Samantha stared in awe at her old stomping ground remembering all the good times. There was the old drinking well that… she didn’t drink out of but would have liked to. Then there was the… church? Yes, the church she did always appreciate how run down and broken it looked. And who could forget the… uh… the thing… in the place… with the guy and the side… and the other thing with all the… Okay, cards on the table, maybe she didn’t have any fond memories of the village, nor any bad ones, she just didn’t see a lot of it before or after her escape. Following her harrowing break out, she briefly looked over the wrecked settlement and then promptly turned away before anyone asked her to help clean up. It wasn’t her mess why should she be responsible for fixing it? Ironic then that she was back now and contracted to take care of the bandits currently rummaging around the demure place. What are the chances picking a random contract would lead her back here of all places? Was it simply a coincidence or an act of providence? Where there people out there, divine or benign, who wanted her to come back here? Did she have some grand purpose she was destined to fulfil that needed her back? Could she be the missing Princess Eleanor Regalia?
“Pffft No.”
She blurted out confusing Valerie. The two had been scouting the town for some time trying to gleam any information on the ruffians’ patrols routes or particularly dangerous individuals. If they played things smart, they could sneak in during a quiet period and slowly pick off stragglers and lone bandits before confronting the rest of the camp. Waiting for nightfall was no good on account of Samantha becoming about as useful as a bucket with a hole at the bottom. Valerie would likely be in good standing no matter the time of day, Tiger’s Will was all full up and ready to unleash a monster’s wrath. They needed to be efficient however, the huntress’s power would run out too quickly in a protracted confrontation. Better they thin the heard then strike at the perfect opportunity. After watching the bandit camp late into the afternoon, they began operation: Kick Ass & Take Names. Neither were good at coming up with mission titles.
Slowly edging their way closer to the village, they spotted a lone bandit, facing a wall with his hands preoccupied taking care of business. The girls decided to wait a second longer lest they see something they wouldn’t be able to forget. When the man finished and was busy tidying himself up, they struck. Valerie silently closed in from behind, jumping up to wrap her arm around the slightly taller man’s neck in a chokehold. She yanked back and flipped him over, slamming the bandit hard into the ground before delivered a finishing knock to the back of his head. Dazed, confused and likely concussed, the bandit was enveloped in a series of chains that dragged him out of town into the surrounding shrubbery. Samantha could keep around four similar chain cocoons in action before the strain started to get to her, so they were now on the clock.
Moving on, they stuck to the shadows while remaining vigilant for any foes around corners. They quickly found a second bandit sitting atop a crate against an abandoned home, his spear held lazily to support the bored man from falling asleep. Samantha conjured a chain that tapped against his back before disappearing back into the darkness. Distracted, the tired man twisted his head finding nothing but the plain brick wall behind him. He turned back just in time to see a metal gloved fist colliding with his jaw and knocking a few teeth loose. Just as Valerie was lifting the stunned bandit for another slam against the ground, the door to the abandoned home swung open and out stepped one of his comrades. The two locked eyes, the ruffian looking over his compatriot’s attacker while Valerie was frozen mid grapple. The newcomers shock lasted a second longer than the huntress giving her time to prepare a counter offensive. Roughly dropping the bandit, Valerie ripped her knife from its sheath and prepared to toss it when she stopped herself dead. The person before her wore little to no armour and there was no way she could stop him without aiming for something… vital. Unfortunately, the momentary lapse was all the ruffian needed to regain his wits.
“OI! INTRUD-“
His call to action was cut short as Samantha came rocketing in, feet first directly into the man’s head. Slumping to the ground, the bandit made no further attempts to garner attention, but the damage had already been done. From around a corner three more rough and tumble men appeared brandishing their weapons. Valerie broke from her stupor and picked up the first bandits spear tossing it as hard as she could. She would not make a good javelin thrower, but the wild projectile did thump into the approaching company knocking at least one over in the process. With their cover broken and reinforcements soon to appear, Valerie and Samantha made a brave and courageous tactical retreat. Which is to say they ran like cowards in the complete opposite direction. The huntress briefly considered activating one of her stored monster powers to quickly carry them away but there was no telling what or who they would run into during their mad scramble. Unfortunately, in their haste to vacate the scene of the crime they got all turned around and ended up in the middle of town square next to Samantha’s favourite well. From all sides scores of bandits appeared blocking off their exit and locking the two into a shrinking circle. They stood back-to-back staring down the band of ne’er-do-wells as they searched for an exit. The brigands meanwhile sized up their intruders, several realizing the two in the centre were a pair of young girls, many more did not come to the same conclusion only seeing a couple of easy on the eye pieces of meat. Valerie searched for a way out, only finding sharpened steel and lascivious gazes pointed their way. With no other option, she clenched her teeth and gripped Tiger’s Will letting the strength and ferocity of an ogre overtake her.
Samantha felt a hand grip onto shoulder and looked into the determined eyes of her friend. Without so much as a word, the huntress leaned forward while bending her knees and launched herself forth, the force of the sudden movement kicking up dirt and causing Samantha to stumble. The bandit in front of her held an axe in both hands and made to swipe at the rapidly approaching girl coming up short as Valerie ducked low into a crouch. The stupefied man and those around him looked at the huntress noticing an ethereal chain connecting her weapon to the other encircled girl. With a twitch of Valerie’s hand, Samantha was flying through the air, an excited ‘wheeee’ escaping her lips as she rocketed towards the axe wielding man.
First one then a second steel soled shoe connected with the axe man’s ugly mug pushing him back into a fall. A sword came hurtling towards Valerie which she blocked with her knife while reaching her free hand out to the boot stamped man’s leg. Roughly gripping onto the appendage, she twisted around using the bandit as a club that knocked into his compatriots pushing them aside. Samantha meanwhile leapt from ruffian to ruffian using their noggins as stepping stones. She tried to escape the crowd and find a place to slip into the shadows to support Valerie, but the band of thieves wouldn’t let her. A snap of something to her left caused the shadow user to twist her body rapidly, narrowly missing a crossbow bolt but forcing her back onto the ground. Tumbling against the dirt she looked up to find a masked man looming over head. She summoned a chain which rushed to strike at her opponent, but he deftly caught it before kicking the downed Samantha in the stomach. She tried to unleash her eery aura to force the bandit to back off but was halted by another crossbow bolt catching her in the leg. She involuntarily screamed out which only seemed to embolden the man attacking her until he was bowled over by the axe man’s battered body. Another bolt came hurtling towards Samantha’s head but was cut down by Valerie who came sliding in. The huntress had been forced to activate another monster power to give her the speed to reach her friend and the strain of two concurrent powers scraped at the edges of her mind. Before another shot came, she picked up a rock and threw it at the crossbow user, missing but forcing the man to duck for cover.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Valerie picked Samantha off the ground and roughly ripped the embedded bolt from her friend’s leg, eliciting another cry of pain. Backed into a corner, the two adventurers were quickly surrounded again their adversaries towering above them and casting the pair in darkness from the collective shadows. Which was rather unlucky for the company of ruffians due to a proficient shadow user being in their midst. A wave of fear surged forth catching the bandits off guard and causing them to halt. Valerie re-orientated and prepared to rush forward again when a figure from above leapt down. He held a dagger coated in a green concoction which was aimed straight for the huntress’s neck. The leaping genius was mid-air by the time Samantha’s aura struck and he had no way to stop himself. Without a thought, Valerie blocked the strike with her left arm gauntlet and flipped her knife around. She moved on muscle memory to gut the monster before her when she froze yet again remembering where she was and who she faced. She looked into the man’s eyes and saw fear, real accusatory fear and she faltered. Killing monsters was one thing but killing these people was a line she couldn’t cross; her uncle’s words spoke to her keeping her from straying too far.
“Monsters are monsters, but people? They aren’t so black and white they-“
Valerie wasn’t given time to recall her uncle’s teachings in full as a thrown rock struck the right side of her head just as the leaping bandit hit the ground. She fell as well and landed heavily on her left arm as a trickle of blood ran down the side of her face. Samantha broke out of her concentration to try to catch her friend, the invasive fear remaining but majorly diminished. Some brave or incredibly stupid individuals stepped forth to continue the assault on the pair of adventures. Thankfully they were stopped by the sudden arrival of a cocooned man wrapped in chains tossed into the mix. Valerie looked at Samantha, one eye closed and clutching at her head, yet all she saw was a confused shrug from the shadow user. Then the boss man made his presence known.
“Oi, oi, what’s all this then?”
All eyes turned to find a large man carrying a huge object that he hefted effortlessly atop his shoulders. He was an older man, possibly in his late forties to early fifties, with short cropped grey hair atop his wrinkled and scarred face. He wore tarnished and mismatching armour, each piece a trophy from many battles fought and warriors bested. In his right hand he held a thick shaft of iron that extended a meter and a half ending in a one-by-one metre square metal chunk that was scratched and dented from decades of severe conflict ending strikes. The man stood tall over the other bandits, even those clearly with a height advantage backed away and shrunk in his wake. One foolish thief spoke up, his voice terror ridden but not due to Samantha’s power any longer.
“B-boss! We got a couple of intruders. We was handling them for ya.”
The boss man looked over Valerie and Samantha with curiosity.
“Intruders, eh?”
He casually walked up to the adventurers, the fierce company of bandits parting like the sea.
“Know what I see? I see a couple of whelps clearly out of their depth and in some hot water. I do not see any intruders that are worth all my men crowding together like its BLOODY CHOW TIME!”
His voice rose into a roar that shook every man down to their core.
“ALL OF YOU GET BACK TO WORK OR SO HELP ME…”
The implications alone sent some men running for the hills, even the still tied up man wriggled away from their leader like a terror stricken worm.
“You three, stay.”
He pointed to a group who stood at attention wishing they were anyone else. The bandit leader breathed through gritted teeth and then in the blink of an eye, and a swish of his short hair, adopted a friendly smile. He spoke softly to the fallen adventurers trying his best to appear affable.
“My apologies miss and uh… miss. My men did not mean any harm, y’see we are about to move and its making everyone a little jittery. They’re all a bit antsy in their pantsy’s if you yet my meaning.”
He chuckled at his own joke though no one around joined in. Coughing awkwardly, he continued.
“Right well, I just want to say I have always respected the Adventurer’s Guild, it is an institute we need in today’s world and their members are the kind of civil servants our society couldn’t do without.”
He nodded towards his awaiting men.
“These fine gentlemen are upstanding citizens most of the time and surely don’t need the guilds attention on them. We aren’t monsters, we’re just men making a living.”
The bandit was sincere in his intentions even if his words were slightly, very slightly, complete fabrications. They weren’t the worst group out there just a bunch of down on their luck individuals who, with no other option, turned to a life of banditry. Which was a colourful and optimistic way of describing the group of cut-throats, murderers, mercenaries and occasional non-compliant adulterers. Being singled out for a guild contract was bad enough and the last thing they needed is for a couple dead adventurers to increase their notoriety. So far neither the adventurers nor his men had harmed the other too harshly and no one was dead if the tied-up man he found was any indication. He only wished he had been here earlier but when nature calls who was he to ignore?
“I say let’s have bygones be bygones. You walk out of here, forget we ever existed, and we go on our merry way. Everyone’s happy. What’d ya say?”
The hate filled stare he received from the concussed one did not fill the bandit leader with hope. Strangely there was something familiar about the look, like someone from a history best left buried. Crouching low, the bandit leader made to cup Valerie’s face and get a better look at her.
“Say miss, do I know yo-“
He was rudely stopped when a shadow chain smacked against his chin without moving him an inch. His men recoiled taking a step back while Valerie whipped her head around to look at Samantha wide eyed.
“Don’t touch my friend.”
Her words held no anger or malice they were matter of fact, possessive in their nature. The bandit leader gripped his jaw shifting it back and forth in its socket trying to feel for an injury that wasn’t there. After a tense second, he let out a disappointed sigh that was reflected in his voice.
“Not in front of my men.”
In the next instant Samantha was hurtling through the air having been tossed by the large man. She sailed rapidly over buildings watching the spot where Valerie was shrink into the distance. She tried to conjure up chains from her cloak but was tumbling too erratically for a concrete shadow to form. Any on the buildings below were either too far or couldn’t be summoned fast enough for the comet that was Samantha. She soon began to descend and was able to right herself in time to see the pit that was the mine approach from below. At the last second, she summoned a chain from under her cloak and the dark pit, the two links clashing mid-way to jolt Samantha to a stop. She collided roughly against the ground coming inches from falling into the collapsed mine once again. As she was painfully picking herself up a boom erupted as something landed nearby kicking up a cloud of dust. Looking towards the recently formed crater, Samantha watched the bandit leader rise up while brandishing his weapon.
“I was trying to be kind, but I will not stand to be disrespected in front of my boys.”
He grunted out as he rolled his shoulders and stand tall over the shadow user even from a distance. The way he held his weapon and the imposing posture loomed like the last goodnight many had already bade farewell to. Without much choice in the matter, Samantha shakily took a fighting stance, black chains snaking out of the earth to her left and right. She met the gaze of the bandit leader who looked down upon her, his face devoid of any emotion. Before they began, a thought passed through her head and she decided it was worth asking.
“Before you kill me, were you the one who ran this mine?”
The bandit leader raised an eyebrow, turning his sights on the collapsed hole nearby, he remembered hearing the residents used to call this place a mine. He supposed that meant this girl also used to be from here, shame she had to come back.
“Fraid not missy, me and my men came here couple weeks back. Had nothing to do with that mess. You won’t be getting any catharsis from me today.”
What the heck was a cart arse hiss? Oh well it didn’t matter, whether he was or wasn’t part of the mine didn’t matter to Samantha she was just curious.
“That’s okay, I’m Samantha Trapper by the way. I’m the Deep Jailer.”
Crouching low and ready to spring into action, Samantha summoned all the confidence she didn’t possess.
“Just so you know who beats you.”
The bandit leader grinned, how long had it been since he was able to do a little showmanship? A part of him regretted what he was about to do to the little girl, but he was already here so had to set an example.
“Nice to meet you, the names Harold. But you can call me Harry.”