Legacy
Chapter 3

James andhis companions were hoping to replace a suitable place to rest for thenight with what little money they had with them. The three had beentraveling all day, and with the sun already set, were in desperateneed of lodging. But at such a late hour, the village they had justentered looked to have already turned in for the night, which wouldmake their task of replaceing accommodations all the more difficult.

“I knewwe should have waited until morning to leave,” said James. “Youshould never start a long trip in the middle of the day. Noweveryone’s already asleep and we’ll have to spend the nightoutside.”

“Don’tblame me,” said Avery. “You two agreed.”

Jaycee, whowas leading the way, suddenly stopped her progress and began scanningthe rooftops. There was something about the situation that made heruncomfortable. It was more than the fact that the trio was out atsuch a late hour that had her worried. Since entering the village,Jaycee had felt as if something had been watching them, followingthem, and waiting for them to drop their guard.

“What isit?” asked James.

“Ithought I heard something,” replied Jaycee. After taking more timeto examine the rooftops, Jaycee realized there was nothing there. “Iguess I’m just nervous about being out so late. Sorry to worryyou.”

“This isall thanks to Avery’s poor planning.”

“You needto stop your complaining,” said Avery. “We just need to replace aninn. It should still be open even at this hour.”

Withtrepidation no longer impeding her, Jaycee continued leading the way. “I can’t believe how dark it is,” she said. “I can barelysee what’s ahead.” Jaycee was given no reply. “Are you twolistening to me?” After turning around, Jaycee found neither Jamesnor Avery. And before she knew it, someone had grabbed her frombehind and placed their hand over her mouth. During the struggleJaycee dropped her staff.

A manemerged from between a pair of houses.

“Did youget anything off those two?” asked the man holding Jaycee.

“Theydidn’t have much money, but we can take their weapons and sell themfor a fair price,” replied the man. “Well, well,” he said whenJaycee’s womanly form was presented to him. “This one will makea good prize for Morigan.”

Frombetween the same pair of houses emerged a mountain of a man. Hestood over seven feet tall and had to weigh close to five hundredpounds.

Each of thefirst two bandits took hold of one of Jaycee’s arms. “If youscream, we’ll kill you,” said one of them. “Understand?”

“Thiswill be a lot easier if you just let the boss do what he wants withyou,” said the other. “He’s gonna do it anyway, so why notstill be alive while he does it?”

Before themammoth leader of the gang could advance, a loud pop filled air. Oneof the bandits’ eyes rolled back in their sockets and to the groundhe fell. Before long, the same loud pop was heard and the otherbandit became just as incapacitated as his partner.

A girl ofabout the same age as Jaycee emerged from behind the now free girl. “You might be needing this,” she said, handing Jaycee back herstaff. “And don’t worry about your friends. They’re not dead,just a little knocked out. If there is such a thing as being just alittle knocked out.”

“Who areyou?” asked Jaycee.

“Myname’s Aiko,” said the girl. “Nice to meet you.” She thentook hold of Jaycee’s hand and began shaking it. “And seeing asI just saved your virtue, I think I’m entitled to a littlecompensation, don’t you?”

“You wantme to pay you?”

“Well, Ican’t go around risking my life for free.”

Morigancleared his throat.

“Are youstill here?” asked Aiko.

“Youthink beating those two changes anything?” asked Morigan. “Youdid me a favor. Now I don’t have to share my scraps with them.”

“Why areyou talking about us like we’re food?” asked Aiko.

“You’llreplace out soon enough.”

“Youthink we’re just gonna roll over and let you have your way withus?” asked Aiko. “Why don’t you make this fair and give us afighting chance?”

“Youreally think you can beat me in a fight?” asked Morigan.

“Come on,big boy,” said Aiko. “Give us both one shot. If you’re stillstanding, you can do whatever you want with us. That is, unlessyou’re afraid you can’t take what a couple of harmless littlegirls can dish out.”

Afterlooking over his less than imposing opponents, Morigan gave them anod. “You’d better make them count,” he said.

“Go on,”Aiko told Jaycee. “Make this guy sorry he ever messed with you.”

The ragethat had swelled within Jaycee ensured the girl would be holdingnothing back. She put every ounce of strength into one mighty swingof her staff, striking Morigan across the face. The immense man’shead whipped violently. Unfortunately, the attack was nowhere nearenough to faze him. The grin on Morigan’s face was proof of that.

“He’sstill standing,” gasped Jaycee.

“Theprice just went up,” said Aiko.

“Howabout you, short stuff?” Morigan asked Aiko.

“Don’tmake light of my size,” exclaimed Aiko.

“Go on,right here,” said Morigan, pointing to his jaw. He then tucked hisarms behind his back to make things even more in Aiko’s favor.

Aikopointed at Morigan’s jaw and shook her head. She then pointedfurther south on his body. When Morigan looked down, his eyes bulgedand he frantically began shaking his head. Aiko wasted no time inkicking Morigan between the legs with all the force she could muster. Morigan immediately clutched at the battered area and crashed to hisknees. This gave Aiko the opportunity she needed to end the fight. She devastated Morigan with a kick to the face, knocking theseemingly unstoppable foe out cold.

It tookabout an hour for James to wake. And when he did, he found Aiko’sface mere inches from his own. Not knowing who the girl was or whyshe was so close to him, James recoiled, causing his head to beginthrobbing.

“What,does my breath smell?” asked Aiko, who immediately placed her handbefore her mouth and puffed out a breath to smell.

“You’refinally up,” said Jaycee. She had been at James’ bedside sincethe moment he was placed there by a group of villagers. They hadheard the commotion and came to assist. But what they found waitingfor them was a trio of toppled bandits and two young ladies wholooked no worse for wear.

“Whathappened?” asked James.

“We wereattacked by bandits,” replied Jaycee. “They knocked you andAvery out. If it hadn’t been for Aiko, who knows what would havehappened to us.”

“We’reindebted to you,” said Avery, who was resting in another bed. “Ifthere’s anything we can do, just name it. We owe our lives toyou.”

“I’mglad someone finally brought that up,” said Aiko. “Now, I knowyou can’t put a price on your life, but I think I can come prettyclose. So, seeing as I saved all three of you, I think a fair pricewould be 300 gold coins.”

“You wantpayment?” asked James.

“Nothingin life is free. You should know that by now. So, how are we gonnado this? Do you know where to get the money?”

“We don’thave that much.”

“Tell meabout it,” said Aiko, tossing James the small purse that containedthe group’s money. “You barely had enough to pay for a room.”

“You usedour money?” asked Avery.

“No,”replied Aiko, sounding utterly insulted by the mere notion that she had taken the group's money. “I paid forthe room with the money I stole from that old man yesterday.”

“Themoney you stole?” asked Jaycee.

Aikoslapped her hand over her mouth, but the proverbial cat had alreadybeen let out of the bag. “How hard is it to keep a secret, Aiko?”she asked herself.

“You’rea thief?” asked Jaycee.

“No, atleast not in the traditional sense. What I mean is, um, well, thetruth is, I was following you three tonight so I could rob you. ButI wasn’t gonna hurt you, I swear. I was only gonna take your moneywhile no one was looking. Those bandits just got to you before Icould. Isn’t that a funny story?”

“Isuppose you can’t judge a book by its cover,” said Avery.

“Hey, agirl’s gotta eat,” said Aiko. “Besides, what were you threedoing out this late at night anyway? Were you looking for trouble?”

“We werelooking for a place to stay,” said Jaycee. “We’re on our wayhome to celebrate James’ birthday.”

“Happybirthday,” said Aiko. “You still owe me my money.”

“We stillhave quite a journey ahead of us,” said Avery. “Tomorrow we’regoing to visit King Lionel.”

“Theking?” asked Aiko. “Kings have lots of money,” she said underbreath. “Tell you what. Since you three are so helpless withoutme, I’ll join you to make sure nothing else bad happens.” Shethen locked arms with Jaycee. “Besides, me and Jaycee decided wewere gonna be best friends. You wouldn’t want to break us up,would you?”

“When didwe decide that?” asked Jaycee.

Theresponse prompted boisterous laughter to burst from Aiko.