<blockquote><div><cite>PainQueen wrote:</cite>Bringing her beast’s body next to the copper one in a defensive position the Miao glanced her almond eyes downward. “Can you use more spells on the riders, magic-flinger?” She asked the young woman a bit respectively. Even if she fell to these men today… at least she died honorably in battle next to a thing of legends. And when she came back in the next life maybe it would be as a dragon to seek revenge on all her foes.</div></blockquote><br/><br/>"I don't know!" the girl with the copper hair yelled piteously, struggling to draw herself up beside Baichu's horse as frantic tears came to her eyes. "I haven't read much of the book, and now I'm so tired-"<br/><br/>She was cut off with a yelp as the horse whinnied and fell, throwing the Miao woman clear. The beast rolled onto its side, the shaft of a quarrel emerging from its eye. A crack shot. Without the speed and momentum of a horse, the lance was now an awkward, cumbersome weapon.<br/><br/>Peschek the Slaver advanced, malice in his eyes as he swiveled the crossbow back onto his back while taking the whip coiled on his belt. He cracked it once in the empty air as he advanced on the two women, a sound like spring thunder echoing through the frigid air. "I didn't have to miss you, woman," he warned. "I chose to hit the horse." Behind him, his men gathered their courage, taking their eyes off the count's smoldering corpse and his rapidly slaughtered escort, grabbing their staves and warily watching the escaped slaves. A standoff.<br/><br/>"Let me offer a deal," Peschek proposed, loud enough for everyone to hear. "You take half this silver," he said, patting at the pouch of ingots at his side. "You go free, and you let me have the witch. Money and your freedom, eh? Can't lose! The Grand Duke will be pleased if I present to him the witch who murdered his kinsman!" he yelled, pointing at the charred lump of warped iron on the side of the road. He cracked the whip once more for emphasis. "So what will it be, serfs? Freedom and a full purse? Or the alternative?"