“These people better still be alive. Or we just wasted precious time.” Ishmael complained.

A cold large room greeted them, darkened with spots lit up by lanterns. Metal bars were visible on both sides.

“They better be in here.” Ishmael took a lantern with one hand while holding her hatchet.

The rattling of chains and distant murmurs called out to them.

“Looks like they’re alive too.” Ikari wasted no time, prying off the lock from the cages with Ishmael.

Just as they opened it, a muffled voice from upstairs alerted them, quickly followed by frantic footsteps.

“Stay here, I'll check it out.”

—---

Quellin and Mono were engaged by a trio of bandits, heavily clad in armor. But alongside the normal maces and swords or axes, they swung short links of chains, covered in barbed wire and other sharp objects.

“One more there!” One of the bandits turned, swinging his arm and letting loose the abomination of a weapon at Kayd.

His blade managed to block it, but the chain quickly coiled around it, and in a moment was ripped from his hands.

Able to disarm and has the distance on me, this is bad. Very bad.

Lia stood in front of the crowd of terrified settlers, some stepped in to join in the fight however.

Kayd ducked down, hastily grabbing his sword from the floor and charging forward at the nearest bandit. He swung his chain around, managing to get some of the armed settlers. Mono and Quellin were preoccupied with the other 2, leaving the first one solely for Kayd.

A swing caught him off guard, now fighting against the tug of the bandit as he closed in for the kill. The sword was stuck, any attempt futile now. The bandit slammed his short axe into Kayd’s shoulder.

A quick shout of pain came from his mouth before shutting them. Looking up, he clenched his fist and swung at the bandit’s face. He felt his knuckles ache as the bandit stepped back, the chain dropped down, releasing his blade.

But as he regained his focus, a streak of purple pierced through his body. Kayd turned his attention to the others, one managed to wrap mono in chains, squeezing the life out of him and piercing through his clothes. Lia wanted to step in but stayed with the settlers.

Mono writhed in the binds while Quellin punched through his opponent’s face with a gauntlet and longsword pommel.

Some of the settlers stepped in to try and help bit were pushed and injured by the man’s chain.

As he struggled, the man swung the chain, with Mono still on it. He flew in the air before slamming directly onto the ceiling. The sound was deafening and the ensuing terror in all of their hearts was just as loud.

Kayd charged forward with purple hands, the strike was fast, and the man was caught mid laughter as his life was quickly drained. The sword went through the layers of armor easily and he fell hard on the floor.

Piss….No no no…They better have not heard it….

Lia and a few other settlers caught Mono as he fell from the ceiling. All the while Quellin finished handling his threat, managing to deform the helmet of the bandit and plugging his longsword through a crack.

Frantic footsteps rushed up from the stairs and Ikari and Ishmael arrived, a small crowd of settlers behind them, just as disheveled as the ones with Lia. Some stepped forward, meeting familiar faces amongst the crowd and embracing them with tears of joy.

“That damn idiot threw Mono at the ceiling, no doubt they heard it. We need to move now.” A few boxes and random planks of wood were placed at the doors as they began making their way up. The settlers looked excited or at the least determined.

—---

The sound of pounding on the downstairs door hastened their movement, now rushing into the hall with no words, breaching and clearing, hoping to find the armory.

It better be here

A few hard kicks broke iron lock. Forcing through it, Kayd’s eyes lit up and a small smile appeared on his face.

It was an armory, or at least resembled one. Racks of random weapons and crates filled with what they were just hoping for. That familiar explosive.

He called the rest, getting everyone to crowd into the armory. Along with the explosive sticks, settlers began arming themselves, soldiers or normal folk alike with fury in their eyes and a very visible grin upon being told to grab some of the explosives.

“Now we need a window.” Ishmael rushed out as the banging on the downstairs door grew louder, Kayd and the rest followed, checking the remaining rooms for a window.

A brief scan and they found a barricaded window. Ishmael peered through the cracks of the planks. A smile appeared on her face.

“Looks like the rest still haven’t heard the crack. The moment I rip these off I want all of you to throw it down and at the nearby buildings, got it?” The response was quick and obvious.

“Get ready!” They held up the explosives, finally, they can now exact their revenge and take the battle to the bandits at last, and in their own stronghold no less.

Ishmael struck the boards with great force, splitting chunks off of each one before tearing them out. Everyone looked on eagerly, hands on the strings, excitement and hatred filling the air

As the planks fell on the floor, the banging on the door downstairs grew louder and louder, until. Once Ishmael ripped the final plank, a loud bang erupted from below. They blew it up!

“Throw them now!” Everyone yanked at the strings and tossed the explosives wildly, landing at different distances and different locations. A crowd of bandits in the center being the main target.

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

Explosions erupted like bright yellow geysers, shooting out and unleashing destruction on the entire area, quickly silencing the party and shouts.

“Quellin, Kayd. Handle the threat below, we’ll continue here.” The two immediately rushed out, now face to face with the bandits who got in.

Great, more chains and heavy armor, I'm starting to run out of that piercing ability. Need to ration it more now.

About five were in front of them, heavily armed like their dead comrades from earlier. Trinkets and jewelry covered bits of their armor and weapons like a bizarre show of wealth, some covered in blood.

“Ah drat, it’s those slave freers! Knock em down lads!” The two sides rushed forward, immediately getting caught in a brawl. The two evaded and parried the oncoming chains, it felt just like the rat tails they fought beforehand. The memory only served to make things easier now.

Kayd tried stabbing and slashing at parts of the bandits, but all were covered up, he truly had no choice anymore and so did Quellin. They needed to get rough throughout this attack to succeed.

Quellin fared much better, although outnumbered, he punched and swung the pommel and guard of his sword like an axe, damaging the enemy.

Only a glove protected Kayd’s hands, but it wasn’t enough. Blood began to pour out of them as he followed suit with Quellin, punching, kicking, and using the butt of his sword to break the metal armor of the bandits.

Explosions let loose outside, creating a menacing symphony for the fight ensuing inside the warehouse, crates upon crates of explosives were thrown out, further reducing the inside of the fort into rubble and ash. Brief screams of wounded hostiles filled the silence in between explosions.

Kayd dug his blade into the thin visor of one of their helmet’s removing one bandit from the fight. They were fighting in a blend of reckless abandon and any scrounged up techniques they learned that didn’t involve their main weapons. Each hit slowly deformed the chestplate and helmet of the two assailants in front of him, now using his blade as a parrying tool.

The two were on opposite sides of Kayd, parrying back and forth while delivering his own attacks to at least destabilize them, but it was talking a while.

Fighting two at the same time isn’t working…Sigh, this won’t be pretty but it should be faster.

In their fight, Kayd grabbed an incoming chain, pulling it hard and forcing the bandit down. With an opening, he lunged at the other, tackling him to the ground. His visor was now too small to pierce through, forcing him to start beating at it, trying to either force a crack or rip it off him.

He unleashed a flurry of rapid and hard strikes, enough to break the knuckles on his bones, hoping it can break the helmet before the other bandit reached him.

The runt struggled against him, hitting him back or forcing him off. But none managed to work, and Kayd focused his hits on the center of the helmet, slowly breaking it and seeing a crack grow.

He grabbed his sword, ready to strike, but felt the barbed chain wrap around his chest.

The bandit tried pulling him away, but he resisted, raising up his sword and plunging it deep through the newly formed crack.

The last bandit was easily handled, now without the aid of his comrades, Kayd focused everything on him.

Quellin fought just steps away, already handling the situation far better as he removed his sword from one of the bandit’s helmets while the other was trying to get up.

The battle quickly came to an end with Kayd digging his sword into another broken helmet, ending the last bandit. Taking deep breaths before stumbling to the side to sit. His hands were covered in blood, aching wildly. But still functioning.

“It was unwise to use such tactics, especially with unprotected hands.” Quellin remarked.

“We needed a way to break through them, i guess fists were faster than beating their heads in with the butt end of a sword.” He chuckled.

“Understandable reason, but this only makes you closer to requiring more intensive medical care from Lia if you don’t find more…Clean methods.” With that, Quellin helped him up and the two went back to the room, less explosions could be heard as the crates were getting depleted.

Settlers shouted and celebrated in joy, seeing the dead criminals and destroyed buildings. Taking their full anger out on their captors. The area had turned silent, the only standing buildings were the large stronghold in the distance and the warehouse.

“They proved themselves well, now let’s get to the leader before reinforcements showed up. Those explosives should have woken up the rest.” Ishmael ordered. The jubilant crowd of settlers rushed down with them, heading into the open area.

—---

They passed the destroyed bonfire and remnants of the buildings, a heavy scent of char filled their noses, along with the sight of the dead.

I really do need a better method for this, come on Kayd, think!

His scavenging of past memories was interrupted by Lia, who was secretly wrapping his arms in bandages.

“I hoped you guys would stay away from terrible injuries due to the limited healing i have right now. This is the best i can do right now.”

“It’s fine, i handled much worse… Far worse.” He chuckled. Lia looked away, a face of guilt and shame still on her mind.

“Anything on your mind?” Kayd asked.

“No, nothing-” Kayd interrupted her.

“Look, i noticed this type of thing since the beginning, the worried glances and shameful looks. If this is about the fact you were kidnapped, don’t beat yourself about it. At best it helped us reach the leader. I even saw you toss some explosives of your own earlier. Shows that you're also willing to fight instead of just shying away, even if you have to be in the rear.” Kayd replied. Lia took a deep breath and looked down.

“I don’t know, I got us into trouble time and time again, I just want to feel useful. I still can’t get it right even after so many battles. I just want to help, and this is where it got me. Wasted all of the bottles and got you all heavily injured just to save me. To be honest, I wish you hadn’t…” She sighed again, putting a hand to her forehead.

“My workmates were right, I should have stayed in the cathedral, I shouldn't have disobeyed the Cathedral Dean and went to those stupid ruins to study some stupid herbs and follow a scroll! Should have just stayed in and followed orders, because I was always better off a cathedral healer, I never was good to be an explorer or team healer!” Her outburst got the attention of Quellin, who started to move closer to her.

“Recall what we talked about, yes you have failed, so have we. You have strayed and ignored direct orders in the past, such problems can be easily helped. This is normal for a team. It does not help to self deprecate over it.” He paused to wipe some blood from his sword.

“Regardless of how much injury or anger we may get from your, or each other’s mistakes so far, we remained as a team. Your inexperience can be easily stamped out with a few more lessons. For now though, don’t stab at yourself with those sharp negative thoughts. Even with the insubordination and mistakes, you nonetheless managed to provide help to us. Be it medical or leading us much closer to the enemy than anticipated. Don’t forget that.” Quellin explained, his tone, despite being just as emotionless, felt soothing in an odd way.

“Remember what I taught you, controlling impulses, making logical judgements, when to act on your own and when you need an order to act.” He continued. The words calmed her down for a bit. But the sadness was still evident on her face.

“Orders…Act…” She muttered under her breath. Kayd recalled what had happened so far, the major changes he saw in Lia so far. More specifically when she selflessly helped him in the cell.

“We’ll talk more on it later. For now just remain close and only patch up severe wounds. Save the healing ability.” With that, he marched forward from the others.

On their march, the distant sound of galloping horses and shouts grew near from all sides.

“Pick up the pace! We need to reach that gate and break it before they come!” Ishmael yelled. Everyone ran onward, getting closer

From the stronghold’s walls, bandits ran up with bows at the ready. Arrows were hastily fired at their direction and armed settlers shielded themselves and others while running forward.

“I managed to save up some explosives, once we reach near the gate, throw them and destroy it!” Ishmael tossed a single bundle of explosives to each of the team members.

Lia and Mono kept the settlers packed up, though inexperienced, he could see Mono giving his own orders, trying to rally and motivate them to keep moving while Lia unexpectedly carried a knife in her hand.

This is it, just like the past warlords you killed Kayd…Just, minus the stealth and triple the loud and explosions.