"Two Strangers and a Coincidence

The sun was in the middle of the blue sky and was burning the roads of Auroria. It was summer, which means it was dry and rainless on the south of the continent, and cool on the north. The main trade road of the Thardolia Kingdom was quiet and empty for three weeks but it was just normal. Because of the weather, merchants weren't willing to go to Thardolia.

The King of Thardolia, Pronthionus, was bedridden. Whole responsibility and the decisions, he had to make, were left to his only son, the heir to the throne, The Spear of Justice, Torwald.

He was sanguine, rational and clever in many areas. But most importantly, he was The Spear of Justice in Thardolia. His sense of justice was a blessing for the people of kingdom. Almost every citizen was happy to have someone, that talented for their next ruler.

After few weeks passed, merchants started to going to south, to Thardolia. The dirt road that merchants used as a trade route was going to witness the beginning of an epic and mysterious story. The driver of the carriage continued unaware of everything. He knew that he would receive payment when he delivered the goods he had carried behind the cart to the kingdom, he was very close, and he was more than happy with it. But still the sun made him sweat, maybe he had to accelerate so that he could get rid of the sweat with the wind. Just as he was about to whip horses, he heard a sound through the forest. It was like footsteps of several horsemen. He started sweating more than before. Without thinking, he whipped the horses and rode off. As he looked back to see if he had been followed, an arrow passed by in front of his eyes and hit the ground. Just moments ago, he was only worried about the weather but now, he knew he was going to get hurt, or even die. But then, he heard the woman's words.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of them." She whispered, hiding behind the crates.

"I knew it, it was because of you damn woman…" he said while whipping the horses. At that moment, he swore, no matter how much the payment was, he would never smuggle someone into kingdom or empire again.

Few seconds later, he stopped the cart and hid behind a huge rock. He breathe in and out slowly to get calmer. Then he tried to sneak a peek over the rock. The thing he saw just made him more scared…

***

"It is usually quiet around this place" is what he thought. After wiping his sweat from his forehead, he closed and locked the door of the wooden hut. Then he headed for to home in the kingdom. It was almost noon and probably his sister has already prepared the breakfast. It was nice to have her at the home.

They were the only ones who were alive from their family. They had been taken care of by the King's personal servants for years. And as a result for being so close to royal family, they ended up being close friends with Torwald. He was one of his best friends and took an oath to be his hand. All of the high ranked officers were from the royal family. So actually, it was just for making people to believe that he is from a royal family. With that title, he could meet Torwald anytime he wanted. Also that was the exact thing what Torwald needed at that time. Having someone who knows Torwald more than any other officers. Their relationship was blurry. The line, between being best friends and being brothers, was so thin for them. It was good and bad at the same time. Even though he would get paid just for hanging out with him, he did not want that. It was not the job he seek at that moment, because he thought that it was only a shame for him. He was going to be next ruler's Hand because he had grown up with him, not because he earned the title. That was frustrating and unacceptable for him. He wanted to prove himself, that he is almost as talented as the Prince. Only then he could become the Hand of the King.

And now, he already proved himself to the whole Kingdom. Even beyond the walls, people from far lands of Auroria heard his name time by time. Gareth, The Ironheart, the winner of the Glorious Death Tournament!

While he was walking in the woods, he saw a little boy who was talking to tree.

"Hey, young man, what're you doing here?"

Boy was surprised to what he saw. Stranger was huge and scary. His chest was wide and his arms were thick. Boy thought that, he was a gladiator or something. Then he saw the symbol on his necklace.

"You are a gladiator?" he asked excitedly.

"No, but you can call me that. Now, tell me what you are up to kid? Are you lost?"

"No, I mean, yes but…" he sighed. "I was trying to catch my cat but, without realizing I was out of the safe zone. Then I found cat prints and they led me up to here. I think Yuko is on the tree."

"Yuko?"

"My cat. Sister named him."

"All right! If I bring him to you, you will go back to your home, right?"

"Yes sir, please! Help me. He was everything to my little sister."

"Okay then, let's get that cat!" he said before he jumped on the tree. The boy was surprised because the gladiator seemed too big to be agile. But eventually, he climbed up the top of the tree and found Yuko.

"Okay, Yuko. Easy, now. I am a friend! You see…" said Gareth calmly, while he was reaching his hand to Yuko. Once Gareth grabbed him, Yuko scratched Gareth's right hand and fell to one of the branches below.

"Thanks sir! I can handle this now!" shouted kid while he was starting to climb.

"Be careful kid!"

"No problem sir! We are on the ground already!"

"Wow, you are fast! Now, it's my turn to-" he saw few people fighting nearby. It was hard to see but one of them had long red hair. Maybe bandits were attacking some woman, he thought. He immediately went down from the tree. Right before he run to the place he saw, he held the boy by shoulders and said "What was your name again?"

"Uh… Ruhor."

"Ok, Ruhor. Now go home, quickly! I need to do something."

"What? But what's your name sir?"

"Gareth!"

"Oh!" Ruhor gasped. "You are him!"

"Yeah, yeah! Now go! Run!" he said. Then he pulled his sword from the scabbard on his back. The sword was wider than his arm, and taller than his upper body. It looked so heavy that kid would die if it fell over him. Still, he was able to hold it with one arm.

"What are you doing?"

"Just go already!" he shouted as he ran.

"Ok sir but where are you running?"

"I have a lady to save!"

***

Red haired woman was breathing slowly. Bandits surrounded her and some of them were laughing to scare her. But, before they make a move on her, she began her attack. Bandits did not expect this sudden move so the first one to die was the closest one to her. Actually, three of them was already down. Their blood splashed on the others and the woman as well. She grinned as she landed on one of the corpses.

"Now who is laughing?" she said in a calm voice. Bandits were scared but one of them with the blue mask was standing still and giving orders to others.

"What are you waiting for? Kill her!" he shouted.

"Nope! I wouldn't recommend you do that! I f you don't want to die, just run away and do not look back." Woman said. For a while, they stood where they were, then except the masked one, everyone attacked her at the same time. She pulled and threw her daggers in a blink of an eye. No one saw what happened but as they were approaching, their comrades were falling down holding their necks or chests. There were nine of them at the beginning of the assault but now, there were four. The masked one already took one of the horses and rode off.

"Coward…" she whispered. The buzz of the daggers were echoing on the field. Those who heard it, were blessed because, it meant that, they were still alive. Those who could not, were already on the ground.

She suddenly start to run toward a huge rock, then jumped from it. As she was in air, she threw her dagger whirling around. Before bandits cover themselves from the daggers on the air, she was already slitting a bandit's throat. She was so agile, so fast that bandits couldn't even see her. She was like a ghost, what if she was using magic that make her invisible, they thought.

It doesn't worth the effort, I should better hurry up and continue my main objective, she thought. In order to do that, she just started running toward the bandits, she did not try to avoid any of them. She took two of them as she slid under them. Then she stood up fast enough to dodge an axe attack. She was right about to use her blade to cut the bandit's arm that holding the axe, she stumbled. She took two steps back. After that, she felt pain on her left shoulder. As she looked, her pain doubled up. She had an arrow on her shoulder. She broke half of the shaft of the arrow. For a moment, she lost his focus and that was her first mistake. She took a punch and fell to ground. Then a bunch of kick to stomach made her throw up. She was grabbed from the hair and stood up. Blue masked bandit was back with bunch of men.

"Do you know who the hell I am?"

"Well, sorry but I do not fucking know who the HELL YOU ARE!" she yelled and spit his face. His men were holding her arms. She couldn't move. The blue masked bandit took a few steps forward.

"I am Vanelyr! Vanelyr of the Drachian Desert. Great leader of the Desert Bandits!" She started laughing loudly. Vanelyr was surprised at first but then he got angry. "What are you laughing for?"

"It's just…" she tried to stop laughing. "Just that… If you say you are that great… Why don't I know you? You piece of scum!" she spit on his face again. Vanelyr wiped his face and hold the woman by the chin. He looked right into her green eyes and smirked.

"Oh, you will… You definitely will!" Others started to laugh looking down on her. "Take her and put them with the other girls. We're going to have some fun tonight boys!"

"Not so fast, scumbags!" a deep voice came from the woods. Bandits turned to the woods and pulled their swords.

"Show yourself coward!" Vanelyr shouted as he went for his horse.

"Oh, I will…" said Gareth as he ran out of the woods. He chopped off the first guy's arm and led to right. Three bandits were waiting for him there and the one with the mace attacked from his left. He dodged by leaning backward and then he swung his huge sword to bandit's knee. It happened real fast that the bandit were on the ground before he felt the pain. As he looked down, he saw that his leg was cut off from the knee. That was the last thing he saw before he fainted. Gareth kept blocking the bandits' attacks, the moment he got a chance to counterattack, he swung the sword through one of the bandit's chest and gave him a deep cut. Bandit fell onto his knees holding his chest to not lose blood.

Woman used this distraction and broke free. She went for her blades first, then she fight back as well. She was faster than the man who came from the woods. She glanced at the man from the forest, as she slayed the bandits, one by one. He was definitely fast for his size. And that sword must be heavy, how can he even hold it with one hand? She thought.

Few of them were already dead when I first got here? Did she killed them by herself? That is impressive for a lady, by the way where the heck was the driver all this time? They probably killed him at first, Gareth thought while stabbing the bandits. Once they were all done, he wiped off the blood on his face. He was trying to catch his breathe. "Oh, man… All those training and effort… It still feels heavy…" he said while looking at the sword. Then he looked at the woman. It was hard to catch her with eyes, she was moving fast. Gareth was really impressed by her, a warrior woman, he thought. He took a deep breath then put the middle section of the sword on his shoulder. He was slowly approaching to the woman but she didn't realize him because she was busy with the remaining bandits.

"You need help miss?" he asked gently.

"Who the hell are you anyways?" she said roughly. Well, a woman warrior who is not decent, he thought.

"Well, I would like to talk but, I think…" he looked around and saw the blue masked bandit with his reinforcement. "… We have a big problem miss?"

"Stop calling me miss-" just as she thought that she killed the last bandit, she saw what Gareth saw.

"Wow…" was the only thing what she could say.

"All right redhead, team up?"

"Redhead? Really…" she said as they endured back to back.

"By the way, you are really good at fighting… For a woman."

"For a woman?"

"I mean…" before he could finish his words, an arrow stuck in his shoulder. "Argh, shit!"

"Yeah, that happens sometimes, move on caveman."

"Oh, what a lovely couple! You are make my eyes water, so cute! Now kill them!" Vanelyr ordered to his bandits. There were at least twenty of them. Some of them using bows from far distance. That was disadvantage of those two. They didn't have any shield or body armor.

"Ok, here's the plan. I draw the attention, you kill the archers. Then regroup in the middle and kill the rest." He said looking his side of place. But woman was already attacking. "Well, that seems like a good plan too…" He charged toward the archers but after a few seconds, he had to cover of their shots. On the other side, woman was smoothly killing the bandits, with her two blades.

In a few seconds, half of the bandits were already dead. Teaming up was right thing to do. Actually, she was the one who did the most. It's time to be the hero, Gareth thought and charged again to the archers. While he was running, he could see the woman was coming right side of the archers and killing them smoothly. In the end, his plan worked as he thought.

The sound that blade made when it broke the ribs was the only sound on the area. She looked right into Vanelyr's eyes. "Let's have some fun!" she said and tried to catch him but he whipped his horse and rode off before she could catch. After he is gone, she took a deep breathe and looked at the mess she made. Dozens of corpses.

"I did it again…" she said silently. "Wait, where's the big boy?" She searched him with her eyes for a few minutes. Then she found him on the ground, three arrows on his chest and two on his left arm. He was still holding his huge sword.

"Are… they all… gone?" he said with a painful voice.

"Yes, I killed them but the leader escaped. C'mon, hold on to me." She said while trying to support him under his arm. He was making painful noises that made her feel a bit guilty. But she was though after all…

"My… Sword…"

"Okay… I'll get it. You just…" She looked around to find the cart. "Hey, merchant!" she shouted. Her voice echoed in the air. Terrified merchant stood up slowly from his hiding point.

"Uh… Is it over?"

"Just get the cart! We have a wounded!"

"Yeah, okay!"

"You are going to live, all right!" she said gently.

"That is the kindest thing you said to me…" he said with a grin.

"Does it not hurt that much then, huh?"

"Well, you could say that but usually, it hurts like hell you know." He said looking her injured shoulder.

"I am used to it, do not worry about me."

"I was not! Well, if you don't want me to of course…" he was flirting but she wasn't responding any of his effort.

"I am not interested…" she said bluntly.

"Wow that hurt! Miss…"

"Uh! You know what, I started to regret saving you…"

"Wait what?" Gareth said with a shocked voice. "You, saved me? Are you sure about that? Because, I remember not the way you just said! But my mind might be a little off you know, because of SAVING YOU!"

"Whoa! Big BOY! No one asked for your pathetic aid!"

"You know what, I can't do this right now. Just get my sword and take me to home."

"Yeah, that would be so much easier if you didn't have to talk that much." She said and went to pick up the sword. She hold the grip with two hands but she couldn't lift. He was smiling to her. He knew she couldn't do it with her own. But she was stubborn, so she drag the sword next to the cart and with the help of merchant, they managed load it up.

"So, where do you live?" she asked as he was drifting slowly to sleep. She knew she must keep him awake.

"Uh… Thardolia…"

"Oh…" She was kind of surprised. She didn't expect a Thardolian to be kind to strangers. "Well, I was going there too, first time though…"

"Oh, it would be a pleasure to welcome you."

"Yeah, yeah. I can't wait for it…"

"Really?"

"No dumb! I have some business, that's why I go there."

"You sound like you hate Kingdom. You haven't even been to Kingdom before, right?"

"Uh…" She gasped. "You are asking so much question to a lady. Don't your mom taught you how to talk to ladies?"

"Well, actually no, she did not."

"Oh, I couldn't tell." She said in a sarcastic way.

"Are we there yet?"

"Oh, c'mon what are you, five?"

"Well… if I blackout, tell the guards that you are my guest."

"Why?"

"You are clearly not a merchant or a wonderer. And I don't think you have a cousin in Kingdom or anything. So, guards will interrogate you more likely as you were an enemy. You see, my people have suffered from the north. So they are treating strangers strictly cautious whether they are Gwanian or not. Even the people from Lerachia Coalition have to interrogated, but lately…" he coughed up blood.

"Are you… Okay?" she asked while getting closer to him. He realized that reflex of her and now, it was his time to use famous sick people trick.

"No, I don't think so… Can I at least lay my head on your lap?"

That was a weird request but it might be useful to woman to pass the gates smoothly.

"Well, just because you're in bad shape and I don't want to feel guilty if you'd die on me after I tried so hard to save you."

"Yeah, yeah…" he sighed. "As I said, if I pass out, tell them you are my guest and if it's possible, stay like this when you say it."

"Okay, big boy. You are talking nonsense, who are you anyways?"

"Well, I asked first."

"No you didn't"

"I did. In my mind…"

"You can call me Lena…" she said. Something was off with her when she spoke that name. She seemed a bit sad, he thought. "So, who are you?"

"Have you ever heard the Glorious Death Tournament?"

Woman grinned but she was kind of angry. "What if I did?"

"Then you should know who I am."

"What's with the men 'You should know who I am' thing. Is that all men or is that just the imbecile ones?"

"Hah…" he sighed. He really wanted to sleep that moment. His head was on the lap of a beautiful and brave lady. He could even die there but he knew he wouldn't. Thanks to his mom, he was kind of blessed about that. He looked at her more carefully. Her hair actually smelled good. Her lap was comfy and her skin was soft. There were no such words to describe her lips, he thought. She was probably a bounty hunter or something like that but still, she looked so pretty to him. It was like, he never felt like this before. All of his feelings were about fight or taking care of his young sister.

"It is like a miracle, isn't it?"

"What?"

"Me, you… Think how we met. We both are fighters, good ones too. It must be a miracle…"

"Lover boy, you should be careful what you wish for and I can guarantee you, I am not interested…"

"Yeah, I understood that but… For now…"

She tapped his forehead. "Go to sleep already…"

"Really? What if I die in my sleep?"

"Then I am so not glad to meet you. See you in hell." She said with a small laughter. It was the first time in a long time she laughed by meaning it.

"So what do you say?" he was happy to make her laugh.

"About what?"

"About us, meeting like that."

"I don't know. It's just…"

"Just what?"

"Two strangers and a coincidence."

He sighed. Still, he wouldn't stop trying his flirt attempts.

"Two strangers and a coincidence…"