Alec had barely even touched the wand when Neka jumped up hissing loudly. Her back arched, her tails stood on end.
"Take it easy Neka! I'll be careful." Alec said nervously. What had gotten into her?
In a fluent motion Vivian drew one of her narrow curved blades and peered into the dark in the direction Neka was hissing. "Hush, I think something's here."
Andrea drew her knife as well, Alec casually pocketed the wand and followed her example drawing his own blade. "Alec, check that side." Andrea hissed as she herself looked into the other direction.
Alec obediently peered into the dark. The fire illuminated a decent area around them, but beyond the boundary of the light it was pitch black. Anything could be hiding there. With bated breath he listened and peered. The only sounds being the hissing from Neka and the burning fire.
"I don't hear any animals." Alec whispered. He had no idea if he was supposed to hear animals here and now, but the lack of ambient noise, here and now left him feeling uneasy.
"Lower to the ground Alec." Andrea whispered.
Was he supposed to put his ear to the ground? Or was he sticking out too much? Should he ask? Uncertain he just crouched lower.
Time ticked by. The wind blew, clouds drifted passed the moon, the fire behind them burned, but nothing else seemed to happen. Alec's mind was racing, if it were animals, wouldn't they have struck already? Where there bandits?
"Andrea. Have any fireworks prepared?" Vivian whispered.
"Always. Please point me in the right direction. This side appears clear."
"Alec, cover Andrea's side as well."
"What's happening? What do you see?" Had she seen something? He felt so green this way. He crawled closer to Andrea's original position, careful not to make a noise and stay as close to the ground as possible without resorting to a crawl.
"Eyes in front Alec." He obeyed. "There." Alec heard Vivian whisper.
"No need for that laydies. Here I aym." A male voice came from the dark, Alec nearly dropped his blade in surprise.
Alec turned to the sound of the noise. There, walking from the dark and into their little circle of light was a man. Built like a brick house and with a determined and confident walk that gave Alec the willies. "Stay alert" he heard Vivian hiss below her breath.
"Hello good sir, please hold where you are and identify yourself." Vivian said loudly, suspiciously politely and yet authoritatively.
The man raised his thick bare muscular arms, but still walked forward. A large sword was strapped to his back, leaving Alec to wonder how he could even draw that without help.
"No need to worry laydies, Ay'm just a traveler like yourselves."
His constant use of the word "ladies" was starting to get on his nerves.
"Are you alone?" Vivian demanded, brandishing her blade. It's narrow blade glinting in the light of the fire.
Neka kept hissing. Alec peered in the dark, the man seemed to be alone. But then why would Neka be so upset?
The man stopped. "Well now, whot are three lovely laydies doing oall alone out here."
"I'm no.." "Just camping and what are you doing out here at this time of night?" Vivian cut him off.
"Well, me and the guys were just out for a wolk when we spotted your fayre and we figured we'd heat ourselves up. Little did we know we'd find such lovely young laydies oall alone." He took another step forward.
"And where would your friends be?" Vivian replied.
"Well, thay're just really shiy. So how about it love? Shall ay coll them over? Have ourselves a fun little oall nayghter?"
"Thank you for the lovely offer, but three's a crowd and there's already three of us here. So please take your friends move along." Her voice resolute and commanding to the point Alec almost found himself leaving just to comply. The man however didn't seem inclined to obey at all.
"All raight, three is not enough for us anyway. So maybe you could give us some money to pay for proper whores?"
That sounded like a threat. Alec felt his muscles tense up he did not like where this was going, something was going to happen.
"Unfortunately, we travel lightly and all our money is on the adventurers cards. So we have nothing to give."
"Those blaydes look mighty fayne. Thay seem to be worth a penny. How about you haynd them over and then we'll be on our way."
Alec's heart jumped, he was sure he saw someone move just at the edge of the darkness.
"I think there's one here." Alec whispered.
He saw a barely noticeable nod from Andrea from the corner of his eye.
A moment of tense silence followed. "Well?" The man asked, a raised hand had inched move closer to the large blade on his back.
Vivian glanced back at Alec and Andrea and nodded. "I think we'll pass."
"Shayme."
The glint of steel came first, followed by the man wielding it. From the darkness the man sprung towards Alec. Alec shouted in surprise and awkwardly held up his blade in an attempt to parry. He wasn't going to survive, this was his end.
A bright orb or orange light shot passed him whistling a high pitched noise as it went. It hit the man square in the chest, exploding in sparks and enveloping the area in light.
"Stay sharp!" Andrea bit at him.
"Look out, they have a mayge! Close in!"
Alec looked around, adrenaline raging through his body. First time in combat he hid, second time he took other bodies to get the upper hand. Would that be the best option now? No, these were just normal guys and it would leave his body vulnerable.
He heard Neka hiss and scream and spun around. A ruffian, covered in scars was at their bags. He kicked Neka to the side and picked one up. Alec looked around. Vivian was literally dancing around the first man, whom Alec assumed was the leader. His massive blade swinging around apparently uselessly as Vivian moved like the wind.
Andrea was struggling with another man, who seemed to have the upper hand on her. Her back was near the fire, her eyes narrowed in grim determination.
He gritted his teeth, this was Alec's time to shine. He pulled a throwing knife out and lobbed it at Andrea's assailant. Vivian had taught him to always aim at the largest target, even if it wasn't most lethal point of the body. In most cases, hitting was more important than killing, she'd said. The blade soared through the air, but the man must have spotted it as barely managed to evade it.
Or maybe Alec just missed, however this was all Andrea needed. Andrea's eyes changed, going from bitter to a more relaxed mode.
She lunged forward with her knife, nicking her opponents arm. She immediately followed through putting the pressure back on him and increasing the distance between her and the fire.
Alec rushed the large thuggish man holding their bags and slammed into him. Both stumbled, Alec nearly lost his balance as his huge heavy tits jumped around in his shirt. Alec brandished his blade and slashed at the torso. In shock the man dropped the bags and stepped back, narrowly avoiding the cut.
"Whore wants to play?" He grunted.
"I'm not a girl!" Alec yelled in frustration.
The man laughed, showing a mouth filled with gaps in his teeth. Alec slashed again, the man however sidestepped easily and grabbed his wrist. His arm was twisted up and and a rough hand grabbed a hand full of tit flesh. "Come here honey." He puckered his lips. Alec winced, that hurt. "Let" "Go!" He punched the man in the face.
The pressure on his wrist faded and he swung at the man again. This time, he felt it, his blade had connected.
The man growled in pain. "You fuckin' bitch." His punch was much faster than Alec had anticipated, knocking him clean of his feet. The pain in his stupid tits was excruciating. He felt like he was kicked in the balls.
The man loomed over Alec who scrambled to hold up his dagger, but the man kicked it from his hands. "Now then, let's see what we have here." A disgusting grin flashed on his scarred face as he came closer.
A yellow flash hopped over his body, onto his breasts and bounced towards the man, hissing and growling. The man veered back as Neka sunk her claws into his skin.
"Neka!" He scrambled up and tried to spot his weapon.
"Behind you Alec!" Alec spun around too fast, nearly losing his balance as his breasts tried to keep moving, as a man in charred clothes came rushing him. Sword at the ready, Alec screamed.
A flurry of movement, flashing silver lines appear between him and the man, followed by the clang of steel hitting steel. "Get it together, now!" Vivian commanded. Her silver blades flash and slash through the air, easily repelling the larger man.
Alec scrambled. His original opponent had thrown Neka off, who sat on the ground hissing.
He'd lost his sword, but he was not without weapons yet. His hands searched his pockets and grabbed his last knife and the wand. The man grinned and raised his foot to Neka.
"Stay away from my cat!" Startled the man looks up at the charging Alec. The man brings up his arms, but Alec's knife plunges in his neck, while the wand shatters against his armor.
In the blinding flash that follows all that he heard is a roar and a scream. He feels something slam into him, his feet leave the ground before slamming back down on his back.