Shara walked in misery. Three days ago they had broken camp and begun the long trip to the High Kingdom. The two men that voted with Shale decided to leave the group rather than make the trip. Both said they were too old to walk halfway around the world. No one seemed to think ill of them. Shale had gotten a small chest and counted out their share of the group’s loot. Before they left, Scratch cast a spell to remove any memory of where the rest of them planned to go.
Of all the bandits, only Robert had ever been beyond the Vale and the two kingdoms that surrounded it, so the job of planning their route fell to him. Since they all had prices on their heads in both kingdoms, Robert chose a path that favored stealth over speed or comfort. Once they moved beyond the lands where they were wanted, they planned to steal some horses and step up the pace.
“Hey, kid. How you holding up?” Robert had wandered over.
Morden, her appointed guardian, ignored him. Of course, Morden ignored everything except her attempts to loosen the rope around her wrists.
“I hurt everywhere. I think I’ve walked further in the last three days than the whole rest of my life combined.”
Robert may have plotted their course, but Shale set the pace. It seemed to Shara that he wanted to get there by the end of the week. No one else seemed to mind though, so it might just be her.
“Don’t worry,” Robert said. “In a week or two you’ll be fine.”
“I’m not sure I’ll live that long.”
Robert laughed. “You’d be surprised what you can live through.”
The leaders had stopped to let everyone catch up. Shara hoped they planned to take a break. She could stand to sit down for a few minutes. Or better yet a few hours.
“Wraith is back,” Robert said. Wraith was the name of the other female bandit. Robert said she was so quiet she could walk across eggshells without making a sound. “Something must be wrong.”
Robert left her to join the group gathering around Wraith. The discussion seemed quite heated from where Shara stood. It ended when Blade threw up her hands and walked away. Robert headed toward Shara, a concerned look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” Shara asked.
Robert looked over at Blade who stood sulking a few yards away. He sighed and turned away. “Wraith stumbled across another crew.”
“Crew?”
“Another group of bandits. Blade has a history with them and wanted to attack. They outnumber us about two to one and we have you to protect. She didn’t care. Apparently the leader of this crew killed a friend of hers. Anyway, we managed to talk her out of it and she’s pissed.”
“How many bandits are there in the Vale?”
Robert shrugged. “Beats me. The way we kill each other off it’s impossible to keep track.”
Shale waved and Robert nodded back. “Time to go. Stay close to me and keep quiet. Blade says this crew is rougher than ours. Scratch doesn’t think they have a wizard, so we shouldn’t have too much trouble sneaking past.”
Famous last words.
Still, when Robert started out she followed close behind, doing her best to avoid making any noise. With the forest still damp from the last rainstorm she didn’t have too much to worry about.
They moved slow and easy for about ten minutes before the man ahead of them, Shara hadn’t heard his name, signaled to stop. She strained to hear something, anything, but could only make out a faint rustling in the bushes.
Then a crunch.
Robert dropped to the ground and dragged her down with him. They lay behind some evergreen shrubs and a moment later someone walked by. She thought she could make out three distinct footfalls.
When they’d moved beyond her hearing she started to get up. Robert put a hand on her back and forced her down. She fell to her stomach again just as a fourth set of footsteps went by.
When the fourth person had gone by Robert helped her to her feet.
He whispered, “Sometimes they have a trailer like that to catch any overanxious soul who jumps up after the main group passes.”
“I didn’t know,” she said.
“Don’t worry about it. Just watch me and follow my lead.”
They continued on at a much slower pace. Everyone seemed tense. Hands never strayed far from weapons.
They finally stopped when darkness fell. Shale ordered a cold camp and double guard. Robert wandered off, leaving her alone with Morden. He stood by her like a lump, saying nothing. Come to think of it, she hadn’t heard Morden speak since she arrived in the bandit camp.
Curious, she asked, “Don’t you ever say anything?”
He ignored her.
Shara shrugged, found a soft-looking patch of moss, and sat down to wait. Robert arrived a few minutes later. “I pulled first watch, Morden. Go get some rest.”
The big man slumped with relief and gave Robert the rope. Morden trotted off in a hurry. “He seemed eager to go. What did you do to him?”
“Nothing, I just tried to get him to talk.”
Robert nodded as though that made perfect sense. “I brought you some supper.” He handed Shara three strips of jerky and a piece of day-old bread.
She gave the meat a dubious look then started gnawing. After giving her jaw a serious workout she asked, “What’s his problem anyway?”
“Morden? Got his tongue cut out a few years ago.”
“That’s terrible. Why?”
Robert sat down with his back to a convenient tree. “According to Scratch, Morden had a thing going with a wizard’s daughter. One day the wizard caught them in the hayloft. Morden had his tongue in her…” Robert cleared his throat. “Uh, let’s just say the old man caught them having a slap-and-tickle session in the loft and got a little bent out of shape. The wizard zapped Morden and when he woke up he found himself in the Vale, sans tongue.”
“How awful,” Shara muttered around a mouthful of food.
“Could’ve been worse. First time I heard that story I joked to Scratch that Morden was lucky the wizard hadn’t come along a few minutes later. He might have lost something more precious than his tongue.”
Suddenly grateful for the darkness, Shara felt her face flush. Robert laughed and offered her a canteen of water. She washed down the last of her dry meal.
“Get some sleep, kid. Gonna be a long day tomorrow.”
Shara woke to screams and the clash of steel on steel. Heart hammering, she wiped the sleep from her eyes and tried to see what was happening. People were fighting in the dim light of the half moon.
Robert seemed to have vanished.
She tugged on her rope but found it secured to a small tree. “Damn.” That represented her full complement of curses, though that complement grew every day she spent with her captors.
Behind her a bright white light filled the sky. That must be Scratch and sure enough when she turned she saw the wizard standing under a glowing orb of light. He had his sword drawn. Between his feet she saw the ever-present cat.
A loud snarl caused her to snap her head back.
A large black mastiff emerged from some nearby brush.
It saw her.
The dog barked, spittle flying from its lips.
Shara screamed as the beast charged her.
It leapt for her throat.
Shara squeezed her eyes shut and hoped the end would be quick.
After a few seconds when she didn’t feel sharp fangs sinking into her throat she opened her eyes.
She was just in time to watch Robert drive his shortsword into the top of the dog’s skull.
Nearby, someone let out a tortured scream. A man appeared from the same direction as the dog. He wore black leather and carried an ax.
Robert struggled to get his sword free. The newcomer stared at Robert as he sawed his sword back and forth, trying to rip it out of the dog’s skull.
He let out another wail and charged, ax raised.
“Look out!” Shara screamed.
Robert rolled away, the ax missing him by inches.
The man recovered and brought the ax up for another blow.
Lucky for Robert, Blade appeared.
She lunged in and opened the ax wielder’s throat with a slash so fast Shara couldn’t even follow the movement of her sword.
The magical light revealed more people moving around the clearing. One man looked their way then shouted something to the others. Five more bandits joined him and they advanced toward them
Blade had just enough time to toss Robert a dagger before they arrived.
The poor fools must have thought the three of them looked like easy marks, two women and a man with a dagger.
They couldn’t have been more wrong.
The one that had shouted advanced on Blade with a smile on his face.
As he raised his sword in a two-handed grip Blade darted in and carved a second smile below the first.
His life spilled down his chest.
The rest seemed to get an idea of what they faced but it was too late.
Blade waded into them, sword a blur.
Calling it a battle would be too generous.
It reminded Shara of farmers harvesting grain; she swung, and they fell.
While Blade was busy a seventh man tried to sneak up on her. Robert whipped his dagger into the man’s chest dropping him in his tracks.
The battle was over in seconds. Shara now understood why Shale had flinched away from Blade the day she’d first come into their camp. As soon as the danger had passed Robert went to Blade.
“Are you all right?” they said at the same time. They laughed and embraced like the whole thing had been a game and their team had won. Blade left to find someone else to kill and Robert came over to her.
“You okay?” he asked.
Shara nodded, still a little stunned by the display. She’d never seen anyone killed before. “I see how she got her name.”
Robert beamed. “She’s something.”
He walked over to the dog and put his foot on its head. With both hands he managed to jerk his sword loose. He cleaned it on the dead animal’s fur and sheathed it.
Shara started to say something but he held up his hand. She looked around thinking he heard something approaching.
“Listen,” he said.
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Exactly, the battle’s over. Come on; let’s go see if anyone got hurt.” Robert untied her rope and they walked over toward Scratch.
Under the wizard’s light was the brightest spot in camp and the others flocked toward it. A few had minor injuries but nothing too serious. About the worst was a deep cut on Shale’s right bicep. Wraith was sewing it up when they arrived.
Blade was the last to arrive. She appeared none the worse for wear. Her sword dripped blood so Robert tossed her a rag. She cleaned her sword and threw the rag away.
That done she came over next to Robert and slipped her arm around him. “I circled the camp. Three of them got away.”
Shale grunted as Wraith put the last stitch in his arm. “I doubt those three’ll try anything more. What the hell happened, Scratch? I thought you said they didn’t have a wizard.”
The wizard held out his arms and the cat jumped up into them. “They didn’t have a wizard. One of the dogs must have hit our track and led them back to us.”
“Terrific,” Shale said. “Next time check for wizards and dogs.”
“Right, chief, whatever you say.”
Shale glared and the cat hissed at him. “Bobby, watch the girl. Everyone else get some rest. We leave at dawn.”