Accosted

It was the final day of our journey; the sun had passed its mid-point in the sky above us and a gentle breeze soothed the heat. Korin was riding at the front of the wagon, steering the horses as the rest of us sat on the wooden bed, talking excitedly in anticipation of the contract.

Hoofbeats pounded on the dirt, coming from the road ahead of us. Korin began to slow the wagon at the sound of a strangers approach, it was impossible for us to even attempt to outrun anyone in a wagon. A high-pitched whistle cut through the air as the incoming horses reached us.

There were eight of them in total, with only six horses two of them were riding two to a saddle. One of them was plainly the leader of the group, his horse trotted slowly towards us whilst the others remained close behind him. He had a shaved head, the hair cut to a bristle and a scruffy beard that looked as though it had been cut without the use of a mirror. His skin had the tan that accompanied long hours out in the sun and his clothes were the dark colours of those who preferred to travel unseen in the dark. He wore a long and ugly scar across one of his cheeks and as he smiled, a row of yellowed teeth were displayed to us as well as a foul odour. If I had seen him anywhere else, I would have supposed him to be a beggar, but possessing a horse and in the company of other rough looking individuals, there was only one thing that he could be. A bandit.

“ ‘Ello there” he said in what I could only assume he thought to be a friendly voice, it sounded as though he had inhaled from a chimney and was trying to clear his throat. “That’s a nice pair of horses you got there. Can’t say the same for the wagon, though you look like you have a good taste in weapons” he nodded to the axe that was next to the seat that Korin was sat in, his hand clutched around the haft.

We didn’t reply to him, each of us attempting to give him an intimidating stare as we sat in silence. He sighed and continued, “My friends back there, haven’t got any horses of their own” he nodded back to those who were riding two to a saddle. “It’s a shame you haven’t got any saddles, but I think we can make it work” he scratched at the stubble on his head.

I was growing tired of his attitude, and moved up to where Korin was. “They’re not for sale, we need them” I said in a stern voice, making sure that the hilt of my sword was visible.

He blew out an air of appreciation, “And that’s another fine weapon you have” he said, licking his cracked lips as he eyed my scabbard. “It’s a good thing you’ve got such nice things, I don’t know what would happen if you couldn’t afford to pay the tax”

Korin narrowed his eyes at him in anger, “I don’t believe in taxes” he growled slowly.

The bandit let out a loud laugh at his statement, slapping his hand into the side of his horse as he chortled. “Ha, you hear the dwarf” he exclaimed, looking back at his compatriots. “He don’t believe in taxes” he continued laughing, exaggerating the wiping of a tear from his eye. He brought himself under control as he returned his focus to Korin, “That’s okay my dwarven friend, you don’t have to believe in taxes. They still believe in you” he said, his cheerful voice slowing and adopting a menacing attitude in his last words.

He moved a hand to the weapon that was on his hip and drew it so that the sunlight glinted from the hint of naked steel. “Now then boys, I’m going to need you all to get out of the wagon and leave your weapons on the ground right here.” He spat a glob of saliva at the desired spot. “We’ll have your horses, those pretty weapons of yours, and see what else you have in there to pay your taxes with. Then we’ll let you go; even let you keep that wagon of yours. How does that sound?” he spoke amicably as his friends moved closer towards us, unsheathing their weapons likewise.

There were eight of them and five of us, ordinarily it was a battle that should be avoided, but we were adventurers, we had abilities. Given the way that he and his friends were dressed they were ordinary bandits, they didn’t possess a shred of the power that we all held together. I gritted my teeth and held up a finger to him, turning to whispering for Korin to remain quiet. I glanced back at the others in the wagon, the question written on my face. They all nodded their heads.

I turned back to the bandit, “how about we trade the wagon and the horses for five of your horses, we’ll keep everything that’s with us of course” I offered him.

He snarled at me and spat again, “And why would I want to fuck myself” he said angrily.

I raise my hand towards him, “Because of this” I said and sent a charge of purple lightning through the air and into his chest. The blow knocked him from his horse which reared in fear of the lightning. The power in the bolt would have been enough to kill the man if he wasn’t wearing a leather breastplate beneath his clothing which absorbed the worst of the shock.

“Fucking adventurers” one of the bandits snarled as he drew his blade completely out of the sheath and began to charge his horse towards us. Korin grabbed his axe and jumped off of the wagon, the others rushing out of the back with weapons in hand.

I was scared, I had never been in a fight like this before with multiple armed opponents determined to kill me. The closest I had came was in my battle against Gaedon at the Citadel, even then there were healers at the ready and others who were stronger than myself which could step in to defend me. I had no such protections now. I drew my sword from the scabbard, I didn’t know how long it had been since the steel had been salted with the blood of enemies.

Rayall fell in beside me with Korin taking the lead and the girls behind us. The half-elf used his ice wall ability, creating a rise in front of the horse that was charging at us and forcing it to trip and go sprawling on the ground, the rider doing likewise.

The other bandits cursed and dismounted their horses which were beginning to charge, not wanting to suffer a similar fate. We stood at the ready, bracing for the attack as Rayall readied a fireball in his hand. “Girls? Anything you can do for us?” I asked, not moving my gaze.

“Er, I can make them a bit tired” Cleo answered, the fear painted in her voice. “I don’t know how much difference it will make, but it should slow them a bit”

I nodded my head, “Do that, there’s more of them than us. We need every advantage” I said sternly, none of the panic that I was feeling showing in my voice.

The bandits ran at us, weapons in hand. One of them had a wild look on his face, suiting the scruffy mess of hair that had leaves and dirt strewn through it. Rayall released his fireball and sent it flying at his face, hitting him square in his ugly features. The man dropped to the ground, screaming in a wild agony as he clutched his burned visage.

The leader of the vicious band was rising back to his feet as he began to recover from the lightning bolt I had sent his way. “Kill them!” he bellowed, “Kill them all!”

With one bandit clutching his face on the ground and another trapped under a horse that had been tripped, his leg bent at an unnatural angle, there were six for us to deal with. One of them reached us and prepared his curved blade for a slash aimed at Korin. The dwarf reacted quickly, he used one of his weapon arts, creating a glowing aura around himself for a brief flash of time. The sword hit the aura and bounced off of it.

The bandit looked at his weapon in confusion before screaming as the bite of Korin’s axe sank into his wrist, cleaving the hand from his arm and dropping both sword and appendage to the ground. He clamped the bleeding stump with his filthy hands, tears dripping down his face as he stumbled backwards, tripping, and being trampled by his allies.

Rayall slashed at another approaching foe and cut him down after trading a few clangs with each other’s steel. There were two more men close to us, I didn’t want to have to deal with both at once, so I sent a lash of water in the direction of one of them. It pushed him backwards and, in the end, made him slip onto the ground which had quickly become muddy. I looked to the other and was ready to bring my sword at him, but Korin got to him before I could.

“Get the women, they can’t fight” one of the bandits snarled as he circled around us and came for Sara and Cleo. Cleo let out a scream and wildly flailed her quarterstaff at him. The metal tip somehow smacked into the man’s face, breaking his nose, and knocking him ****.

There were two enemies capable of fighting left, one was slipping around on the mud that I had created, trying to get to stable ground. Rayall saw him and formed an ice wall around his legs, trapping him in place.

The other enemy was the leader of the bandit gang, fury was written across his features as he saw what we had done to his men. “I’ll kill you” he roared and stabbed his blade towards me. My lessons with Orion paid off and I dodged it with ease, snapping my sword against his and knocking it from the man’s grip. He tried to hold on to it and stumbled forwards, sliding onto the tip of my sword.

His eyes widened as it plunged into him, and blood began to seep from his wound. It felt unnaturally easy to kill a man like that, a tiny bit of pressure against my sword and he was cut open, his life **** bubbling out of him. It scared me that **** could be so simple.

He tried to grab at the sword, to push it out of his body, but only succeeded in slicing open his hands on the sharpened edge. Tears dripped from his eyes as the reality of his **** dawned on him, “No” he whispered to himself, repeating the word until blood rose up in his mouth.

I withdrew my steel, staring at what I had just done. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground, his chest rising and falling slowly until it stopped. I looked at him. His eyes didn’t yet have the glassy expressionless gaze of a corpse, instead they seemed to be looking at me with accusation.

I stumbled backwards, feeling sick and horrified by what I had just done. I had never killed a person before. Sure, I had killed monsters, but they were wild creatures that only lived to kill and destroy. People though… they were different, they had to be. I had just killed a person.

Korin saw the look on my face, still holding his axe in case any of the incapacitated enemies tried to avenge their comrade. “Ya okay, Aucus?” he asked. I felt the gaze of the others turn to me, my hand shook.

I took control of my breathing, slowing it down. I nodded my head quickly, maybe too quickly, I felt a wave of nausea hit me. “Yeah” I gasped, still looking at the dead man. “yeah” I repeated the word

Rayall had killed one of the bandits but didn’t seem to be as shaken by it as I was. “Here, let me clean your weapon. It will rust” he said as he held out a hand with a cloth in it. I almost dropped the thing as I passed it to him, but he caught it in time.

Only two of the bandits didn’t seem to be seriously injured, the one that Cleo had knocked out and the one that was trapped by Rayall’s ice wall. Two others were dead, one had a burnt face, another was clutching at a stump at the end of his wrist and the last of them had a broken leg under his horse.

Sara sighed as she looked at the carnage, “We should heal them” she murmured.

Korin turned on her, “What? They tried to kill us!” he exclaimed

She nodded her head, “Yeah, but they’re not a danger anymore. If we leave them, we might as well just kill them” she said, gesturing to the carnage.

I nodded in agreement, “yeah” I murmured. She looked at me with concern but turned back to the wounded. First, she went to the one with a stump, as she pressed her hand to it the man cried out in pain again but eventually his noises turned to whimpers as she began to heal him. She couldn’t reattach the hand, but she could close the wound. Cleo tended to the man with a burned face, leaving him when he was simply scarred and not in danger of infection. The last to be healed was the crippled man under the horse. Rayall helped to move the animal as both girls tended to the leg, he wouldn’t be able to run on it for a while and would have difficulty walking, but he would live.

They cowered away from us as we got back onto our wagon and started to move on from them. Korin stopped us when we reached their horses and grumbled as he grabbed the reins of the four that were left at a safe distance. He tied them to the wagon and led them with us, “Healing tax” he called out to the men as we clattered along the road.

I was shaken by what I had done and remained quiet for the rest of the journey to the village. I stared down at the wooden planks of the wagon and the eyes of the dead man stared back at me