The bandit escapes, the captive rescued

Miko apparently knew things weren't going well. He fled while Janno was cutting down another of his men. The bandit raced back up the trail and darted off behind bushes and trees with overhanging limbs.

Janno cursed and was about to follow, but then a figure off to the side of the trail caught the corner of his eye.

He turned his head and saw a brown-haired female, her once-good clothing in tatters, staring up almost fearfully at him. Quickly, thoughts in his mind came together with a click. The person Miko and his band had waylaid. She must have been a captive of them.

Sounds of battle subsided behind him, so he turned around. He saw another bandit in back fleeing, but the rest were strewn across the path with Caroline, Gloria and Silos over them. Rosella and Elektra were closer to him. The blond sorceress turned around with a smile and shouted, "We won!"

The bard Rosella rushed up and asked, "Where is Miko? I believe he still has my harp!"

Janno inwardly groaned. Miko did indeed get away and the bard would be interested in going after him.

Just then, Elektra walked up and noticed the torn up female on the side of the trail. "Oh my! They must have attacked her!" Turning back to the rest of the party members, she cried out, "Gloria, sister! We have someone injured and needs tending to!"

Gloria came up and knelt by the injured female. She wasn't quite as fearful though once Gloria said she was a cleric and began tending to the wounds. "If anyone has spare clothing, she needs it," Gloria said.

Elektra went to get some clothes from her backpack when Caroline asked, "What do we do now?"

"We go after Miko," Rosella said very fast, confirming Janno's thoughts. The monk Silos silently agreed by nodding his head.

"What about this young girl?" Gloria asked. She pointed to the person they rescued. Janno realized that Gloria was right. The girl was young, probably not even 16, and had a waifish look to her. "We can't just leave her here. We need to get her to safety."

"By now Miko could be back at his lair, trying to gather his things to escape from this area," Caroline spoke up. "We dispatched his band, so he is probably fleeing. I wouldn't like to think that we fought this battle and didn't find his treasure."

"What if this is only a part of his band?" Elektra suggested as she walked back with a blanket to cover the young girl. "He could be going back to just get reinforcements. Then he could return with a larger band and try to finish us off."

Janno had to shake his head. A number of possiblities were rolling out, everyone sounding off their own thoughts. All them had some merit. The fighter thought for a moment before realizing the talking had stopped.....and everyone was staring back at him.

Janno started to get an uncomfortable feeling that being leader was tougher than he actually thought.