3rd Day, Fall of 512 A.V. Early Afternoon Furstur Ridge, The Unforgiving Part 1 of 2 Steel. Its unnatural smell, which came from blacksmithing, was almost palpable in this area of pure nature. Telk had no choice but to stand from his crouched position and run, his own sword hanging at his side in its scabbard. He'd left his shield at his covered camp, underneath a small canopy of trees, it would only slow him down in an area like this, he had to move fast, and will agility. The only thing that raced through his mind was how close he was to catching the bandits, he'd tracked them for six days now, noting that were slowly making their way back up to Wind-Reach now that fall had come about. They were murderous bandits, the sort he could not abide, they would have been welcomed in Wind-Reach as wealthy men, simply because they killed all witnesses and claimed that they were foreign merchants. It was clear to Telk however that they had found their next victim, the sounds of battle were apparent up ahead. Running up the final ridge he spotted them, three bandits clad in simple leather armour circling a single man who wore armour similar to Telks, they were teasing their victim, playing with him, each bandit taking only the occasional stab when they could easily kill him instantly. As Telk snuck closer, a new smell drafted around him, fresh kills. His eyes darted around, it was an unusual smell, almost a mix, his thoughts confirmed themselves when he saw two dead bodies, one was a well armoured man, a mercenary, who had a single arrow sticking out of his temple. The second body must have been the bandits kill for the day, an animal, at this distance Telk couldn't recognize it though. When it came to it, Telk had noticed the victim that the bandits were tormenting seemed to hold himself with some stature, his parries and deflects were superbly timed and well executed, perhaps the bandits had picked the wrong man to mess with this time. Creeping closer he twitched and his head shot to the left, there was rustling in the bushes nearby, cautiously placing his hand on the hilt of his Sword he slid closer. Screaming pierced his ears, a man jumped from the bush with two menacing daggers in his hands, Telk fell from his crouched position and scrambled backwards in terror, composing himself he stood unsheathing his sword ready for combat with the frenzied bandit. The bandit landed his blows careful despite his frenzied state, immediately spinning to lash out at Telk, blow after blow came and all Telk could do was defend, this Bandit had speed on his side as well as an extra weapon to fight with. Telk had hoped to draw the fight out and put the bandit down with attrition but with the other bandits so close he had to silence this one quickly, ducking to avoid the next set of furious blows he rolled clumsily to the side, blocking both blades of the bandit and going on the offense, two diagonal slashes put the Bandit on the back-foot and gave Telk some breathing space, raising his sword high above his head he brought it straight down in a powerful two-handed fashion, breaking straight through the bandits weak defence and lodging his sword straight into the Bandits skull. The bandit fell, hitting the ground quickly, Telk retrieved his sword and sat for a moment, catching his breath. He dragged the Bandit behind the nearest bush and frisked him for anything useful before moving on. The Bandits had finished with their victim down in the valley. He laid dead on a small cart that the bandits had plundered recently. Telk cursed, when their fellow bandit doesn't return tonight they will be alerted to a possible threat in the vicinity, he would either have to risk a 3 on 1 fight now, or wait till they're alert and get his shield to make the fight a bit easier. The bandits finally began moving out, Telk had to think faster than normal now, a plan formulated slowly in his head, a lot of it relied on luck, while some of it relied on sheer timing. Telk groaned, dragging the newly dead bandit to the edge of the hill, he prayed to whatever god would listen as he pushed the bandit down the hill, the body rolled, kicking up dust, the bandits in the valley couldn't help but stop and look at the object that was now fast approaching them. The body hit a rock near the bottom of the hill and flew off, landing close to the Bandits cart, it only took the bandits a few moments to figure out what had happened, swords were drawn and two bandits began climbing the hill. Hunting for the source. Telk was almost at the bottom of the hill at a completely different side however, if he ran straight down he would be face to face with the horse pulling the cart, he'd moved his position in an attempt to outflank and outposition the bandits, he didn't want to shed anymore blood than necessary, so his plan was simple. Mount the Horse and ride off with the cart. Luck held out, he approached the horse and it made no noise, merely patted the ground waiting for the command to leave once more. Climbing on to the carts driving seat was Telks undoing however, the wood creaked and the Bandit guarding the cart looked behind him, he yelled what Telk could only assume was a curse and drew his sword, moving fast Telk grabbed the reigns and whipped the horse, signalling that it should start running, and fast. The Bandit was outdone as the horse charged forwards, Telk as its controller, leaving the valley in the dust. |