Bandits waited in the woods with their curved swords drawn.
They peered through the foliage down the dirt road that led back into town. A
wagon crested the distant hilltop driven by a young man wearing a feathered
hat. It was rolling towards the trap.
* * *
Jax wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his
hand.
“Lee’anna, come out here, feel the sun.”
“We just left town, Jax” a female voice responded from
inside the wagon. “We were outside at the market all day.”
“Yeah but, it’s so nice out!” He opened his eyes wide and
tried to blink away the sweat. She didn’t respond but Bensen the donkey huffed.
“That’a’boy Ben. See honey, he likes the sun. Come on out.”
After a moment of shuffling, the roof-grate opened up
behind Jax and Lee’anna climbed out. She stood atop the wooden wagon, riding
out the bumps in the road with casual ease. She reached down and brushed off
her purple-dyed pants and shirt.
“That’a’girl! See Ben, I told you she’d come out.”
“Oh hush, it’s hot as dicks out here.”
“Language, babe. Come now, not in front of Ben.”
“Sorry Ben.” Lee’anna said meekly. She jumped down and took
a seat next to Jax where he held the reins loosely in his right hand, his left
arm slung back over the bench lazily. Lee’anna raised one hand up to her
eyebrows to block the sun and squinted down the road. “Well at least there’s
some shade up ahead.”
* * *
Menak pointed his sword across the road. With his left hand
he made a series of hand gestures and his men silently climbed down from the
trees and retreated a few steps back into the trees, fanning out. From the
direction he was aiming his sword, a faint buzzing flitted through the air,
wafting through the treetops, slowly getting louder.
* * *
“I don’t like this.” Lee’anna said holding her hands up to
cover both ears.
Jax was sitting with a straight back and eyes that scanned
the trees. “Ho, Bensen.” He said pulling on the reins and slowing the wagon. “I
don’t either, but we’ve been through here a thousand times.”
“Yeah, but it’s never been this loud.”
“I know.”
“What is it? I heard the ladies at Stitches and Needles
talking about the wizard…”
“I know, Lee’anna. Please be quiet.” Jax was silent for a
minute, the creaks of the wagon somehow managing to pierce the incessant
buzzing. “I say we just go for it.” he said looking over at her sitting beside
him. She nodded, her mouth set firm but her eyes betraying fear. “Hold on.
Let’s go, Bensen! Go! Go!” The donkey chugged forward.
* * *
Menak sprang forward leading the charge out of the trees.
His men screamed their battle cries as they surrounded the wagon.
Out of the treetops above them all, a black cloud of dust
particles cast a shifting shadow over the road. Its form was continuously
changing and the buzzing seemed to crescendo with rage as it spotted the men on
the ground.
Menak jumped up on to the wagon’s helm and pulled at the
couple sitting there with shocked expressions on their faces. He managed to get
them down and to cover behind the wagon before the chaos began.
In the sky, the black cloud descended towards the road. Its
particles clumped together as they fell, writhing and twisting and breaking
into giant, mismatched letters of the alphabet. The letters swirled around
themselves and coalesced into words that attacked the men with swords, spelling
out their onomatopoetic intent.
L
A
S
H
C
LA
N
G
G L A N
C I N G
B L O W !
Menak’s men
fought back, slicing through the words, valiantly trying to protect the wagon.
A S
M
A
S
H managed to break through their defenses and shatter a wooden wheel to
splinters.
“Back men,
back!” Menak shouted as he dragged the couple off the road and into the trees.
“I’ve got them!” The men scrambled away, still swinging their swords through
the air.
From the shade
of the trees, they watched the wagon get ripped apart.
“Bensen! No!”
Lee’anna shouted but the harness holding him was S
L
I
C
E
D and the donkey ran in
fear.
“What is that
thing?” Jax asked trembling.
“It’s, it’s the
experiment… in writing.”
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