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Silveris backed away as Cordell suddenly floated into the air, flailing his arms and yelling at Silveris, who was about to say it wasn’t his doing when another bandit fell dead to the ground, an arrow stuck deep in his chest.

Silveris balled his hands into fists and set them on fire, then looked around beyond his panicked comrades in search of the archer who had killed a bandit under his watch.

“There! That girl by the rock! Get her and bring her to me!”

The bandits waved their swords and lunged.

One of the bandits had magic.

Grey watched the fire blazing in the man's fists as he pointed at Rook's hiding spot. Grey cursed under his breath and twitched his fingers. Two bandits rose in the air and knocked over two other bandits. Grey directed the flying bodies towards the fire boy, who also seemed to be their temporary leader.

"Telekinesis never fails. Telekinesis never fails." Grey repeated the phrase to himself as he concentrated.

From his higher vantage point up in the air, Cordell caught a glimpse of Grey. So when he fell back to the sandy ground a few moments later, he climbed quickly to his feet, then sprinted straight toward Grey's hiding place.

---

Rook's second shot had been aimed at one of the bandits that Grey lifted into the air, so the arrow went right beneath his feet and then skidded harmlessly along the sand. The ranger reached for a third arrow. She'd likely only have time for one more shot before the remaining bandits reached her. Two were closing in on her position quickly. She knocked the arrow with a practiced hand and fired at the closest. The arrow had barely left the string and already she was running, knowing that if she let herself get with melee range, she was in serious trouble.

Silveris saw the girl sprint out of her hiding place and immediately ran to intercept her as she fired arrows at the other bandits, and he lifted a flaming fireball and threw it in her direction, where it exploded in her path like a million blazing fireworks, then he noticed Cordell running towards another man behind a sand dune.

"Surround the girl! You two, come with me!"

Silveris headed in the direction Cordell had taken.

Rook had to stop quickly as the blinding fireball exploded before her, showering her with hot sand that stuck to her sweaty face and hands. So that was how they managed to set fires so quickly, she thought, remembering how old Mr. Allerton's home had been already engulfed in flames by the time the defenders of the settlement emerged to try to push back the bandits.

She rushed ahead again, trying to blink away the large colorful spots she was seeing from the bright flash. But her forced paused had given her pursuers time to close the distance and she was barely ahead of them now. Changing course slightly, she dashed for the remaining bandits' horses...

Grey saw Rook head for the bandits' horses and decided not to question her course of action. Besides, he had his hands full.

Grey jumped out from behind the sand dune and leapt over Cordell's head, somersaulting in the air and landing in a run straight towards the fire boy. The temporary leader had two other bandits flanking him and Grey used telekinesis to lift them into the air and hurl them at the fire boy.

Silveris turned and caught both his comrades in his arms, extinguishing the flames in his hands so he wouldn’t burn them, but he couldn’t hold their weight so he stumbled backwards.

Silveris landed on his back in the sand.

“Magic. He has magic.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the girl running for the horses.

“Somebody get her or I’ll roast all your heads for dinner tonight!”

Cordell cursed and spun back to toward Grey, then lunged at him, intending to pin the slimmer man's arms to his side if he could just get a hold of him. Maybe, he reasoned, if the man didn't have use of his arms, he couldn't use his magic to be throwing people around.

---

((Would you guys be willing to play 1 or 2 of the bandits chasing her? It's more exciting when I don't control both sides of the equation. ))

Rook reached the animals only a few moments before the men following after her. The horses were tied to a single line that had been strung between two palm trees. Only a few of the animals were saddled and she grabbed the bridle of one of those as she cut the rope to the whole lot of them and started to pull herself up.

((Sure thing!))

Grey felt stronger arms pin his own to his side. He flexed his fingers, trying to pull the man off, but he had almost exhausted his telekinesis power. Grey grit his teeth, shut his eyes, and rammed his head backwards, aiming to hit the other man's forehead.

---

Sampson grabbed the reins of the nearest panicked horse and vaulted onto the saddle. The girl with the arrows had cut them all loose and Sampson was reminded of the countless raids the bandits had endured in order to gather so many horses.
He brandished his curved sword at the girl. "You're going to pay for that!" he shrieked at her.

"Let's see ya do tha..." Cordell grunted as he managed to pin Grey's arms, celebrating his victory prematurely. He broke off as Grey's head collided so hard into the brow of his covered right eye that he loosened his grip on the man and staggered backwards a step.

--

Hearing the angry shout behind her, Rook was already urging her new steed to GO, even though she was still trying to get her right leg over the saddle. Holding the bow made it a more awkward task, but she was unwilling to drop the weapon. If she could just gain some distance she could knock another arrow. Her mount, a wild-eyed chestnut, didn't need any additional encouragement and was already running after the rest of the herd as his rider finally managed to pull herself over.

((Sounds good, I'll play the general bandits?))

"Do I have to do everything myself?"

Silveris dispatched the two bandits by his side to round as many horses as they could and capture the girl before running towards the man with magic and aiming a punch for his face while Cordell was distracting him, realizing that since this man's magic was based off of telekinesis, he might not be the best in close combat.

Meanwhile, the two bandits whistled for their own, more loyal horses and hopped on, racing after another bandit who was pursuing the girl, and they branched off on either side of her, trying to pin her in their triangle.

Grey turned around just in time to get punched in the face. His head snapped back from the force of the blow. Grey lifted one hand, palm facing the fire boy's chest, and opened one eye.
"That hurt," he muttered and his telekinesis burst to life.

----

Sampson noticed the two bandits were trying to circle the girl and followed their plan. He spurred his horse on, closing in on the girl's chestnut. From a pouch at his waist, he withdrew a black kunai knife and hurled it at the girl's back.

Rook risked a quick glance backwards. One rider was directly behind her, his mount gaining on hers quickly. Two others were further behind, fanning out in an attempt to limit her escape options.

"Yaaa!" she kicked the chestnut gelding with her heels, trying to urge him faster. To her right was a large rock outcropping and she turned the horse in that direction, hoping to find some way to put the odds back in her favor. Just as the horse started to respond, Sampon's knife struck her, piercing her shirt and into her left shoulder.

Stupid girl, she cursed herself, cringing at the pain in her shoulder. She should have stuck to her original plan and never let herself be swayed so easily into taking on so many bandits in a straight up fight.

--

A rather animal-like growl escaped Cordell as he recovered enough to rejoin the fight. He hadn't had any time to grab a weapon in the sudden chaos, so as the man faced Silveris, he simply launched his shoulder at Grey's back, trying to knock him to the ground.

Silveris heard a satisfying crack as his fist collided with Grey's face but suddenly he felt a pressure at his stomach, and the next thing he knew, he was flying backwards in the air, the breath knocked from his lungs as he landed tumbling in the sand, scratches covering his face.

Meanwhile, the two bandits he had dispatched took advantage of the girl's wounded state and galloped after her towards the rocks, giving their horses their heads so they were almost flying over the desert landscape, intent on blocking the girl's path to the rocks.

As soon as Grey knocked the fire boy back, he scanned the bandit camp for any sign of Rook.
She was heading for the horses, he thought. She had better not have left me here.
But Grey didn't have time to dwell on the thought because something hard rammed into his back and he tumbled forward, swallowing a mouthful of sand in the process.
Karma, Grey thought ruefully.

----

Sampson smiled when his knife hit his mark and spurred his horse on. He was almost upon her now, and the two other bandits were branching off to block her path from the rock outcropping. As he neared the girl's chestnut, he made a grab for her bow.

Cordell couldn't help but feel just a little admiration for the stranger when he knocked Silveris backward. It wasn't often the young fire boy got knocked down a peg. Of course, that wasn't enough to stop the bandit from following up on his attack. As Grey got a mouthful of sand, Cordell simply tried to throw himself on top, attempting to pin him down on his stomach before he could turn over.

--

Maybe if there hadn't been pain shooting down her arm, she could have maneuvered the bow away from him, or maybe swerved her horse to avoid him, but the small knife in her shoulder crippled her range of motion. As Sampson grabbed the bow, she should have just let go. Instead she clung to it like a lifeline... one that sent such a wave of pain through her and pulled her right out of the saddle. And for the first time since this started, adrenaline gave way to real fear ... I'm sorry, Danny, she thought as she fell...

Grey flung out an arm at the last moment and sent a burst of telekinesis force towards the bandit that was trying to pin him. He searched desperately for any sign of Rook.
"Dammit, did they kill her?" he muttered, spitting out sand. He needed to find her. They were definitely outnumbered and needed to leave this place as soon as possible.

----

Sampson had expected the girl to pull away. He had not expected her to fall out of her saddle, fingers still gripped tightly around her bow, and promptly pull him down along with her. Sampson felt himself slip and fall, colliding with the girl in the sand. His horse whinnied in surprise and Sampson felt a sudden, excruciating pain in his ribs as a hoof struck him in the abdomen.
Sampson coughed. Something broke, he was sure. He noticed the girl some distance away and slowly reached for another knife in his pouch.
"You are the most annoying, horse-stealing idiot," he winced, "I have ever met. I am definitely going to kill you."

((Yes, I think))

Silveris lunged towards Grey, his hands heating up with fire intent on burning the man and getting pay back for humiliating him in front of Cordell because Silveris knew that if he didn't get everything sorted out by the time the bandit leader returned, someone was going to pay.

Silveris reached out a hand, straight for Grey's face.

Meanwhile, the two bandits saw Sampson and the girl fall out of their saddles and rounded their horses to surround the two, aiming their swords at the girl who was bleeding from the knife wound in her shoulder, and one of the bandits managed to grab the reins of the horse she had taken.

((Welcome Megladon!))


Luckily, Rook's father had taught both her and her brother how to do a more controlled fall from a horse. A graceful, unplanned exit, he called it. And those hours of practice kicked in as she rolled away from the galloping animals, then was back to her feet a moment later, never letting go of her bow. As Sampson reached for a second knife, she knocked another arrow to the string. The knife in her shoulder had become dislodged in the fall, giving her slightly more range of motion in her arm, though her shoulder still screamed in protest as she raised the bow and aimed it at Sampson. She took one deep breath, lined up her shot and released.