Deran fidgetted impatiently, looking at the field of men practicing with their swords. The week hadn't done much to make them into warriors but at least no one had stabbed themselves in the past couple of practice bouts. Gorgath hadn't been able to find the bandits and nerves were beginning to wear thin. Already a few of the villagers were looking askance at him, wondering at their decision to join up. The bandit threat just didn't seem like it was as big a deal as he had claimed.

Deran heard a noise behind him, a familiar footfall, "Please tell me you found something. I can't take another day of sitting around, practicing needlessly." No matter how hard he trained alongside the others, he couldn't seem to raise his level by any real degree. Luke had pointed out that it wasn't really a challenge, therefore, little experience would be gained.

Turning, Deran was surprised to see his orc friend accompanied by a young boy, barely old enough to strike out on his own. His eyes and bearing, however, spoke of experience only time can make. "Who is this?"

Gorgath gestured to his companion, "A young hunter from the area. He had some things to say that I thought you might find very interesting."

Without even waiting for Gorgath to finish, the young boy spoke up, "The names Jace. I've been hunting these parts for years since my pa died. I was out doing my rounds when I heard something comin' through the bush. Figuring it was a bear from the noise it was causin', I hid up a tree. That's when I saw em."

"The bandits?" Deran found himself leaning forward, hand tightening on his hilt in excitement.

Jace looked a little uncomfortable and shrugged, "I don't know what they were. But they were monsters. They were shootin' at a dear with fowling blunts, chasing it all around the forest."

Deran looked back and forth between the two of them, "I don't mean to sound rude but how is that different than what you or any other hunter does?"

The look of horror and offense that flashed across Jace's face made Deran rock back in surprise, "I would never do that. We kill clean, out of necessity. We don't torture the animals."

Gorgath hurried to interject before more words were spoken or fists thrown, "I think there may be a misunderstanding here. I don't think the young master knows what a fowling blunt is."

Jace looked surprised for a moment, "A fowling blunt. It's... picture a ball on the end of an arrow. Used to knock birds out of the air without ripping em apart."

Understanding dawned, "Oh. Those wouldn't kill a deer though."

Jace shook his head grimly, face darkening once more, "Nay. One would do little but bruise it a bit and scare the life from the poor thing. Repeated strikes could break bones and terrify the creature. They got lucky that their first shot broke a knee. Let them keep up with it for quite a while. I wanted to stop them but with more than a half dozen against me..." He trailed off, eyes going distant for a moment. Gorgath spoke softly, barely more than a hum.

"You did the right thing, hunter. Show us where and your survival will lead to their destruction."

The boy nodded, blinking away what might have been the beginning of tears, "They were just passed three days to the south-east. I can lead you there. I wouldn't mind seeing these creatures pay."

Deran clapped the boy on the shoulder and turned to Alex, the blonde guard who had joined them, "Alex, are we anywhere near ready with the men? You would have a better idea than me."

Alex sucked on his teeth, looking over the field of men. A couple of them had paused in their bouts, turning to see what news had been brought by Gorgath. The handful that met Deran's eyes waved but he didn't react. "To be honest? I don't know. They aren't much and have had very little time to learn anything. But they know which end of the sword is the right one and every single one of them is ready to die to protect his home. That's a power in and of itself."

"Powerful enough to take out some bandits?"

"Depends on the size of the bandit group. It isn't like we have a lot of time to do anything else though. If we are gonna do this, the sooner the better. With no one else around to stop them, who knows how large this group can get."

Luke disengaged from his random-looking fight and ran over, breathless. "Howdy partner. Any news?" The young rogues fighting style had drawn many villagers down to the field to watch. It was erratic, with Luke flinging himself randomly into combat and somehow making it through with minimal scratches and bruises. His opponents, on the other hand, nursed quite a bit more as they tried to hit the lucky man and ended up hitting each other instead. People had even taken to betting on it, seeing how many men Luke would leave groaning on the ground.

"We found them. Or at least, we found the area they are in. Jace, me, and Gorgath are going to go check it out. You and Alex will train the men for another day and then follow our trail. We'll come up with some way of leaving markers. Another day might not make a difference but you can use that time to drill it into their heads that this is happening. They better be ready for it."

Alex nodded and clapped a hand to his chest before jogging over to the group of makeshift soldiers. They had all stopped fighting the moment he started over. Deran didn't bother sticking around to hear him, already turning back to the hunter, "Lead the way. There are still a few hours of sun left today. Let's be off."

They set off for the stables, where their horses were already saddled and ready to go. Jace sat behind Deran on his horse, as they were the smallest and his horse the largest. Travel through the woods was dreary, with no fires to mark their passage and little conversation. The tension of knowing the bandits were nearby but not knowing where was wearing them. At one point, Jace had to go check one of his snares nearby to see if the bandits had found it.

"I'll give the boy credit, he has a lot going on for someone his age. Shouldn't he still be in school or something? Do they have schooling here?" Deran mused aloud, not really expecting an answer. Gorgath surprised him though.

"Yes. He is a hunter. He was forced into this life but did well with it. There is schooling, yes, though nothing that many can afford. If you aren't born to magic or skill here, there's little point in learning."

"Oh, about that! Why does he get the cool nickname of hunter while I got stuck with nofang? Your naming system sucks."

Gorgath's teeth flashed white in the gloom of the trees, "He is hunter because he is. He has fed himself and his brother with nothing but his woodland skills for half a dozen years now. His dad got gored by a wild boar when he was barely old enough to set a snare. He's learned to survive on his own since. You?" Gorgath looked him up and down almost critically, "Better. But still nofang. You'll get there."

Any witty retort he had was cut off by Jace's return, "The snare caught something but someone took whatever it was. I think we're close. We have to be real careful how much noise we make now, they could be behind any tree."

Deran looked around a little nervously, "I can be honest enough with myself to admit my woods skills aren't great. I doubt I would be able to scout effectively. You two, fan out and search for an hour." Deran looked up at the sky before nodding, "I'll have camp set up by the time you get back. Won't be too hard, with no fire. Try not to get killed out there."

It didn't even take an hour. Gorgath was back just as Deran was finishing up a hidden, makeshift shelter out of giant leaves and shrubs. He thought it wasn't too bad, though Gorgath just snorted at the sight. "I found them. You won't be pleased."

"When Jace gets back, lead us there. Were you able to get a good look at what we're up against?" Gorgath shook his head, pulling a piece of dried meat from his pack to gnaw on.

"I came back rather quickly. They managed to find themselves a rather large clearing, though they seem to have made it larger by felling trees. There are many tents, nofang."

Deran let out his breath slowly, mind racing. "I can't make any plans without seeing it for myself. Once Jace gets back, then we see. Rest. I don't know how much sleep we'll be getting tonight with them so close."

Jace returned, looked at the half-hidden camp, and nodded, saying simply, "It will do. I found nothing of any import on my side."

"Gorgath found them. We go to look at their camp now before night falls completely. I'd like to see how they set up for the night."

The bandit's camp was larger than Deran had feared it might be. Gorgath had been right about the clearing being made larger, a good thirty feet of tree line had been chopped down to make room for a camp that spanned more than a hundred feet on each side. There were almost twenty tents staggered around the clearing in a tight formation, though Deran could see the flickers of firelight beyond the tents. Gorgath stopped him from getting closer, gesturing carefully towards the camp, "There are sentries. They are wise to keep the fire in the inner ring, leaving the sentries' night vision intact. These are not brainless, or at least, their leader isn't. This is a better camp than some orc war parties would make. Sneaking up on them would be difficult."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Deran scanned the tent line, picking out a couple of the sentries Gorgath had pointed out. "Alright. There are too many for a fair fight and sneaking a few in would accomplish little. Can you pick out where they keep their foodstuffs?"

Gorgath pointed out two tents that they could see towering above the others, "I would assume one of the larger tents. One would be the leaders, the other would be food and gear. It would also be where they store the stuff they took from travelers."

Deran cocked his head, thinking out loud again, "I wonder if anyone brought any lamp oil with them."

They traveled back the next day until noon, meeting up with the men who were following their trail. Luke greeted them with his usual casualness, flicking a knife up into the air almost negligently. "I'm assuming you found them, judging by the look on your face. That and the fact that you're meeting with us instead of us catching up with you."

"Yeah, we found them alright. It isn't a pretty sight either. You should ask around and see if any of the men have any kind of lamp oil or alcohol that's flammable."

Luke looked askance at him, confusion warring with curiosity, "I have a travelers kit on me. I don't think I've ever had cause to use the oil in it. What are you thinking?"

Deran laid out his plan quickly while they walked, going over the state of the bandit's defenses. "I'm saying a brutal opening. Throw everyone at one part of the camp when they least expect it. Have a few men with oil and torches break through and find the tent of stores and light it up. Without easy food and nothing to show for their efforts, it would go a long way to weakening the bandit's morale."

Both Gorgath and Luke exchanged a long glance, "You aren't wrong. It's a risky plan though, especially with how many bandits you said there were."

"There isn't any time for less than risky. It's a sound plan and the best one we have with the situation the way it is. The more we can break them up, the easier it will be to clean up the mess."

"I'm not saying you're wrong. If that's the plan you're going with, I'll be there with you. When did you want to do this?"

"Tonight. We don't want to give them any chance of finding us early and ruining the surprise. We pick our path carefully and get as close as possible. If we can just charge the camp from the tree line, they won't have much time to react. We will have to be fast, though."

"I can buy us a moment by taking out at least one of the sentries from afar. Maybe two." Luke juggled two daggers from nowhere as he walked, not even looking at the flashing blades. "I'll make sure everyone knows what we're doing. We attack at night."

Luke was standing next to five men, all painted almost black from charcoal. He was pulling out small flasks of lamp oil from a small satchel he had on the ground and passing them out along with torches. Deran nodded absently towards them, looking at the bag curiously, "Is that what you called a travelers kit? Doesn't look big enough to be carrying that much stuff."

"That's because it isn't," Luke replied, showing him an empty bag. Then he reached in and pulled out another torch and handed it to one of the men, "It works kinda like the beg you got, though it isn't nearly as good. Instead of having an extra-dimensional space you can put whatever in, they stick specific items into a space that you can reach into. They can't go back in, though, so once it's empty, it's nothing but a bag. Helps save a lot of space on the basics while not costing an arm and a leg to get. It's one of the basic rewards you get when you-" Luke broke off, looking over at Gorgath with a slight look of chagrin, "Well, a quest you didn't take. Mine's on its last legs, though like I said, still had all the oil and torches in it. It'll be enough to start a decent-sized blaze, though we'll have to distract them long enough for it to really catch hold."

"We hold their attention for as long as we need. Our retreat will be signaled by the fire. Make sure everyone is ready, we attack now." Deran took a deep breath, looked at the men gathered, and nodded deeply to them. Then he set off as quietly as he could, following the trail of marking Jace had cleverly left concealed. The boy had proven invaluable, leaving a handful of these almost impossible-to-see trails for the men to follow. They were quiet, concealed trails, though they were spread a little too far for Deran's liking. Still, it was better to be spread out than to make enough noise to alert the sleeping bandits. They had waited until night had truly fallen before making their way close.

It was time all too soon. Deran led a silent charge across the dark space between the trees and the camp. Two muffled calls of alarm were silenced quickly from Luke's knives but a third one rang out clearly into the night. Surprise finally lost, everyone began sprinting as hard as they could, leaping passed slow-moving sentries and slicing the supports to the tents closest to them.

Causing mayhem added to the surprise and the bandits were slow to react. Deran cut two down as they fought their way clear of one of the downed tents before looking around wildly. The chaos cut both ways, making it difficult to pick out his own men from the ones they were supposed to kill.

The darkness wasn't helping either, though hopefully, that wouldn't be a problem for much longer. The camp had erupted from quiet to louder than anything Deran had heard before, the shouting and ringing of metal drowning out even thought. In the rush to defend themselves, one of the bandits kicked the remnants of one of their campfires, sending coals scattering along the side of one of the tents. The patched fabric caught easily, adding even more confusion.

It wasn't enough, though. The bandits got organized far too quickly for Deran's liking and began to push back. Looking around desperately, Deran happened to be looking in the other direction when the night erupted into light and sound. A twenty-foot-high pillar of fire blasted its way into the night sky and lit the entire camp for a moment before dying back down to just a roaring blaze. Deran could see clearly into the center of the camp now, as the tent flap to the largest tent burst open and a large man stepped out into the light.

"Somebody get that damned fire out! Quickly, you dolts!" The leader's command made the bandits facing Deran's forces a moment of hesitation as many of them jumped to follow the order. Deran made a mental note and called out, a little too shrilly for his taste, "Now!"

Then, taking care to keep a tent between himself and the leader, Deran began the retreat. Luke was the last one to disengage, holding three enemy swordsmen at bay while the others made their escape. With almost natural ease, Luke danced backward, his foot narrowly missing a taut tent line still staked into the ground, only to stumble upon landing. Seeing his moment of weakness, all three bandits attempted to leap forward to take advantage of it. None of them saw the line, or each other, in their rush, tumbling together into a heap of muffled shouts and groans of pain. Luke sprang back to his feet, perfectly unharmed, and dashed away laughing.

The attackers ran into the woods, not stopping when they reached the trees, but continuing in an erratic dash through the forest. A mixture of adrenaline, fear, and victory drove them for almost half an hour before they finally slowed to listen for pursuit.

"I think," Luke managed to gasp, falling to the ground in a slump, "We lost them. By the gods, how are you not winded?"

Deran grinned, though his heart was pounding like a drum, "Perks of being a connie." As he said it, Deran thought of Lyselle and felt a stab of sorrow. With a frown and a shake of his head to clear it, he turned to Alex, "How is everyone?"

"The attack went smoothly, sir," Alex looked slightly better off than Luke, though not by much, "The confusion happened perfectly. Out of all the attackers, the worst injury is a broken foot, which happened when one of the idiots tripped in the dark on a root. The retreat was not well thought out."

Deran flushed, "Yes, that could have gone better. Still, no injuries is a good thing! Where are the burners? Their mission seemed to go fantastic, though remind me not to carry oil on me. Sheesh."

A voice rang out behind them, flat and almost emotionless, "Here they are." Deran turned to see Gorgath, face deadpan and flat. Next to him was a singed man, a strange sight with half his hair burnt off and blisters forming on his cheek, arm, and hand.

"They? Where are the others?" Deran looked the one man over and winced, unable to imagine the pain he was in. Gorgath's magic had to have been at work though, for the soldier was more dreamy than in pain.

"He's the only one who made it back. Two were caught in the explosion. The other two couldn't make it back out passed the bandits." The orc crossed his arms, emotion finally creeping into his voice, "But yes, fantastic outcome."

Deran gaped, mouth fluttering almost uselessly, "I don't understand. The plan was sound. We had the advantage and surprise..."

"Yeah. But this is life. Shit happens. And when the odds are that close, man, things are bound to go wrong. Yeah, the plan worked. You didn't factor in the cost though."

"With experience, comes wisdom." A tired voice rasped, showing Jace's return, "We all had to grow and learn at some point."

Gorgath snorted bitterly, "I just wish the lessons didn't have to always be death." He turned and stalked off into the night, though he didn't go out of sight. Deran wanted to go after him but Alex caught his attention, "Sir. Everyone is back and waiting for orders. They want to know what your next plan is."

Deran shook himself and nodded, "Right. The plan. We aren't done with the bandits, though I don't like our odds. Do you have any idea how many fell in the attack?" Alex shook his head slowly, eyes not leaving his commander's face. "We keep retreating, then. Fall back to town but don't hide our trail. These bandits have driven most of the game out of the area and we just cost them all their food. The next likely place they go would be a town to restock. We do a four-hour rest, with minimal watchers. Tell them to get as much rest as possible because we aren't nearly done yet. And you." He turned to the burnt man still standing there with a dreamy look on his face, "How was it the oil burned so high? What did you all do with it?"

"Oh, it wasn't the oil. Sir." He blinked almost lazily, making Deran suspect there was less magic at play here and more some kind of drug.

"Well then, what was it?" Deran rubbed his eyes wearily, deciding the few hours of rest might do him some good.

"They had some of that boom powder. Light it, goes boom." He burped and then giggled slightly, eyes going out of focus for a moment as his train of thought derailed.

"Go get some rest," Deran waved the man away, turning to Alex, "Boom powder? They have gunpowder here?"

The soldier looked confused, "I don't know what gunpowder is. Boom powder is the common man's name for an explosive alchemical concoction. To be fair, I don't know its real name myself, having always heard it referred to as boom powder. Does your gun powder also explode with contact with flame?"

"Yeah, they used it to propel tiny pieces of metal at really fast speeds." Deran mused, looking back in the direction of the explosion, "I wonder where we can get more."

Alex shrugged before turning to leave. "I will go inform the men. Tomorrow will not be pleasant."

Deran stopped him with an upraised hand, "Less so for some. I'd like Gorgath to act as a rear scout and try and get some information on the enemy. Anything helps, really."

Alex looked over his shoulder with a grin, "I already figured as much. I already spoke to him, as well as Jace. The boy volunteered and Gorgath welcomed the company." Deran waved his approval and wrapped his cloak around him, settling in to get at least an hour of sleep. Once more, he was grateful for the ring of sustenance as he heard the men around him grumbling about cold food.

Something was gnawing at the corner of his thoughts, keeping him from sleep. Just as he was about to give up on it, a jolt shot through him, and he sat bolt upright, "Did anyone remember where we left the horses?" The few people close enough to hear him just stared at him blearily, confusion and tiredness warring on their faces. With a sigh, he plopped back down.

Well. Tomorrow was going to be fun.