While everyone in Kelna was waiting with bated breath, a large group of people were walking on the small trail towards the village. Leading them was a thirty-year-old man with black hair and a gruffy beard. His name was Lambert and he was the leader of the Silver Wolves, a bandit group of some renown boasting twenty-seven members.

Most of the group was on foot, sported crude gear and carried empty linen sacks, ready to be filled with their plunders. The only ones different were Lambert and his two lieutenants. They’d scale armor, sharp swords and most impressive of all: horses¹.

“We’re getting too close to Starfall boss. Won’t that be a problem?” asked lieutenant Cavan.

“We’re fine. In the last few years the lord of Starfall has been rather quiet. His troops haven’t patrolled the roads as frequently as they should, and other groups have gotten away with some pretty outrageous moves,” said Lambert.

“That is weird. Guess that’s better for us hardworking folks who get to run around more freely, hahaha,” laughed lieutenant Drew.

“Oh, look there! Is that a kid? He’s running away!” exclaimed Cavan.

“Let him, where can he go? We’re already upon his village,” said Lambert.

The bandits followed the beaten path towards the settlement leisurely. Soon, they could see the thatched houses in the distance, surrounded by the golden fields of wheat and the greenery of the rolling hills. The kid they’d spotted earlier was running with all his might and only stopped when he reached two people that were by the village entrance. After talking with them for a moment, he ran inside.

Lambert brought his group and stopped fifty meters away from the same people the kid had talked two. They were a young woman and a middle-aged man. Both had bows in their hands and looked like the village’s hunters. They were looking at him and his men with grave expressions.

“Listen folks, we’re here for your valuables. Play nice and nobody gets hurt, what do you say?” asked Lambert in a relaxed manner.

The woman didn’t respond, only drawing her bow and letting loose an arrow towards him with great speed. Lambert drew his sword in a silvery arch and parried the arrow. The girl’s eyes widened in response.

“Why do you have to be like this… men, after them!”

Lambert and his lieutenants stood still on their horses while the rest of the group rushed ahead towards the village. The woman and the middle-aged man drew their bows and began shooting at them, but it wasn’t very effective because the bandits on the frontlines were using large shields. When they finally closed in half the distance to their targets, some of the bandits felt the ground give up beneath them, making them stumble. This stopped their advance and disrupted everyone around them.

-

“NOW!” Liza shouted.

From the fields on both sides of the trail a group of heads popped up. The residents of Kelna rushed ahead, shouting and striking with their wooden spears at the invaders. Caught off guard, the bandits suffered greatly. Only two were directly killed by Carl and one of the village’s veterans in this first attack, but most of them suffered wounds of varying degrees. With the enemy formation now a mess, Liza and the middle-aged man finally had good targets to strike down with their bows.

Meanwhile, the tactician for this ambush was hidden in the crops, lying on the ground with Eliot and Boro at his side. Hearing the sounds of combat, Ben patted Eliot’s back, signalling him to go. Eliot and Boro were excited to finally be able to play. They jumped on the trail at the bandits’ back and began killing with gusto.

They’d boxed in the invaders. Liza and the middle-aged man were firing arrows from the front and were protected by many pitfall traps. The villagers stayed partially hidden in the fields, attacking from both sides using their weapons with superior reach. Closing the rear were Eliot and Boro, both slaughtering enemies to their hearts’ content. The bandits were in complete disarray and were having trouble retaliating.

-

Lambert and his lieutenants were taken aback watching all of this.

“An ambush!” exclaimed Lambert.

“What should we do boss?” asked Cavan.

“That man and that magical beast are strong! Cavan you’re with me! Drew, go into the fields and take someone hostage! I doubt they’ll keep fighting after that!”

Lambert spurred his horse towards Eliot who was cutting bandits left and right with his stone blade. Cavan followed right behind him. They lifted their swords in the air and prepared to strike. Feeling suddenly in danger, Eliot ducked and rolled forward, managing to avoid their attacks by a hair’s width.

Lambert and Cavan maneuvered their horses for a follow up, but Boro flew at them and attacked erratically, forcing them to defend. This terrified the horses who started acting up. In the end, they’d to push Boro back and dismount. The horses ran away in fright, trampling a few bandits and villagers in the process.

Their bout came to a lull. Eliot and Boro stood at one side and Lambert and Cavan at the other. They were assessing their adversaries, watching to see who’d be the first to move.

“What kind of beast is that! It can fly and is so hard to deal with!” exclaimed Cavan.

“I’ve no idea! You need to keep it busy Cavan, I’ll finish this guy and help you with it afterwards!”

“Damn it! Fine!”

In the end, Eliot and Boro were the impatient ones as they both rushed forward. Cavan intercepted Boro while Lambert focused on dealing with Eliot. In a matter of seconds, they were all locked in deadly combat.

Boro flew in unpredictable patterns, going from high to low, left to right, doing his best to find a gap and take a bite off Cavan. The lieutenant from the Silver Wolves did his best to keep moving and aimed all his strikes at the part of the creature that was covered in bandages. With this he managed to keep Boro at bay and infuriated the dragon quite a bit.

Not far from them, Eliot and Lambert were trading blows, their swords clashing against each other. That situation didn’t last for long however and soon Lambert found himself in a passive position, doing his best to dodge and parry all of Eliot’s ferocious strikes.

[Who is this man?! His strikes are so fast and heavy! Thank the gods he only knows how to swing his sword around! Fuck! When are you going to grab that hostage Drew? Hurry!]

Just as he was cursing inwards, Drew dragged a woman from the fields to the open trail, his sword against her neck. He inhaled and shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Stop this foolery or she dies!”

When the villagers saw the man had a hostage they hesitated. They wouldn’t have a problem if the woman had died in battle, they’d be sad, but that’s it. After all, they’d gathered their courage to fight. This was different however, as she was alive right now. Only if they kept resisting would she be killed, and the onus of her death would be on them.

The remaining bandits cheered. They didn’t understand why they were having this much trouble. It was hard to advance because there was always at least one spear poking at them and the ground was filled with small holes that tripped them up. Even though most of them weren’t gravely injured, they felt drowsy and tired, like they had been fighting forever. In fact, most of the collapsed bandits on the ground weren’t dead, they were sleeping!

Lambert retreated yet again after a fierce swing from Eliot. He was in a sore state. His arms trembled slightly, he huffed for breath and was sweating all over. Eliot on the other hand only had some perspiration on his forehead. It was clear who held the advantage. Hearing Drew’s shout, Lambert rejoiced.

“We’ve a hostage now… how about… how about we stop this fight my friend?” asked Lambert in heavy breaths.

Eliot and Boro completely ignored the hostage situation and continued their attacks. Cavan wasn’t having it much better than his boss with his confrontation with Boro, it was taking all his effort to keep the dragon from biting his neck off.

Lambert cursed inwards. He was drawing from all his experience to fend off Eliot’s attacks, but he doubted he could keep going like this. If that was the case, it was better to prepare an opportunity and gamble it all.

-

On the other side of the fight, the villagers were still hesitating. The bandits finally closed in without much opposition. Realizing things were going south, Liza frowned and pondered quickly on what to do.

The hostage was being held tight by the outlaw, covering his body almost completely. She didn’t have a clear target. In her perfect condition, maybe she could pull off a difficult shot like that once in a hundred tries, but now it was impossible. Her arms and shoulders were sore and trembled slightly, she knew she only had a few shots left in her before she was spent.

[There’s no way I can make that shot. If I miss it entirely and give that fucker enough time to react things could turn even worse…]

Liza drew an arrow and sighed. She knew there was no other way. Saying sorry under her breath, she let the arrow fly straight at the hostage, piercing the woman’s skull. Everyone was stunned, it was a development nobody expected.

Now that she was dead, the woman’s legs gave in and the full weight of her body caught lieutenant Drew by surprise. He couldn’t keep hold of her any longer and in a matter of seconds he was fully exposed. Before he could even understand what was going on, an arrow pierced his throat. He fell to the ground with his eyes open wide, dying moments later in confusion.

“The hostage is dead! Fight! Fight for your village and your loved ones!” shouted Liza.

The villagers and the bandits were still shell-shocked, but Carl recovered quickly. He impaled another bandit and kept attacking aggressively. The fight resumed, and the bandits were on the back foot yet again.

-

Lambert inhaled deeply, it was time to go for broke. The entire fight he’d been careful, focusing on defending and dodging, using only light attacks he could pull back from at a moment’s notice. Now that the hostage card failed he had to go on an all-out offensive. He gathered all his energy and swung his sword down in a feint. When Eliot jumped to the side as he predicted, he changed the trajectory of the blade to a horizontal slash. Seeing things play out as he planned, Lambert smiled.

[Got you now! That’s what you get for jumping around like a monkey all the time!]

Noticing he wouldn’t be able to escape the attack, Eliot slashed back at bandit leader with all his strength. They were both committed and couldn’t stop now even if they wanted to. Lambert was confident he would win the exchange since he struck first. His blade bore into Eliot’s side almost at the same instant Eliot’s blade cleaved into his shoulder and down to his chest.

“Well… fuck…” whispered Lambert as he fell to the ground, dead.

Eliot sat down on the ground, grunting. Lambert’s blade was still stuck at his side. The only reason he was still alive was because his strike was faster, stronger and more devastating. Lambert had lost his strength mid strike, so his blade only bore into Eliot a few centimetres deep. It was a grave wound, but not a fatal one.

“Boss… no way…”

Catching the exchange with the corner of his eye, Cavan was stunned. His boss was the strongest person he’d ever met, someone that had drank a power-up potion made by alchemists! In his moment of distraction Boro pounced at his neck, tearing his throat apart.

-

Soon, the sound of cheers echoed on the battlefield. All the bandits had collapsed on the ground, either dead or sleeping. The villagers cried and hugged each other. They’d won. They almost couldn’t believe it, but they had won. Hearing the cries of victory, all the residents that didn’t participate in the fight ran out from inside the village. The elderly kissed their children and grandchildren, couples hugged, and the young shouted at the top of their lungs.

Ben walked out from his hiding spot and surveyed the battlefield. He was happy they’d won, but not as much as the villagers. He knew he’d played an important part in this and held some responsibility towards all the deaths. As he stood there, lost in thought and without knowing what to feel, a young lass rushed to him, embraced him tightly and kissed him on the cheek.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she said after releasing him.

Ben stood there bewildered. His companions (except Liza) were also being profusely thanked by the villagers. Seeing the happiness and gratitude of the residents, Ben felt a little better.

[There was no other way, after all… I need to get used to this.]

-

¹ Proper gear is expensive. A spear is cheap and can be easily made, but a quality sword is something you need to pay a good amount of coin to get. Metal armor is usually even more expensive and horses take the cake. Of course, this is from the standpoint of the common people and fledgling adventurers.