“Even in nations as orderly as the Lichdom, banditry remains afoot. Sure, there it’s extremely rare and any that showed themselves were always eradicated rapidly, but the fact remains. Not even the great prosperity and threat of horrible death they offer could prevent the seeds of disobedience from sprouting into eventual outlaws.

Some people just refuse to be a useful part of society, no matter what you do.” - Nikodemos Mirabilis, Elmaiyan philosopher, circa 172 VA.

As it turned out, the merchant’s caution was warranted.

While the early leg of the journey in Elmaiyan land was safe and uneventful, and their passage through the valley was similarly unbothered, things changed once they exited the valley on the other side. The stretch of land where the valley’s other end lay changed hands very frequently due to its inherent value, and as a result, security wasn’t exactly the best there.

At the present date, the owner of the stretch of land as the Kurgan Khanate, whose main territory lay to the north of the land. However, they were engaged in skirmishes with the Heferoz Emirate to the east and the Locis Shahdom to the north-east, all of whom also wanted a piece of the land and the taxes from the merchants that passed through the valley.

In fact, there was a small fortification near the valley’s mouth where the merchants paid for passage to the current owner of the land, so it was likely a rather lucrative source of income.

Due to the frequent warfare, there weren’t that many people who actually lived near the valley pass, and most of the land was empty wilderness other than the well-trodden roads. The caravans headed east towards Heferoz, which they would pass on their way to Oajib, before they reached their home base in Assadun even further east from there.

Only two days after they left the valley pass, they found the road blocked by a felled tree, and sure enough, the moment the caravan was brought to a halt, around two dozen filthy-looking people with weapons in hand emerged and surrounded them. The intent of the bandits were quite obvious, though given their poor condition and ramshackle equipment, everyone doubted that this group of bandits had been in the business for long.

Well to do bandits would have better weapons than wood axes and kitchen knives, after all.

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Most bandits also had the smarts to only demand a reasonable toll from passing merchants, giving up on the large profits in exchange of not making themselves too big a thorn on the side of whoever the authorities on that stretch of land happen to be. These bandits clearly had no such compulsions, as they charged towards the caravan with almost manic looks and eyes full of greed without making demands.

The caravan’s guards instantly reacted as they dismounted from their mounts – apparently the lizards they rode weren’t battle mounts but were just meant for transportation – and pulled out their respective weapons to meet the attackers. Aideen and Eilonwy also jumped down from their seats to join them, even if the guards did not look the slightest bit worried about being outnumbered over two to one.

From the way how some of the bandits had proper weapons and armor that showed damage that would have likely slain its wearer, Aideen guessed that this wasn’t the group’s first attempt at robbery, and that they probably aimed specifically for caravans with few enough guards for them to outnumber and defeat. The caravan Aideen was in was a rather small one with only a few guards all considered, and the disappearance of a caravan of that size wouldn’t draw too much attention either.

Each of the caravan’s guards took on two of the bandits, relying on their better equipment and superior experience to hold their own two against one. That still left seven bandits, however, which Aideen and Eilonwy generously took on themselves. Aideen quickly split her staff into its three-sectioned form and whipped it around to keep five of the bandits occupied, leaving the last two for Eilonwy to handle.

Eilonwy took to the task calmly. It helped that it wasn’t the elven girl’s first fight either, since she already saw battle – and killed some enemies – during the Antemeian campaign decades ago. She made full use of the length advantage of her spear to keep her enemies at bay while simultaneously harassing them with jabs of its point.

At least until one of her opponents made a mistake and overreacted to one of her jabs, jumping back a touch too far to support the other bandit she was facing.

Naturally, Eilonwy did not let the opening go to waste as she immediately swung her spear to the side and pulled hard, the short scythe-like blade set behind her spearhead catching the other bandit at the back of his calf and slicing through his flesh cleanly. The hamstrung bandit collapsed to his knees with a cry of pain that was quickly cut short when Eilonwy’s next stab pierced straight through his throat.

By the time Eilonwy took care of the second bandit shortly afterwards, Aideen had already taken care of the five she was dealing with and left to help one of the guards who seemed to be struggling. The guard in question was fighting against two bandits who had proper weapons and armor, which likely meant that they were likely higher up in the hierarchy of their group at the very least.

Not that it mattered one bit to Aideen.

As she arrived, she swung her three-sectioned staff like a whip and struck the female of the pair of bandits right against the side of her helmet. The helmet did little, and the female bandit’s head was still jerked violently towards the other side by the blow. The blow also left a sizable dent in her helmet, and the bandit in question flopped to the ground while bleeding from her eyes and nose a moment later.

The surprised male bandit didn’t live much longer either, as Aideen’s next blow shattered the man’s kneecap, causing the bandit to topple forward, right into the blade wielded by the caravan guard. The blade went into the bandit’s open mouth and pierced upwards into his brain, killing him on the spot before he realized what happened.

By the time the grateful guardsman extracted his blade from the corpse and turned to thank Aideen, she had already left to help others.