No

Being able to maintain a high pace even when moving through rough terrain, Dareios had soon descended into the valley. Once he had entered the valley proper, it didn’t take long before he came onto what appeared to be a road. It wasn’t paved or anything like it, but instead it looked more as if it was shaped by the passage of wagons, their passage upholding a narrow path of open ground through the dense forest of trees and brush.

After deciding on which direction in which to travel, Dareios began to travel down the road, his senses becoming more alert as the chance of meeting someone now had risen substantially.

The first half-hour of road bound travel proved uneventful for Dareios, and he had begun to relax when suddenly a loud scream could be heard from a short distance up ahead.

Quickly stepping into action, Dareios began to trot down the road, dragging his pack animal with him, scanning his surrounding as he drew closer to the location from which the scream had originated.

Coming round a curve, Dareios spotted a wagon roughly fifty feet away, and several persons moving around it. Three women stood with their backs against the wagon, apparently trying to fend off a group of six men, whose appearance; vicious demeanours, dirty rags for clothes and plenty of weapons, suggested that they were robbers. As none of them had yet spotted him, the women focusing on defending themselves from the raiders while they in turn were busy attacking the women, Dareios had time to grab his sword and shield from the donkey’s back. Having no time to strap on his clothes and armour, Dareios rushed down the road towards the wagon, sword and shield in hand.

The robbers had thought that the fight was as good as over, and the sudden appearance of a sword-wielding and buck-naked warrior caused quite a bit of surprise amongst.

Before the half-dozen brigands had had time to recollect themselves, Dareios had cut down two of them with his sword, and looked firmly determined to do the same to the remaining four.

A bolt from a crossbow which one of the robbers had previously been pointing at the women now came whizzing towards Dareios, who managed to dodge the projectile. A shrill shriek could be heard from behind him, and Dareios hoped that his donkey had only been frightened, rather than actually hit by the crossbow bolt. In either case, the shot signalled that the robbers had managed to shake themselves of their surprise, and that they were now ready to try and fight him.

“Who the fuck is this!?” One of the robbers screamed, and charged towards Dareios, waving a large axe through the air as he closed in on the tall warrior.
Remaining still until the robber, a burly and decidedly ugly-looking fellow, was just about the swing his axe at him, Dareios then swiftly moved to the side, avoiding the fall of the axe while stabbing at the robber with his sword. The sword, which’s blade wasn’t too long but which was both wide and sharp, pierced the robber in the side, just beneath the ribcage, and the man collapsed onto his hands and knees, having lost grip of his axe.

Realizing that they stood no chance against Dareios one-on-one, the remaining three robbers charged at him simultaneously, hoping to swarm him.
Their hopes faded quickly however, as Dareios was more than able to hold his ground against them, despite their numbers, and he managed to thrust his sword into the belly of one of them, and pulling it into time to smash the hilt of his weapon into the face of another robber, who had tried to sneak up on Dareios from behind.

The last of the robbers turned out to a slightly more proficient fighter than his friends, and it took Dareios almost a minute to get a good chance at wounding the man. Seizing the moment, Dareios slashed his sword over the man’s chest before buying it beneath his ribcage, the robber coughing up a frothy gob of blood before falling backwards.

Suddenly, the man whom Dareios had knocked down with his sword-hilt came charging at him from behind again, holding a long knife with a jagged blade in his right hand.

Before the man had reached him however, a dagger had been thrown through the air and struck his right arm, causing the man scream with pain as he dropped his weapon.

“Aw, fuck!” The last robber said as he saw Dareios step forwards and measure another stroke with his sword. Without any fuss, Dareios decapitated the last of the robbers with one fell swoop.

Content that the battle was over, Dareios turned his attention to three women, one of whom had helped him out by throwing the dagger.