ashley noticed that they were out of the forest. she kept her attention to the road but new her surroundings well. "my mother is strict and makes me look like i don't know what is going on in and out of the…house." she almost said castle but then realized that the other will no her right away."she never lets me have some freedom and that is why i run once and awhile." she finishes with a sigh of breath.
Azoni winced in sympathy. "Yeah, I'm the same. Mom's always tried to force me to be her heir." Oh shit, that definitely sounded suspicious! "Um! To her business I mean! She's always forcing me to be the heir to her business and I've just never been able to do what she wants. To be honest, I really want to be a knight. I'm just as strong as any of them, and I swear I'm twice as dedicated, but she won't let me. So… I sneak out. I run away." She shrugged, posture immediately shifting into something more serious when she saw a flash of movement from the corner of her eye.
"i know what you mean like i train with the knights but it doesn't mean i can't actually join." she says giving up on trying to hide who she is."do you ever get so angry that you want to hurt someone so much?" that is ashley everyday but she won't say that out loud. she saw the movement and shifted and made her horse go into a a fast walk. making sure that the girl was still with her.
Azoni laughed, but it sounded strained. She checked behind her for the movement and found nothing, which left her disturbed. It hadn't been a wild animal or innocent traveler, they wouldn't care if they were seen or not. She sped her horse up to keep pace with Ashley. "All the time! Last night I was three seconds away from throwing hands with the kitchen boys because they wouldn't let me leave the house. And I can't believe you get to train with the knights! You're lucky as hell, my mom barely lets me go outside so I had to get my brother to teach me. And he sucks ass at swordplay."
ashley is still on alert from what couldn't have been an animal. she laughs at what Az said about her brother. it is nice to talk to somebody other then the horse she was on and her pet wolf that was fallowing them….THE WOLF!"um don't freak out but i do have a pet wolf and it is fallowing is." she says with concern and a shy smile. she looks at Az wondering what she will think about her pet.
Azoni shot Ashely a shocked look, eyes comically wide with surprise. "You have a pet WHAT!?" Maybe the wolf was what had been following them? No, that made no sense. A pet wouldn't care about being seen any more than a wild animal would.
ashley new this might happen but she thought it would be worse."i have a pet wolf." she says calmly,"i told him to stay hidden but looks like he got hungry" she looks over her shoulder trying to see if the wolf is going hunting or maybe the wolf was trying to signal to her that something bad was happening. she whistled and she heard a shuffle of bushes move.
Azoni tensed up, turning on her horse to get a better view of the rustling bushes. Despite her surprise, she didn't really mind that Ash had a pet wolf. Sure, it was surprising and a little out of left field, but Ash seemed to trust her pet and she seemed trustworthy. "So he's the thing following us, then? Not some bandit or something?'
"you might want to keep an eye out though." she says while nodding looking around then her wolf jumps out of the bushes and comes running towards them with fear in his eyes. the horses jump and shiver. there was something other then her wolf out there and it scared him and the horses and now ashley was scared."you might want to get in front of me or help me see what is in that bush over there." she points to a bunch of bushes.
Azoni nodded, rubbing a hand on her horse's neck soothingly when seemed spooked by the wolf. Once she was sure she had her horse under control, she had it walk over to the bush. Immediately a group of men in loose black robes burst from the surrounding foliage, swarming around her and sending her horse into a panic. It whinnied loudly and t bucked, sending Azoni tumbling out of the saddle, completely at the mercy of the bandits.
ashley drew her sword hidden in her back and the dagger from her boot. she jumped from her horse and went to Az who was being surrounded by bandits. she hit one with the butt of her sword and he went tumbling to the ground. she looked around and whistled to the horse and her wolf needing help because there was more then she thought though she probably could beet them.
Azoni used the bandit's momentary confusion at Ash's attack to push herself to her feet, immediately decking the nearest bandit right in the jaw. He fell backward with a satisfying thud, giving Azoni enough time to pull out her dagger and use her magic to harden her fist into iron. She jumped onto the next guy, slashing his unarmored chest and sending him stumbling backwards. "You okay?" She asked Ash.
ashley nodded her reply. still dealing with one more dude. she hit him in the side of his face nocking him over. "we should get going before some of them wakes up." she says while making sure they were all knocked cold they were. she pets her wolf for doing a good job. then looks over at Az,"are you okay?" concern is in her voice.
Azoni dusted herself off, wincing when her left hand came away bloody. One of the bandits had managed to cut her in the side and while the wound was shallow, it was bleeding like hell. She angled her bloody hip away from Ash, hoping she wouldn't notice the injury. "Yeah, I'm fine! Those guys were pretty weak, no harm done."
ashley noticed when the girl winced but didn't mention it. "hell yeah they were they probably have been out here for a while." she was still trying to figure out Az but it would have to wait."do you need any help with that injury you have there?" she says giving up on trying not to stare.
Azoni shook her head, waving off Ash's concern with a plastered on smile. "No! I'm all good. It's shallow as hell and it'll stop bleeding soon anyways. Anyways, wanna see if they had anything valuable? I think it's kind of a waste if we don't at least check." She kicked one of the bodies, flipping him over onto his back so she could see if he had any pockets or pouches.
"okay" ashley says still a little flustered from the fight."yeah actually we should check them it and should we just leave them here or tie them up and leave them here?" she asks not sure which would be better but now that,that was over she just wanted to get out of here and hide in a hole with her wolf and books and never come out.
"Tie them up! We can't just leave them out here to attack whoever comes along next!" Azoni clicked her tongue, summoning her horse over so she could rifle through its saddlebags. Unfortunately, she didn't manage to find any rope. "Do you have any rope or anything? I'm fresh out."
(I just realized some of my summer is kinda packed, so i wanted to tell you that i'm going to be off for two weeks starting the 16th and ending the 28th, and then I have a family vacation from the 29th to July 14th so replies'll be limited. after that i'm pretty much home free)
(don't worry i am backed also i have so many things going on i can't even remember them all.)
(Okay, cool. Just wanted you to be aware about why i'm going to go silent for like 2 weeks.)
"i do in fact but do not use all of it, we might need it." ashley says with a full smile which she hasn't given in far to long. she looks through her stuff then realizes that instead of wasting hers why don't they go through the men's stuff and see if they had any."wait did you check the men they might actually have some so we can save ours." she looks over at the men on the ground, wondering how long they have been out here. "when we get to town we are going to need to buy more things but i really want a shower." looking down at herself she really needed it to.
Azoni grinned back at Ash. "Quick thinking!" She searched a couple of the men before she found a bunch of rope in a coil on one's waist. She quickly set to work, tying the bandits together by the wrists after she had worked her way through the pockets of each one. They didn't have much, but one had been carrying a pouch full of gold, and another had a wicked looking dagger. She tossed the gold into her saddlebag without much thought and walked the knife over to Ash. "What do you think of this? It looks pretty high quality. Almost too good for half rate bandits like these"
ashley grinned back."thank you i get t form my father." ashley searched the other men coming up with a long dagger some silver, trash and some gum. she put the silver in her saddle bag left the trash by the men and put some gum in her mouth while looking at the dagger she found when Az came up to her."it's cool also it is high quality as you said. look at the one i found." she lifts up the one she got showing it to Az making sure she wouldn't drop or cut herself with it she handed the blade over. she looked up at the sky it was going to get dark soon,"we should get going and set up camp a little further from here it's getting dark."
Az nodded distractedly, turning the dagger over in her hands a few times. They seemed kind of familiar, though she couldn't think of where she would've seen them before. She shrugged it off, tossing her old dagger away and replacing it with the one Ash had found. She looked up and realized that the sun was setting. Quickly, she remounted her horse, waiting for Ash to do the same. "Your right. I say we ride until the sun goes down and then make camp in the first clearing we see."
"that sounds good" ash mounts her horse make sure that her wolf is with them then heads out at a steady but fast pace not wanting to be to close to the castle that the guards could easily get to her if her mother found out that she was gone which she probably has by now. "so how was your day?" she asks trying to make conversation but it's not going so well. she looks to make sure that Az is still with her along with checking her surroundings.
Az shrugged. "Pretty so-so. I had to deal with the whole arranged marriage proposal thing, which was tough, but I also met you. So, overall today wasn't a total loss." She grinned shyly at Ash, a light blush painting her cheeks. There was something really refreshing about Ash. Something real and raw that made Azoni want to gallop off into the wilds with her and never look back.
ashley blushed at the words."yeah i guess it wasn't a total loss."she wouldn't be saying that if she knew who she was would she?
(sorry it is short got to go to bed good night)
(me too! goodnight)
Azoni smiled, eyes lighting up when she came across the perfect place to set up camp for the night. She quickly urged her horse into the clearing, making sure Ash was following her before she dismounted. "How about we stop here for the night?"
(morning i think)(this is all i can think of sorry :(
"yeah this seems like a good place. she says looking around seeing were she could sleep and were they could set up a fire.