Rescued

The journey wasn’t a particularly happy one, though the convoy of wagons moved in a pace that was leisurely enough for Dareios to keep up with it without exerting himself too much. It was an odd enough situation for him to find himself in, with his three companions only a few feet away from him and a whole range of questions that he wished to ask them, but with no chance of communicating with them without risking further punishment from the bandits that were within hearing distance from them. But otherwise, they weren’t so much mistreated as totally ignored by the bandits.

Evening came and went as night fell, but the convoy moved on. Constantly examining his surroundings for a chance to escape, Dareios noticed that the marauders would occasionally chew on a type of dried leaves that they all were equipped with. It was no doubt some type of **** which allowed them to ignore their fatigue and press on, though Dareios suspected that it came at the usual prize of their judgement being impaired.

The three whores in the cage looked to have drifted off to sleep, their nude bodies pressed together to create a scene which Dareios would normally have found quite enticing, but which he now pretended not to notice as he kept looking for an avenue of escape.

The journey continued throughout the night, and as dawn broke the convoy had long since left the cultivated areas behind it to travel through another vast tract of wild forest, the road once more having turned into little more than a trail which looked threatened to be swallowed up by the woods at any moment. This meant that the rate of movement had gone down somewhat.

Dareios was the only one who was currently walking, and he was now beginning to feel the strain of night spent marching rather than sleeping. Struggling to keep from stumbling, he was only too aware of the fact that everyone else was either mounted upon a horse or in one of the wagons, and that the whores and the majority of the bandits were by now sound asleep was only making it harder for him to keep his eyes opened.

The fact that Dareios managed to stay awake despite his mounting weariness was what allowed him to one of the first to notice when an arrow suddenly came sweeping out from amongst the dense tree line to lodge itself in the throat of a bandit sitting on the coachbox of the wagon carrying the prisoners. This didn’t seem to agree with the bandit at all, who let out a horrific noise as he slumped off the coachbox and fell down in front of the wagon itself. Thankfully the horses pulling the wagon were trained to stop when the reins were let go off, and the wagon rather quickly came to a complete stop. So did most of the other wagons as more arrows, along with quite a few spears and sling stones, came flying out of the woods to pelt the other wagons.

Since he was positioned pretty much in the middle of the wagon train, Dareios was treated to an excellent view of the bandits stirring to life and finding themselves under attack, several more of them collapsing with projectiles sticking out of them as the rest struggled to get into cover behind the wagons.
Eventually the barrage ended, and cries of “Let’s go!” and “Charge!” were heard from amongst the bandits which were huddling for cover.

It was their attackers who charged first however, dozens of figures suddenly erupting out from behind trees and bushes to storm out upon the trail.

The attackers seemed to be quite outnumbered by the bandits, who had numbered about forty people before being attacked and losing some of their numbers. Realising that the attackers might need a little support if they were to be successful, Dareios braced himself before yanking his arms backwards. The result of this was that the plank around which the rope holding his wrists tied together now came flying loose, nearly hitting Dareios as it plunged towards him.

“What’s going on?!” Jalee cried out in wonder, having awakened to find herself in the middle of a battle.

“We’re being rescued!” Dareios responded, and then set out to join the fight.
Moving towards the end of the wagon train, Dareios didn’t have to go many yards before he came upon a bandit who was moving rapidly in the opposite direction.
When he spotted Dareios, the bandit stopped dead in his tracks. Unlike the guard, Dareios wasn’t surprised, and so moved his forcefully to the left, causing the plank at the end of the rope to come flying out and hit the bandit in the side of his head. It wasn’t a match for his sword, but Dareios found that the plank had nonetheless done its job by knocking the bandit out cold.

Using his legs and his makeshift flail, Dareios did his best to help his side win the fight, fuelled on by anger over having been caught and a thirst to once again be free. The fact that he was fighting not just for himself but also for his three lovers only made him a more formidable fighter, as bandit after bandit got to experience as they were battered into unconsciousness by the furious warrior, who laid every ounce of his considerable strength behind his attacks.

In the end, the surprised bandits lost the fight, being more or less wiped out and left to lay dead or dying on the trail.