Chapter 7

She did stay a while in the carriage to her defense. It could probably be around a minute or so but it felt excruciating as she sat in there, in the dull light, her tapping her cheap shoes on the wooden floor waiting to hear a sound, anything that could provide her with information on what is going on. But unexpectedly everything was silent. Getting more curious by the second she kicked the door open and jumped down, stepping slightly on the dirty hem of her dress. She sighed with her clumsiness and looked around to spot Nacht quite far away from the carriage actually fighting with two men. They had cheap swords and were dressed in rags. 

"Bandits" she mumbled and ran towards him as she noticed two more circling him. No matter how strong he was, or how strong he said he was it wouldn't be a bad thing to be close and observe. Just in case he needed anything. 

She hid behind a tree and watched the scene unravel in front of her. 

The four men had made a wide circle with Nacht in the middle, walking around him like predators. Eyeing him careful as they waited for a chance to attack him. He stared back at them meeting their eyes one by one as a smirk formed on his scarred face. In the blink of an eye a sword had appeared in his hand. But not what you would think of as your usual sword. And object with a handle, made of heated iron as it became deadly steel. His sword was made of magic as it sprung from his hand. A bright object, in deep red color, similar to his wild hair that had been now set free from his pony tail. The sword was like a fire but it did not burn its owner. It moved and dance and with a full circle of his arm above his head it turned into a long whip that hit one of the men and threw him back, ruining the man made circle. 

Alice was looking at him as if she was seeing him for the first time as he fought with them. So this is what an attacker did, what they were. He was indeed powerful. Strong not only magically but physically, he grabbed one of the men with one hand from his dirty collar, he raised him in the air and threw him away, fast on his feet he would fight two of them at the same time as his sword to a whip and back again. One of the bandits at some point dodged his skillful attack and launched at him grabbing his waist and bringing him down, onto the muddy floor. 

She flinched and frowned, as if she was the one getting hurt. He heard Nacht groan as he got punched by the man on top of him. Blood escaped his lips as he spat to his side. She clenched her fists and paced not knowing what she should do. She was just a few steps away but because of the commotion no one had noticed her yet. She didn't know how to fight, that was a certain she just needed a few moments of distraction to get Nacht freed. She took a deep breath and clenched the sides of her dress, she raised it, hoping it wouldn't get in her way and run towards the other man who was watching his friend punch Nacht while Laughing. She ran as fast as she could and on top of that she let out a ridiculous war scream hoping that the men would look at her and stop hitting Nacht. She piggybacked the man and began sloppily kicking him at the same time, making everyone stare in surprise for a few seconds. 

That was it. Nacht while laughing now he head-bumped the man so hard his forehead began to bleep and pushed him off him, making him fall to the ground. 

"You shit, how dare you try and hurt my luck! I've been through enough already." She screamed as she pulled the other's greasy hair. She pulled so hard she felt like she was going to leave him bald. It didn't matter though, she was angry, she had been angry for quite a while and now she was letting it out. 

Her revenge was short though, since the struggling bandit raised his arms and grabbed her dress pulling it forward and almost leaving her naked. Not wanting to lose her only piece of clothing and not used in situations like these she relaxed her body and the actually strong stranger brought her forwards diving her hard on the ground. She felt her lungs sting as her back collided with the rocks and she coughed, needed to breathe. 

Nacht when was finally done with the other one managed to run to her rescue. The man died instantly as his sword passed through his heart while Alice was on the ground beneath him. Heavy and soulless his body collapsed on top of her and filled her clothes with blood as she stood frozen, her hands in the air disgusted to even touch it. 

"Take it off of me. Take it off!" She shouted and Nacht while giggling pushed the man off her with his shiny boot that was now filled with mud. He offered her his hand and she took it still slightly shaking from the shock of having an actual corpse on her when Nacht said

"You came to my rescue that's so sweet. I was caught off guard back there" 

"Well I could not let my only way out of misfortune die" Alice said and he laughed.

"So it's not because you are fond of me."

"Nope not really" She answered blatantly as they began walking towards the carriage. He eyed her, staring at her horrible clothing with a frown. 

"Our driver is dead. We also can't take you to the palace that way" He told her and jumped on the driver's seat. "It seems like we will be making a detour."