Azura was in a rough position here. He knew the damage the crown would cause if the bandit king got it, but telling Arbeid to just accept that the cons outweigh the pros of saving the townspeople wasn’t really something he wanted to do. He didn’t know the other mages' capabilities, and the bandits far outnumbered them. Even with his copies a half baked rescue attempt would do more harm than good.
“We can’t give them the crown.” His eyes widened in shock. He hadn’t expected Arbeid to take the stance without knowing the end result. He could see how much that decision was affecting the guide, the man looked like he was being torn apart, and preferred that feeling to the choice that had to be made. He could empathize. Though this particular moment was only a simulation, he had been forced to make similarly unsavory decisions in the past.
“No, but perhaps not all is lost.” Just this once, he would make the ‘wrong’ choice. It was a simulation, even if he failed there wouldn’t be any lasting consequences. Every time he’d been faced with a choice like this his father had been testing him, and he had to make the objective best decision. Just this time he wouldn’t just cut his losses and allow those people to die to make sure many more are safe.
“What do you mean? You’ve done some pretty amazing things since I’ve met you, but I don’t think even you will be able to free all of their captives. They probably aren’t even all kept in the same place.” He didn’t think they would be. The bandits seemed to be suspiciously well organized. He doubted they were really even bandits, or at least not the kind most people thought of when they heard the term bandits. That was probably just a cover for them hunting certain magic items.
“Not at the moment, but surely if they expect you to trade the crown they’d have to bring out all the prisoners as a sign of good faith.” A plan was forming in his head. It was insane, and reckless, and very risky, but it also might just work. Honestly he was far more excited than he should be for this. It was a dumb decision, he was risking the lives of thousands to save maybe a hundred, but even so he found himself more exhilarated than he ever has been in the past.
“You can’t seriously suggest we put the crown at risk!” He wanted to laugh. Not at Arbeid really, but just the absurdity of it. He was having to try and convince the native to risk others to save his friends. It just seemed so backwards, but his respect for his guide went up several notches. The man claimed he didn’t want anything to do with big causes since they got his father killed, and yet here he was willing to give up any family and friends he had left just to make sure the rest of the people of the desert were safe. The guide was without a doubt a good man, but it was clear how much the decision was eating away at him.
“No risk no reward, we dangle what they want in front of them. However as most hunters know. The key is to make it so both taking the bait, and not taking the bait are traps. If they reveal the hostages we have plan A. If they don’t, well plan B is a rather interesting prospect.” He let out an evil smirk. The only thing his father had ever actively praised him for was his unconventional tactics, and these bandits were about to find out why.
***
Arbeid wasn’t sure about this plan. For a multitude of reasons really. Azura had given him the bag with the crown, and nothing he had ever held had felt so heavy. It didn’t matter that the bag probably weighed less than 5 pounds, it felt like he was carrying the weight of the world in his hands, or more accurately the weight of all the lives he was putting at risk. How the mage had convinced him this plan was the best course of action he had no idea. Yet he found himself approaching the bandit camp slowly with one hand wrapped protectively around his bag.
Azura had assured him that he wouldn’t let the bandits get the crown no matter what, but he had looked inside the bag hoping to find something vaguely crown shaped in it, but what was inside was without a doubt the artifact the bandits sought. It wasn’t too late. He could still turn and run. The mage had even said that he would understand if that was the choice Arbeid made, yet he couldn’t. He apologized to all the people who might get hurt if the mage’s plan didn’t work. Azura had given him hope, and now that was all he had left to hold on to.
Far too soon he had passed the point of no return and he stopped as soon as he was within yelling distance of the bandit camp. “I’ve brought the crown! I want to see all of the prisoners safe and sound, if you don’t bring them out, or if I feel threatened I will break the crown!” It wasn’t a bluff. Azura had given him an item to use to do such a thing under very specific situations. However it came with the warning that the destruction of an artifact that powerful would cause an explosion big enough to wipe out him and the whole bandit camp.
“Oh? Did your mage friend not tell you the consequences of such an action?” The voice came from behind him. It took everything he had not to turn to face it. Azura had warned him about the tricks the mage was likely to pull this being among them. Azura had also asked for his trust. The mage said he’d handle anything the bandits tried to do that he wouldn’t be able to properly react to. It had only been a few days, but oddly enough even in a situation like this he genuinely believed Azura would somehow be able to make this work.
“He did, but if the townspeople are going to be enslaved or executed anyway, it's better they go painlessly.” He would be lying if he said he wasn’t tempted to just do it anyway. Azura had warned him that the consequences for destroying an artifact were not just big, but lasting. However this area was already a wasteland, so what if it got a little worse.
“I see. I’m a little surprised. That mage of yours must be fairly competent to have prepared you to this level, but surely you must know that if he was close enough to help you we would know.” Would they? Azura had been fairly confident he’d be able to take care of things as long as he had a certain distance between him and the bandit camp.
“Just like you must know I can break this artifact before you could stop me? Show me the townspeople. I know every single face, if even one is missing you won’t get the crown.” Somehow he hadn’t realized how terrifying it would be to stand here staring down a whole bandit camp. Especially given the one talking to him might as well have been a disembodied voice. At least the camp was just a bunch of tents and there were only a few bandits actively out and looking at him. They were wearing leather armor, and they all looked the part of a bandit.
“Very well, show me the crown, and I’ll bring out the townspeople.” He took a breath of relief. Azura had actually thought the bandit' mage would try a couple more things to knock him off balance first, and he was already wounded up; he didn’t know if he’d have been able to stay calm if they showed him one of the townspeople and threatened to harm them.
He did as asked without hesitation pulling the crown out of the bag. An arrow was knocked out of the air a few feet in front of him. He did his best not to let the fact they had just tried to kill him bother him. Azura said he’d be safe, he just had to trust in the mage. Pointedly ignoring the arrow now resting in the sand a bit in front of him he speaks loudly to the camp again. “I have shown you the crown! Show me my people!”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
There was silence for a moment before the bantits started coming out of tents, and walking off in many different directions presumably to get the hostages. “Give us some time to gather them.” He would be lying if he said the annoyed tone in the voice didn’t make him smile a little. Clearly they had never intended to actually negotiate with him, but Azura had set up many more precautions than they had expected. In the mages words nothing short of an all out attack by the bandits would put him at any risk.
He was waiting for a few minutes before he realized this was going to take a while. He sighed. He couldn’t afford to lose vigilance, but he was just going to be standing there doing nothing for hours. Well when needs must.
***
So far things had gone more or less according to plan. Azura was glad for that. He wasn’t lying when he said he was close enough to help, but he was pretty close to the absolute furthest his sensory range would allow him to keep a not easily detected watch on Arbeid. Unfortunately it would seem the hostages were further away than he had expected, and it was taking several hours to gather and present them. Unfortunately, as keen as his senses were after his contract he was still well out of hearing range, so even with Arbeid shouting he had no way of hearing the conversation.
Which left him to sit in silence for several hours. He really wanted to know how his friends were doing, he wondered if it was wrong to take a small consolation from the fact they were probably in just as crappy of a situation as he was. Not that he doubted their abilities, but this simulation seemed designed to use as many different skills as possible so anyone who took part would have at least one of their weakest abilities tested. In his case that weakness was probably his tendency to over analyze. His plan was working so far, but even he knew it was probably more complicated than it had to be.
He just hoped Arbeid remembered all the contingencies he had set up, or at least half of them really. The fact that the bandits had seemed to just give up with taking the crown by force after a single failed arrow worried him. They were up to something, and he didn’t know enough about them to have any idea what that might be. He knew they had no chance of getting the crown, but that didn’t mean nothing the bandits did would have a negative impact.
He notched his bow as movement slowed on bandits as dozens of people were led out of the makeshift fence the bandits had set up for their camp. The citizens were all held at sword point, from the children to the elders, and even the sickly. He could tell the bandits were watching each and every person as carefully as possible. He still didn’t know what was being said between Arbeid and the bandit king, but his body tensed up. He needed to be able to react to anything in a moment's notice. Perhaps none of it was real, but to him hundreds of lives still hung in the balance.
***
“There your people are gathered. Now bring me the crown.” For the first time the speaker made themselves visible to Arbeid. Menacing was the easiest way to describe them. Their clothes were much more concealing than the rest of the bandits. Covering every inch of their skin except for a small sliver of their neck. They wore a black cloak, the hood covering their hair while the rest of their face was hidden from view with a stylized dragon mask. It was bone white with yellow markings on it. The sparse armor plating on the bandit leader seemed to be the same colors, but inverted with yellow being the primary color.
Somehow actually seeing the bandit leader had given him a sense of dread he had never experienced before. His body felt heavier as fear rushed through his system. The feeling only lasted for a second before the small iron pendant Azura had given him began to glow from the pocket on the inside of his cloak. The feeling of absolute terror receded leaving him just feeling even more anxious than he had at the start of all this. He took a deep breath to calm himself as much as possible before speaking, but was interrupted from his chance when a streak of light caused an explosion of fire a little ways in front of him.
He only understood what had happened when he registered that the bandit’s position had changed. They were about the same distance from him as they’d been originally, but there were lines in the sand in front of them where they had probably slid backwards, and they were leaning forward with their hand on the ground. A growling sound came from the masked figure. “We told you not to bring the mage!” All the bandits that were watching the hostages tensed up ready to end the lives in front of them at a moment's notice.
He gulped down his fear, and did his best to speak normally. “And I didn’t. He’s as far away as he can be, and if you had simply honored the deal you offered he wouldn’t have had to intervene..” He didn’t really consider himself a brave man. He had spent most of his life hiding from the cause his father had died for afterall, but he was being given a chance. A chance to make up for the harm his inaction had caused. This may not have been his fault, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t his responsibility.
The masked bandit growled again. “Fine. give me the crown and I’ll release them.” This was the part of the plan he didn’t really understand. Azura consistently agreed with him that the crown couldn’t fall into the bandits hands and yet he was asked to give it to them should they release their prisoners first. Could he really do that? Did it matter if he couldn’t? If Azura hadn’t rained fire from however far away the mage was then he’d already be dead. He tried not to think about it too much. Neither he nor Azura actually expected the bandits to release the townspeople before they got the crown, or after for that matter.
“Release them and I’ll give you the crown.” He wished he could say that flipping their words had been a moment of bravery, but honestly it was just because he wasn’t confident in his ability to clearly communicate longer sentences right now. Even just the little bit he was doing felt like wading through mud.
“It seems we’re at an impasse, allow me to end it. She made a signal and one of her bandits made to stab the hostage in front of them. The bandit fell dead before the action could be completed, and the steel gray eyes behind the mask looked past him in fury. “When you return with your precious townspeople, inform your mage that he’s a dead man.” To his surprise another signal was made, and all of the townspeople had been told to run for their lives. Suddenly everything devolved into chaos as the panicked townspeople flead, and more arrows began to shoot out from behind the makeshift fence.
He already knew what was going to happen. This was the worst case scenario Azura had predicted. By Forcing them all to run like that the bandits guaranteed most would probably make it to the oasis, but some would die. Azura couldn’t accurately save all of them from the falling arrows, even without the sheer numbers of it, he could only focus on so many things at once. The bandits didn’t really care about the townspeople though, so that meant he was their only target in the chaos. He didn’t understand though, why tell him to bring Azura a message if they were just going to kill him and take the crown.
He was surprised by the clash of metal in front of him as 2 swords clashed strongly in front of him. He heard the familiar growl of the bandit leader who he was just now able to identify as one of the 2 clashing swords in front of him. The other one was perhaps the more surprising one to see. How had Azura managed to get here so fast? “Oh good, looks like you’ve come to me to die. I was so worried I’d have to waste time hunting you down.”
“You know, funny enough I’ve actually heard that line before. So don’t feel too bad, you won’t be the first to fail to live up to that threat.” Arbeid wasn’t an expert on mages or anything, but even he could tell Azura was in a lot worse condition than the bandit. The mage wasn’t injured of course, but that didn’t make the exhaustion any less obvious. Somehow Arbeid knew that not a single one of the hostages had died in their mad scramble, but in exchange Azura was already running on fumes. He had to do something. If he didn’t the townspeople may live, but Azura would surely die here.