Lysis was never one for girly clothing. As a child she enjoyed jumping in puddles, running through muddy fields and generally getting into all sorts of mess. Girly clothes were not designed for such things. Her mother had quickly realised this and had started to dress her in clothing normally reserved for young boys. This had meant some teasing for Lysis at first, but a fist to the face and a mouthful of dirt quickly put an end to that sort of talk and quickly established Lysis as a tough kid, not to be messed with.

 

Finding herself riding in shotgun in a rickety wagon wearing a long, flowing dress, which was tight in all the places it shouldn’t be and loose where it should have been tight, was something of an uncomfortable experience to Lysis. There had been some chuckling from the guards when she’d tied on her pretty, floral bonnet.

 

It was raining heavily as the convoy of wagons meandered along a dirt road, tracking along the side of the great Ramally river. The river flowed down from the mountains miles away, bringing with it all the fresh water Atlantis could use, washing away sewage and providing irrigation for crops miles around. It had been raining heavily for the past day or two and the river was dark and angry looking. No one would be going in there trying to flee.

 

The heavy rain had soaked her dress through right through to the petticoat. It felt heavy and cumbersome. She was glad she’d chosen to wear a leather shirt and breaches under the dress. It wouldn’t last long once the fighting started. At least she could keep her two short swords well hidden and dry under the dress. And the floral bonnet was keeping her hair dry and out of the way. Usually she wore a helmet but not today. Today she was trying to look like a normal lady. A pretty floral bonnet would have to do.

 

 

****

 

Zara sat as low as she could while she waited for the signal from Lysis. She was trying her best to calm her churning stomach but she wasn’t having much in the way of success. She’d never been in combat before, not so much as a bar brawl. She was a good girl. And now she was about to get involved in an ambush. She was pretty sure they couldn’t hurt her but she was terrified she might accidentally step on someone. She shuddered at the very thought of being responsible for someone’s death.

 

There was a part of Zara’s brain that didn’t believe they couldn’t hurt her. These were brutal people they were dealing with. They’d killed quite a few unarmed civilians. She’d seen some Avalonians with swords as big as her finger. A slash at her ankle and down she’d go. A slash at her throat and she’d be dead.

 

Zara shook her head and her shoulders, admonishing herself for being so silly. She was wearing boots, she’d be fine. And there were two dozen men going into combat without armour and they showed no fear.

 

The nervous Titan breathed slowly and deeply, consciously trying to keep a hold of her nerves. She let her eyes wander, across the beautiful, unspoiled greenery. Rolling hills that stretched as far as the eye could see, turned just a touch greener from the glow of the ever watchful gas giant above. Forests and lakes dotted the landscape. She almost forgot that most trees wouldn’t stretch past her knees. She turned her attention to the stream beside her, the Ramally River as the locals called it. She could probably jump from one bank to the other with a bit of a run. It was rather brown and murky looking today. She doubted she’d be fishing any wayward bandits out of there.

 

She ran her hand across her forehead, wiping away matted hair and rain water. It was drizzling, it had been for days. It was that type of drizzle that doesn’t look to bad but seems to get everywhere and soak you through to the bone. She hated drizzle. And she hated waiting. She’d waited at Akrotiri for hours, no one turned up. She was hoping against hope the same would happen now. She lifted her pad from her pocket, wiped the moisture from the screen and confirmed she had no missed calls.

 

She really hated the waiting.

 

 

****

 

The caravan had been on the move for over an hour, following the road along the course of the river. Though with the amount of rain falling on the muddy road it didn’t look like it’d be long until the road was a river itself. Up ahead the road disappeared as it took a sharp bend to the right as the river dug into the pine forest. Lysis didn’t like this. There’d been a good view of the road the entire journey so far and so far all had been quiet.

 

She slipped her hand to her waist and pulled out a dagger she stowed in a belt pouch. She grabbed a hold of the long dress and in one quick motion sliced it from hip to end, carefully ensuring the material still looked to be intact. If they were jumped she’d want quick access to both her swords. If there was talking involved she’d prefer to hide her unladylike ways for as long as possible.

 

Her eyes scanned the treeline as they rounded the corner. Nothing, the forest looked peaceful aside from the rain and light wind.

 

“Up ahead Captain…” the soldier disguised as her husband nodded towards the far end of the bend in the road.

 

Lysis sighed. A classic ambush tactic. A bend in the road, between a forest and a river and the road blocked by a downed tree. A trader would probably think it was just a tree that was too heavy for the muddy soil and had keeled over. They wouldn’t think to look twice. They wouldn’t have seen that the stump was cut nearly clean. This tree had been felled by a saw.

 

“Keep going, let’s get right up in. So the whole convoy is in here. They’re going to use the woods to pin us here so we can’t run.” Lysis spoke through gritted teeth.

 

The soldier nodded. “Gotcha…”

 

Lysis leaned her head over and rested it on the pillar of the wagon, she lifted her arm up and pressed the button on the hidden communicator to Zara.

 

“Now Zara…” she muttered.

 

There was a pause and then a hiss. “On my way.”

 

Lysis sighed in relief. She was a battle hardened soldier. She’d faced dozens of blood thirsty maniacs over the last few months but it never got any easier. Her hands still shook, her guts still churned and she still had to force down that feeling of impending doom. She knew Zara wasn’t a god. She knew she was mortal, just like her. But part of her was glad that she’d be there, protecting her. And it was nothing to do with her stature, but the aura that seemed to follow her.

 

There was whinnies from the ponies as the convoy ground to a halt.

 

They didn’t have to wait long. It couldn’t have been thirty seconds before several cloaked men stepped out from the shadows of the forest and stood in front of Lysis’ wagon.

 

“What is this!?” The soldier demanded, playing along with his role of trader.

 

“This…” one of the men began “Is a robbery. Leave your wagons and walk back the way you came and no one will be harmed.”

 

“It doesn’t have to be this way, you know?” Lysis said.

 

The man turned to her, surprised to hear the lady speaking up. “And why is that missy?” He asked with not a small amount of sarcasm and confidence.

 

“We all have to work together. We’re all Human. We shouldn’t be fighting each other. We can help each other. Atlantis and all the villages.” Lysis pleaded, she was desperate to stop any bloodshed.

 

The man turned to his men and opened his arms wide. “Ya hear that lads!? We don’t have to fight anymore. Atlantis will look after us. We just have to play nice and it’ll all be ok!”

 

There was chuckling from the men. Lysis didn’t take that as a good sign.

 

The man pulled a sword from its sheath. He looked less happy now. Lysis allowed her hand to slip into her dress and grasp her blade’s hilt.

 

“Where was Atlantis when the demon tore the countryside apart!? Where was Atlantis when maniacs tore through our homes!? Burning, raping, killing!? Huh!? You looked after yourselves!” He stopped and composed himself. “Now we’re looking after ourselves. Go on, leave, before I take you as a prize.”

 

A subtle smile drew across Lysis’ lips. “I wouldn’t recommend that…”

 

“And why is that then?” The man raised a brow.

 

“Because the captain of the Avalonian Guard would make for terrible whore.” She grinned and quickly snapped to life.

 

She seemed to fly up from her seat, her steel toe capped boot making contact with the man’s jaw creating an audible snap.

 

“Behind the wagons!” She yelled to her men as they began to pour from behind the canvas on the wagons.

 

Lysis grabbed her swords and the communicator and dived behind the wagon as there was a distinct series of thuds followed by twangs. She looked up the length of the convoy where a similar story was playing out. Guards huddled behind wheels as arrows flew from the trees.

 

“Cowards!” The soldier beside Lysis growled.

 

She dared take a peek out from behind cover. She couldn’t see the archers but the arrows were coming from up high. At the base of the trees there were at least two dozen men with a variety of makeshift weapons. Only one or two had actual swords. But they had the high ground on the slope at the base of the trees.

 

There was a howl from two wagons up and a man keeled over. A lucky shot had found its way between the spokes of a wheel and stuck the man in the back.

 

Lysis’ pretend husband shook his head. “I hope they’re short on arrows….or we’re pretty fucked.”

 

Lysis was breathing hard, racking her brains. A plan, she needed a plan. They wouldn’t last long out here if those arrows kept coming. There was another howl and another man dropped. She steeled herself and buried the rising the panic. She thought of an all-out charge but it was unlikely enough men would escape the arrows to take on the awaiting bandits. She was out of options. They were trapped and it was nearly hopeless.

 

And then the ground started to tremble…

 

 

****

 

Zara had been running as fast as she could down the muddy road. It was barely wide enough for one of her feet, very slippy and had a river on one side and a forest on the other.

 

Her pad beeped and she lifted it to her ear.

 

“Do you see the bend in the road where the river pushes into the forest!?” Lysis asked with some urgency.

 

Zara looked up and scanned the road. It was coming up. “I do…”

 

“They’re in the trees! They have archers, they’re picking us off! Can you get them?” Lysis shouted.

 

Zara gulped. It was real now. “I can. I’ll be there in seconds.”

 

She slung her bang off her shoulder and opened it, dropping the pad inside. As the turn in the road came Zara carried straight on, ploughing through knee high trees. Her boots landed on some, snapping them like twigs, others were pulled from the earth by the force and thrown into the river.

 

Zara saw men on the ground scatter as she approached. They’d barely had time to react. They knew she was coming but the treeline hid her approach. She dropped to her knees a swung her arm forward, scooping nearly a dozen men along with slimy mud and detritus in towards her. She quickly scooped them up and dropped them into her bag.

 

“OW!” she cried as she felt stinging along her face.

 

The rather annoyed Titaness scanned the treeline. There were archers on hoists with their bows pointed right at her. She held up her hand, blocking a second volley from hitting her in the face.

 

“You little tupp shakas!” she cursed angrily.

 

The archers’ eyes grew wide with terror. They’d seen what happened to people at the hands of the demon. They struggled to free themselves from the ropes that held them on to the thick branches of the trees but to no avail. They were each pulled one by one from their perches and deposited into the great sack with their screaming comrades.

 

****

Lysis couldn’t help but watch on in equal parts terror and awe as Zara made short work of the swarm of bandits who’d very nearly been her end. About a dozen were running along the treeline up the road as fast as their legs would carry them. There were even three men swinging what looked like scythes and pickaxes at the massive woman’s leather clad legs, hopelessly trying to stop Zara’s unstoppable advance. Lysis had to admire their bravery.

 

The captain of the Avalonian Guard quickly realised that she was sitting in the mud watching someone else fight her battle for her.

 

There were even three men swinging what looked like scythes and pickaxes at the massive woman’s leather clad legs. Lysis had to respect their bravery.

 

She stood, raised her sword in the air and turned to her men. “Men of the Avalonian Guard! Charge!”

 

 

****

There was the clink of glasses and the roar of laughter. Men danced with women, men danced with men and women danced with pretty much everyone. Zara sat in the middle of what was a field that had once been nothing but a pile of broken homes and building. She smiled down at the revellers, regretting not taking a few minutes to go pick herself up something to drink. She’d downed a barrel of ale that she’d been offered but it did little to quench her thirst and left a bitter taste in her mouth.

 

“Twenty six prisoners…” Lysis said from a position on Zara’s shoulder. She nervously gripped at a tangle of hair, concerned she may fall. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. She regretted asking to join Zara on her shoulder but she didn’t want to show fear in front of so many people. “…three wounded but recovering. We couldn’t have hoped for better.”

 

Zara smiled. Lysis could just about make it out from her perch.

 

“I don’t know how we can ever thank you.” Lysis sighed. Things were starting to look up for the first time in a long while. The Watch was a force to be reckoned with once again. The caravans could start flowing once more and Atlantis was slowly climbing back on to her feet.

 

“People of Atlantis!” Lysis shouted to the people below. “A toast! To our good friend and protector, Zara!”

 

Zara blushed redder than she had ever done in her life. There had to be over a thousand people around her, cheering and raising glasses to her.

 

“So, Friend of Atlantis,” Mardell said as he approached with a large drink in his hand and a smile on his face. “Does this mean your work here is nearly completed?”

 

Zara nodded. “Hopefully it is.”

 

“And when do you think you will be handing over rule to us?” He asked

 

“You don’t waste any time do you Mardell?” Lysis asked with more than a hint of scorn.

 

“Ahhh but there is little time to waste Captain. We have licked our wounds long enough. It is time to make this city great once again.”

 

Zara was unsure. Yes, the bandits had been defeated, the Watch was strong once more and the people were now well fed and earning good money performing reconstruction with materials she provided. But her gut told her she couldn’t leave them, that they still needed watching over.  She sighed, she couldn’t protect them forever.

 

“I will go once Lysis confirms there is plenty of food in the city and the Watch was in control of the surrounding land.” She said.

 

“Good! Then a toast! To your selfless efforts…and your swift departure.” He boomed, as much as a man the size of Zara’s finger could, and raised his glass.

 

Zara raised her barrel in return and nodded.

 

“Zara…” Lysis sounded somewhat concerned. “Can you stand up please?”

 

The Titaness did what she was asked, slowly of course, with care not to startle the people below. Lysis clung on for dear life and set her feet as firmly as she could into the spongy flesh of Zara’s shoulder. She twisted her head to see Lysis was staring off into the distance towards the setting sun. She did the same, there was a dark haze drifting across the bright orange orb, Zara wasn’t quite sure what it was.

 

“What…what is that?” she asked.

 

“Smoke…” Lysis replied.