AO 5 Ch 15

Chapter 15

"All right, here they come," the bandit boss got the crew’s attention, his words echoing down the line of bandits. In our short time waiting, I had learned that the leader of the bandits had a very un-bandit-like name. His real name was Clarence.

I snickered at it the first time I heard it, only to be warned by one of his men that he was very sensitive about his name. It was best just to call him Boss.

According to the source, the only time they’d ever seen him maim another one of the bandits was when someone used his name and then laughed at him mockingly.

So, even in my head, I referred to the bandit leader as Boss. I didn't really want to make that mistake. I had a slight penchant for taking jokes a little too far. 

True to Boss's words and our intel, the carriage was rolling down the road in our direction.

The caravan was far enough away that I couldn't see how many carriages were part of the moving line. 

However, I could see that there were multiple wagons in a row, and Garrish soldiers marching at the front of the column. The horses looked ragged and tired, straining against their straps. The wagon's wheels dug shallow furrows in the already hard-packed dirt. These were loaded to the absolute brim, and based on how hard the horses were pulling, I'd guess whatever was inside was fairly dense. 

The big bandit rubbed his hands together. I had learned that his name was Hugo. Hugo was, for all intents and purposes, simple. He reminded me of a bandit that had once thumped me on the head several times, which meant that I instantly disliked Hugo. Not to mention, he didn't really seem to understand what was and wasn't appropriate. 

My eyes scanned the column of wagons, trying to spot their mage. Whoever it was wasn't obvious enough, and I used what insight I had from my soul magic to try and scan the caravan for the brightest soul among the masses.

Several wagons down, three or four by my best guess, I could feel a bright soul, with three dimmer but stronger than your average soldier souls. But I paused as I found another mage at the very end of the column. And this one seemed to have a small cluster of mage-forged around him. 

"You ready to do your thing?" Boss came and crouched over next to me. Everyone was shifting along in the forest. The bandits would want to come out behind the wagons as they worked to deal with the tree in the road. 

"Two mages, three anchors, and a handful of mage-forged," I reported quickly. 

Boss blinked. "You can tell how many are there?"

"Yep. Third, no, fourth wagon. Fourth wagon is the mage with three anchors, and the very end is a mage-forged." 

Boss clicked his tongue. "At the end, you say?" I nodded, and he motioned for several of his men to push further back. "It's a little hard to catch the end in a trap like this. Can you handle the mage with the anchors?" 

I shook my head and held my hands up. "I'm still fairly new to all of this. Maybe if I get him by surprise, but chances of me killing him once he's engaged is slim to none." I had to play my role.

Boss then divided up a group with his hand, held up four fingers, and said, "Mage," to the bandits. They quickly grinned like idiots and shuffled along the forest with their crossbows, ready to turn the wagon into a pincushion. 

"When I give the word, we go," Boss said. "Everything at once. Fire your crossbows, reload them, and fire a second time as soon as you can. As for you, mage, just destroy that entire wagon if you have to. Three anchors are a problem." 

I nodded along with Boss. "Makes sense to me. The last thing I want is for that mage and I to get stuck in a duel. However, I would have thought that you'd stop in front of the caravan, maybe talk, be a little threatening." 

Boss gave me a strange look. "What kind of fucking bandits do you have on your roads? Why would I do that? The second I get out and talk, that mage and those anchors will be ready. We hit them first. We hit them hard. And that's that." 

Boss moved on, shuffling with his people, ensuring that everyone was ready to go as soon as he gave the command.

I shifted a little further down the line so I had a clear sight of the fourth wagon. As the caravan began slowing down, the group in the front of the caravan shouted down the line about the fallen log. Some of them began scanning the forest, and I stayed low, doing my best to hide.

Without warning, the shout from Boss echoed through the air, accompanied by the twang of dozens of crossbows. The bandits were so well-equipped that several of them even had a second crossbow already wound and ready, swapping out their weapons for a quick second shot.

Suddenly, the entire caravan sprouted wooden shafts along the sides of the wagons, and many lodged in the soldiers. The fourth wagon was bombarded with arrows, crashing through the curtains and the thin material of the door.

Three manticore claws of ice ripped from my palm, tearing through the wagon as if it were made of paper. I saw red blood splatter against the curtains as I twisted the manticore claws inside the wagon, trying to inflict as much damage as possible. 

Unfortunately, I didn't know exactly where they were in the wagon. The mage's bright soul was more of a radiating dot, a glowing ball, than a specific figure. I withdrew the claws and waited to see what would happen next.

A roar of rage accompanied the door of the wagon being blown off, and a burly woman with a long scar across her face emerged, swinging her sword. She caught one of the bandits who had already left the tree line, cleaving him in half before smashing him against a tree.

Aurelia started to rise, but I held her shoulder down, curious to see how the bandits would handle the anchor.

Four crossbow bolts crossed the distance as the second volley focused on the exposed anchor. Her skin radiated with the light of earth magic as most of the crossbow bolts failed to penetrate her, leaving thin pink lines where their tips dragged along her skin. She shouted and rushed into the woods, only for Hugo to come barreling out to meet her. He wielded a spiked metal mace, which he swung with all his might into her side as two other bandits tried to keep her sword busy.

The mace had enough heft to it that the spikes managed to punch through the anchor's magic, leaving shallow holes that began to bleed as Hugo wound up for a second swing.

The bandits swarmed her. Besides Hugo, many of them came in with pikes and spears, trying to drive her back against the wagon or into Hugo.

She quickly realized who her opponent was, smashing her sword down at the large bandit.

However, Hugo, despite his otherwise simple demeanor, was not as stupid as he looked. He reached into his pocket and threw a fistful of sand into her face, jumping back as she sputtered and thrashed. She was too busy pawing at her eyes for what came next.

Those with pikes and spears seized the opportunity and charged her with all their might, managing to pierce her magic and armor, pricking her with shallow wounds. She screamed and swatted with her sword, destroying several of the spears with a single swing as they backed up and more crossbow bolts hit her body.

The bolts barely did anything, save for use up her magic.

At this point, I was worried that if I continued to remain still, Boss would take issue with me. Not wanting that, I conjured a single manticore claw and flicked it out of my hand. It spun through the air and embedded itself in her forehead.

The adept spell of ice magic pierced her, causing her entire head to jerk back and her eyes to go distant. The thrashing she had been doing to get the sand out of her eyes ceased as she crumpled to the ground.

Hugo let out a barbaric howl of victory and slammed his spiked mace onto the anchor's head with both hands.

Now without any magic to support her, her head exploded as if it were nothing more than an overripe melon.

Hugo held the mace above his head with two hands and roared as if he’d been the one to kill her.

The other bandits cheered and rushed into the carriage with daggers to ensure the other anchors and mages were certainly dead. The soldiers weren't much of a concern. Between the ambush and the bandits' numbers, they obliterated the column of soldiers.

Even I could recognize that most of the soldiers didn't seem to have more than a month of experience holding a sword. They were all rather untrained, and it was unsettling how easily they fell to the bandits. I sincerely hoped that Avente soldiers were better than these men.

Even as the situation at the front of the supply caravan died down, I could hear combat in the back pick up. The clash of swords told me the bandits needed help. I waved for my group to fall back. 

"Hugo, are you staying here? Are you gonna help Boss?" I asked.

The big bandit scowled at me and hefted his bloody mace up over his shoulder. There was a splatter of blood on his face as he gave a giant grin. 

"Boss can handle himself.” Hugo grunted. “Besides, I killed an anchor.”

“Still, I don't think we should rest on our laurels just yet. If there's more to be done..." I moved with my group towards the back of the caravan. Quickly realizing that the bandits were too caught up in celebrating their ‘victory’, I stopped trying to talk to them and just moved.

The heavily garbed mage-forged stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of the day as several of them rushed between bandits.

Short swords in their hands cleaved through bandit flesh as if it was a butcher's cleaver in the shop. One spun around seeing me and my group only for Aurelia to rush forward.

Given that she was pretending to be my anchor, her blue steel battle axe was in her hand. As she swung for the fences into that mage-forged, he tried to block but her heavier weapon shoved his short sword back into his body, helping her axe as she cleaved through him in a single blow. 

She kicked off the ground, fire dancing in her hair as she joined the fray. Her battle axe made quick work of several mage-forged before I saw the real problem. The mage had instantly created a small hill of earth for her and the mage-forged to use for advantage as they fought.

The advantage of high ground, along with the mage-forged abilities, made the bandits lose most of their momentum. Meanwhile, the mage turned out to be fairly good at supporting. The woman flicked her hand back and forth as rocks smashed into the bandits that still sat in the back with their crossbows. 

I made another three manticore claws that I physically threw, only they left my hand far faster than it would be possible for me to do with my strength alone.

They spun end over end and tore into the female mage's dress, blood splashing the air. She twisted at the last moment to avoid a fatal strike. She followed the path of the claws straight to me and pointed with his scathing finger. 

"They have a mage. Kill him." Every mage-forged around her disengaged from the battle, many taking minor wounds as they rushed me. 

But Aurelia was not an average anchor. The Virel was trained from birth to wield a weapon and how to fight. She smashed her axe down in front of the oncoming mage-forged, fire exploding from the impact and sending clods of earth as well as billows of flames blocking their vision for a split second.

I used that distraction to throw myself back into the forest as I spun up several more manticore claws that went zipping out behind me, finding a mage-forged each as I used the forest to impede them. 

With Aurelia blocking their vision of me, several had become momentarily lost, still searching for their target. Aurelia was fast. With her battle ax, she began taking off limbs or heads from the mage-forged as she mowed through them.

Two mage-forged found me in the woods. 

Emlyn pretending to be my bodyguard, jumped in their path and thrusted her sword forward. I could see the barest tint of earth magic on her hand as she discreetly blocked one of their swords, her own sword plunging into the mageborn before she twisted and let his momentum carry her to the ground as if he had bowled her over, leaving me with one mage-forged still bearing down on me. 

There was a twang of a crossbow right behind me as Maribelle shot my enemy point-blank in the face. As soon as he fell I saw that Boss had been behind him ready to take the mage-forged a second later, only to stop and lower his weapon. 

This time Boss assessed Maribelle fully. “Quite the maid you have there."

Maribelle checked her crossbow and then curtsied to Boss. 

"I live to serve, Sir." She nodded to me. 

"All right. I'll tell my men to be a little careful around that one. She’s got crazy eyes. The anchor is already scary enough." Boss replied, and I chuckled, scratching the back of my head. 

"Thanks, they’re a handful but well worth it." I made a slight twirl with my finger at my temple on the side opposite of Maribelle to give him the full story.

Boss nodded. "Well, let's see what we've got. Did you handle the other mage?" 

"I got the mage and two of his anchors. Hugo and your boys pinned the third anchor and took care of her, though you lost one before I could do anything." 

Boss shook his head. "All right. We'll have a payout to his family. No one said that banditry wasn't dangerous work, but we take care of our own."

I walked out with him, the rest of my party close behind. As I surveyed the damage, I noticed a few soldiers on the ground.

The bandits were stabbing them in the throat, then rifling through their belongings. The soldiers were quickly stripped of their armor, with more than a few bandits suddenly donning a fresh pair. 

Hugo came up behind me, his mace ready on his shoulder. "Is it time we take care of them, Boss?" he asked. 

"Excuse me?" I replied, only for the boss to glare at Hugo. 

"We are not 'taking care of them', Hugo. They are our new partners." 

The big man frowned. "So we don't kill them?" 

"No, we don't kill them. Partners don't kill each other." 

"So we take care of them," Hugo said again, though there was a slightly different inflection to the words this time. 

"Yes, and they all survived, so good job taking care of them, Hugo." The big man looked a little confused, and I knew I would have to watch my back.

I didn't think he was the best at understanding his orders. 

"Understood. What about those?" He pointed to a group of travelers that had been tailgating the caravan and were caught up in the whole mess. 

"Start opening the wagons,"Boss ordered, and began moving towards the civilians.

I took a step in that direction, ice magic entering my hand, only for Emelyn to grab my forearm. 

"Wait. I think the Boss is a better man than you expected." Emlyn told me.

I frowned, watching him walk up to one of the supply wagons and pull out what appeared to be a bag of grain before walking over to the travelers. 

"All right," he said, putting a foot upon one of the dead soldiers and leaning over it, looking quite intimidating.

The travelers were all sitting on the ground, surrounded by several bandits with spears and crossbows. 

"I'm sorry to inform you that you've been robbed," he said, setting the sack of grain down in front of him. "However, I'm not an unreasonable robber. Three silver for the sack, and you've been robbed." 

I frowned, watching his interaction. Three silvers for a whole bag of grain was actually pretty reasonable. The travelers seemed a little confused and then began discussing hurriedly amongst themselves, one of them pointing excitedly at the bag of grain. 

Between them, they managed to cobble together a fistful of copper and hold it up to the boss. He eyed it, weighing it in his hand, before stuffing it into a pouch at his belt. 

"Wonderful doing business with you," he said, handing them the sack. He then made them pause, looking carefully at their faces. "No one says a word about what happened here. Understood? And be careful. That bag of grain does have a military stamp on it." 

They turned the bag over to see the stamp. "You could put the grain in something else, ideally breaking it up into several other bags. It'll look a lot less suspicious when you go into the next town." 

The travelers seemed to understand what was happening and began nodding along with Boss.

"Now get, and if anyone asks, the roads are safe," he grinned, "for people like you." 

They nodded, smiles on their faces, and hurried along.

I watched the whole interaction with a fair amount of curiosity. "Why'd you let them go?" I asked. 

The Boss stopped his threatening pose, standing on the soldier's corpse. "Because it serves no purpose," he said, patting the pouch on his waist. "Honestly, that's about what I would have gotten for the bag anyway. This way, travelers still use the road. You see, the thing is, people like them," he hooked a thumb at them, "they don't earn much. But, if you get people like them to travel the road, then people like this," he smacked the wagon, "think it's safe." 

I frowned, but nodded along. It made a certain sort of sense. And mostly, I was just happy that he wasn't robbing and killing random travelers. Those four had barely managed to gather three silver between them. They didn't have anything of value, and killing them was just an act of violence. 

"Well, what do we do with all of this now?" I pointed at the wagons. 

"We'll give you guys your share, and then we're taking the wagons," he said. He glanced over at the body he had just been standing on, as one of the bandits was deftly stripping it of anything valuable. "But then we'll take the bodies somewhere else and make sure they're disposed of properly. Pleasure doing business with you," he held a hand out. 

I took it, finding the man to be not what I had expected. "Pleasure doing business with you. If I can ask, where are you taking the wagons? I would love to talk about trade." 

The boss laughed. "That's not how this works. If you want to meet again, though, we do stop by that ravine often enough." He nodded at me. "At times, it might be a couple days between our visits, and we like to stay unpredictable." 

I nodded at him and decided not to push for information. If he wasn't going to tell me where his camp was, then asking too many times was only going to sour this budding relationship. Instead, I looked back at the supply caravan, and started picking out things I'd want to put on my own wagon.

Though, as Boss said, much of the goods were stamped with a mark for a Garrish military. I knew I'd have to be careful, possibly turning some of the bags inside out, or repackaging most of it. The last thing I needed was to walk into another town with clearly stolen military supplies. 

Emlyn put a hand on my shoulder. "See? It wasn't that bad."

"No, it wasn't," I replied, glancing at the supply caravan. "I feel like we're officially on the offensive, Emlyn."

She grinned. "Then let's finish our trip back to the wagon."

"Wonderful," I said, slapping my knee. "If you would be a dear and carry the things, that would be wonderful."

The smile fell from Emlyn's face as she glowered at me.

"What? Do you think they're going to give us a whole wagon?" I gestured at it. "Not that we want it. I'm sure there's markings on it to signify who really owns that wagon. No, we'll have to bring it back by hand. At least then we'll be giving them an empty wagon to deal with the bodies."

"Well, thankfully, Aurelia's your anchor," Emlyn pointed over at the strawberry blonde. "I'm sure she could carry just as much as you want, though make sure it's not flammable," Emlyn said. "As for me, I'm just a simple guard. Maybe one or two bags."

I scowled at her as she whistled and went over to pluck two bags of grain, tucking one under each arm. She signified she was ready. It would take us another ten minutes to pick out our supplies, as well as for Aurelia to make a simple sled so she could haul it all back to our carriage.

Cyam whinnied in my shadow, as if saying he could do it better.