Chapter 004: A Strange and Eerie Orb

"What are we stealing this time?" Asked Timothy.

"Boss told me some merchant in the capital city is waiting on his delivery". I answered. "It's got some extremely valuable stuff passing through the lesser road nearby".

"Haa... The usual then," Timothy joyfully sighed. "Thank God!"

Moving to the location the cart was destined to pass by, we dressed. I put on my work attire, a black cotton cloth mask that covered my nose and mouth, a black leather cloak that covered my head and stretched down to my hips, leather arm braces, leather pouch and my two trusty daggers strapped on me, hidden under the cloak.

A few minutes later, we were by the road that the transport was to pass by. We hid in the thick forest nearby, concealing ourselves in the trees and bushes with the full moon illuminating the dirt road.

"Ken, Tim, Jen, Charles. When this job is done with, I have something important I have been meaning to tell you all." I spoke in a serious and pensive manner.

"Shelly, is everything okay?" Timmy spoke in a soft tone.

"Woah!! If you're saying it like that then this is VERY serious. Is everything okay?" Charles added.

"If there's something wrong you can talk to me," Kenny spoke in a thoughtful and caring tone. "Whatever it is, I'm here for you Shelly."

"Of course you would run to her rescue. I'm just an afterthought to you." Jenny mumbled to herself pouting and folding her arms. "You always put your ex-girlfriend above me."

I'm glad I met them when I did. Their worrying made me feel calmer, easing my fears from earlier. Maybe they wouldn't be so mad at me as I'd thought? Or maybe not?

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I just need to tell you all something important after this job."

"Then let's get this over with quickly." Jenny pulled out a smoke bomb. "Since it's so important that you're telling us in such an urgent voice."

I smiled a bit. Jenny was caring in her own little awkward and tsundere way.

"And here I thought you hated me the most," I smirked.

Jenny rolled her eyes and sighed. "I don't hate you. I just find you annoying sometimes."

"If I was to hate anyone, it would be Kenny for always putting you above me." Jenny peered daggers at Kenny.

He averted his face, purposefully avoiding eye contact with Jenny because he knew it was at least somewhat true.

Charles kissed his teeth, rolling his eyes and scowling his eyebrows.

"And here I thought I was in the first place."

Jenny smirked triumphantly at Charles' defeated look.

"You're hardly second."

Charles quickly changed his expression to that of a cunning and scheming one, even rubbing his chin.

"Oh, really?! Guess I'll have to work harder then."

We all had a nice giggle just then. I love them all greatly.

"Clack! Dum! Clack! Dum! Clack! Dum! " The hooves of horses and the carriage wheels could be heard approaching. I saw two carriages and if my guess was right they had guards waiting.

Getting back into focus I whispered to the others.

"Transport incoming. Everyone, get into position now."

Silence fell among us and only serious and focused expressions could be seen on our faces.

"3... 2... 1... NOW!" We tossed our smoke bombs around the carriage, blocking the moonlight and obstructing their visions completely. We moved fast and surrounded the carriages with our weapons out.

"Neigh! Neigh!" The horses stopped and bellowed.

"We're under attack!" A voice shouted. "Kill them."

Suddenly, men with swords and clubs were jumping out of the carriage in the front. They were at a disadvantage as they couldn't see through the smoke but we were used to this and took them by surprise.

Firstly, I knocked out the driver so they couldn't get away. Next, we knocked out the guards who were stumbling and coughing in the smoke. In a short time, the guards were falling to the ground like flies, overwhelmed by our strategy. The smoke eventually spread thin enough returning the light of the full moon.

"Well, that was surprisingly easy." Charles put his foot on the body of a knocked out guard, removing the cloak from over his head and pulled down his mask. "It's so hard to breathe in these."

"Don't jinx us, you idiot." Jenny pulled the cloak back over his head. "And keep your mask on. The job isn't done yet."

"Oops! my bad madam paranoid," Charles rolled his eyes. "You're such a worry rat."

"Jenny's right, Charles. The job isn't done yet." I jumped into the first carriage. "Let's just search the carriages, take the valuables and leave quickly."

"Thank you, Shelly." Jenny looked at Charles with a face of superiority.

"Fine, my bad." Charles kicked the guard under his feet in frustration.

We all searched through the first carriage and found jewellery, fancy clothes, precious stones and treasure boxes of different sizes. This was a big win for us.

"Um, guys, I need some help opening this treasure box, for some reason, it won't budge," Jenny pulled at a small treasure box with all her might.

"Move aside, I'll do it." Charles yanked the box out of Jenny's hands. "Let me show you the strength of a real man."

"Argh! Ugh! Hargh! Argh!"

Charles struggled to open the little box. He tried with all his might, making a few funny straining sounds.

"Hahaha! And you call yourself a man." Jenny laughed heartily at Charles' embarrassing show of strength.

"It's sealed shut. That's why it won't open." Charles tried to defend his pride, his cheeks red with embarrassment.

"Let me try." Kenny stretched out his hand.

Charles reluctantly gave Kenny the box as it made him look weak, especially after how he boasted about his strength as a man.

"Gah! Hargh! What? Is it actually sealed shut?" Kenny glared at the treasure box in wonder.

"Timmy, do you want to try." Kenny turned to Timmy.

"Really?! If you can't open it, then there's no way on earth Timmy's opening that." Jenny pointed out, hands on her hip.

"Let him try at least." Kenny handed the treasure box to Timmy.

"O-okay... I'll give it a try." Timmy clasped his meagre hands around the treasure box. "Hmph! Argh! Hmph! Come on. Please... just open."

Seeing Timmy try his hardest was nice but it felt like torture watching his meatless hands try to pry open the treasure box.

"That's it!! I can't watch this anymore. I'm just gonna break it." Charles yanked the box from Timmy's hands tossing it on the floor of the carriage. Charles took his club and with all his might swung it down at the box.

"Blam! Dun!"

"Ow! What the hell was that?!" Charles was blown out of the carriage, repelled by some weird inscription, surrounding it as if to protect it when he tried to break the box.

Jenny was laughing with tears appearing at the corners of her eyes at what happened to Charles. Oh how that must have felt good for her.

"Are you okay?" Timothy stretched out his hand to help Charles back to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just hurt my pride is all." Charles, using Timothy's hand as support, pulled himself back to his feet and brushed the dirt off his clothes.

I took the box off the floor and examined it carefully, checking if it was actually sealed shut. For some reason, the box seemed like it was calling out to me.

"I'm giving it a try."

"What?! Did you not see what just happened to Charles?" Kenny moved closer to me.

"I'm still gonna try regardless of what you say."

Like any ordinary box, I opened it with barely any effort.

"You've got to be joking right now?!" Charles climbed back into the carriage in disbelief at what he saw. "You could've done that this entire time but instead you let me get blasted for no reason."

"I didn't know I could do that." I was confused as well. Why did it just open like that?

"Ha! I guess men aren't so strong after all. Isn't that right Charles?" Jenny was having the best time of her life.

"Whatever!" Charles went back to collecting the other valuables in the carriage but this time in a foul mood.

"Well, anyway, I'm keeping this. Does everyone agree?" I held the box in the air.

"No problem" they all agreed.

As I looked inside the box there was a small orb with a black and white mist-like element floating inside. It radiated with some kind of nauseating energy that made me uneasy.

"On second thought, Jenny since you found it you should carry it."

I offered the box to Jenny but she refused.

"No way! That thing looks evil." She pushed away my hand. "Plus, you opened it, so you carry it."

I turned to the others and gestured at the box, offering. The others just shook their heads and went back to collecting.

"Fine! I'll carry it then," I dropped the orb in my pouch a little vexed. "Let's just fill our stuff and go-"

The sound of shuffling could be heard coming from the second carriage.