T25.9 The Featherstrummer, Part 4.2

What a horrible sight... Gumue thought to herself as she crawled to the nearby wagon to pick herself up, only to have it fall apart - causing her to fall facefirst again onto the muddy ground.

Silently cursing her bad luck, she pushed herself up from the ground again and got on her feet, after wiping her now twice muddied face with her sleeve.

Gumue then began smiling bitterly to herself as she looked about for any signs of people.

If she were a full fledged featherstrummer she would probably be zipping across the barks with the wind.

Yet now, she had to go through this dangerous journey in order to earn the right to be given the feather of a Steel Condor.

After all, it was only with that feather could she make full use of her talents.

As these thoughts flashed through her mind, her eyes rested upon the body of the turbaned boy whom had threatened her with his menacing sickle during that skirmish with the bandits.

What was immediately apparent was the large piece of bloodied mud around his left forearm, which appeared to be missing.

Though she knew that a merchant of such wealth would surely hire a formidable bodyguard to defend his children, she did not expect that red cloaked bodyguard to be such a fearsome and ruthless fighter.

Not only had she broken the bind of a skilled lasher, she even defeated another with a single stroke of her sabre, and kicked a freedloader out from the wagon in the process.

While it was common for extremely skilled fighters to conceal their strength, it seemed odd to Gumue why these Chameleon riding bandits were brave enough to challenge the caravan of such stature.

As she pondered the topic, she approached the boy to take a close look at his countenance.

And it was at that moment, she noticed the rapid rise and fall of his bony chest.