Adelyn and Ed had gotten into a pretty consistent rhythm when fighting these bandits. Ed would make a shield, then Adelyn would summon a spirit to throw out an elemental blast. Sometimes, Adelyn would take her turn making the shield while letting Ed use his own projectiles. Throwing blades, arrows, or just chucking a large ball. Regardless, it was something they had gotten good at.

  The issue was that they were very much on the defensive. It was hard to incapacitate bandits constantly firing upon them. Lots of bows, some light magic, and a lot of pain. It was a wonder they were keeping up even with how much they were outnumbered.

  “I’m getting pretty tired,” Adelyn huffed.

  “Yeah. Did they send the entire cavalry to take us down?” Ed said. The shield they made was beginning to get filled with arrows and magical blasts. It was holding, but they felt like they had been in here forever.

  “Well,” Adelyn said. “Didn’t they say they had problems with us? Because the carriage wheel thief was their leader. Maybe that’s why.”

  “Still. I think this is a lot of stuff to throw at us! Plus, it’s his fault for being so stupid, I don’t see how that’s our problem. Can you freeze those guys for me? Let’s try and make a getaway.”

  “Right.”

  Adelyn looked towards a space in between the buildings that they could run towards. It was being covered by a few bandits, but it was no worry. With a summoning of Eira, a blizzard overtook a small area and froze over the bandits that might have gotten in the way. That should give them a bit of reprieve as Ed picked up their shield and the two of them ran into the alley.

  “THEY’RE GETTING AWAY! THE BOSS WANTS THOSE TWO!”

  They heard the shouts as they ran to the other side of the alley. Looking back, they saw a few of the bandits running directly after them. Big mistake on their part. Adelyn called forth the Spirit of Nature, Viridia who called forth an animal from the ground. A large bull, glowing with the flurry of leaves that called it forth. It immediately ran down the alleyway, giving the bandits very little time or space to avoid anything.

  “Where to now?” Adelyn looked to Ed.

  “I don’t know. We had to leave the two bandits we captured, but I don’t want to come back to the city empty handed,” Ed responded.

  “So are we going to try and capture another one?”

  “That could be an option, but I don’t think they’ll tell us all too much. But, if we can force them back then…”

  “There’s… a lot. It’d be hard-pressed for us to push them all back.”

  “Yeah. This organized crime syndicate or whatever, a pain in the butt. We might have to hide until they give up, then follow?”

  As they discussed, the sounds of bandits once again came towards the alley. It seemed like they freed up a few of their incapacitated comrades, which was bad news for Adelyn and Edward.

  “Let’s keep running,” Ed said.

  “Right. Maybe we’ll be able to find something along the way.”

  “Not so fast, kid.”

  Coming from the other direction, another group of bandits began to approach them. Ed and Adelyn both raised their weapons as they approached, but they were going to be outnumbered again.

  “Shoot. Adelyn, can you… can you uh… scare them off?” Ed asked.

  “I… I could but…”

  The bandits from both sides began to approach closer and closer. Surrounding them once again. They might have to fight, but they didn’t know if they could sustain taking on so many at once.

  “If it doesn’t work… then I’m a sitting duck.”

  Adelyn knew what Ed was referring to. She could use one of her big summons, but with only Ed here to protect her then she wasn’t sure if she could hold out.

  “Y’all may as well give up now!” A bandit shouted.

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  As the bandits shouted, a glowing light landed in front of Adelyn as pink divine wings spread out. From the light, three familiar faces came out.

  “Cozy? Teddie? And…” Ed said. “Hold on a minute, you brought the Governor-candidate out here?”

  “Yeah! I thought you guys could use the help and I was in the middle of something else,” Cozy said. “Do you want to take care of these guys or not?”

  “There’s a lot of them…” Teddie muttered. Phiona also looked at the sheer amount of bandits that surrounded them. Though oddly, she didn’t look scared at all. Just… concerned.

  “I need all of you to cover me. Teddie, sing your song!” Adelyn ordered.

  On cue, Teddie began to sing an empowering song. Adelyn felt her power rejuvenate, and she opened her book to call forth the tale of the Hydra. The towering beast that springs to life from the page, standing over all that were across the battlefield.

  “What the hell is that?”

  “It’s a hydra! Run!”

  “Grah. We’ll be back tomorrow!”

  Immediately at the sight of Adelyn’s massive creature, which roared and stomped on the ground around them, all of the bandits began to scatter and run. Teddie’s soothing song empowered the stomps even further.

  The creatures raged on for a brief second until the coast was cleared. Soon, the hydra dissipated completely, as the four kids and the governor-candidate stood in the center of the small wreck.

  “What… what an incredible power…” Phiona seemed to be in awe.

  Adelyn fell to her knees, from the sheer amount of magical energy she had to use. Teddie grabbed her to help her stay standing. “I got you.”

  “Thanks…” Adelyn said.

  Meanwhile, Ed seemed to head over to Cozy. “What’s the deal with bringing the person we’re supposed to protect to the most dangerous part of the city?”

  “She asked,” Cozy said, nonchalantly.

  “She asked, and you let her?”

  “Yeah. I mean. Our job was to let her see more of the city too, so who am I to deny her seeing the worst parts of it?”

  “Ugh. I just think it’s even more work for us. Which I guess is what we signed up for but…”

  “Where did she go, by the way?” Teddie innocently asked. Adelyn also noticed that Phiona was no longer standing between them. Immediately, the four of them began to look around frantically for the disappeared governor-candidate. Luckily, it didn’t take them too long because she was standing a little bit off to the side, right in front of a small building.

  “Governor!” Ed ran over to her. The rest of the three headed towards her as well.

  “You probably… should be careful… where you run…” Adelyn took a deep breath. “Especially when I’m tired…”

  “Sorry… it’s just… just that. I was looking… looking at this,” Phiona said. “It’s not that broken down… right? It’s only been… a year.”

  The building she was looking at was an orphanage. A few labels and writings that kept it so, with some spare toys and materials scattered inside of the building. Phiona walked forwards and inside, looking at the place.

  It didn’t look too bad, all things considered. It had been locked down for a while, and obviously it might have been scavenged by bandits, but the building itself seemed sound. Phiona seemed to be taking it all in, as she headed towards the leftover toys and picked some up.

  “Do you guys mind taking these with you? Just a few of them. Schools haven’t been running since everything shut down.”

  “Oh. Sure! That could really help us, and boost the morale of the town. Good thinking, Phiona,” Cozy said, heading over to help pick up some toys.

  “I’ll help too…” Teddie said. “Adelyn, how about you rest for a second?”

  “Thanks… Teddie,” Adelyn responded gratefully, as Teddie let her sit on a chair in the playroom.

  Ed also stood idly by, crossing his arms. “It’s good that Phiona is having her moment but…”

  “But what?” Adelyn looked back at him.

  “Remember what those bandits said? Tomorrow? Weren’t they threatening something big. We’re gonna have to be ready for that.”

  “Phiona isn’t ready yet, though. We have the rest of today to get her ready if that’s the case.”

  “Yeah. I don’t know if that’s enough time. We’re gonna have to either accelerate it, or go without sleep in order to figure out what they’re going to do.”

  “Mhm…”

  It was definitely something to consider. Though, right now, Adelyn thought they should focus on Phiona currently. Her becoming the governor would be the most important part of this mission. If they had to fend off an attack, then so be it.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Adelyn said. Soon, the three toy-bearers came with various items they picked out.

  “I think— I think… we can use these,” Phiona said. “I want to get this place opened very soon. Maybe I can find the owner, it’s such a shame that so many places like this are struggling from the bandit attacks.”

  “It’s about time we tried some PR again,” Cozy said. “I’ll try and fly all of you back into the safe zone. Then, we’ll take care of business.”

  “Let’s all be safe,” Ed said, standing up from the wall. Adelyn was just feeling strong enough to properly stand on her own too.

  “I’m not sure how much longer we have left…” Adelyn said. “But, we’ve got you, every step of the way.”

  “Thanks… I… I really appreciate it.”

  And so, they all stepped outside of the orphanage, toys in hand. Cozy’s wing spread once more, the divine light shining on the building they just exited, before they took off to return to safety.