They were on their second day toward Milton when Celaine spotted someone amongst the trees. One of the great things about travelling with a Huntress of Owalyn was that it was nearly impossible to be caught off guard. Her eyes didn’t seem to miss anything—certainly not some bandit in the trees. The four of them rode to the head of the wagons and brought their small group of six wagons to a stop.

“Are you sure?” Deacon asked, face going pale from Celaine’s report. “Maybe it was just a forester.”

“Sure enough that we should be prepared for an attack,” Celaine said.

“It was probably a scout,” Hump said. “They’re likely tracking us now. I expect they’ll prepare an ambush somewhere on the road tomorrow. Easier to attack us in the day while we’re moving rather than where we shelter for the night.”

Beside him in the wagon, Deacon’s wife spoke. “Gods mercy. Deacon, what are we going to do? We’re still two days from Milton.”

Deacon ran a hand through his hair. The nine other traders travelling with them had joined them now, and from the looks on their faces, they hadn’t missed the worry in her voice.

“There’s nothing we can do but keep going,” Hump said. “Turning back will make no difference. Best we find a protected location to camp when we find a flat section of road and set the wagons up in a circle before nightfall. As long as everyone stays close, I’m confident my party and I will be able to protect you all.”

“And what do you know?” One of the men snapped. He was an old man with deeply tanned and sunken skin. “You’re a bunch of children. I knew coming out here was a bad idea, Deacon. We’ll be lucky if they leave our lives. You’ve heard the rumours.”

“Sir, please calm down,” Bud said. “The worst thing we can do right now is panic. If we work together, our party are more than capable of defending against a bandit attack. Perhaps you’ve forgotten that three of us are Chosen.”

“That’s right,” another of the traders said. “The gods are with us, Parlo. So keep your gob shut and let them do their thing.”

The man grumbled something under his breath but didn’t interrupt again. They set up the wagonfort that night, sheltering inside. Hump made them stick to a single fire, which made concealing it with Hidden Fire more manageable. With Celaine on lookout, he didn’t think a bunch of bandits had a chance of sneaking up on them. They slept in shifts, and come morning they’d been undisturbed.

The rain came the next day, but they didn’t dare stop. For once, Hump had it best of all of them. With his hooded cloak up, and his new battle robes, the worst of it was a bit of splattering on his face, the weather protection on his equipment more than capable of keeping the rest of it off. Bud rode in the back of one of the wagons, sheltered beneath the canvas top, while Dylan removed his shirt, storing it in his dry sack, and continuing undisturbed.

Hump had to admit, even he found it a little eerie that the rain had come. If rumours were to be believed, this was when they’d attack. The man with the lightning spear. They discussed sending Celaine on ahead to scout, but in this weather even she would have a hard time spotting anything. In the end, all they could do was keep going and wait. With any luck, they’d be able to take the bandits out in the ambush and be on their way back to Sheercliff in a couple of days.

It was mid-afternoon when they came across a toppled wagon blocking the road, the body of a woman on the ground beneath it, sheltered from the rain. She had an arrow in her leg, her skirt stained red around the wound, one hand limply pressed to it. She couldn’t have been more than thirty.

Hump clenched his jaw. The message was clear, these bandits meant business.

They dismounted, tying the reins of their horses to the back of a wagon.

“Into the central wagon!” Dylan shouted. “Quickly! Quickly!”

The wagon train stopped, and all of the traders rushed into the largest of the wagons at the centre, with high wooden walls on either side that would help to protect them from arrows.

Bud hopped from the wagon, rain pinging off his armour. “Bastards,” he growled. “They didn’t even bury her.”

“Shit,” Celaine snapped. “She’s still alive.”

They all stared at her. Hump hadnt noticed it through the rain, but her chest was rising. She was watching them, eyes terrified, her lips moving slowly in what appeared to be a prayer.

“Bud, get her back to the wagons,” Hump said. “I’ve got a shield ready for when they come.”

Bud was already striding forward.

Thunder boomed nearby and a bolt of lightning shot through the sky, plummeting to the ground a few steps in front of the ground. A spear stood there, crackling with lightning, its point stabbed into the road. A streak of light followed and a man manifested from it, clutching the shaft.

“Not so fast!” he said, an arrogant smile forming on his lips. He was a tall man with a fit, fighter’s body.

Behind him, the woman had started to cry.

“There’s movement to the left,” Dylan said. “At least six.”

“More than that,” Celaine said quietly. “I’ve seen more than ten, and there’s more coming through the trees on the right. They’re getting in close.”

“This isn’t the time to be brave,” the lead bandit said brashly. “It’s not the time to be a hero. It’s time to step aside and hand over the goods. Nobody has to get hurt. Try anything funny and…” He turned back to the woman. “Well, you get the idea.

Bud drew his sword with a ring of steel. “You’re an evil bastard,” he snarled. “The gods will punish you for what you’ve done.”

He laughed and tugged his spear from the ground, flourishing it. The blade head crackled with lightning as he twirled it, streaking light. “Believe me, the gods don’t give a shit. Last chance, lad. Sword down, mouth shut, and give us the goods.”

Hump almost cringed at the familiar sentiment. And as true as that was normally, this was the wrong day to say it. A cold wind swept from Bud.

“They care today.” Bud’s sword erupted with frostfire. Around him, an aura of blue mist expanded around him, turning rain to hail at its touch.

Hump noticed the brief surprise in the man’s eyes, but it was quickly concealed beneath another shit-eating grin. “It seems we have a Chosen in our midst, but you’re surrounded, Sir Knight. Show yourselves, boys!”

Fires lit around them. Great, big bonfires, thick with oily black smoke, the flames flickering up into the tree branches along the sides of the roads despite the rain. Hay bales, and they seemed to be soaked with something flammable. The bandits kicked them, and they rolled down the hill toward them, lighting them up and filling the air with smoke. The bales stopped just short of the roadside, not two feet away from the wagons. Two bales on either side of them, trapping them. The oxen panicked; the lead wagon trying to turn and flee but toppling over instead. The horses fought against their reins, trying to break free in panic.

“I can’t see a damn thing,” Celaine said. Her feet shone green, and she leapt up into the air, landing on the beam of the central wagon with careful balance. She readied her bow and loosed an arrow into the trees in less than a second. From the trees came a scream, followed by panicked shouts.

“Shoot them!” the man with the spear shouted.

Bud charged him with a speed no ordinary human could match, Heart of Frostfire enhancing him. The spearman took a step back, bringing up his spear so quickly it was a blur of lightning to Hump. Bud caught the blow with ease, knocking it aside and stepping inside the reach of the spear. He swung expertly at the spearman, and the man was forced to retreat, dodging and weaving away from the blow. He was fast too, enhanced by his lightning abilities, but still on the backfoot against Bud.

Hump slammed his staff against the ground, the runes shone with light as he fuelled it with essence. The focus shone bright blue, and he envisioned a dome larger than any he had formed before. Large enough to cover the wagon.

“Shield.”

Energy burst from his staff in a wave of blue. It solidified around them, the air turning vaguely translucent. He gritted his teeth as pressure built. The tiny impacts of the rain drained his essence quickly, but they’d planned for that. He didn’t need to hold it long, just enough for the others to handle things. At least it kept out the smoke.

“I’ll take the right,” Dylan said, Aspect of the Ape appearing over him. He leapt over the wagon, disappearing from sight.

Celaine just kept shooting. Even in the rain and the dim light, arrow after arrow found its mark. One of her arrows glinted silver, and pierced a straight line through the distant trees.

“Chosen!” the cry went out. “Fall back! Run!”

Bud continued to attack the lead bandit, pushing him back with his unrelenting attacks. The man was no match. The arrogance from before was gone from his face, and now it took everything for him to hold on. He blocked Bud’s next strike and a burst of lightning exploded in the point. Bud shielded his eyes and stepped back, still managing to block the next spear thrust that came, but it gave the man a chance to back off.

His offhand went to his belt, and Hump saw the dagger come free. He drew his hand back, the blade glinting bright blue, and then he threw.

But he wasn’t aiming at Bud.

The knight threw himself into its path, his sword clattering to the ground beside him. The dagger took him in the chest with a hard thwack and he dropped to one knee, where he stayed, blocking the bandits path to the woman.

Hump dropped his shield immediately, stabbing his staff in the direction of the bandit. With an effort of will, he drew in the residual essence from his shield, along with channelling more of his own. “Focused Blast.”

The beam of power pierced forward, fast as an arrow. The bandit managed to toss his spear a short distance to the side, then his body blurred into a bold of light. He reappeared by his spear, stumbling, barely keeping his feet as he drew back for another throw. He launched the spear into the distant trees with a thunderous boom, and was gone on another bolt.

“I’m alright,” Bud called. “Go after them.”

“I’ll go,” Celaine said. “Get everyone moving. I’ll track them back to wherever they’re based and regroup with you later.”

Hump nodded. “Go! And be careful.”

She rushed off into the forest, propelled by Spring Step. He wasn’t worried. If that was the best the bandits had to offer, they’d not even know she was there.

Hump checked on Bud first. The dagger had struck his chest plate, even denting it a little, but the small blade had been unable to penetrate. He moved to inspect the woman instead, who burst into tears at their approach, thanking the gods.

When Dylan returned, Hump stepped aside to let him inspect the wound. Bad, but nothing that wouldn’t heal with time. They got her into the wagon where Dylan could tend her, and then Hump saw to putting the fires out while the traders took care of the animals. He didn’t have a spell for the job, so the best he could do was send the hay bales blasting back into the woodlands.

One of the wheels on the toppled wagon had broken, but it was a simple task for Dylan to mend it with Growth, and only a few minutes later, they were ready to move on.

“We keep going,” Hump told them. “We’re still a ways away from Milton, and it’s best we don’t give them a second chance to strike.” Not that Hump thought they’d dare.

Bud had already removed the wagon from the road, and they both mounted their horses in case Celaine returned needing help. They followed the road for as long as they could, getting as far from the scent of blood as possible before making camp. Just because there were bandits in these woods didn’t mean there was nothing else, and monsters would be drawn to blood.

Celaine returned late that night, soundless as a cat, smirking as she made them all jump. They served her up some food and she sat down on the back of a wagon with them.

“I think I found their camp,” she said.

“You think?” Dylan asked. “Could you not tell?”

She shook her head. “I watched them enter, and then they were gone, just like that. I detected some sort of magic at work around it. It must be concealing them, which is odd, considering they’re supposed to be desperate.”

“Can you find it again?” Hump asked.

Celaine gave him a look that told him he was an idiot for even asking. “It’s only a few miles off the road. Finding it won’t be a problem.”

“Then what took so long? You’ve been gone for hours.”

Celaine held a sack out to them that he hadn’t noticed. “I went back for loot. Not that it was worth it. They only had a few silver between them all.”

“At least you got something,” Hump said. He frowned. “You know what the concealment around their camp means though, don’t you?”

They all looked at him.

“There’s probably a second practitioner amongst them.”