The King's Mistress

Chapter 95: Trapped

Sierra chuckled, "Did you make that yourself? Or did you commission a painter?"

"Diane made it herself. She’s very talented," the Queen spoke as she continued to admire the portraits in the locket.

Looking over at Sierra, Roxine closed the locket and readjusted it around her neck. She straightened her posture as she reached out to hold Sierra’s hands in hers.

"I hope you can accept my apology, Sierra."

"Apology? What for?" Sierra asked in confusion.

"For keeping the truth from you. Trust me, if there was a better way this could have been done, I would have done so but..."

Before Roxine could finish her sentence, the carriage came to a sudden halt. Both Sierra and Roxines’ hearts skipped a beat. They looked at one another and remained as silent as possible while listening for any movement.

Sierra signaled Roxine to remain silent as she slowly peered out of the window of the carriage. The angle only provided her a narrow view of the outside but it was good enough for her to realize they were surrounded.

"Stay here, I’ll handle this," Sierra whispered to Roxine.

The Queen nodded in response as she removed a dagger that she had strapped to her thigh. Sierra widened her eyes in surprise for a moment. Now was not the time for questions. It was time for action.

Sierra unsheathed one of her swords carefully and opened the carriage door. As soon as she poked her head out, she had a sword at her throat.

"Looks like we have quite the looker aye?" The unsavory man spoke with a huge grin on his face.

Sierra tightened her grip on her sword. Even with the sword pressed against her neck, she was not afraid. She glared at the man, then she did a quick sweep of her surroundings to see how many more there were.

She heaved a sigh of relief. It was just a small band of thugs. They must have seen their carriage making its way through the forest and decided to rob them. The carriage driver seemed to have gotten away as he was nowhere to be seen.

"Evening, fellas," Sierra greeted them with a smile, hoping it would throw them off guard, "To what do I owe the pleasure of meeting y’all here?" freeweɓnovel.cѳm

The thugs looked at one another in confusion for a moment. Taking advantage of the situation, Sierra slipped out of the man’s grasp and launched her counterattack. With a few quick moves, half the men collapsed on the ground in agony.

The leader of the thugs stood there stunned by the sight before him. The woman before him had subdued half of his men in the blink of an eye.

"Boss! What do we do?" One of the others asked, his voice trembling in fear. He did not take his eyes off Sierra, worried that if he did, he would be her next victim.

"I suggest you leave," Sierra said coldly.

She made eye contact with each and every one of the remaining men, making it known that she meant business. She gently tapped the hilt of her second sword.

"Trust me, staying would not be wise," she warned.

But the thugs saw it as a challenge, not as a word of caution. The leader of the thugs let out a belly laugh as he drew his weapon, a battle-ax.

"Get her!"

All of the men roared into action with weapons in their hands. They lunged forward in Sierra’s direction, yelling as they did so. Perhaps it was an attempt to scare her, to weaken her battle spirit. Perhaps, it was their attempt to boost their own confidence.

Either way, it was not going to work.

Sierra grinned as she ducked the first blow in her direction. She made quick work of all of them. Each move she made was with intention. She hit all her opponents where it mattered.

Minutes later, only the leader was left. He was panting, gasping for air as sweat trickled down his forehead. Yet, on the other hand, Sierra had not even broken a sweat. Her breathing was steady and her stance was perfect.

As she cracked her neck and shoulders she mused, "It’s been a while since I’ve gotten some practice. I guess this should suffice."

Angered by her snide remarks, the leader of the thugs yelled in rage as he charged forward with his battle-ax. He swung it clumsily at Sierra, missing her time after time. All he had done was waste his own energy.

Sierra sighed as she shook her head, "You should be conserving your energy when wielding such a heavy weapon, sir. Swinging around like this would only cause you to lose all your energy before you can even land a hit."

At one point, she was only an inch away from her opponent and still he missed. She was toying with him. Just then, from behind, a huge gust of wind blew past Sierra. It knocked the man backwards, causing him to hit the trunk of a nearby tree and promptly pass out.

Sierra turned back only to see Roxine who had stepped out of the carriage. She was the one who summoned the huge gust of wind.

"That was you?" Sierra asked in shock.

Roxine nodded, "Just one of the many abilities the great Fyra the phoenix had gifted me. I’m not a damsel either, Sierra. Remember that."

As she finished speaking, Roxine peered over Sierra. She noticed something in the distance. Sierra turned to look too. She was surprised to see a small entourage of people on horses making their way over to them. Worried that it was more thugs, Sierra and Roxine kept close to one another.

"Are you ready to take more on, Your Highness?" Sierra asked as she unsheathed her second sword.

She chuckled in response, "I was born ready."

But as the horses came into view, both women heaved a sigh of relief. They relaxed their stances. It was Lady Diane and her entourage. As soon as she got close to them, Lady Diane dismounted from her horse and rushed up to Roxine.

She held the Queen tightly in her embrace for a good few seconds.

"I won’t be able to breathe if you keep holding me like this, Diane," Roxine said, her voice clearly strained as she gently tapped on Diane’s arm.

The lady immediately released her lover from her embrace, wrapping her arms around her waist instead as she apologized.

"Sorry, I was just so worried," she continued to ramble, "I was making sure you were safely on your way back then some of my women heard a commotion in the forest and..."

Roxine leaned in and kissed Diane on the lips, stopping her from rambling on any further. Sierra looked away, as did the rest, giving the couple what privacy they could afford. When they finally parted lips, they were breathless.