4 A CHANCE ENCOUNTER .......

The horses were galloping with all their might. Their predicament had just begun .

"What happened exactly Lizzi ?" Lizzie's face fell with that question .How could her sister be so dumbfolded and naive that she couldn't understand basic maths. Lizzie fought against 4 of the assailants but none of them were short highted , which meant there was actually a 5th one , who by that time would have found his comarades being beaten up . He would have informed back to the camp by now and all of them must be hunting for them. Beating 4 of them was not even a challenge for Lizzie but now a horde were exploring the forests to catch them.

She put up her veil covering her face in such a fashion that only her eyes were visible now. With one hand putting her veil she threw towards Su and signed her to put it on. It was best if they remained hideous.

As she was imploring all this in her mind , she couldn't see the tightened rope in front , leading to her horse losing its balance and falling on the ground with a thump sound . Seeing the series of events Teja reared , which prevented it from crashing but consequently Su fell on the ground . both the girls were whining in pain .

Seeing that they were ambushed ,which meant they were under attack , Lizzie helped Sophie climb the saddle and gave a nod , as if the horse understood her command it started galloping.

As some of the men started chasing Teja , Lizzie stood up and ran towards them , drawing out her sword while taking a 180 degree turn , in a dancing fashion she swirled her sword drawing a X sign and then piercing the ground with her sword , seeing the might of their opponent made the men in black halt for some time .

Strangely these men were dressed in pure black ,unlike the bandits she fought ,they had burnt coal on their heads and face covered with cloth mask , making their eyes the sole visible witness on their bodies .She stood there like a wall in between , and made a hand gesture calling them to 'bring it on''.

She fought them all as fast as she could , some were valiant enough to remove the thorn in their path, others didn't even bother and charged in direction where Su had left.

Elizabeth fought right and left and won one over another.

When all this was taking place , a man in white peacefully was sitting on the branch of the tree and eating apple , watching no evaluating nope criticising , not even once wincing as the other person was beating the hell out of his men .He couldn't see the face as it was covered with a veil. But the moves ,pressure , and force made years of practise clear to him .When almost all of them were sighing in defeat the man took the last bite of apple savouring it's juicy taste to its fullest .Throwing the stem away he jumped from the tree .

Lizzie saw the man and tightened the grip on her sword. He had the same get up and so only his green emerald eyes were visible to her. Green eyes were rare in golden kingdom. His built was different from the previous ones she fought .He was more manly. A cold yet alluring aura was emanating from his presence. Despite the fighting going on around he was relaxed and calm .This made her even more anxious.

As she charged against him, the man managed to dodge her attack somehow ,he back flipped and took one of the swords of his comrades and stopped another blow with his sword. The action between these 2 went on for few minutes and the wounded men instead of wincing now were looking at the match in total awe .

As he swung his sword to attack her , she somehow dodged the attack by bending her back . She was making a perpendicular with her body. All the men leaned their face in the direction of her body .By dodging she managed to save herself but instead the veil covering her face fell , exposing her face to all of them.

All of them were shocked/surprised to see her . They never imagined that the person who defeated so many disciples of KUSHALA MOUNTAIN was a girl , and that too a beautiful one.

Both of the opponents were facing each other's back , Suddenly one of them spoke ,"senior , she is a girl"

KUSHALA MOUNTAINS was the premium institution for all the lords and the ones with royal blood . They were send at an early age of 8-10 years and were trained rigorously for many years after which they were deemed capable of serving the kingdom. Every disciple of Kushala was well educated and proficient in swordplay, archery, strategy, literature etc. They had some major rules of fighting. They were not supposed to harm the innocent , children, women and elderly

Hearing his fellow subordinate ,YAN was moved .... not just for the fact that he was about to harm a woman but because she could have harmed him.

He turned and was amazed by looking at the stunning beauty standing in front of him. He had seen many woman in his life but seeing a woman in man's cloth was his first. The brown eyed girl's gaze was sharp as a hawk piercing right through his eyes. The sincerity ,generosity ,calmness and viciousness all could be seen clearly thru her eyes. Her hairs which were knee length long were flying in the air with the wind as if they were dancing automatically. They were brown in colour but when they were sun kissed they converted into golden locks ,the lustre and shine made his eyes blink several times. She was tall but her face was small with sharp features .The girl was merely a teen not too young and not too old , but the blue men skinny attire perfectly matched with her jade like skin and made her look alluring .Despite the murderous aura she was emanating , all in all she looked like the war goddess. A sigh escaped his lips.

The guy suddenly went on his knee. Lizzie thought he was surrendering. 'But why!! he was clearly not loosing'. She thought to herself.

The next words broke her dilemma, "My lady !! I apologise on behalf of Kushala"

Hearing the name , a scary smile crept on her lips. Since Lizzie was a lady she was not accepted in the Kushala and ever since then she held a grudge against all of them. Before the man could say any further , she started laughing louder and louder.

All disciples looked at her trying to figure out why she was laughing. When she finally spoke," You bloody hypocrites!!".... with this she drew her sword and put on his neck, "would you be so courteous when I remove that face off your head ??."

Seeing the sword on their senior's neck , all of them moved to stop her. When Yan put up his hand and motioned their dismissal. "My lady!!", he continued in seductive tone.....if not for Lizzie other would have fallen for the smoothing sound of his voice .... but not Lizzie she became furious and drew the sword even closer.

Seeing that his charm was not working, he tried another one ....

"We didn't mean to hurt you. The trap was meant for the bandits .We didn't attack first but the way the other lady was disheveled we thought it was a case of kidnapping. It was a mere exercise. I hope you can forgive us.", said the man this time less seductive and more apologetic .

Seeing the sincerity in his words Lizzie drew the sword away from his head and into scabbard." If there is nothing more to discuss ,then I shall take my leave", she bowed like a man. She didn't feel the need to explain anything else to the stranger.

As she was about to depart the man with the green eyes asked , " May I know the name of the beautiful creature that I behold?"

She walked in the opposite direction ignoring the presence of that man.

"Atleast let me know your house name.", no reply came from the direction she went in.

Suddenly she came trotting on the horse and finally spoke , "Thank Sansei on my behalf. The horse will be returned as soon as I reach home ", she said it with an alluring smile. He nodded. He was dumbstruck at the fact that she found out where they hid their horses.

When he came out of his daze he asked the fainting figure," atleast let me know which region you are from. That's the least you could give in return for a ride? " , this time in a louder tone.

"The Northern lands", her voice sounded distant with her leaving the picturesque and the various disciples of Kushala.