The next two days passed and they were dull with only the occasional howling of wolves to greet us through our journey. It was a mild sunny late afternoon when Taltil approached me with urgency. Her breathing was erratic and the way her lungs gasped for air clearly showed that she covered a long distance in a sprint. Which all the more, added to the urgency of the issue. My attention was fully devoted to Taltil.

“Men. Humans. Lots of weapons. Bad people. Robbers.” She paused for a moment, then added. “Robbers I think.”

With our current group, it is unlikely that wandering bandits would even attempt to rob us. But since Taltil made the effort to keep me informed and judging to err on the side of caution, I beckoned Arlene by my side.

“How many are there?” I questioned the goblin further.

“Many, more than us. Some are hidden. Cannot see all.” She replied.

I exchanged a brief glance with Arlene. She simply nodded. So probably more than twenty.

“I would like to scout them myself and get an idea,” declared Arlene. “Where did you see them? Show me.”

The ranger took another look at the goblin still gasping for breath and changed her mind.

“On a second thought, just tell me how I could find them.”

“Just observe and do not get involved.” I cautioned, knowing full well the temperament of the half-elf.

Arlene did not bother to respond as she strode in the direction which Taltil indicated.

*****

Arlene returned after what seemed like a quarter of a day. Behind her calm cat like stride hid a meandering panic.

“They will come for us. They have seen us and are encircling us.”

“How certain are you? And how many of them are there?” I demanded more information.

“I could not count their exact numbers, they are a bit spread apart. But would be close to thirty if I must make a guess. But their number is not the issue. They are not bandits or at least not your usual sort.” Arlene twitched her fingers as if she were etching for some action.

“Not usual sort?”

“The types of equipment. You see usual bandits carry threatening weapons. It is a part of a robbery. Kind of like goes with the territory. Make yourself appear menacing and all. So most of them carry sort of crude and mean-looking weapons. But not this bunch. They have tower shields. I counted at least five of them carrying tower shields. And a few have halberds. Usually, it is either pike or barbed spears or something like that. Halberds and tower shields are not the staple weapons in their arsenal.” She finished her assessment.

“When will they attack us? Do they show signs of urgency?” I choose to approach the situation from another perspective.

“If I am not mistaken, they are preparing to hit us before the night ends.”

“Could we outrun them? How far is Westerleygates from here?”

“Not too far but we won't be able to outrun them. We would be hit halfway.”

With that, my first option was rendered useless. My next option is to stall.

“How about requesting the city watch from Westerleygates?” Even though I proposed the question, the outcome was clear. If I have to send someone to inform the authorities in Westerleygates, it has to be Arlene. She would be the obvious choice. But sending Arlene away would be a reduction in fighting capabilities.

Arlene gave me the look and shrugged.

“But would you able to hold out?” She did not need to say the word “alone”. Her tone clearly implied that she considered the option.

“Probably not the best option then.”

Since both of the primary options were exhausted. It fell upon my final course. Do we play the defender or go on the offence?

“Are there any easily defendable locations?”

“why go on defence? We could hit them before they can assemble. Attack is the best form of defence. right?”

Maapu mysteriously appeared beside Arlene and gave an eager nod to the big head. He managed to obtain a crude wooden spear and a long dagger, both of which he clutched tightly. A surprising turn of events, since Maapu usually disliked Arlene.

“They are too spread apart as you mentioned. We cannot stretch ourselves thin. While we go on offence they would hit Dar’s Wagon. We need them assembled at one location and that would happen only when they hit us.”

“Call Dar and his two assistants. I would like to go through another option with them.”

*****

Dar was obviously, as expected, not pleased with my suggestion.

“Surely, you could do something.” His voice stuttered as he spoke.

“Superior numbers Dar. Negotiation might be the only prudent option left.” I tried to sound reassuring.

“But we are close to Westerlygates. You have these big Warbeasts. I could drive the Wagon fast towards Westerleygates and you can charge at them with you Warbeasts. Can you not?” Dar sounded desperate.

I guess under stress anyone can become a Strategician.

“Unfortunately, it will not work. They have tower shields with them. They would use them as a defensive line to stop our charge.”

“Not to mention, spiked tower shields and halberds,” Arlene added for her part.

“But you are the escort. Mercenaries with all the huge boars and goblins. It is your duty to protect. Why else am I paying you? You don’t fight and still call yourselves a mercenary company?” Dar’s voice rose with every syllable. As should any honest wage-earning man’s should their livelihood be threatened.

“Dar,” I said with firmness, “let me remind you, You haven’t paid us anything. We have neither agreed on a sum nor have we signed any contract. On the contrary, it was me who promised you a brokerage. So, conversely, it is in our best interest to see you safely to Westerleygates.”

“We are taking the best course of action to ensure your safety Dar.” Arlene uttered her opinion.

“I understand your position, your very livelihood is threatened. But I prioritize your lives over goods. And I am sure, you would do the same.”

My words seem to have brought a bit of clarity to Dar. But he was still not his usual self.

“Now,” raising my voice to be heard by all, I exclaimed,” if you can co-operate, let us go through a few basic measures, should the negotiation fall. I would rather have a fallback plan.”

I instructed them to form a small defensive circle with the wares and the wagons. Except for Maapu, Theko and Taltil, the rest of the goblins were forbidden from participating in combat. I left instruction with Dar to stay in the defensive circle till I give the word and should he not hear from me, he is to take the horses and take the swift path to Westerleygates.

Dar, on his part, meekly nodded. In contrast, his two apprentices seemed lively and attentive.

I went through the plan again and once I felt satisfied, I gave the word.

“Now we wait till the Moon is up.”

“What difference would it make?” Dar sounded like a man who has given up on all hope.

“For one thing, I see far more clearly in the night. I am certain, Arlene is not hindered by the darkness. and who knows, maybe some passing forest spirit might take pity on us. “

*****

I made sure that Arlene was in the position before willing myself to meet them, would-be bandits. While I moved in the direction of their approach, I tried to formulate a plan for the negotiation. The information available on them is not sufficient. All we know is, that they are well equipped to be just bandits. Tower shields and halberds. My most likely guess, they are deserters from some army.

Neither Dar nor Ellie ever mentioned any armed conflict in the region. I cursed myself for not having spent enough time with Ellie. She would have delved into more information. If they are deserters, food and clothing might be of primary interest than expensive wares. I could use it to our advantage. Provide them with what they need to ensure our safety.

“I have come to negotiate” I proclaimed loudly, once I was certain that the enemy was in reach.

A moment of silence passed before a grim voice responded, “Well, then you are welcome”

I stood my ground and waited for a few heartbeats. Then they came in sight.

A veteran looking man with an eyepatch. He was followed by the five interlocked tower shields. Behind the tower shields, I guessed would be the archers. A standard formation. Protecting the archers with phalanx. My initial guess was correct. They are definitely deserters.

A bit of concentration helped me infer the position of the others. Most of them were encircling me while a few we aiming for the camp where Dar and the rest were waiting. They are still aiming for Dar. I need to push the negotiation fast.

“So Noble of you to offer something to us, humble peasants,” The eyepatch spoke with a tinge of mockery.

“Peasants who know how to use spiked tower shields,” I replied in kind. “I believe we both could benefit from each other without shedding blood.”

The man with the eyepatch gave a wide grin with his perfectly arrayed teeth glistening in the moonlight.

“True, true. Especially, if the blood to be shed is yours.”

The rest of his men did not laugh at his attempted humour. They maintained silence. So they are disciplined.

“My employer has given me the permission to carry out this negotiation,” I started. “You are free to our coins and foods. That is all I can offer. “

“Is that all? ” The eyepatch let the question linger for a moment. “Surely, You can offer more.”

“You are free to help yourself to the wares, though most of them are useless to you. They are low valued goods. You would hardly make any profit. Factor in the efforts required to carry them, you would hardly gain any.”

“Low-value goods, you say” The eyepatch spoke again. He attempted his best cynical voice. “Yet, valuable enough to hire an escort. I do not believe.”

“We are not hired. Our paths merely crossed.”

“Yes, yes, Your paths merely crossed. Did you not call them your employer before? Not that I am calling you a liar, let us agree then that your paths merely crossed,” The eyepatch man still maintained his distance,” and you lend your dire boar to pull one of their wagons as a mere show of good-will. Here is what I think, usually when negotiation is willingly suggested, the other party most likely has more to lose than what they offer. Second, the wagon pulled by the dire boar has far more items of value than you make it sound.”

He is quick on assimilating information and has the brains to supplement his brawns.

“Well if you think that way, then you are free to take a look at the wares and choose for yourself,” I offered him an option.

After a brief pause, I added, “You know what, feel free to take the wares in the wagon. That way you can believe my words yourself.”

“That is very generous of you,” The man with the eyepatch uttered loudly. “It would be impolite to refuse such an offer. We would take the goods from your hands. relieve you of the burden and while we are at it, we would also help ourselves to the wagons. Can’t carry them all by ourselves.”

He gave the toothy grin again. Then he continued, “We would also need someone to drive the wagons. We have our hands full.”

So they had no intention of letting us go.

“Wares for the safety of their lives,” I steadied my voice, “those are the terms of our negotiation.”

“yes, I promise the safety of our lives. No harm done to them. We hold our side of the bargain.” declared the eyepatch.

“So that was your real intention. You were always after the peddlers. The wares were just a ruse.” I decided to lay it out in the open.

“A very astute observation,” the eyepatch sounded genuinely surprised, “and now the important question, what will you do?”

I proclaimed loudly, “I guess the negotiations broke down. We resolve through primitive means to settle.”

A feral grin flashed across the eyepatch man’s face. The interlocked tower shield moved forward. Behind the wall of tower shields, I could sense bowstrings being pulled by the archers. They were fully prepared for this. And then sudden darkness covered. A Darkness, not pitch black, a darkness as if the moon was eclipsed by dark clouds, a sort of natural darkness on a moonless night and yet there was nothing natural about this darkness, Nor was anything natural about the surreal fog which instantly permeated the atmosphere.

Finally, Vitalia made the first move and the battle was even.

*****

A few arrows were loosened in the general direction of where I should have been. Under the guise of darkness, the archers had lesser success in targeting me. Their arrows aimed vaguely in what they presumed to be my general location. The tower shield experts would have fared better if they hadn’t abandoned wearing protective armour. They relied too much on the tower shields. I readied my dirk and tuck.

I darted towards the phalanx and leveraged the spikes on the approaching tower shields to propel myself above. With my descent, I rammed the dirk on the eye socket of an unfortunate shieldman. His spine made a breaking sound as his neck broke from my weight. My landing was lithe and swung a quarter of a circle before I jabbed upwards with the tuck in my other hand between the unprotected ribs of another shieldman. A small twist of the wrist was all that was needed to ensure that the tuck found its target, the heart of its hapless victim.

With the opponent's number reduced by two shieldmen, It was time to focus on the archers. It would take more than a thousand heartbeats for normal humans to adjust to the darkness, but trained and disciplines warriors would take lesser time to reorient themselves. Additionally, there are the halberdiers to take into account. Even in the dark, the wide swing of their halberds would pose a threat. My only hope was with Arlene. I had to trust Arlene and her so-called “unerring arrows”.

The archers are my next target. They are lightly armoured and would be perfect for my currently equipped weapons. I darted and dodge rolled on the ground to close the gap. My hand firmly grasped the tuck as I rose from my position. I thrusted the blade in the throat of the nearest archer. I spun in a wide arc as I retrieved the tuck from the dying archer all the while still closing the distance with the next archer. The dirk on my other hand made a clean cut across my next target’s jugular vein. My next victim was in front of me as I stopped my rotation. I performed two fast jabs with the same fluid motion of a well-practised dancer rehearsing their moves.

Pleased with my progress so far, I pirouetted back in the direction of the camp. Dar would need my help. I summoned all my endurance to carry me back to the camp. Arlene on her part seemed far more comfortable in her position on a treetop. Despite the large overgrowth and interlocking canopies, the half-elf ranger found her mark. I was greeted with the sight of two dead halberdiers. A few more bodies lay on the forest ground with arrows stuck to them. Those who were wounded with the arrows and not dead found my dirk to their throat.

The first sight that greeted me as I arrived at the camp was Razzia parrying a man with a long dagger. Her opponent carried a shortsword and a round shield. He was quick on his attacks and deftly countered with the shield. Razzia on her part danced around her opponents with the grace of well-practised moves. The three goblins were already on an opponent on the ground. Their vigorous stabbings ensured that the opponent did not survive. Before them on the ground lay a mangled corpse, the face a bloody mess. An eyeball dangled out of its socket.

But it was Nemeash who surprised me by not just holding his own against two armoured opponents. Both his opponents were moderately armoured with sabatons and vambraces covering even their extended body parts. One of his opponents wielded a halberd while the other used a curved scimitar and round shield. By contrast, Nemeash held his ground with his quarterstaff. He did not bother to parry their attacks rather countered their attacks with one of his own. Aiming for their vital joints before his opponent's attack could connect. The halberdier swung his halberd in a downward arc while the swordsman rushed from the other side. Nemeash deftly twisted his upper body extending himself towards the swordman and pushed the tip of the quarterstaff downward aiming for the back knee of his opponent. His left hand holding the middle of the quarterstaff acted as a fulcrum while with his right hand, he applied a downward force, gently sweeping the swordman off his feet in a smooth motion.

In a subsequent fluid motion which could only be described on a single motion rather than two attacks, Nemeash pushed his quarterstaff in the other direction between the arms of the halberdier and with another swift motion disarmed the halberdier. Taltil quickly hopped on to grab the halberd while Maapu and Theko were already upon the swordsman. Theko’s monstrous strength held the enemy to the ground while Maapu assaulted with his inborn rage. Meanwhile, the Halberdier was left confused at the sudden loss of his weapon. I took the opportunity to spin close to him and rammed my dirk upwards aiming towards his exposed lower jaw. I felt little resistance as my weapon penetrated and a loud scream issued from the throat of my victim. The halberdier raised his hands to hold his face notwithstanding the pain. That was the chance that I was hoping for. I thrust my dirk in his lightly protected underarms and give it a twist before pulling it out. He went down like a puppet whose strings were suddenly cut.

The silhouette of a few opponents appeared in the mist.

“Do not pursue, hold the ground. Stay in formation.” I reminded them while running towards Razzia.

She was having far less luck against her foe. Beads of sweat on her forehead glistened in the campfire as she tried to avoid another incoming slash. How could they be so gullible? Must I outline every single step?

“Put out the campfire,” I shouted an order.

My initial slash with the dirk was easily parried with the shield. I swung two more arcs. One above and another below, both of which were again easily parried.

“Taltil, Theko, both of you, put out the fire now,” I screamed again.

With the corner of my eyes, I witness both the goblins rushing towards the campfire.

In hindsight, I should have outlined my plan thoroughly. In the sudden onset of darkness, the campfire acted as a beacon for the enemies. That explained their faster than expected arrival at the campsite.

Razzia and I kept the warrior occupied till the campfire was put out. Once the last embers died delivering their luminance, my tuck went for the killing blow. As the warrior went down, the silhouettes from the fog neared the camp. Razzia has the presence of mind to figure out what I was attempting to do. She was already halfway back to the defensive circle and joined the rest. Nemeash shortly joined Razzia.

A few of the silhouettes on their way towards the camp fell forward and never rose. Arlene seemed to be handling the situation far beyond my expectation. The figures behind the silhouette who managed to still get closer to the camp despite the hail of arrows from the ranger were quickly dispatched by me. Fighting a dark elf while groping in the dark is not an effective strategy. A fact that they should have factored in earlier before attempting to attack us.

Soon a light illuminated in the distance within the fog. Followed by another. And then the light started moving. They are lighting torches. Adapting to the situation. As soon as another torch was lit, the first light stopped moving and fell. A couple of heartbeats later, the second torch fell and stopped moving. This would be the last phase and everything was dependent on Arlene now. Or rather how fast she could demoralise them from lighting the torches.

My blade found a few clueless stragglers in the fog. I made a patrolling round around the camp and did a sweep killing any who came close. So far, I killed two shieldmen, three archers, and three more wounded enemies along the way. Arlene already had three definite kills. So that made it eleven dead foes. In the camp, there was one already dead and three more eliminated. So that makes it fifteen confirmed body count on their side. The few opponents that we slew afterwards would amount to anywhere between ten to fifteen. I lost track of the number. So anywhere between twenty-five to thirty deaths on their side. A few more deaths, they would retreat.

But in this unnatural fog-covered grounds and darkness, there would be no option to retreat. This would be a full slaughter.

*****

“That was totally an epic victory.” Arlene sounded pleased with herself as she plucked the arrow from a dead corpse.

“A narrow one, thanks to your mentor,” I made sure to acknowledge the contributions of the fae.

Nearby, the goblins were busy stripping the dead of their valuables. From the expression that Arlene wore on her face, it was obvious that she did not appreciate collecting from the dead.

“A necessary evil, sadly” I uttered, “We need to survive. but think of it like this: On the other hand, we got some really quality gear to sell.”

Vitalia who was silent until now finally spoke, “This is not the end, just the beginning, isn’t it?”

I nodded to Vitalia in acknowledgement.

“I reckon the one with the eyepatch will not be amongst the dead,” I added.

“I kept tabs on him during the fight. He made his way.” Vitalia confirmed my fears.

“He lost his men, would take him a while to muster new forces. By the time we would be out of this whole region.” Arlene was nonchalant with her opinion.

“Not true. You see they were equipped with not just tower shields but spiked tower shields and Halberds. The perfect units against mounted dire boars.”

“an unfortunate coincidence?“ The ranger exposed her naivety again.

“Check their equipment, they are all high quality. None of them was wielding spiked clubs or even axes. Plus their armours and shields were blackened. If I may add,” I squat down to rub the soot from one of the round shields on my fingers, “freshly darkened and in a hurry.”

“I thought that they might have been sent by Merrick. That was why I went alone to negotiate with them. They weren’t after us.” I concluded.

“So they are not just some random deserters who were looking to take some easy slaves?” Arlene verbalised her thoughts.

“Definitely not, they were specifically targeting. Not us but someone in our company.” I finished while gazing in the direction of Dar.