The Royal Revenge
Chapter 50: The Black Bandits

Chapter 50: The Black Bandits

One by one, the Black Bandits poured in and surrounded them.

They came from all directions, from up the trees, behind bushes, storming in on the vampires as they roared in unison – a battle cry, or perhaps a song of fury.

From the corner of her eye, she noted that men clad in black clothes had started to clash with the knights.

Adrenaline kicked in the princess’ body as the sound of swords in contact echoed in the tiny patch of forest they were at.

Elys found it hard to grasp how everybody weren’t able to sense the bandits before the attack transpired. One moment they had been peacefully resting from a long journey, the next thing she knew they were outnumbered by people who clearly were mad as hell.

The bandits clearly seemed to have planned their attack, waiting on an opportune moment to launch at them.

But one thing still didn’t click – why didn’t the prince or any of the knights notice them?

Either these men had used some sort of magic to hide their presence from the vampires, or the knights – including Elys, Aleksander, and Cordelia – were just too careless and relaxed to have been aware of their presence.

The vampires were now currently surrounded, their faces taken aback by the suddenness of the events that transpired.

"Protect the prince and princess!" Teo screamed.

The remaining knights heeded Teo’s instruction, launching themselves at the men in black in a bid to reach Elys and Aleksander before the attackers do.

Teo and Elys’ eyes met for a fraction of a second, the knight looking like he was pissed off by something. The princess watched as Teo disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving his comrades to fight off the bandits that rushed towards them.

In the span of a second, Teo flashed in front of the prince and princess, his broad built standing firm in their defense. Elys was amazed – was his magic something to do with teleportation?

Teo’s golden hair caught slivers of sunshine that slipped from the thick canopies. It looked a lot like he had a shining halo above his head – like a warrior angel sent by the heavens.

If he wasn’t as suspicious as he was since the day that he sneaked into Aleksander’s manor to bring the king’s letter over, Elys wouldn’t have to second guess the vampire’s intentions every time he helped them – especially when he was nice to Elys.

Teo grabbed his weapon from behind him. It was a short staff at which when twisted, expanded into a spear with blades at both ends. He pointed a sharp tip to one bold bandit that came near them.

"Stay where you are," the knight warned, his words firm and his face deadly serious.

The bandit merely laughed him off.

Just as the rest of the bandits, the man was all clad in black cloth, with the exception of a jade necklace that stood out dangling just in the middle of his chest. All the others were covered from head to toe, but this man showed his face without fear of recognition.

The leader – or so it seemed to Elys – held a bow in one hand, while his other hand was just a couple of inches away from his supply of black arrows.

"Take one step further and you will never see another day as beautiful as today," Teo warned the bandit again.

"I don’t care for beautiful days, vampire," the man replied, his eyes bloodshot, "you fiends had brought darkness in our lives even when the sun shines bright."

The man looked as if he was human just like Elys. Feeling a bit of compassion for people just like her, the princess tried to intervene and did her best to convince the leader of the bandits to stop.

"Don’t be stubborn, mister," Elys spoke out, "Why are you attacking us? We just want to travel peacefully, please send your men back so no other people should get hurt."

The bandit snickered at Elys, "Peacefully? You should be ashamed to even use that word, princess. You vampires were never the peaceful ones, always invading lands not yours and taking men, women, even children to be your slaves. You murder those who oppose you."

Screams echoed behind the bandit leader as his men slowly were defeated one by one by the knights. The man with the bow gripped his weapon – even as he knew the risks, it still wasn’t enough to prepare him for deaths on his side.

"Oh, cut the crappy speeches," Aleksander muttered, "Teo, do your job and get this over with already."

Just as Aleksander demanded for Teo to make his move, the leader of the Black Bandits whistled, and several other bandits appeared from the bushes to fill in for their fallen comrades.

The leader signaled with a flick of his hand, and without reservation or fear for their lives, the bandits rushed in to attack Elys and Aleksander.

Teo did his best to defend them from all sides. The knight wielded his custom spear with expertise, slashing and thrusting as he zapped from one place to another in mere seconds.

Looking closer, the technique he used to wield his weapon was somehow familiar to Elys. Where did she see that style of fighting before? It was practically at the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t remember at all.

"Die, Ardorleans!" someone yelled.

Several tiny metal balls clanked to the ground; a piece of string attached to them deliberately lit.

"Bombs!" Cordelia warned.

The maidservant kicked the metal balls away from the princess, and all of them dropped to the ground to protect themselves from anything that would come flying with the bombs’ detonation.

The bombs plopped into the cold spring, and then a series of explosions erupted.

Dirt and debris scattered all around them, showers of water raining down with a mixture of earthy substances.

Elys looked up to see the leader of the bandits seemingly unaffected. He was clutching his jade necklace, the stone glowing around each of them as if it was protecting the bandits.

The princess immediately understood – they were using a magical item!