It rained all night long. "Alright it stopped raining so we should leave. We have nothing stopping us now. and I don't like this place." Lucas says as he grabs his bag, they both have packed up the previous night.
Ashly can see how sleepy Lucas looks, and how he will probably fall asleep soon. She herself doesn't look tired at all, it's not surprising as she would stay up some nights. When she would do some of the work, and she was in an area that was dangerous, she would stay wide awake for her survival.
"I'm sorry that I forgot to tell you that in Ethneal, some areas rain constantly." Lucas puts his rifle away, and he grabs his bag. He knows that if he walks out there with it they would not be to happy. He walks up to the door, and opens it with Ashly walks behind him. She has her gun inside her coat, and she is holding onto it.
Lucas is planing to talk to them for a bit, and then probably leave. As they walk outside. "Hey! Are you two leaving already? That's a loss for us." Ashly and Lucas turn to see a few of them approaching them.
"Listen we are sorry, but we have to go, we have other things to do. I don't like the way you all insult Ashly, and we aren't comfortable with it. I hope you guys understand, and don't worry we aren't going to tell anyone about you guys." Lucas says, he wants this to go smoothly.
"We overheard you guys yesterday, I won't let that slide." Ashly says as she pulls out her gun and points it at the men. Lucas is surprised as to why she said that. They both agreed that he would be the one to speak their way out of there, but this wasn't it.
Lucas puts his hand on her arm ,and is about to speak but. "If you want to talk like that, I want you to say it right in to my face." Ashly then puts her finger on the trigger. "I'm not joking around, and I will not hesitate to shot."
The Zoryem who she is pointing at knows she isn't lying. "Oh that's terrible, I'm so scared, I'm shaking." He says as he grins at her.
"Hey come on Ashly, put that gun down they can talk. We can talk to them, let's be reasonable." Lucas tells Ashly in a soft tone, he looks directly at her and looks away.
"No Lucas!" Ashly says which makes Lucas backs away. "This is they only way they will take me seriously." She says and Lucas hates how she is right.
——-
Daniel finally spots the district of Ethneal, it's not to far now. He hopes that Lucas is still there, and that he can speak with him, he just wants to talk. His horse Dusty, is already tired from their long journey, they both are slightly wet from the rain.
Due to the storm last night he lost some time which is why he stayed up all night for an opening. He isn't going to waste time so he sacrificed his sleep. He spots a few men nearby outside the district. They are diggin up clumps of dirt, and filling in holes.
They must be those workers he's heard about before, they make sure the road is smooth. They are the reason why traveling isn't hard, and why there isn't any danger when traveling with carrages.
Daniel quickly approaches them. "Hey, did anyone of you see a guy named Lucas?." He sounds desperate and he is taking quick shallow breaths, he pulls out a newspaper that is ruined. "I need to speak with him as I might have lost him."
Of course he can't tell them the exact reason because he would sound crazy. He has to lie to them and act as if he was some fan, but still he came here to get him.
The workers look at each other, and then back at Daniel. "Hey calm down a bit, you look very tired." Said one of them. "Just take a rest, and tell us why you need to see him."
"Well I haven't slept yesterday, but that's not the point. I'm trying to find him, and I need to speak with him, it's urgent " Daniel says, but the men just look at him like he is weird.
"Well I'm sorry, but that boy left not so long ago, I overheard some people." The worker said and Daniel sighs in frustration. "Well it's sad honestly, the governor wanted to thank him, but left beforehand."
"It's honestly disrespectful as many people would die to be in his place. Everyone wants to be congratulated, and respected by everyone." Said another worker and they all agree on that.
"Alright, but can you at least tell me where he went? It would be great help, and very appreciated, I need him." Daniel says.
"Well if my eyes weren't playing tricks on me I did see him go south with a woman. She sure was a pretty one, and honestly he is lucky. Besides that there are many roads, so even if he did go south, he could of changed routes as the road isn't a straight line." Said one of the workers.
"Well thanks for the information." Daniel says as he turns around, he leaves in a hurry as the Zoryem are in the south. It was raining all night so it's possible that they couldn't have made it to the nearby town.
The only good thing is if they did go with them, Amir is arriving soon. He will find them quickly, and it wouldn't changed their plans. It would only make his journey useless, and unnecessary.
——-
Back with Lucas and Ashly, the men look at each other, and aren't taking this seriously. "Alright, speak up now as I don't plan on missing any shots." Ashly says and instead of fear the men begin to laugh at her.
"Ashly, just lower the gun if you want you can keep your finger on the trigger. I just ask you to not point it at them, it's not going help us." Lucas asks Ashly.
Ashly looks at Lucas and sighs. "Fine." Ashly then lowers her gun. "Stop laughing as I'm the one with the weapon."
One of them approaches them slowly. "Hey, we were just joking around, we never meant anything. We won't do anything to you, many of us aren't into killing women. Look even if you're a jerk we won't do anything to you, we aren't interested in you anyways." Said one of the Zoryem.
"Sorry, but I just can't accept the fact a woman can actually be strong or dangerous. Most of us when thinking about women, we only think about how beautiful their faces are." Another slimmer Zoryme said.
Ashly can't believe how they are all acting like jerks to her, she isn't threatening to them. Ashly looks back at Lucas who gives her a sorry look, and Ashly looks back.
"Listen a cute woman like you just isn't cut out for this stuff. Most women cry when they get dirty or start sweating, it's not that hard to imagine it." Said another with a smug face.
"I hope you keep that smile after I show you how dangerous I can be." Ashly says as she is getting more angry. "If you all want to speak like this then be ready for when I retaliate, and I won't go easy on you guys just because you outnumber me!" Ashly yells out.
"Hey, we don't want to fight a cute woman who is kinda beautiful if I look more closely." Said one of them obviously trying to flirt with her. "Listen it just doesn't look right for a woman to hold a gun, we doubt that you will actually pull the trigger."
One of them walks up to the front, this one has some missing teeth. "I'll fight her to prove to her just how wrong she truly is." They all cheer him on. "And before you guy say anything, I'll go easy on her. I don't want to make her cry as I can't stand whiny women."
Lucas can hear more footsteps, and he can see more have arrived. He can definitely count double digits, they are even more outnumbered now. They are surrounded as well, this won't end well if she does fight.
"Well since there are too many of you guys, I think it's only fair that a few fight. It won't be fair when she is done with the seventh person, and she gets tired while the rest of you guys wait and warm up." Lucas says as he looks around, and begins to count their numbers.
"What are you talking about? Only one of us are going to fight her. It's not fair for a woman to fight more than one man, we aren't assholes." Said one of them in the back which Lucas can't identify.
"Don't worry about me Lucas, I can fight as many without any breaks." Ashly says and the others begins to laugh. "Oh so you are all scared that only one wants to participate? That very pathetic as you all act big." She says which Lucas then covers her mouth.
"Ashly don't make this worse, it's my fault I should of silenced you earlier." Lucas whispers and Ashly bats an eye at him. "Look I know you can win, but I don't want to make new enemies." He then lets go, and Ashly scoffs.
In an instant, they all make a path, and the man who challenged Ashly walks up to her. Ashly notices how ugly he looks specially with his missing teeth. "Why not fight inside? I don't want you to run away and hide. The walls will make sure that doesn't happen." He said and Ashly agrees.
As they begin to walk inside Lucas notices how most of them are wearing very similar clothes. "Hey, why are most of you guys wearing very similar clothes?" Lucas asks as he looks around.
"Well it's because this is what our leader used to wear when he was alive. Most of use were saved by him when we were young, it's not to far off to dress as your hero. This is also the reason to why most of us are loyal even after his death." One of them said as he smiles a bit.
As he continues to talk about his own experiences, Lucas leans in to whisper to Ashly. "These people are delusional, and crazy, crazy people tend to be unpredictable."
"Yeah I have already guessed that by their names alone, I've delt with crazy people before. I've even lived with a few of them, and I'm alive so I can handle them. Just watch over me Lucas, I'll be just fine afterwards." Ashly says with confidence.
"Well also because this was what he wore before Robert ki-" he shuts his mouth, and another Zoryem punches him, Ashly then laughs a bit too loudly.
"Your so called respectable leader died to a man that I killed. That's too funny to not laugh at, that's so embarrassing." Ashly says as she is obviously mocking them as much as she could.
They all look at her with anger. "If it wasn't for you looking cute, we would of killed you by now. We don't accept such slander to our leader, you're lucky to be born a lady." Said one of them as Ashly handed her gun to Lucas.
Ashly knows she isn't in danger as they are all ignoring her. Lucas will hold onto the gun as they acknowledge him, and treat him seriously.
"We want you to apologize first." The Zoryem with missing teeth said as they all stopped as they got into a big room.
"Well don't you guys try anything funny while she beat him up." Lucas the raises Ashly's gun. "I won't stand around and let that happen because I trust her, and she trusts me." Lucas says.