Chapter 16: Sunburst

    The sun was fully set and dusk was long behind them when they finally stopped again. Timias had agreed to stay up and hold the reins while Miklian slept in the back of the cart and Wyness got some rest on the seat beside the temporary driver. Unfortunately, the continuous intake of water and sweet fruits forced him to direct the ox to the side of the road just around midnight, though the area they stopped in was not one he was immediately familiar with. 

    As he stepped behind a tree, the wind seemed to still until the only sound was that of his watering the tree. He quickly finished, jogged back out to the cart, and hopped back into the driving bench to pick up the reins before spotting them on the ground below. 

    Immediately, he knew what was happening. 

    If he stepped out of the cart, a hand would grab his ankle to trip him and their cart would be robbed. This was a tactic he knew rather well, and instead of allowing himself to fall for it, he pulled a long riding whip from behind him where it had not been moments before, and snapped the hindquarters of their ox. Brute was already on edge, so the sudden pain and sound of the snapping whip made him cry out and jostle before taking off at a brisk pace. 

    A soft golden glow surrounded the ends of the reins, which pulled themselves from the ground where they dragged along and into the outstretched hands of the elf driving. Unfortunately, just as he went to urge them on faster, a group of people stood in the roadway ahead of them causing Timias to pull back to avoid hitting them and possibly trampling them. 

    The sudden jolt of movement and just as sudden stop woke both passengers from their sleep, but Miklian remained still amongst the cargo where he was covered in blankets and in the dark resembled part of their luggage. 

    "Friends, what's the cause of this?" Timias called out to the highwaymen who stopped them. "We are fleeing violence, much like yourselves. Surely there is some kind of agreement we can make to afford safe passage, yes?"

    "We ain't yer friends, elf." A gruff masculine voice croaked at them. "Give us yer coin an' we'll let ye through."

    "Ah. Erm, well, you might be disappointed to find we haven't got much if any coin, really. We hardly have much of anything, but I can assure you we can make your day much better if you let us pass!" The cheery certainty that usually dripped from his silver tongue was somehow absent in the face of these thugs, but as Wynessa sat upright and counted how many surrounded them, she could see why. 

    "Well, ain't that too bad. Guess we'll jus' have to have a looks-see as fer what ye can pay with, then. 'Less ye wanna give us her?" The leader apparent pointed harshly the human beside him, chuckling darkly at the pair. 

    "Oh, no, absolutely not! You may not lay a finger on her personage, good sir!" Timias stood on his seat, quickly assessing the situation before he knelt beside Wynessa and asked her fervently to cover her eyes for a moment. She nodded in agreement, pulling her hood up and covering her face with her hands while the elf stood upright to be seen by all who stopped them. "I will offer you this one warning: back off and allow us passage, or I will not apologise for the result."

    Their assailants burst out laughing, only moving towards their prey. 

    "Please understand, I have warned you." With this singular statement, Timias stretched his arms away from himself and began chanting quietly, barely murmuring the words that were clearly not in the tongue these people understood. What started as a soft golden glow quickly grew to a burning, brilliant, eye-searing brightness that left the bandits clutching their eyes in pain as they staggered back towards the trees. Brute seemed somehow unaffected and took the opportunity to rush through the broken ranks of the would-be thieves and run down the road nearly as quickly as he could. 

    Only once they were a satisfying distance away from the ambush and Timias was confident they were not being followed did he pull back on the reins to allow their oxen friend some breathing room. Once they were slowed down, he gently patted Wynessa's shoulder.

    "We are safely away from their clutches." He sighed, about as out of breath as the creature who had been pulling their cart at a full sprint. He was not expecting to be met with a dagger pointed at his face from the hooded woman beside him.

    "What are you!?" Wynessa hissed at his face, betrayal steeping her amber eyes as she stared at the elf beside her, the dagger in her hand shaking slightly as she fought the tears that threatened to break her.

    "I... Please, my friend, allow me to explain,-"

    "You are not my friend!" The gritted teeth barely allowed her statement to pass as she continued holding the short blade towards him. Even as the giant behind them sat upright, she kept her intense glare on the short man beside her.

    "Wynessa, please, let him explain." The softness in Miklian's voice gave away his knowledge as she suddenly rounded on him, too.

    "You knew?! You knew. Of course you knew. Why wouldn't you know that we're traveling with a Warlock!?" Her voice was low, broken, and the tears that she had been fighting silently won. Pulling her dagger back towards herself, she moved to the farthest edge of the bench as she could, away from the two men. 

    "He's only half Warlock, and honestly he's-"

    "I don't want to hear it." She stated flatly, all emotion gone from her voice. "As soon as we reach the city, I'm leaving."