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Re: The Man With Lightning Fists (Illustrated Story)
The next morning Huan waited by his trusted horse for the arrival of Yasha. He had attached a cart to his horse and made sure that it was secure. The last thing he wanted was a strap to tear off while they were on their journey. It would be difficult to get it replaced and would waste valuable time.
Just as he thought that Yasha wasn’t coming he saw the towering woman approaching him. The first thing that he noticed was her head as it was slowly coming up an embankment. He then saw her shoulders, then her hips and then her knees as she continued to walk toward him. She looked a little tired but other than that she seemed to be in good health.
One thing that Huan noticed when Yasha finally stood near him was that she looked a little taller than she did the previous day. He had kept a mental marker of where he came to her and that marker had risen by almost an inch. He thought that she must be close to being seven and a half feet tall.
“Good morning Yasha,” said Huan. He thought about commenting on the fact that she looked taller but he decided to keep it to himself.
“I’m glad to see that you’re up and about this morning.”
“Thanks,” replied Yasha. She looked down at him and she saw that he only came up to her chest. This worried her but she didn’t want to mention it. “It did take me a little while to get out of bed. I had to rush to get out and I even bumped my head on the doorframe.” She pointed to a small red patch on her forehead. She chuckled for a moment. “Guess I sometimes forget just how tall I actually am.”
“Well you better not forget, or else you’ll be having more bruises.” He chuckled before he gestured his hand toward the cart. “Ladies first.”
Yasha nodded with agreement as she stepped toward the cart. There was a small section at the front which was designed to allow two people to sit in it. She climbed onto the front and the cart rocked a little thanks to her weight. She then tried to sit down properly in it but there was a bar in front that helped attach the straps to the horse. Because of this she couldn’t get her long legs to fit underneath it properly and caused her some discomfort. It seemed obvious that it wasn’t designed for someone of her height in mind.
Despite her discomfort Yasha showed that she was ready and Huan carefully climbed onto the seat so that he could steer the cart. He whipped the reins a little and the horse began to move forward, it was likely going to be a long journey and he had brought some food and water for them to sustain themselves as well as food for the horse.
As the hours went by Yasha was having difficulty hiding her discomfort. She put on a brave face but it was getting too much for her to bear. Huan looked up to her from time to time and he would ask her if she was alright which she would respond that she was even though she wasn’t. They were in the middle of nowhere and finally she had to get her discomfort off her chest.
“Can you pull over please?” asked Yasha.
“Y-Yeah sure,” replied Huan. He was able to steer the cart to the side of the road and no sooner had he done this Yasha got out and finally stood up to her full height. She quickly bent down and rubbed her legs and gave a small groan of relief.
“That feels better. I swear if I was going to endure that for another minute I would have torn out my hair.”
“If you weren’t comfortable you could have told me.” He smiled to her as he found the situation somewhat humorous.
“I didn’t want to spoil our trip.” She finished rubbing her legs and then looked over to him properly. “Here’s an idea, why don’t I just enlarge myself to the point that I can carry you and the cart? Then I take you to where we need to go and then take you back home. It’ll be faster and I won’t have to sit in discomfort.”
“That is a good idea but the problem is that when you make yourself bigger you become a lot more intimidating to regular folk. The last thing I want is for some kind of local militia trying to harm you. Besides we’re in no real rush.”
“Fine.” She crossed her arms and looked to be annoyed by this but she did agree with what he was saying. “But when we get back you owe me one for having to put up with this.”
“Well you can ride in the back of the cart if you wish, there’s plenty of leg room there.”
This caused a dilemma in Yasha’s mind. She had been thoroughly enjoying sitting besides Huan and she didn’t want to lose that feeling. However, having her knees up against the bar constantly was too much for her really bear.
Out of the nearby bushes four men suddenly jumped out which startled both of them. They quickly surrounded the cart and Huan quickly got out and stood next to Yasha. They could see that the men had masked their lower faces and were wielding daggers which was obviously not used for slicing food. Huan knew why they were there but he wanted to try and end the confrontation without the need for violence.
Each of the men thought that they had the upper hand and their clothing was somewhat in tatters which showed Huan that they were not likely very well off. This attack was more out of desperation more than anything else. He thought that he could use this to his advantage.
“Hey there friends,” said Huan. “What brings you here today?”
“We want your gold and whatever valuables you have,” replied one of the bandits. He took a step closer to Huan.
“Unfortunately, we have nothing of value, if you wouldn’t mind we would like to be on our way.”
“You’re lying.” His voice was sharp and frustrated. “I’m not going to ask you again, give me your valuables or pay with your lives.”
“He told you to leave, do as he tells you,” replied Yasha. The Bandits looked up at her and they marvelled over her height for a few moments. However, they weren’t intimidated as they were armed and had numbers on their side.
“I see that this isn’t going to be resolved peacefully,” stated Huan. He then raised his hands to a fighting position. “If you try and attack us then we will be forced to protect ourselves. I give you one last warning, leave now.”
There were a few moments of silence. Yasha had a somewhat worried expression on her face but it soon changed to that of determination. She was tempted to simply grow and intimidate the bandits that way but she didn’t think it would be as fun. Instead she raised her arms much like Huan. They stood back to back and although their height difference did seem funny the situation was not humorous in the slightest.
“Are you ready for this?” asked Huan as he looked up at Yasha. His voice was quiet so that only she could hear him.
“You bet,” replied Yasha. She gave him a confident smile before she focused on the bandits again. When she glared at them she could see that they were a little intimidated.
Before another word could be spoken the bandits struck.
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