Chapter 11 - Bandit Camp Assault

Chapter 11

Salran Mountains, Starnor Imperial Border Territories

Bandit Camp

It happened in a flash. The bandits had obviously heard something, as several were milling around rather than helping break camp, while the guards were coming forward, checking the woods more cautiously.

One of them saw something. A flash of light reflected on armor, a hint of movement, or a twig breaking, no one would ever know. As he opened his mouth, an arrow flew, and hit him square in the throat.

He fell down, gurgling and choking in his own blood, and the soldiers came out of the woods in a wave, shouting at the top of their lungs.

"KOSTNER! KOSTNER! KOSTNER!"

To their credit, the bandits reacted fast. They dropped whatever they were carrying, and dived for their personal weapons, while the guards fell back, attempting to form a coherent battle line.

They failed.

The tidal wave of soldiers fell upon them. The bandits, as far as such things went, were pretty good. Their armors were makeshift, reinforced or repaired with whatever scraps they could, but their weapons were well maintained and the few professional soldiers among them had run regular drills. Had they outnumbered the soldiers, it would have been a fair fight.

Except that the soldiers outnumbered them, and they weren't looking to take prisoners.

Airah dodged under the sword strike of the bandit guard she'd charged, and didn't even bother to draw her own sword -in this situation, she would have more chance to hurt her own allies than harm her enemies-, and simply punched her enemy in the stomach.

He folded over, his breath instantly gone as the armor plates bent and his ribs were pulverized.

The soldier following Airah decapitated him without even breaking a stride.

Airah rushed towards the prisoners. They weren't technically her responsability, but they were the single greatest point of failure in this operation. After all, officially they were doing this to rescue them, and if they were taken hostage things might go sideways. Lenna probably wouldn't cave in, but Airah didn't like to rely on 'ifs'. Besides, if nothing else, once they realized what was happening, the enemy would come to her.

Another bandit tried to interpose herself between Airah and the corral where the prisoners were kept, and she shouldered the woman aside, wincing as the bandit managed to slice her arm in the process. She was still impressively resilient in her human form, but not nearly as much as  in her dragon form.

The bandits guarding the prisoners had ample time to see her coming, and formed up. The one with the rifle shouldered it, aimed, and-

She extended her hand, and the firebolt flew out. She'd been incanting while running -part of the reason she'd just shouldered the other bandit aside rather than properly neutralize her-, and the bandit had a split second to look surprised before falling to his knees, screaming in pain.

The other bandits were taken completely by surprised, and stepped away from their comrade by reflex, giving Airah all the opening she needed.

She dove in the middle of them. The first bandit she came upon, she simply slammed into, helping her stop her momentum, and sending him crashing through the corral's barrier. She whirled around, and the fight proper began.

Three bandits came at her at once. Two with swords, and one with a spear. She ignored the swordsmen, simply tanking their pitiful slashes in favor of grabbing the spear, tugging its user forward, and grabbing her head, before headbutting her.

Her opponent's skull cracked, and Airah dropped the suddenly lifeless bandit. The two other took a step back, looking at her in panic, suddenly realizing that they had seriously underestimated her.

One looked around at the rest of the camp, then threw his sword on the floor and ran. The other however, was made of sterner stuff, and he took a guard position.

Airah smiled, and stalked towards him, before freezing as Stellyra popped an alert on her vision.

The bandit wasn't looking at her. He was looking behind her.

Airah tried to turn around, and was a fraction of a second too late. The bayonet pierced her side, and-

BLAM

Airah screamed in pain as she finished her turn, tearing the bayonet out of her flesh, and facing the musketeer.

He had survived the firebolt. His torso was clearly burned, but his armor had taken the brunt of it. He looked at her eyes wide, and Airah stepped forward.

This time she wasn't fighting normally. This time she was pissed.

She stepped forward, smashing the rifle aside, breaking it in half, grabbed his head, and in a single scream of rage, ripped it off. Then she sensed more than anything the swordsman rushing her, and she spun around, lowering herself into a crouch, the sword passing through where her head had been a second ago. On the way she grabbed the leg of the musketeer, and tossed his corpse into the swordsman's legs.

The bandit fell, his legs taken out from underneath him, and barely had the time to start lifting himself up, before Airah's foot slammed him back down, instantly crushing his skull as she put all of her weight and strength down into it.

She rose her leg, extirpating her foot from the mess that had become of the bandit's head, and looked around, one hand pressed against her side, to help staunch the bleeding, not that her blood wasn't already clotting. Being a dragon had its perks, even in human form.

It was already over. The last few bandits that were still up were running for their lives, with soldiers hot in pursuit. As she watched, half of them fell, arrows piercing their backs, and the rest were cut down as the soldiers caught up to them.

"Lady....Lady Starfire?"

Airah blinked, and looked to the side. A handful of soldiers were approaching her, the officer she's talked to at the gate at their head. They looked...afraid.

"Yes?"

"Uh, can we approach?"

Airah blinked at the absurdity of the question, before she realized that they were afraid of her. She was about to laugh, when she looked at the bodies around her.

Okay. Maybe they had a good reason to be afraid.

"Of course!" She gestured at the smashed barrier in the corral. "As you can see, we won't need a key."

The officer chuckled dutifully, and then nodded at his men, who rushed through the corral, making a beeline for the prisoners.

"This went well." Said Lenna as she approached from the center of the camp, and Airah nodded.

"So it seems." She looked at the baroness. "Did you lose any of your men?"

"No, surprisingly. A couple of serious wounds, but nothing a few potions can't solve." Airah made a mental note that potions did exist in this world. There had been some referrence to alchemy in the magic books she'd read, but no clear description. "We're going to have to do a headcount, but I'm fairly sure half a dozen of the bandits escaped."

"Well, it was unlikely that we would get them all. Did you kill the leader at least?"

"Oh yeah. Pierced his foul heart myself." Answered Lenna, looking very satisfied with herself.

"That's good." Airah smiled as she rubbed her hands. "Now, while your men check up on the rescues, I'm going to start putting together some of the loot."

*****

In the end it took almost three hours to scour the camp, and check up on the rescuees. Most of them were severely traumatized, having been repeatedly beaten and raped, men and women alike, but they were incredibly glad to be rescued, and some of them had to be restrained when they grabbed swords and tried to hack the bodies of their former captors to pieces.

Airah looked at the piles of loot, and back at the officer standing to her side.

The soldier was holding a literal clipboard, and silently counted a few of the items, checking it against her list, and nodded.

"It looks good." She turned towards Lenna. "Do you agree milady?"

The baroness nodded.

"It seems fair to me. Lady Starfire?"

Airah chuckled.

"I'm the one that asked for this loot, remember?"

"Fair. Very well then, it's yours then!"

Airah nodded, and stepped forward, beginning to shove the smaller of the piles into her bag of holding. In the end once everything had been assembled, and she'd gotten to pick her spoils -under the very attentive eyes of what she suspected was a quartermaster brought along specifically for this very reason-. She'd gone for the higher quality items, first because she was afraid of running out of room in her bag of holding, but also because she didn't really need a crate of armor or swords, and she would probably just sell them off anyway.

What she ended up with was a steel sword they'd found in the bandit leader's personal chest. It was very finely made, and it had an unnatural glimmer to it. Apparently that was a telltale sign for an enchantment, although it was usually hard to spot for humans. She had no idea what it did, but push came to shove she could probably have Marty identify it for her. Accompanying it was a sizeable bag of gold -a solid three hundred coins- as well as three platinum coins. She had also found an almost pristine bow and a crossbow, each with their own maintenance supplies and ammunition. She'd also sampled some of the foods and spices, but the bandits either weren't interested in good quality food, or they'd eaten it all already. Last but not the least, she'd also taken the musket and all of the related equipment and ammunition. It was broken -her attack had bent the barrel, and the stock was smashed-, but she could learn a lot from it, and maybe she could find someone to have it repaired, although she highly doubted a blacksmith could it. Worse came to worse, she could always use the blackpowder and  bullets to make explosives or directional mines, although she'd have to be very careful when doing so.

She finished stashing her prize, and gave Lenna a slightly mocking bow.

"Now if you'll excuse me lady Vostner, I need to return home." She winced, and touched the wound on her side. She bayonet hadn't been that bad, but the hole the bullet had torn through her body was a serious pain. "I must rest."

Lenna nodded.

"Of course. Are you sure you don't want to accompany us? I could house you in my mansion while you recover."

"No, it's fine." If nothing else she could already feel her flesh starting to slowly knit itself together, which was a slightly terrifying and unnerving sensation to say the least. Plus she still didn't want to end up trapped in that mansion. "I'll just sleep it off, I'll be fine. Now, if you'll excuse me?"

Lenna nodded, and Airah walked out into the woods.

*****

"Well, that was a good lesson. We're tough, but we're not invincible." Said Stellyra as Airah winced, and sat down in the cave.

"Yeah." Flying back had not been pleasant. Her wound had even reopened once, although it had once more closed quickly. Still, she was seriously hurting. Airah chuckled as a thought popped up. "Just like a Devourer, right?"

"I guess." Stellyra shrugged. "It's not like I remember anymore. Neither do you for that matter."

"I still have some flashes. Missiles everywhere, plasma pounding the hull..."

"Right. Fair enough." Stellyra sighed. "So, I suppose it's time to take a long nap?"

"Oh yeah. We'll test out the new stuff tomorrow."

"Sure."

*****

"My lord. We have news from Valdan's camp."

Lorik Ilran-Hammer, who some called 'the bandit lord', rose an eyebrow as his second in command walked into the tent.

"What kind of news captain?"

The woman met his gaze.

"Bad ones, I suppose. His camp has been wiped out. Most of his men slaughtered. A few escaped, and one of our patrols snapped up a survivor."

"Ah." Lorik leaned back into his throne. It was makeshift, like the rest of his 'throne room', but it was impressive enough to serve its purpose. "So one more rival down. How is that bad news?"

"Because his camp was not raided by one of our other rivals. It was destroyed by the baroness and her troops. As well as..." She hesitated. "I'm not sure I believe it myself, but according to the survivor and adventurer was accompanying the assault. Some kind of monk, who killed a dozen men with her bare hands."

Lorik laughed.

"Ah! Like our good friends and vassals insisting their attempt on the baroness had been foiled by a dragon?"

"Perhaps my lord." Lorik had not been pleased when the tattered remain of his strike force had come home, spinning wild tails of dragons coming down from the sky. It was especially convenient of them that none of his men who he had sent, and who would have, said, prevented cowards from running away, had survived this 'dragon attack' to report back. Only men from the bandit leaders who had sworn alliegance from him had come back, and Lorik trust them as far as he could throw a mountain. "But there was little reason to lie. And he looked genuinely afraid." The captain smiled. "I frankly doubt his tale is accurate -he was busy running for his life after all-, but there is a good chance there was at least a skilled adventurer with the baroness' forces. It would explain how they found the camp, and why some of the prisoners managed to escape."

Lorik nodded.

"A fair point captain. Very well, relay this information to our...allies, and pass the word. I want an officer's meeting at sundown. We will need to discuss how much this changes the situation, and how we can profit from it."

"Yes my lord, right away." The captain bowed, and exited the tent, as Lorik rubbed his chin.

An adventurer, uh? Well, this might get interesting after all, he thought to himself.