Naturally, Tuarine was the leader. Each man equipped a double-edged sword, except from her, her fists were just as lethal as the swords were. They lit wooden touches, and marched into the woods, going beyond the boundaries of their village and into Combec.
Trespassing into the nation was forbidden, Maldrin would not avenge them should news of their death get to the capital. Tuarine had the map open in her arms, and from the looks of it, it would be sunset soon. Unlike many of the men in the squad, she was familiar with these paths, she had never felt bound by the rules of trespassing, she had never been afraid.
Two hours of walking, and the sun set, soon the world would be plunged into darkness, at the behest of her moons for a modicum of light above making an appearance. Nothing but the thumping of tens of feet against the soil could be heard, it was like a single word uttered could cut the string that held the group together.
Then, they stopped, Tuarine had stopped.
"We are close. Let's us win this before dark." She whispered. Then she realized, there were two paths, and there was only one on the map. She hadn't made a wrong turn, none of that. Squinting her eyes, she noticed that one of the new paths was new, it had less outgrowing plants, and the soil wasn't as compact.
She turned to the men behind her, the solution for a minor hiccups such as this was simple. According to what they received, the bandits should be at the end of the real path, however what if it was this new one that led to them instead of the old one?
"Form another team of ten." She ordered, and the men saw to it that they created another team.
"Jonan, lead the team, and take the new path. If you pick on anything tricky, turn back, be vigilant, I may just as well be sending you all to a trap."
Jonan nodded, he was a large man and thick of sinew. A common misconception for one as large as he was was that he was all brawn and no brain, but that was far from the truth. Not only was Jonan the strongest man in the village, he was the best shepherd, and had been close to being a knight, alas, he was terrible at ki manipulation.
Ren was amongst Jonan's team, and although he did not like the idea of splitting as one of the advantages Tuarine and Eldrad touted was the numbers they had, they would fare a lot less should they face the bandits in just ten.
'That's just a cowardly way of thinking. I have my silversteel sword.' He reassured himself.
"Is any amongst the group adept at mana manipulation?" Tuarine asked.
"Enough to project it. Should you guys be in trouble, a blast of mana to the sky could alert us." Tuarine's team had no trouble as Tuarine herself was quite the mana adept. Ren waited for others to raise their arm. With how Tuarine had asked rather casually, Ren was almost certain there were others who had reached that level of proficiency.
"Oh, no one." He muttered, then he raised his.
"Are you sure you can project mana if the team gets itself in danger?" Tuarine asked, from her wide-eyed expression, Ren could tell that she hadn't expected that he was capable of such.
"It looks like I am the only one who can, I just have to trust myself that I'll rise up to the occasion."
Tuarine nodded, Ren now held the responsibility of alerting the other team, his team's lives could very well be in his hands.
Tuarine and her men took the old path, after she watched Jonan's team take the second. It was late evening and a number of nocturnal bugs were active, drowning the sounds of the group's steps with the sounds they made.
Tuarine was no slacker, and so was anyone who went with her, at least for the moment they kept to the matter at hand, maintaining the pace at which they moved, and extremely careful about not making any sound.
She raised a balled fist which meant stop, and then she crouched, and her team followed suit. If they could listen past the chirping of the crickets, they would be able to hear chatter.
"We have found them." With her hands, and kneels to the ground, Tuarine crawled, until she got to a bush where she could get a better look at the goons that poisoned the village's well.
Just as Evo's intel had relayed, they were few, only six of number. They were all clad in black uniforms, save for one, a woman who was also clad in black but had her chest and torso exposed. Her skin may very well be described as black with the numerous paintings that it had. Not only that, her face was peculiar, the most peculiar face Tuarine had ever seen, and she had seen her fair share of peculiar faces. On the lady's face sat bits of metals, hanging off her skin—her nose, her ears, lips, brows, metal was slotted in.
She was taken aback momentarily, she had adored piercings on people in the past, but this was nothing short of abhorrent. With some hand signs, she told the team to encircle the bandits, and once they did, she and the team laid siege.
They burst from the bushes like a swarm of insects, with their swords out and eager to drown in their blood. Tuarine was quick to knock one out with a mana reinforced punch.
The bandits were clearly surprised by the ambush, never did they think they would ever face an attack from a bunch of sheep rearers and drunks, but they quickly adapted to their situation, especially the tattooed woman, she had devastating firepower. She sent three men to their deaths simultaneously from lunging her arm, and sending a powerful gout of fire. The men's screams rattled Tuarine's core, and she knew who she needed to keep busy while the others fought.
"You!" She cried, her voice heavy with hate