The wagon takes a sharp left as they approach a wooded area. The right leads to a winding path through an open landscape, but the left leads into a denser area, with trees on both sides of the road, hanging over it in a natural canopy.

"This is the shortcut?" Palmer asks, looking around.

"Yes, this cuts a lot of time off the journey." Hawthorne nods. "It's a direct path, but most prefer the safety of the King's Road."

"Have you taken this path before? Palmer glances from left to right with a hint of nervousness in his tone.

"Yes," Hawthorne says, following Palmer's glances. "I've only run into trouble a couple of times, but I had someone with me, and things never got violent. You can never be too careful, though."

"Agreed." Palmer leans back. "Hopefully this will be a peaceful journey."

"Why are you going to Logis, anyway?" Hawthorne perks a brow. "Are you going to be joining the Royal Quest?"

"Royal Quest? What's that? Palmer tilts his head towards Hawthorne.

"You don't know about the Royal Quest?" Hawthorne looks confused. "It is the only thing people have been talking about in Logis since King Brynn announced it. Maybe word didn't reach the Village of Roth."

"No," Palmer says cautiously, not wanting to reveal too much about his ignorance. "It's been a while since the last one, right?"

"A Royal Quest?" Hawthorne's head snaps back in surprise. "It's been… My grandfather told me about the last one, and he was too young to participate."

"Right." Palmer tries to feign understanding. "Same here."

Hawthorne eyes Palmer for a moment, but he doesn't say anything. The road weaves into the forest, and the canopy overhead blocks off more of the light. Hawthorne sits up in his seat, trying to stay alert, so Palmer does the same.

"Can the horse go-" Palmer is cut off my sentence by a whistling sound.

A second later, an arrow embeds in Hawthorne's arm. He lets out a scream and loses control of the reigns. Palmer reaches for them in desperation, narrowly avoiding an arrow that gets embedded in the wood behind him.

"Bandits!" Hawthorne gurgles, grabbing his arm.

"Fuck!" Palmer yells, finally getting a grasp of the reigns.

In the back of the wagon, the others were trying to get some sleep on the way, but the chaos quickly wakes them up. Leone pops his head through the curtain and an arrow whizzes overhead.

"Oh shit!" Leone says, ducking arrow that almost nick his ear. "We've got a problem."

"Obviously." Vryce remarks, grabbing the longsword Palmer got for him.

"I knew we'd have to fight something eventually." Lucy lets out a nervous chuckle as she loads a rock into her sling and pushes her knife deep into her boot.

Palmer yanks on the reigns and brings the horses to a stop. As soon as he does, two men run out into the road, crossbows loaded. Palmer instinctively puts his hands up, unsure what else he can do in light of the situation. From the rear, a man and and girl run up, each brandishing swords.

"Seven hells!" The man holding a sword says. "We should have shot the horses so we didn't have to chase them so fucking far."

"Get out of the wagon!" One of the crossbowmen says harshly. "Get your friend out too."

Palmer eyes the four of them carefully, then leans over to grab Hawthorne. The merchant appears weak. The arrow that went into his arm also went deep into his armpit and he's bleeding profusely.

"Please," Palmer says, looking at Hawthorne. "I need to heal him."

"He's a holy man," the girl says, her voice reflecting hesitation.

"Step away," the man holding a sword levels it at Palmer. "Stand by the side of the road until we're done."

Inside the wagon, Leone, Vryce and Lucy are trying to come up with a plan.

"Two with the crossbows are the primary concern." Leone whispers. "Lucy, can you hit with one them with your sling? I'll take the other."

"I won't argue with you this time." Lucy clutches her sling and loads a rock.

"I'll get the guy with the sword." Vryce says softly. "I'll go out through the front of the wagon and try to catch him before he realizes what is happening."

"That just leaves the girl," Lucy whispers.

"We'll deal with her after the others." Leone lifts his rapier. "Let's go!"

Outside of the wagon, Palmer is forced to lower Hawthorne onto the road and take a few steps back. A second later, Leone, Lucy and Vryce burst out of the wagon. Lucy lets a rock fly from her sling and hits one of the crossbow wielding bandits right between the eyes. Palmer watches the life drain out of them. Leone charges the other one with a crossbow, hitting him with a tackle and shoving his rapier into the center of the man's chest.

The man holding the sword spins around as all of this is happening, but he's met by Vryce, who leaps from the seat of the wagon, sword pointed down, and impales the bandit on his longsword. As the dust settles, all of them experience a sudden rush, and what feels like electricity, coursing through their veins and dancing across their scalps.

Leone, Lucy and Palmer stare in awe as the red light on their wrists light up, and they gain a level. Palmer immediately scrambles towards Hawthorne and starts chanting a prayer to heal him.

Vryce, on the other hand, doesn't know what is going on, exactly. He feels the surge, but not like them. He turns his attention to the bandit girl, and starts advancing on her. She lets out a scream, turns to scramble, and trips over a rock. Vryce draws his sword back to strike, feeling compelled to end her life, but he doesn't know why.

"Wait!" Lucy runs over. "Don't kill her! We won. It's over."

"What happened to all of you?" Vryce looks to Lucy, still keeping his sword leveled on the bandit girl.

"We, um…" Lucy holds up her wrist and shows Vryce the red dot. "We leveled up."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Why didn't I level up?" Vryce looks confused for a moment. "Wait, you leveled up because you killed the bandits. Maybe I'll level up if I take care of this one one my own."

"Please!" The bandit girl starts crying. "I didn't even want to do this. My brother made me. I…"

"You can't kill her, Vryce." Lucy puts her hand on Vryce's arm. "It wouldn't be right."

"This is a game." Vryce scoffs, seemingly annoyed by Lucy. "She's not a real person."

"Why didn't we just kill all the villagers then?" Lucy shrugs. "Did they not seem real to you?"

"Maybe we should have." Vryce grinds out. "I didn't even get enough to level up. My only spell is useless. The merchant didn't even have the sword I chose for my proficiency."

"Don't do it, Vryce." Palmer walks up to them. "She's not a threat. Let's get the wagon set up so we can continue on to Logis."

"Fine." Vryce shakes his head and lowers his sword.

"Thank you!" The bandit girl squeaks out, then runs into the woods.

Leone, Palmer and Lucy exchange glances. They leveled up, and they saw their character sheets. As much as they want to check them out, they tend to the wagon first, and help Hawthorne back into the driver's seat.

"Let's get going." Palmer says, looking to the group.

"Yeah, we should-" Lucy begins, then her eyes go blank.

"Lucy!" Vryce screams as he sees an arrow hit her from behind.

More arrows fly, several of them hitting Hawthorne, who is still recovering.

"Take cover!" Leone yells, motioning to the wagon.

Lucy collapses to the ground and Vryce goes down beside her. He grabs her arm and drags her towards the wagon. Palmer rushes over to assist. Leone ducks, looking up as several more arrows hit the wagon and a couple hit Hawthorne, who isn't able to seek cover in time.

"Heal her!" Vryce screams at Palmer.

"Okay!" Palmer nods. "One second!"

Palmer closes his eyes, puts his hands on Lucy, and utters the prayer.

"In Mani Grath" Palmer says, and a blue light rushes from his fingers.

Vryce carefully removes the arrow as Palmer prays, and the wound closes.

"You did it." Vryce lets out a brief sigh of relief. "Now let's see if we can keep ourselves alive."

Vryce peeks around the wagon and sees Hawthorne laying across the front, multiple arrows sticking out of him. It looks like he's beyond the point of saving this time.

"There's way too many of them." Vryce shakes his head. "They're going to have us surrounded in no time."

"We should fight." Leone growls, tightening the grip on his rapier. "We can rush them like before."

Palmer pokes his head up, narrowly dodges an arrow and immediately ducks again.

"There's no way." Palmer puts a hand on Leone. "We will die."

"What do you think is going to happen when they surround us?" Leone asks angrily, seemingly getting more incensed when he glances down at Lucy.

Suddenly, the arrows stop and footsteps begin approaching the wagon. The group clutches their weapons, trying to decide if they should attack or hold their ground. Neither option seems like it will end well for them.

"If you throw down your weapons and come out, you will not be harmed." A voice echoes on the other side of the wagon.

"I don't know if we can trust them," Vryce whispers.

"We don't really have a choice." Palmer motions to Lucy. "Even if we could run, we'd have to carry her."

"I shouldn't have let the girl go." Vryce narrows his eyes, rage quickly filling them. "Do you guys have anything new? Didn't you level up?"

"I haven't even been able to check." Palmer sighs and an arrow slams into the wagon.

"That's the last warning shot." The bandits voice echoes again.

"We're putting down our weapons!" Palmer says, slowly standing up with his hands raised.

"Fuck!" Vryce mutters and looks to Leone.

Leone looks hesitant, but he finally places his rapier on the ground and stands up with his hands raised. Vryce curses under his breath several times before dropping his longsword and following their lead.

More bandits come out of the woods. They are all dressed in dark-colored dingy cloaks, most with a green or brown hue. Some are carrying crossbows, some have short bows, and others are armed with an assortment of blades. A few seconds later, the girl that Vryce let live walks out and puts her hands on her hips.

"Tie them up," She motions to Palmer, Vryce and Leone.

"Right away, Sister Anna," a bandit days, then pulls some rope from his belt.

A few of the bandits circle the group and keep crossbows leveled on them as the man begins binding their hands. Palmer is first, followed by Vryce, and then several of them circle Leone.

"Take off his hood." Sister Anna says, walking closer, and one of the bandit's complies. "Oh! You're an elf!"

"That's a big fucking elf," one of the bandit's says and the others seem to agree.

"Does he have a slaver's mark?" Another bandit asks.

"No," the bandit that binds his arms says, looking at Leone's wrists. "He's free."

"We'll brand him when we get to Port Rish." Sister Anna motions to the bandits. "Pillage the wagon. We'll dump it in the woods nearby. Hide the merchant's body, and if the girl is alive, bring her too. If not, get rid of her."

"She's gone," Palmer says, looking down at Lucy. "I tried to heal her but it wasn't enough."

"Too bad," Sister Anna says, a wicked grin spreading across her face "But she was probably too gullible to be useful anyway."

Palmer is bluffing, but Lucy is unresponsive, so he hopes the bandits won't investigate further. If nothing else, she may be able to escape. Possibly get help. Although Palmer doesn't know where they are going, or how long it'll take for her to wake up.

"Keep a straight line," one of the bandits nudges Palmer with the handle of his sword. "If any of you try to run, there will be no warning shots."

Vryce and Leone fall into line behind Palmer. Vryce looks back and sees one of the bandits roll Lucy towards the edge of the road, then he pushes her into the underbrush. The trio is pushed ahead, and they can't see anything else, but they can hear the sounds of the bandits going through the wagon.

It's a long walk to the bandit camp. Several miles through the woods. Vryce does his best to drag his feet in several places and disrupt the terrain. If nothing else, he hopes that will be a path they can follow back to the road, if they ever get the opportunity.

Palmer walks with his head down, unsure if he made the right call when he surrendered. He says a silent prayer to Grath, asking his god to spare their lives, and also take care of Lucy, who will likely wake up alone in the forest at some point, provided that he healed her enough to keep her from dying.

Leone is angry. He wanted to fight. He would died with a blade in his hand if he could have. Now, he's uncertain what fate he will face. The bandits mentioned branding him, and he wonders if that means slavery, because that is what it sounded like. Silently, he curses Jenkins for bringing them to this world, but he does wonder if death is the escape. Will he wake up in his bed at home, with all of this nothing more than a twisted dream, or will he face whatever afterlife exists in Bryconia? He was confident about that in the real world. Death. Final judgment. An eternity in heaven or hell. He wasn't a regular churchgoer, but he still had his faith.

After an hour passes, the group sees the camp ahead. The bandits lead them to small cages that are barely big enough to hold them. Palmer and Vryce are each forced into one with cramped quarters, but Leone is too big to fit, so the bandits add extra rope to his arms, bind his feet, and tie him to a tree near his friends.

"Alright, everyone," Sister Anna says. "Tonight we mourn our fallen brothers and tomorrow, we begin our journey to Rish so we can exchange some of the valuables we found for supplies."

"Here, here," a bandit says. "Brother Saul, I believe it is time to start pouring the drinks."

"Aye, brother," a bandit who appears to be Brother Saul replies. "We will celebrate the lives they lived, and mourn the days they will never have."

"What is this, some kind of cult?" Vryce whispers to Palmer. "Do you know anything about cults? You should, right? As a cleric…"

"I don't know anything about them." Palmer shakes his head. "I tried praying on the way here."

"No response?" Vryce asks sarcastically.

"Not this time," Palmer confirms with a sigh.

"Leone…" Vryce twists in his cage so he can look over at the golden haired elf. "Any chance you can burst out of those ropes like The Incredible Hulk and save the day?"

"No," Leone replies coldly. "We shouldn't have surrendered."

"At least Lucy is safe," Palmer sighs. "I hope."

"Quiet!" A bandit yells at the trio. "Otherwise, we'll cut out your tongues."

Palmer, Vryce and Leone exchange glances and stop talking.

Despite being fairly sure the ropes can't be budged, Leone does try to free himself a few times, when the bandits aren't watching. He doesn't make any real progress, but he manages to stop his wrists from going completely numb.

Palmer closes his eyes and says another prayer, hoping that it will be answered. He wants to press the red spot on his wrist and look at his character sheet, but he doesn't fully understand what he saw after he leveled up. He only saw his character sheet appear, and he's aware Lucy and Leone also leveled up. His theory is that he's the only one who would be able to see it, but he's not willing to test the theory in a camp full of bandits.

Vryce sits in silence, glaring at the bandits, while examining the lock on his cage. It appears to be made out of iron, just like his cage, and looks fairly sturdy. He doesn't see any way to budge it, and is cautious to try with the bandits so close.

Overall, none of them feel very optimistic about their future, regardless of Lucy's fate.