1 (continued)
Duncan
“That’s your warning shot, friend.” Came a raspy voice belonging to a gaunt man stepping out of the shadows. Behind him stepped the archer, a similarly wiry man in a patchwork of ill-fitting clothes. Not even the arrows in his quiver matched by length or color and a new one was already knocked and trained on Duncan’s chest.
Slowly and deliberately Duncan got to his feet and retreated back to Gremol and company. So this is what a real bandit looks like. He thought, his heart pounding.
“Easy does it, that’s a smart fellow.” The man wheezed as he stepped towards the group. Soon, other bandits were materializing from either side of the road, flanking their leader. There were six in total and with the leader’s signal they began to move through the caravans, lifting tarps and rummaging through crates. The leader smiled a toothy grin at the travellers and the archer remained at the front with his bow locked on Duncan.
“Good evening merchants,” He said to the bristling horses and anxious passengers, “My name is Sala. It seems you all are unaware that this is a toll road. But don’t worry, my companions here will extract the fare and you’ll be on your way.” Sala’s eyes flitted around his hostages as elixir bottles were smashed, silks were torn from bags, and jewelry boxes were upended. Before long his gaze settled on Duncan in front of him and the amulet of Ysmal that had poked out when inspecting the fallen tree.
“Well, look here... you see this Barig?”
“Yea, Sala, I see it. A paladin.”
“Looks a little young to be a paladin to me.”
Sala and the archer, the one he’d called Barig, both eyed Duncan intently. Sala stepped close to him now, his face peeling into a toothy grin and lifted the amulet in his hand. “You get this off a dead man?” He asked, looking up at Duncan who remained silent. Then from farther down the line came a shout-
“Hands off those maps! That’s quality inventory there! You don’t know what you’re doing!” Hubert yelled, using a leather atlas to cuff a nearby bandit on the ear. The commotion caused Sala to release the amulet and look past Duncan’s shoulder towards the source of the noise. Barig, also curious, lowered his bow to look.
With his captors distracted, Duncan moved into action almost automatically, striking Sala in the throat with a quick jab he had picked up in his early days at the Paladin Academy. The bandit leader staggered backwards, falling to the ground with a shocked choking sound. Duncan’s next attack was decidedly less professional and he charged Barig, tackling the archer with a hard thud that took them both down.
Now the horses were panicking, Gremol pulled the reins and his caravan shot forward, rolling mere inches from Duncan but crushing Barig’s arm on the ground. The bandit howled in pain and Duncan looked up to see Gremol skirting the side of the road around the fallen tree, the long branches that hung across the narrow gap scraped a nasty chunk out of the merchant’s caravan but he fled nonetheless. Coward! Duncan cursed as his patron hurtled out of sight.
While Barig and Sala writhed in pain, Duncan got to his feet and looked back at the rest of the group. The Semerin Sisters had been pulled from their horses and Hubert continued to flail between two bandits that were now reaching for their knives. Panic set in and Duncan could feel his early bravado beginning to wear off. He reached for his sword and hesitated. What am I doing? He thought, I’m in too deep and there’s still four of them!
“Lad! Do something!” Hubert yelled before disappearing into the hatch of his cart. The bandits now turned their attention to Duncan. The remaining four of them slowly flanked him and he moved his head frantically from side to side, trying to keep track of them in the dying light. He pulled his sword from its scabbard awkwardly, brandishing it with two hands. There wasn’t enough time to undo his shield from the straps of the pack on his shoulders.
“What are you waiting for? Kill him!” Sala coughed, picking himself up from the ground, “He’s no knight! He’s just a boy!”
At that instant, Duncan felt a short almost imperceptible change. His amulet felt light, weightless around his neck, and he could swear he saw a pulse of glowing green light run across his armor. It was a sign he had not seen for over a year since leaving the academy, but a sign he remembered well. Before he could reflect on it, however, the bandits were upon him. He parried one blow and cut flesh with a strike of his own. But the odds were stacked against him and it was not long before his sword was knocked away with a kick and the bandits finally overwhelmed him, taking him to the ground in a mess of brawling fists and feet.
“Kill him! Kill him!” Sala chanted.
“Not much of a hero now, is he?” One bandit jeered.
Duncan fought back wildly, his blood boiling, teeth gritted, until-
“Stop! All of you!”
The voice was a woman’s, spoken with authority. The command alone would not normally have been enough to pull the melee apart but in the early dark of night an orange glow extended from the direction of the speaker. Duncan lifted his bruised and bloodied face from the forest floor and saw a woman standing on the trunk of the tree that lay across the road. She was small with a wild head of brownish blonde hair and in either hand she wielded growing orbs of vivid flame. The woman lifted her hands and straightened them out towards the brawl.
Before Sala or anyone could speak, the flaming orbs multiplied and shot forward. One caught a bandit in the back, tossing him into the trees, another struck a wagon, instantly turning it into a blazing inferno. The merchants abandoned their carts and out of the corner of his eye Duncan could see Hubert leading Rhona into the woods. The bandits that could, also bolted, tearing off down the path as more flames lit the forest.
Duncan, shocked and afraid, the sounds of splintering wood and shouts of pain all around him, snatched up his sword and sprinted off the road as well, fleeing into the night and leaving the fiery glow of burning caravans behind.
This is part two of a narrative I first posted in May if you're interested in reading pat one!