The Voidbreak Crisis: Part 2; The Rise Of Ak-Dovurak.

9. Broken Bones

They were walking through the tall grasses when Saf'Thor held his staff in front of them, stopping the group.
"What is it?" Siren asked softly from between Pulse and Prism.
"There's a bandit camp ahead amongst those stones," Saf'Thor said, nodding ahead to some massive rocks jutting up through the tall grasses.
"And what's the problem then?" Morgana asked.
"They're probably heavily armed," Saf'Thor pointed out.
"Again. What's the problem then?" Jake asked, nodding towards Matilda.
"I can take them down if they try to stop us," Matilda said. It had been a while since her last fight, and she was relishing a chance to stretch her muscles.
"You can't kill any of them, though," Siren reminded her.
"I won't," Matilda said, smiling back at her.
"They're coming this way, sneaking through the tall grass," Pulse said, his ears turning about as he listened intently.
"So they're going to try and rob us?" Siren asked.
"It would be amusing to see them try, wouldn't it?" Saf'Thor asked.

Suddenly a massive chain fired from the rocks and wrapped around Saf'Thor's arms, knocking him to the ground. The grasses around their group split open to reveal at least twenty men, all armed with swords and maces, and wearing leather armor. They stopped as they looked from person to person, all of their eyes settling on Matilda.
"Gentlemen," She said softly, bowing briefly. One of them nocked an arrow with impressive speed and fired it at her. Matilda didn't flinch, and the arrow bounced off her chest as if she was made of stone.
"You'll need to do better than that," Matilda said, smiling at him. She spread her hands as a ring of black energy fired from her, passing through the men and her group harmlessly, but cutting the grass down to the ground for a half mile around them. As the grass fell, they realized they were vastly outnumbered. There were at least three hundred men, all gathered around them, armed and ready.
"That's a lot of men for a single giant," Saf'Thor remarked as he sat up. The men didn't seem keen on talking, and all of them charged towards the group with weapons raised.

Matilda spread her arms as a barrage of black tendrils fired from her body and tied dozens of the men to the ground all around her. She raised one hand as tendrils burst from the ground underneath the other men and bound their feet together. A beam of light fired from one of the men towards Matilda, cutting right through the tendrils she raised to block it, and knocking her off her feet and into the group.
"Matilda!" Siren shouted as the men charged after her.
"They're after her!" Siren shouted.
"I can see that!" Jake said, nocking an arrow and sending it through the back of one of their knees.
"What are you doing?" Pulse asked as Jake nocked another arrow.
"She's my only chance at survival so far, and I'm not gonna let them take her before she fixes my chest," Jake said, letting arrows fly towards the men's legs.
"They'll live," he added.
"We can't let them take her!" Siren said, tugging on Pulse's arm.

Matilda leapt back up and dodged the beam of light again, trying to find who was firing it. She saw a man standing on top of the rocks back near the bandit camp, and focused her power into her legs. The men around her closed in, and she leapt, clearing the half mile between her and the camp in a split second, and had the man's throat in her grasp.
"What do you want with me?" She growled.
"There's a bounty on the giant's head, we've got nothing to do with you, witch," the man said, trying to pull Matilda's hand free.
"A bounty? What for?" Matilda asked as the men charged towards the camp, some of them turning to face Jake and the rest of their group.
"He's interrupted some of our patrols, and they're all a pain in the ass. Let me go, and help us, and we can split the bounty. How's that sound?" The man asked.
"I think that's a horrible idea," Matilda said, bringing her teeth down towards his neck.
She stopped with her fangs just barely touching him, remembering the pact she'd made, and what would happen if she broke it. She dropped him off the rock, and he broke one of his legs landing.
"You'll live," Matilda said, leaping off the rock towards her group.

Pulse cast a shockwave from his hands, sending several of the men flying back and staggering the rest as Morgana released Saf'Thor's bonds. Jake nocked another arrow and rolled to the side as an arrow flew by. He drew the bow and let the arrow fly, right into the archer's hand, pinning it to the bandit behind him. Prism held out her hands as all the bandits stopped and looked around confused, calling out to the bandits around them.
"They're all blind, let's go," Prism said as Saf'Thor picked up his staff. He raised it and tapped the end of it on the ground as the grass underneath the bandit's feet grew up over their knees and turned into thick vines, locking them in place. Prism lowered her hands, and their sight came back.
"Now, if you'll all calm down, we'll be on our way," Saf'Thor said as Matilda landed next to him effortlessly. Pulse and Prism felt their fur raise up, and looked at each other for a split second. Pulse launched forwards and tackled Siren to the ground, as Prism grabbed Morgana and pulled her down. As they did, a powerful bolt of lightning ricocheted through their group, using Saf'Thor as a sort of lightning rod and bouncing off of Matilda and into Jake before dissipating. Saf'Thor fell over, unconscious with smoke pouring off of his cracked skin, and Jake fell beside him.