O brother, where art thou?

[Claire Labelle]

It had been a couple days since Claire had left her home in search of Christophe, she was still trying to get used to Ciel, the name she had given her horse. She had learned how to ride horses at her aunt Korelite's ranch but this beast was much larger and more powerful than the ones she rode in the past. It was very quite possible that she had overdone it with the purchase of him but it's better to be safe than sorry. She had spotted a group of people in the distance, it had been a while since she had seen any signs of human life so she commanded Ciel to gallop ahead. Upon reaching them it appeared to be a couple with their two young children, as she came closer she was able to hear the little girl point and say "Mommy look, it's a knight!" in an excited manner. Claire had greeted them with a warm smile "Good morning, my name is Claire Labelle. How are you doing this fine day." Before either of the parents could speak the boy shot out saying hungry. The father had apologized saying it had been a couple of days since they had ate and began to explain how their caravan was attacked by bandits and they escaped with only their lives. That brought a frown to Claire's face.

The girl had opened her satchel to see what she had, only four days of rations were left, when she left home she only took what she thought would last her till she made it to the next town. She dismounted the horse taking out some of her food. Claire knelt down next to the kids and split one of her rations then handed one each to the parents as she stood. "Please take these and eat. You need your strength if you're going to make it to the next town alive." The father had tried to refuse to take her gift, she reached in and took half of her remaining food and handed it to the mother. "No, I insist you take this. Use this little bit to eat on the way, you two have children to care for. I may have not been there to protect you from those bandits but I can still do my part by ensuring you have food to get to safety." The mother took Claire's hand in both of hers, speaking in tears "Thank you so much kind lady, you don't know what this means to us. Knowing there's people like you left in this world brings joy to my heart." This brought a smile to Claire's face once again. "Do you happen to remember where those bandits were heading once you escaped?" The father had thought about it for a couple of minutes "I think I overheard them saying they were going to hit up some small villages near Ryerde. Please don't get yourself killed on our behalf." Claire had turned around and began to mount Ciel "I don't plan on dying, I plan on raining justice upon those who steals from others and harms innocent people."

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you doing this?" The man asked. "It's my moral obligation to help those in need as long as I'm able to." With that she sped off towards Ryerde, as she left she could hear the little girl shout out 'YAY for the nice knight lady!' "Christophe would have done the same if he was here, I know he would. Please hold on just a little bit longer brother, I'll find you after dealing with those men with a black heart."

[Claire Labelle]

Ciel was running at full speed for a couple of hours and began to become tired, Claire could sense it. To keep this up would be foolish, the man did say they haven't eaten in a couple of days, Claire knew she couldn't catch up that quickly so she halted Ciel to a slow trot and began to look for some source of water for the horse. It wasn't her lucky day, she wasn't able to find anything so Claire had checked her canteen which was full of water. Bringing Ciel to a full halt, dismounting and pulling a bowl from her bag she poured half the water into it. She tried nudging Ciel towards it to drink with no luck. "Come on, drink the water boy, I know you must be thirsty." The girl begged the horse. After a few minute it had laid down, stuck it's face into the bowl and started to drink, Claire sighed with relief. She took out a brush and began to brush Ciel's mane then the rest of his fur. "A well groomed horse is a happy horse right Ciel?" He finished the water and shook his head neighing, this caused Claire to laugh. After 20 minutes of stroking his fur with the brush she packed up everything and commanded him to his feet then began their mission again. She saw a wagon in the distance, it had appeared to be tilted on one side.

Ciel began to gallop faster and faster til he was at full speed. Claire was able to see two men arguing about something, they both had scars up and down their arms, the shirtless one seemed to have them all over his chest too. Claire had never saw a bandit before but these two look like they could fit the bill. Claire and Ciel charged straight for them "Stupid bitch" one yelped out as they ducked when Ciel jumped over the two men, landing a bit from them keeping the momentum Ciel ran circling around to a stop faceing the men. "What the hell were you thinking little girl?" the shirtless one snapped out. "Did you acquire that wagon by force when you raided a caravan?" The other man folded his arms and smiled "Why yes, yes we did. Why don't you get off of that horse of yours and we can have a little... fun ahahaha!" He then winked to Claire. Fun? She came charging in and he wanted to play children games with her?

"I'm sorry, I didn't come to play children games with you. I, Claire Labelle, have come to bring justice to you lawless men for the crimes of murder and theft." She drew her slim sword and pointed it at the duo. "Bahahaha, let's see you try then." He reached over and pulled out his ax from the coach of the wagon. Pulling on the reins Claire had let Ciel know it's time to charge, the man knew if he went to strike with his axe it would leave him vulnerable since the horse was moving too quick. He opted to dodge the sword thrust, he misjudged the speed of the horse and Claire's sword grazed his right arm drawing blood.

The shirtless bandit ran to the coach of the wagon and pulled out his ax, both men began to walk towards her attempting to flank her. They both lifted their axes to their shoulders ready to swing if she was to charge again. She was only experienced in fencing, not real combat, maybe she was way in over her head. Justice had to prevail, not only that but she had to find Christophe she couldn't let these two stop her. Running away was not an option, she had to be victorious so she had Ciel slowly approach the loud mouth. As he swung his ax Ciel reared up dodging the attack, as his hoofs touched the ground Claire had leaned down and thrust her sword into the man, the tip come out the back of the right side of his back. She yanked it out as he started to raise he ax once again, she parried his ax with a flick of the wrist before he could attack then brought it back and went for another thrust, this time he successfully dodged the attack.

His wound was bleeding badly, he needed time to recuperate so he backed up hoping his buddy would have better luck. Claire was jittery from her first taste of real combat, Ciel seemed to be fine which was a good thing.

[Claire Labelle]

Claire had began to charge after the first bandit in the shirt to finish him off but she hesitated a moment. If she killed him she'd have blood on her hands, she would be no better than him. "Oh Christophe, what should I do..." Suddenly she remembered something he told her when she was younger when they had witnessed a thief's hand being chopped off, 'You reap what you sow, do evil things bad things will fall upon them.' These men had sown corrupt seeds, they pillaged and took everything from others including their life. The question was did she capture them them alive and transport them to the nearest town and let the law deal with them or take the law in her own hands and give them the death penalty?

That moment of hesitation was a god send, as she began to charge again she heard the shirtless bandit grunt. Turning to see he had thrown his weapon in her general direction, either his aim was really, REALLY bad or he over compensated thinking she was going to follow through with the charge and hoped she'd run into it's path. "What the fu-" the wounded man turned to see an ax hurling towards him, it was too late. As he began to duck he thought he was clear of the flying blade but it had struck him in the back of the head. He hit the ground hard, one ax in hand and the other in head meant the other man was unarmed. Claire pointed Ciel towards the wagon and charged towards it coming to a stop between it and the remaining bandit. Sliding off the saddle she started walking towards the man sword pointed at him.

"If you cooperate you will be spared your life, I cannot promise the same if you fi-" The man spat at her and cut her off "Lets see you tr-" Claire's voice had began to rise in anger "I SAID I WASN'T HERE TO PLAY CHILDREN'S GAMES. ON YOUR KNEES VILE MAN" He fell to his knees with an evil smile "Please spare me, I'll repent of my evil ways." "Save it for one who cares." She was unsure how she was going to bind him, she had no rope of her own and wasn't sure what was on the wagon, Claire couldn't simply check it either, he may try to run or attack her from behind. As she stood mere feet from the man he reached behing himself and pulled a dagger stabbing her in the stomach, Claire pulled her left arm back and punched the man in the side of the face.

If it wasn't for her steal armor and gauntlet she would have been in a world of trouble right now, alone she wouldn't have the strength to knock him unconscious with one blow and the dagger would have made it deeper into the girl as well, as he hit the ground she pulled out the dagger. Blood, blood all over her armor and dress, HER blood. She began to panic, she wasn't a medic, what should she do? Wait, Christophe never left home without a vulnerary when he was hired to be a bodyguard. 'It has the ability to patch up light injuries but it doesn't mean you shouldn't see a healer.' Sheathing her sword on her waist she began to remove her armor while jogging to Ciel, as the armor came off she dug through her bag, she knew she had took a few of the vulneraries Christophe left behind and pulled one out applying it to the wound, after dropping off the brigand she'll have it looked at. Checking the wagon she was able to find a small bit of roped and tied it around the man's arms.

Now the question was, what was wrong with the wagon? It didn't matter, she couldn't fix it alone even if she knew how. Dragging the man she left him under the wagon, cut the horse free after removing all the harnesses and saddle. Hopefully it can adapt to the wild life She mounted Ciel and rode north, once she made it to the town she'll let a guard know there was a dead bandit and one in ropes a bit south of the town.