Trick the bandits.

“Now, gentlemen. We have a situation in which our goals are seemingly at odds.” You hope to establish intellectual superiority with flashy verbiage, in hopes of them agreeing that your plan is more desirable. “My terrifying companion and I have been hired to deliver this wealthy young man to his wealthy father.” You switch to simpler words, casting a spell of Suggestion on the fake injured man, hoping he's the leader. “You should hire us for an equal amount to deliver him to you, and no one will get hurt. To further incentivize, we can offer you useful information to expedite your collection of ransom. What do you say?”

All the bandits look to the bloody man, and you think you've assumed correctly that he's the leader. He looks blank for a moment, as your words worm their way into his mind. Then he sets himself with determination. “Yes, that's a fine idea. We will hire you for an equal amount to deliver him to us, and no one will get hurt.” You hope it isn't too obvious to the others that he just repeated you verbatim.

You turn to Talvin, who's looking at you in disbelief. “Talvin, you'll be going with these gentlemen.” Talvin blinks at you, his expression slowly changing to anger. “They won't hurt you,” you say emphatically, you don't risk any other indication that this is a trick.

Two of the bandits walk up to Talvin's horse. One has a a rope. “G'down. He orders.”

Talvin looks down to the bandits, then back to you. “You honorless dog,” he spits before dismounting. He glares between the bandit tying his hands and you nervously.

“Just do what they say. You'll be ok. I promise,” again, you try to reassure him without giving yourself away.

You and Kheden walk your horses up to the leader of the bandits and quickly negotiate your price, then give him some fake information about Talvin's father being a merchant with an office near the pier at Havensport. The other bandits seem a bit perplexed at the ease of all this, but they follow their leader's decision, and you and Kheden ride off after a quick look back at Talvin, who's eyes just burn hatred into your chest.

You round the bend in the road, and begin looking for a place to tie up your horses. Kheden spots a perfect dense copse of trees a few yards off the road. You both load up weapons, and you follow Kheden silently into the forest, being careful to only step where he steps to avoid any snapping twigs.

It's a little too easy to find the loud bandits. They really don't seem to be the cream of the crop. Kheden slows and indicates for you to do as well with a hand signal. You follow him, stalking to within crossbow range of the shoddy bandit camp. Kheden looks to you, and you nod, indicating you can work from this distance. You let your eyes unfocus so that you're not specifically looking at any one bandit, but at the whole group equally, and you cast a Sleep spell. Instantly, eight of the ten bandits as well as Talvin fall to the ground, not even bothering to lie down. The remaining two look around, bewildered. Kheden and you are upon them before they see you. They grumble and instantly put their hands up, seeing you've both already got your crossbows trained on them.

You easily find some rope and hogtie them while Kheden keeps guard. You then roll the two bandits that had been leading Talvin off of him and check the boy. He appears fine, though now a little scuffed with dirt.

Kheden threatens one of the conscious bandits with one of his daggers, and the bandit quickly tells him where more rope is. It takes a while, but between the two of you, you get every bandit hogtied before any wake naturally. You loot a small number of coins, some useful paraphernalia, a few decent swords, and an ornate dagger from the restrained bandits. It seems the bandits didn't have much more coin than your 'price' for selling Talvin. The bandit leader had a large garnet ring in his pocket, obviously stolen from a previous victim. He protests you taking it until you grind his face into the ground with your boot. “Be thankful we've left you alive,” you intimidate him into silence.

You return your attention to Talvin. Asleep, without his seemingly permanent expression of annoyance, he's quite nice to look at. His blond hair is mussed, and it gives him a more natural look than his originally aloof appearance. “Should we bother to wake him?” you ask Kheden.

Kheden chuckles. “Unless you want to carry him and keep him upright on your horse.” For a moment, you think it might be worth it to hold his body upright against yourself for a while, but it's really not practical. You gently shake his shoulder until he wakes.

Talvin's eyes blink, then open in fear. You place a hand on his chest and reassure him that he's ok. “Y-You sold me!”

“We had to trick them,” you keep your hand on his chest, speaking firmly but soothingly. His heart is racing. “There were too many to fight without risking getting you hurt. Your safety is our priority.” You don't mention that you may have also struck Kheden with a generalized spell. You never reveal your magic ability or specific spells unnecessarily.

“Great Maker...” Talvin inhales deeply. You can feel his heart begin to slow to normal. “I don't think I've ever been so afraid.” He looks down at your hand on his chest, then back up to you again, quite puppylike. “But we're safe, now?”

“Yes,” you smile and draw your hand back.