Chapter 41 A Flower’s Flickering Heart
I fell silent for a moment before stuttering, “R—return…?”
“You’re in no condition to fight. Furthermore,” Jackson continued, glancing down at my hip. “Your rope dart has snapped.”
I flinched, holding the remains of the rope I had tied around my waist. “I can use a sword, I’ll be fine. I won’t slow anyone down.”
“Robin—”
“Captain, please…” I whispered, looking away.
Jackson watched me before heaving a sigh and reaching out his hand. “Give me the rope dart.”
I was hesitant for a moment but obediently handed it over. Jackson stretched it out and tied the snapped pieces back together.
“There. It won’t be as swift and it’ll probably be harder to aim but…” Jackson handed the fixed rope dart back to me. “If anybody can adjust to it, you can.”
My lips pursed as I squeezed the rope. Eventually, I couldn’t hold back my frustration any longer. “Why do you keep doing this?”
“Pardon?”
“You’re always…” I trailed off, bit my lip, and then mumbled. “You give me such a hard time and then you’re nice to me. Why?” I paused, and then tilted my head. “Is… uh, are you giving me tough love?”
Jackson stared up at me with a narrowed gaze before sighing. “Fall in line, dame. Don’t stray from the formation,” he grumbled. He sounded annoyed, but I could’ve sworn his ears had a shade of red.
When he left, Cedric took my side on his black horse. He looked from Jackson to me and raised his brow as he said, “Nothing going on between you both, huh?”
This time my face reddened as I hurriedly put my helmet on. “Cedric!” I snapped.
Russel joined us on his trotting gray dappled horse. “Is it just me or was Captain ‘bout as red as his horse?” he asked.
“My point exactly,” Cedric chimed.
Before I could tell the two to drop the subject, Captain Jackson whistled, and the knights followed, including the three of us. My hands squeezed Snowdrift’s reins. I didn’t know what to expect at the dam, but my gut told me that this fight would be different.
We rode through the forest until the terrain became too steep for our horses to continue.
Jackson dismounted Ruby and held a finger to his lips, signalling us to remain silent. Everyone followed his every move, had their hand on the hilt of their sword, prepared to counter an ambush.
The scent of burnt wood filled my nose, and Jackson lifted his fist, halting us. I peeked through the undergrowth with everyone else. Five tents crowded a campfire. The flame was recently put out, but smoke still rose from the smoldered embers.
I don’t see anyone… did they already retreat when the other bandits lost the fight?
Jackson didn’t seem to think so. He gestured to his knights to surround the camp. He gave his battle cry, and we charged in, circling the tents. I followed Cedric. They ripped open the tents with their swords. Almost two bandits were in each tent. The startled men gasped and dashed, but didn’t get far. They were unprepared and were easily blocked off from escape.
One bandit managed to slip past, and I gave chase. Before he could reach the trees, I swung my rope dart, and it wrapped around his leg. He hollered when the blade sliced his calf. The bandit looked up at me with wide gray eyes.
“Get back with the others!” I barked, yanking my rope dart free and swinging it at my side.
The brunette man’s wide eyes narrowed into a scowl when he heard my female voice. When he didn’t budge, I kicked the rope dart at his face. It sliced his cheek and nicked his ear. He yelped; his scowl flipping into fear. The flowing blood dampened half of his goatee.
“Next time I won’t miss your throat!” I growled.
A threat with empty words. I could never bring myself to do such a thing.
However, the threat was believable enough for him to scurry back to the other bandits, holding his bleeding cheek. One of the knights grabbed him by the back of his neck and shoved him down to the rest. All eight bandits crouched on their knees, their heads ducked in submission.
Jackson circled them, his intense gaze studying their expressions—the twitch in their eye, wrinkle between their eyebrows, sweat on their necks, shaky breaths… Trying to figure out which one was the leader. Eventually, Jackson stopped in front of them.
“Which one of you is the leader?” he demanded, but they remained silent, eyes pinned on the ground. “One of you clever bastards thought it’d be a smart idea to rope a traveling merchant from Drakeveil. Cutlasses, aye? If you lot don’t tell me who the leader is, I’ll use one of those fancy cutlasses to chop off your hands one-by-one.”
The bandits flinched, including me. Three of them began to tremble.
He wouldn’t really do that, would he…?
Jackson glanced around and spotted a cutlass one of the bandits dropped in their hurry. He picked it up, inspected the sharpness, and then turned to the bandits. His gaze focused on the three trembling bandits. “Who’s first?”
He would!
My mouth opened to protest, but Cedric quickly grabbed my wrist and shook his head. We may be wearing helmets, but the man read me like a book.
“There’s no point in playing dumb. We already know the leader is at camp. Your loyal right-hand made sure to inform us of the leader’s location, along with your futile plan to raid Embercrest Kingdom,” Jackson pressed.
The bandit I captured stiffened. Jackson glanced around the silent bandits, tutted, and stabbed the cutlass through one of their hands. The man screamed, the others gasping in horror. I gaped, shocked.
“Perhaps this will jog your memories,” Jackson muttered, lifting the cutlass.
“Wait!” I yelled, stepping forward. All eyes landed on me, wide with disbelief.
Jackson glared coldly, growling through his teeth as he pointed the cutlass at me. “Know your place, dame.”
I flinched, my blood turned to ice. Jackson had never looked at me with such brutality. The cutlass he pointed at me brought the memory of the full moon and my cloaked murderer swinging their sword onto me. I shuddered, but didn’t back down.
“Captain, the leader may not be here,” I said.
Jackson stared at me with a narrowed gaze, muttering, “What?”
“I mean, why would they?” I began. “Their second-in-command betrayed them because he thought their leader was… what did he tell me? Oh, a dumbass.”
The bandits glanced at each other, meanwhile the bandit I captured had a vein bulging in his neck.
“Their leader fell for a woman’s fluttering eyelashes. Even amongst bandits, that’s disgraceful. Anyone who’d follow such an easily swayed fool are more foolish themselves!” I barked.
The bandits whispered to each other. The man I captured whirled around, snarling at me, “That stupid bastard deserved what he got! He doesn’t know a damn thing about her!”
Everyone fell silent, and the leader’s face dropped before spinning back to our captain.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Jackson said, approaching the leader with the cutlass raised.