The towering, ancient trunks conspired with the looming branches overhead to devour the sound of her quarry. For long stretches, Marissa was left with only the hiss of her own breath and the creaking and cracking of the shambling things she had instinctively called forth. The canopy above filtered out most of the stars and moonlight, so limiting her vision that it was a wonder she hadn't collided with a tree yet. Every time she was about to give up in frustration, however, she heard the distant crash of footsteps through underbrush, or the call of one woman to another.
Marissa was certain those voices belonged to the bandit woman and her lieutenant. She hadn't heard Jenrea or her boyfriend in some time, but assumed they were just keeping quiet in an attempt to lose her. They might indeed escape, but there was little chance of all of her prey slipping away, with how loud the lanky blonde was.
When the crash of a body hurtling through leaves came from just ahead, Marissa grinned at her luck. The red tressed noble grasped onto one of the woody protrusions that served to lend structure to the leafy shamblers. Hoisting herself up off the ground and onto the creature's bulk, she pointed in the direction she'd heard that crash. Marissa hardly had time to brace herself before the mound lurched off to obey her command.
She wasn't certain just what the creatures were, only that she had somehow created them in her rage. It was as if the very land had responded to her fear and anger, and provided her with the means to lash out at those who had tormented her. Now, her anger merely simmered under the surface, not enough to call forth other creations, and barely enough to keep control of the pair that remained.
The longer it took to find who she was looking for, the harder it was to maintain the emotions needed for whatever powers that had awakened within her. Marissa would settle for anyone at that moment. With any luck, she would run across the torturous bitch that was the bandit lieutenant, but that idiotic Jenrea would do in a pinch. Ending the smith's apprentice Hafred or the blonde bandit wouldn't be nearly as satisfying, but it would at least be something.
When another shout echoed from the forest ahead, Marissa urged her monstrous minions forward. They redoubled their pace, and as the leafy creatures burst from the trees, the tall blonde came into view, lazily standing atop a rocky outcropping, as if awaiting a tardy acquaintance.
There was neither concern nor fear in her bearing, and her casual demeanor aggravated Marissa. Did the woman not realize the powers at her command? The blonde bandit had to have seen what had happened to her underlings. Yet the tall blonde simply watched her and the amorphous plant creatures as they rapidly closed in.
As rage once more swelled within Marissa's chest, the crackle of power danced visibly at her fingertips. The noblewoman's fiery hair rose in a frizzy halo, as electricity built up about her. Marissa lifted one hand, intending to unleash an arc of blue lightning toward Zara. Only then did she see the narrow gorge which loomed amidst the craggy rock floor. In an instant, what had appeared a solid path was revealed as a deadly drop.
The sudden collapse of the conjured creature beneath her tore a shriek from her lips. With a resounding crack and a flash, the pent up lightning at Marissa's fingertips arched into a tree trunk far beyond the toppled stones about her. Her aim was ruined as she leapt from the back of the falling plant-monster. With a desperate grab, she managed to catch hold of the rough, sharp edged lip of the gorge, grunting as her body hit the side of the stony descent.
Her other leafy servant managed to arrest its charge before toppling over the edge, but now simply lurked on the far side of the gorge, seeming confused. With her burning rage now replaced with a pit of icy fear, Marissa found she couldn't exert control over the creature, at least not enough to urge it to save her.
The steady crunch of gravel and loose stone under heavy boots approached from above, and Marissa was helpless to do much more than dangle there, the bottom of the narrow drop easily thirty feet below her. For longer than she dared acknowledge, Marissa stared downward, past her feet and at the broken mass of plants strewn across the jagged rocks below. There was no way the remnants of her creation would be thick enough to break her fall, so she finally turned her gaze upward.
The grim-faced blonde looming confidently above appeared every bit as dangerous as the fall below. Although the shock of nearly plummeting to her death was fading, the noblewoman could no longer feel the pulse of magic within herself. Could she only wield those awesome powers while in a rage? Frozen with doubt and indecision, Marissa simply clung to the lip of the gorge and prayed her strength would hold.
"I should let you fall," Zara's tone was hushed, yet cold. "But I told Jenrea I would try not to kill you. Don't make me regret that." The bandit queen shifted fluidly to one knee, and as one hand tightened about the grip of her long sword, she offered the other to Marissa.
Zara's words sparked a faint ember of the crimson haired vixen's earlier anger. As humiliating as it would be to accept the mercy of a common bandit, at least the blonde woman was a competent warrior, and a leader of men, however ragtag her band was. But to be spared on the wish of a stupid bar wench, and one that had so stymied her own efforts these past days was something she couldn't bear contemplating.
Dark jade eyes fixed upon that tanned, corded hand. It was as strong as any man's that she had seen, and fit with Marissa's impression of the blonde as a lumbering brute of a woman. Still, she was sturdy enough to lift Marissa with ease, so the young noble risked it. She boosted herself up with one foot against the rock, and lunged upward, to grab at Zara's extended hand.
Zara caught her wrist with a startling speed, and with a firm grip and powerful tug, the blonde woman hauled Marissa back to safety. Marissa winced as she was dragged up onto the rough rocks, but was just thankful she wasn't in danger of taking a tumble. She ended up on her knees in front of the tall blonde, a position she most certainly despised, before managing to regain her feet.
As much as the battered noblewoman hated the situation she found herself in, the spark of magic which had flared within her soul before was just a faint, intermittent flicker, not enough to unleash the hell she wished upon the woman who had just saved her. Being at the mercy of a commoner did not suit her, not one bit.
Furtively, Marissa's gaze darted here and there, surveying her options. Behind her, the chasm she had nearly tumbled into separated her from her remaining creature. Before her, beyond the bandit queen, lay an expanse of broken rock, dotted here and there with the occasional twisted tree sprouting from the scattered cracks and crevices. There was perhaps thirty feet of this terrain between herself and the edge of the clearing, rough enough to slow her, to make her an easy target, should she brave a sprint for the woods.
Zara had picked her ambush site well.
Marissa's hope faded. She would have surrendered then and there, but for the voice which called out at that very moment.
"Lady Zara? Do you have her under control?"
It was the other redhead. The hateful lieutenant who had so delighted in her misery and humiliation. Her voice did more than merely fan the embers of Marissa's rage. Hatred and anger flared as if someone had thrown grease onto the fire in her heart.
