back to work!" She waved as she left his office. Avery moved the papers that covered Aria's folder. "I think you'll like her." Avery put the folder away.