Lady of Curses

With a shovel in hand Aella started to look for a box that looked the most interesting to her, and it didn't take long for her to find one. It was a wooden box nailed shut with a label that read <Fire potions>, Aella wasn't sure what they were but she had an idea and that was good enough for her. 

Aella went closer to the crate, angled the shovel, and then with some strength pushed the metal shovel head between the top and one of the side walls, then she pushed it a little bit deeper so that she could get good leverage, and then started to pry open the box. Slowly and carefully Aella pried the box open, it took some time but eventually, she got the box open. 

After she got the top part of the box out of the way Aella looked inside it. What she saw were multiple spherical bottles with red-orange liquid inside them, carefully arranged inside the box. 

She carefully took one of the bottles and took a closer look. It didn't look anything special from her side of view, the only thing that was a little interesting was the liquid's shifting color, but nothing more. So Aella decided to test the potion, she opened the potion and spilled a little bit on the ground. 

Fortunately, Aella was careful as she spilled the potion away from herself because the moment the red-orange liquid hit the ground it combusted in flames, Aella even took a few steps back. Seeing the flames right before her, Aella couldn't help but smile after all fire is a great weapon, but she had to be careful otherwise she could hurt herself. 

The next box Aella went to open was a long wooden box that had a label on it that said <spears>. Aella needed some kind of weapon that she could use, and she was sure that she could use a spear to some level. Aella could use the fire potions as her only weapon but that wouldn't be smart or practical, because her goal wasn't to burn down everything. 

Now with some minor knowledge of how to open these wooden crates, Aella took a little less time than before opening the wooden box. When she pooped the box open she was greeted by a pile stack of spears, with wooden handles and metal tips. Aella put down the shovel she was holding and picked up one of the spears. 

The spear is longer than Aella but not by much. The first thing Aella tested was how to thrust with the spear. She took the needed stanch with wide legs, and then positioned the spear so that she could comfortably hold it, and then did a few thrusts on the spot. 

After doing those thrusts Aella felt confident that she would be able to hit her target, maybe not really precisely but accurately enough that it was better to have a spear than not. One thing that presently surprised Aella a little bit was that the black dress she was wearing didn't hinder her as much as she thought it would. Although yes the dress did hinder a little bit, but nothing drastic. 

Now that she had a reliable weapon Aella decided to look for something else that could be useful. But before she could she heard something. Aella heard light echos of footsteps that were getting closer. The first thing that popped into her mind was that the bandits were the owners of those footsteps, so Aella jumped into action. 

Aella with a spear in one hand quickly moved to grab some fire potions, but unfortunately, she could carry only two with her because that was the only amount she could comfortably carry in one hand without dropping them. 

''Where are the pockets when you need them?'' With an annoyed whisper leaving her mouth Aella found a large box nearby and decided to use it as a cover. After she hid behind the box she slowly peeked from her cover and started to look at the shabby wooden door that led outside this grim room.

It didn't take long before Aella got to see who were the owners of those footsteps. When the door opened Aella could see two figures walking in. They both were wearing some armor. Aella could tell that one of them was a human woman, she had light leather armor, with some metal parts here and there, mostly protecting her chest and back, but she had some metal covering her arms and legs. 

On the other hand, the bigger figure of those two Aella couldn't tell much what they were, because they were clad in full metal armor they even had a helmet, so Aella had no way to identify them. 

''I still don't get why I need to do something like this.'' Aella heard a deep gravel-like voice coming from the man clad in full metal, as he entered the room right behind the woman. 

''Because the boss said so, and you know what hap-'' The woman started to answer to the man's complaint but stopped the moment she saw the mess Aella had left behind herself. 

''Shit!'' Aella could see the woman's face contort to dread, and then anger. ''You go check on the slaves, I will go see what happened to the rest of the merchandise!'' Quickly the woman issued a command before she moved in Aella's direction.

The man took a quick look at his departing partner, before turning his gaze deeper in the room and walking in the direction where the cage was.

''What the hell happened here? I hope everything is here or the boss will be angry!'' Aella could hear a little bit of panic in the woman's voice as talked. 

Seeing the woman get closer to her, Aella started to prepare. Aella crouched down so that she could put down the fire potions on the floor near her, with this she freed both her hands and got ready to use the spear. But unfortunately, when she was getting up, she hit the wooden box and made some noise.

''Who's there!'' Hearing the noise the woman got on guard, and asked who was there. 

Hearing no responses the woman grabbed one of her knives that were clasped on her hips. Slowly she got closer to where Aella was, her gaze unmoving as she got ready to confront the one who was hiding from her. 

Aella didn't dear to peak, so she only used her hearing to determine how far the woman was from the box, and when she determined the woman was close enough she jumped into action.

The woman got closer to where she thought the enemy was, but suddenly a woman dressed in black attacked her. The bandit woman got ready to attack but was instead surprised. ''WHA-, ghhhh...'' Before the bandit woman could do anything Aella used [Curse of weakness] to spit some black smoke from her mouth aiming at the bandit, making a distraction, before stabbing her spear right through the bandit's open mouth, killing her as a result.