153 Chapter 153
The travelers climbed up to the top of the hill. They had a wonderful view on the walls watching over the port capital of Boston on the horizon. It seemed far away, but even from this distance, the city looked immense.
Kyon slowed down and estimated with his keen eyes their future route, the area around, lots of possible turns and side streets. His modernized eyes could make out even the people on the walls of Boston and their faces.
{One of these roads is an excellent place for an ambush. Imperial capitals teem with bloodthirsty robbers... I should find some to experiment with negative as well as positive emotions. I just need to get rid of the guards somehow...} - Kyon got off the chestnut-maned stallion and bowed to Juno. He said he had an urgent matter and urgently needed to leave.
Juno silently nodded at her helper's request, her arms crossed at her chest.
After a couple of minutes, Kyon dialed Juno's sound transmitter and whispered to her all the necessary instructions so that the guards would not suspect anything. Then he came back.
As soon as he climbed the mount, Juno said:
«Wait! Give me the reins. Let's change places.»
Kyon immediately handed the reins to Juno.
When he wrapped his arms around her slim waist, his hair on the scruff of his neck stood on end from the barely noticeable but deadly emotions the guards were sending to him.
{I knew it! My body can feel their intent to kill! It's so cool, damn it!} - Kyon was delighted.
All of a sudden, Juno pulled the reins with all her might and clicked on the formation to turn off the tracking. Now the guards would lose the signal that helped them find their lady wherever she was.
The stallion reared, neighed violently, and rushed forward at full speed.
«Lady, wait for us!» … «We can't keep up with you. Please take it slow!» - The guards shouted desperately behind them, swallowing the dust that rose from their hooves.
The chestnut-maned steed developed its peak speed. The horses of the guards did not even come close.
Twenty kilometers later, Kyon told Juno to go to the side and lie low. The guards passed them without a single glance. If they lost the lady... If something happened to her, the patriarch would skin them alive. Kyon couldn't care less about their problems. There would be no problems. He would return the girl whole and, possibly, unscathed.
«Master, what are you up to?»
«Have you ever met robbers?»
«Only once. A pack of scum surrounded Flitz and me on the road to Boston... Why are you asking? Do you know where to find them?!» – Her shrill voice sounded with fear, excitement, or even anticipation.
«I guess so. Let's make sure, shall we?» – Kyon climbed the mount in front of Juno again.
Juno put her wrist to her ear and quickly said:
«Don't look for me. I'll get back to you when I am in Boston. The patriarch will know nothing if I don't tell him.» - She finished the call.
Kyon returned to the road, turned several times at the forks he had previously remembered until he got to a dense grove of trees. It was the alleged bandits' den.
He deliberately slowed down and activated his full vision, thoroughly studying the road.
As expected at some point, he noticed traces of soil. The robbers had buried two nephrites with an active formation that scanned passers, their number and stage of development. It helped the robbers know when to attack and when to stay put.
Kyon read how these brutal scumbags worked, killing merchants and violating women. More often than not, the bandits had interceptor birds of prey that caught courier birds with spatial rings containing goods. When it came to speedy mounts, they used ordinary traps, such as a ditch, a net or fishing line stretched out in the middle of the road. Anything to stop a careless rider... And the last, most frequent way, a regular attack on caravans.
Kyon went carefully around the scanning nephrites and heard a quite expected question from his companion:
«Why did we leave the road?»
��Read books more often, and you won't ask stupid questions.»
He could feel her unhappy snort with the back of his head.
«Here is the plan. You will be the bait, and I will attack when time is right.»
«Are you nuts?! What if I get caught? What if they hurt me before you come to the rescue?!»
«The villians will deflower you. And when they find out who you are, they will certainly let you go and make off. Or they will kill and bury you in some secluded place. But they won't sell you into slavery. Keep calm, it will never happen to you!»
«You… Do you want me dead?» - Juno hissed viciously, staring fiercely at his back.
«Stupid girl, you have a bracelet with a protective formation. I will slice everyone like a smoked salmon during the two-minute time it's active.» - Kyon took out a handful of throwing needles steeped with sleeping poison.
Juno had never trusted her assistant, and now her safety and life were at stake! She was trembling with anxiety, worry and anger.
«Master, if they only touch me with a finger, my grandfather will take your head off.» – Juno warned him quietly.
«He won't. I will run away. Consider it a kind of test. Your task is to play the bait as sincerely as possible. Prove your talent for acting. Take all their attention to yourself. I fell for it once, you know...»
Juno remembered the night at the hot spring when she tricked Kyon, promising that she would not kill him. This memory made her feel uncomfortable.
«…If you do well, I'll clean your key a bit more.» - Kyon promised. He wanted to make her stronger. She was no rival to him, anyway.
The young lady's heart started beating faster when she heard the master's last phrase.
«You always know what to say! Okay, I will try.» - She agreed, but her fear did not go away. What if the robbers were really strong? Her assistant was a monster, no doubt. But what if there would be someone just as good as he?
Meanwhile, they were moving on and on.
Kyon wished that Synergy had already finished upgrading his hearing. He had to wait just a little longer. He would know his way around even better. He would hear from which side to expect the enemy, their number, and even their age! However, even without a perfect hearing, he soon heard the sound of laughter.
Juno took the stallion deeper into the thicket and ordered him to stay put and wait.
Kyon made a sign that she could begin and hid in the depths of the grove.
Juno closed her eyes, took a deep breath, filled her heart with determination, and went ahead. She gained confidence as soon as she felt the development of the robbers. They were in the finishing stage of the base phase.
Two guys dressed in dirty rags were sitting near a stump of a tree, playing cards, cracking lewd jokes. Suddenly, one of them turned his head as if magnetized and stared at the girl approaching them. She was wearing a short pearl-gray skirt, a delicate blouse made with expensive fabric and dainty sandals. She had long golden hair, and her face... He had never seen such cuties in all his life! A small nose, large, crystal clear green eyes, graceful thin eyebrows... She looked like an innocent angel descended to mortals!
«Arsen… Arsen, look at this chick!»
His friend turned around in surprise and bulged his eyes in amazement.
Juno smoothly approached the dumbfounded couple at arm's length, and then quickly reduced the distance.
The two robbers never came to their senses. They could only catch only the delicate aroma of the girl before she snapped their necks.
Juno spat at the corpses of the unlucky duet and headed for the camp. {It is so gross...}
The camp counted a couple of dozens of robbers. The bandits' jaws dropped when they saw their guest. They had been doing their dirty business for many years, but they had never come across any trophies of this level of beauty! They wouldn't dream of such! Beauty in this world was often a sign of a high-born person. To see a beauty like this among sex-hungry men is heavenly grace, not less!
Every one of them started drooling. They studied the girl with hungry eyes, her every flawless curve, every line on her sweetest face.
Someone hastily cried out:
«Boss Guiming! Boss! Here, quickly!»
Juno could feel with her soul the robbers' development of the robbers. 80% of them were in the first phase, some of them were in the beginning of the second, the approaching boss was at the frightening 6th stage of the second phase. Her unique body had given her an enhanced spiritual sense. She could feel the enemy even one phase of development higher than hers. No one else could boast of it.
Juno felt uneasy. They would get her for sure! If her assistant decided to skedaddle, her life would be over, no matter how hard she would fight.
But for some reason, Juno was convinced that Kyon would save her, so she tried to calm down.
Guiming, the leader of robbers, a sturdy guy with stubbled cheeks, came out from behind the bushes. He had a tattered cloak on.
«What's the commotion all about?!» - He began, but then he saw the pretty little lady. His jaw suffered the same fate as those of his henchmen. Pretty soon, his surprised expression changed into a lewd grin. He wiped the saliva from his lips and said hoarsely:
«What are you doing here, sweetie?»
Juno muttered with a plaintive look:
«My daddy went ahead, and I got lost, sir. Did you happen to see him?»
The robbers were closing the circle, cutting off her escape. Everyone trembled with excitement, even if they knew the chances they could enjoy the girl were slim. They could get her either for great merits or in a few weeks, after she had been used hundreds of times and lost all her charm. But even that would not stop them.
Guiming nervously licked his lips.
«Baby, your dad walked by not so long ago. He was looking for you. My men will go and look for him. Until then, let's go to my tent and play with my little brother. By the way, he loves beautiful girls like you! You are sure to make friends!» - He took a step forward, his eyes burning with lust.
When the robbers heard the ambiguous words of their leader, they burst into a vile gaggle.
«I don't understand, sir... What are you saying?!» - Juno muttered, trembling. She looked terrified.
«BOSS, I WANT HER! I BEG YOU!» - The fat ugly man roared impatiently, devouring the girl with his eyes. He was second in the gang by his rank.
