The Welsh Outlaws V

Sophie, Alan and all your personal house guards followed you to the eastern woods. Kieran did hand you a promissory note over ten pounds for his son and he would stay in your care until the money is paid. However to get this money you would have to rescue the little rascal first. Sophie did convince you of the advantages to reach an agreement with these outlaws. You did not have the funds to hire enough guards with brigands running wild in all of Scotland. Even killing them all this time won't help much, as another group of bandits would likely pop up soon enough.

You reached the point to make the exchange chosen by the outlaws, you told your men to set up camp and to stay on guard while Sophie and you entered deeper into the woods with a white flag ready to parley. About 500 feets into the woods two scouts received you, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"A cavaran was attacked here yesterday and the Miss and her son were taken captive. We want to meet with your leader to discuss the ransom." you said.

"So our leader was right to keep them. Please follow us." one of them remarked jovially.

You followed them for fifteen minutes until you arrived at their hideout near a big cave. Outside the cave you counted about twelve tents. The outlaws were all sitting around a fire eating some soup. They were only lightly armored with some knifes, short swords and longbows. Your knights should have no problem to wipe them out in a direct battle. You wondered how they managed to take out twenty armed escorts.

"Evan, we have guests. This gentlemen is here to talk about the ransom." the scouts announced your arrival.

Evan the leader of this small ragtag troop greeted you and he even bowed slightly as he greeted Sophie. It seemed that he wanted to show that even though he was a thug, he knew about manners. He was a strong muscular man in his late twenties. He looked like a veteran fighter and a big scar was running across his face. "May I ask with whom I have the pleasure of conversing?"

You replied, "I am the lord of these lands and this is my advisor Miss Sophie. You are the leader of these men?"

"That I am. So the lord of Lanard is personaly meeting up with me just to discuss this ransom?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"We are here with a proposal but we will take the boy with us without paying you." Sophie said.

"You think you could take him from me with ****?" he challenged Sophie.

"No, you will give him to us. You know that he is of no use for you. The merchant is from Ireland and he would need to go back home to get the money. You don't have the luxury to wait for his return." Sophie stated matter of factly insinuating that his hideout is not a secret anymore.

"I could still kill him and return his corpse." he threatened.

"Yes, you could. However we are not related to him in the slightest." Sophie smiled sweetly, "It is just as a woman I don't want to see a child die. You should give him to me before we talk business."

Evan was thinking hard while keeping his gaze on Sophie gauging her facial expression. However he could see nothing at all and finally he relented. "Fine, you can have the boy. I am not a child murderer. However we will keep the woman until we are tired of her. Even if we can't get any money, we could still use her as our sex **** and have her doing chores in our camp. Now what is your reason for coming here?"