"How long does it take to reach the next city again?" Ning asked.
"It would take half a day by foot, but on a carriage this fast, we should reach there in less than 3 hours," Carlos said.
Ning sighed and rested. "I should just sleep for the time being then," he said and was about to lay back when he felt his body jolt forward as the carriage came to a halt.
"What the?" he looked around.
Carlos quickly opened the window blinds and looked out. "Hey! Why did you stop?" he asked the person in the front.
"Dear sir, all the carriages have stopped. Something to the front seems to be burning," the man said.
"Burning?" Carlos frowned. "What the hell is—"
Suddenly, something struck them from behind, causing the two of them to slam into the back of the carriage. Ning hit the carriage door so hard that he flew out of it and landed on the ground outside.
"Urgh!" he cried a bit and tried to stand up, but before he did, a man was already on top of him with his sword ready to attack him.
Ning saw the sword move down and quickly rolled to the side. At the same time, there were a few people on the carriage that seemed to have slammed into them that were coming out with bows and arrows.
"Carlos!" Ning shouted to alert him, but it looked like he didn't need to.
Carlos arrived out of the carriage with his two daggers in hand. "You bastards!" he shouted. "You dare attack us out in the open?"
"Fire!" the man with the sword shouted at his friends that had the bows.
A volley of arrows shot out immediately, but Carlos hid inside the carriage. The arrows stuck to the wooden wall of the carriage.
"Let me show you what real fire looks like," Carlos shouted as he quickly jumped back out of the carriage, right in front of the man.
The man tried to move his sword, but it was stopped by Carlos's water dagger. As for his fire dagger, she stabbed the man with it. Then, he let it burn.
A plume of fire burst from behind the man, charring his chest and the surrounding area immediately. He fell to the ground, next to Ning who had managed to get out of there.
Cries of shock and panic rang from the road as people in other carriages ran as far away as they could from the two that were there.
"You okay?" Carlos asked.
"Yes," Ning said. "Surprisingly, I don't feel pain at all."
"Where's your sword?" Carlos asked.
"Inside," Ning said and quickly jumped into the carriage to get his sword. In the meantime, the people on the other carriage had finished loading their bows and arrow.
"Surrender, Carlos," another man from inside the carriage shouted. He came out holding a sword that seemed to be made up of beach sand. "Tell us where you acquired it, and we will let you live."
Carlos's eyes narrowed. "Hanson, huh? Did Gerrin get to you too?" he asked.
"Gerrin? He was a nobody. Why would he get to me?" Hanson asked.
"Then why are you after what the boss wants? Why do you want to go behind his back? Do you really think that you can escape the boss's reach just because you have a single mine?" Carlos asked.
"We don't fear the boss," Hanson said. "Why would someone who even fears to show his own face to his own people fear us? Just because he's then boss, doesn't mean that he can't be overthrown."
"You underestimate the boss way too much," Carlos said.
"And you overestimate him too much," Hanson said. "Do you think the boss can live to see another day when Dale, Bordick, and Firepalm are all coming to get him today?"
Carlos' eyes went wide. "What?" he shouted in surprise.
"You heard me right," Hanson said. "We have notified the other gang's bosses of the boss's presence in Grayfire city. After today, he won't be alive at all. At such a period in time, don't you wish that you were on our side?"
Carlos wasn't thinking about Hanson's offer at all. His entire being was only thinking about the boss's situation. 3 other gang bosses were coming for him, and they knew where he was today.
"You bastard," Carlos shouted. "After all the boss did for us. After you got a job, a shelter, a family, you still dare betray him!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Carlos. Why does it sound like you're refusing the offer?" Hanson asked.
"It sounds like that because he is refusing the offer," Ning said as he walked out of the carriage with his sword in hand.
"Hmph! Who the hell are you to butt in on this conversation?" Hanson asked.
"Me?" Ning asked. "I am his bodyguard. And I am getting paid to take him to Grayfire city. So, if you won't mind us, we will be killing you quickly so we can go on our merry way."
"Kill that bastard," Hanson said to the archer next to him.
Ning swung his sword before the archer could release his arrow, and a fist-sized rock flew through the air, striking the archer right on his face.
"Argh!" the archer cried in pain as he clutched onto his face. Hanson looked shocked, but he quickly gathered himself and turned around.
"Kill them!" he shouted as he used his sword to blast sand toward Ning and Carlos.
"Get behind me," Ning said as he stabbed his sword onto the ground, and out from it came 3 massive rock spikes that were enough to block all the direct attacks. The sand still spread onto the afterward, but the main attack was blocked.
The attacks stopped after 2 seconds, and a second after that, Ning's rocks that had appeared in front of them disappeared as well. Since their opponents were reloading and the pathway was empty in front of them, Ning dashed forward to go attack them.
