Extending A Helping Hand

The cache of supplies arrived with a caravan just like Timea said it would. The moment it entered the encampment, everyone began preparing for the upcoming attack on the bandit camp that was a ten hour journey away. Mr. Benjamin could see all of her military personnel preparing for battle as they began putting things in place.

It was as if they were instinctively working as if they have done this many times before.

The heroes entered a carriage as others mounted up on horses totaling a small, movable battalion of sixty trained soldiers for the small bandit encampment.

We will arrive at their camp at midday, she declared. Everyone be ready for instant combat, Timea shouted as she pulled the reins of her horse and lead the charge.

The Rock Fist bandit encampment resided at a forest clearing near a small mountain which housed a gold mine. Barricaded by a wooden wall, they made it difficult for individuals to just walk into their camp. Within the mine, bioluminescence moss lined the walls providing non flammable light within the mine as captured villagers attend to the finding and extracting of gold ores.

Inside the main foundation, the Leader of this camp sat eating a large rack of meat from the boar that was cooked today. As he was about to take another bite, his second in command came into the room. "Boss, he stated."

Go on, the leader responded.

We have finally made it to the main chamber that we believe has the majority of the ores. Unfortunately, the gases have hindered our progress and we may need to halt extraction for today.

That is good news to hear, stated the leader. Halt the extraction from that area but make the villagers work in another portion of the mind. Don't want them getting the wrong idea, he laughed.

Suddenly the warning bell rang out before they could conclude their conversation. The leader ran out of the foundation and ran to the main gate where the bell tower was positioned.

"What's going on, he shouted!"

There are persons heading up the main road towards the camp. The leader ran up the wall to look over it. In the distance, horsemen could be seen running up the roadway, leaving a trail of dust behind them.

Are they mad, laughed the leader. Get the archers, ready, he continued.

Multiple archers climbed up the wall and positioned themselves to fire arrows their arrows the moment the attackers were in range.

Archers....ready, shouted the leader as he lifted his hand.

Timea raised her sword as she led the charge towards the main gate. Raising her sword was the signal for her archers that were hidden in the nearby trees, to fire. The leader of the bandits ducked his head as arrows flew in from the trees, to their direction killing all his archers.

With the confusion taking place, Timea gave the second order to move in quickly. As she neared the front gate, she used a magical technique that extracts water from air, rocks or even plants.

'Extraction, Water Absorption!'

Extracting all the moisture from the wood from the main gate caused the wood to become dry and brittle which made it easy for her military personnel to cut it down using a slashing technique. With the main gate down, everyone entered easily, cutting down the bandits inside.

Kill them, the leader shouted as he ran to the entrance of the mine.

Timea rode into the encampment just in time to see the leader running into the mine. As Timea began to dismount, four bandits ran up to her however they were confronted by a black man in black armor who slowly walked in front of her horse.

Though surprised, one of the men charged him with his sword in hand. The black Knight drew his sword and parried the bandit and with his right hand then grabbed him by the face and slammed him forward, towards the ground.

The Black Knight then moved towards the three bandits. Two of the bandits charged the black knight resulting in their quick demise while the other took off but he did not get far. He was confronted by a man who had three swords who knocked him unconscious.

As the black Knight was sheathing his sword, the carriage with the heroes entered unto the property.

Luke and Greg immediately dismounted and Greg immediately went to help assist and defeat the bandits while Luke saw Time entering the mine and he followed.

Someone stop that scout, shouted the Black Knight.

Fiora was coming out of the carriage when she heard this and saw the scout, mounted on a horse already riding out the main gate.

Fiora acted and a breeze blew across Melinda's face as Fiora disappeared before her eyes. Fiora ran up the walkway on the wooden wall and then she jumped to a nearby tree. From there she held a vine and used her momentum to swing forward high into the air.

When she came back down and landed on a branch, she was already ahead of the rider so she pushed herself forward, towards a nearby tree directly in front of the horse rider.

When she landed on the main trunk before him, she turned towards him as he was riding forward, towards her. Drawing her two combat knives, she push off the trunk of the tree towards him.

The bandit was looking behind him to see if anyone was pursuing him. Happy that no one was following, he turned ahead to see Fiora heading down, towards him with two combat knives in her hand.

Fiora struck him in his shoulder and with a knife and brings him down to the ground, off of his horse. Then Fiora splattered the blood on the ground, from the knife and then she stood over the scout. With the wind knocked out of him, she asked 'are you going somewhere?'

Meanwhile, Luke ran into the moss lit mine and caught up to Timea who was walking slowly.

"Why are we in here, whispered Luke?"

"Following the leader, she answered!"

This place… Will be your tomb, came a shout from deeper in the mine.

You will never again, see the light of day, the voice continued.

After following the voice, they arrived in an area of the mine, where there were four workers who stood behind the camp leader, who had a sword in one hand and a 'Phosphorous sulfide' torch in the other.

Before him was a precipice with a rope ladder and a bridge walkway on either side. The bridge on the right side and the left side of this portion of the mine was cut, leaving only the rope ladder before them to go down and the one before him to come back up.

He pointed the torch close to the floor when they arrived and said, glad you could make it but your journey ends here. One move and I scratch this torch on the ground, blowing all of us to kingdom come. The gases in here is definitely a killer, he laughed.

Timea whispered to Luke, can you freeze time in this small area alone?

Yes, I can but only for 20 seconds. It would not be enough to get to him. Will you be able to move if I stop time?

Yes, I will. My necklace protects me from negative magical effects, she responded.

What are you guys whispering over there? This is a no win scenario for you guys.

I am just discussing a way for everyone to get out of this alive, stated Timea.

No way, shouted the bandit leader. With evil in his eyes and a smile on his face, he said, let's all go to hell together.

The bandit leader scratched the sulfide from the torch on the ground and small sparks began to fly.

NOW, shouted Timea.

The entire room froze as the gases had already begun to ignite.

Timea eyes lighted up blue as she said a spell, 'Roar… Rise of the tidal dragon!'

A water dragon appeared around Timea and Luke, pulling them inside of it's watery body. The dragon then circled the room, sucking in the four workers and the bandit leader, as it made a pass around the room.

The water dragon made its way back through the tunnel and too the entrance of the mine.

The Black Knight stood before all the bandits who they had captured. Armed companions stood guard around them, as a few of them began placing restraints on the bandits.

Suddenly a loud vibration was heard coming from the mine. When all eyes turned to the entrance of the mine, a large head of a dragon was seen exiting the mine. The dragon exited and dropped all its water soaked passengers on the ground.

The moment Timea's foot touched down on the ground, she used the water dragon to create a wall of water between her, and the entirety of the mine.

'Ice Wall, Frozen Fortress!'

Then she froze the water as the mine exploded and the rocks smashed against the thick frozen wall, which withstood the blast.

Her men shouted a cheer as they saw her standing before the wall unscathed.

"YEHHH..." was the cries from her men.

They were victorious in this battle.

"You should have let me die, shouted the bandit leader as he saw that his plan had failed."

Timea turned to him as a few of her men ran towards her, and said "I am nothing like you!"

'Later'

And there I stood, recounted one of the men at the banquet, back at their encampment.

I stood guarding the captured bandits, when I heard a deep roar coming from the mine. A loud monstrous roar, he shouted which caused the men to dress back in their seats to his reenactment.

A large dragon as big as a mountain exited the entrance of the mine with our leader riding at the top of the dragon.

Timea sat in the distance of the large tent as she heard one of his countrymen, recounting the 'tall tale' of today's events. Today, they were truly victorious, she thought to herself.