A CITY

"Kill the men brothers, we will console the women tonight. Haha!"

The bandit leader shouted while running through the trees towards the camp in the clearing. One of his pupils looked cloudy white, with the rest of his face hidden inside an unkempt red beard.

His large frame with broad shoulders and exposed bulging biceps, towered over his subordinates. He wore a tattered leather piece that opened into a short skirt. Pumping his exposed thighs, he led the pack while covering the short distance to the travelers.

"Kill!"

With a feral roar, he launched himself into the air gripping an ax over his shoulder. This standard practice, usually had the women screaming and the men cowering.

The leader possessed a host of wonderful attributes working for him-- the crooked yellow teeth that caused one to freeze and take that second look, the exposed genitals boasting of a man who dared to do anything, and also a psoriasis rump not ashamed to peek out at the world.

Women had a habit of swooning when they saw him, showing a similar reaction, like a handsome prince on parade.

His eyes thus opened wide when a rather pretty black-haired girl and a smaller brunette raised a pair of crossbows and calmly shot him.

Like a sack of potatoes or a large bag of rice, he crumpled to the ground. A bolt had pierced the leather armor, but the hidden breastplate stopped it an inch from his heart. The next bolt, however, proved critical as it lodged into his neck.

The onrushing bandits behind their leader paused to a trot in surprise. Eyes glanced between the gasping man struggling to plug the spraying artery and the unusual armed girls. The leader floundered on the dirt while growing weaker by the second as his hands lost strength.

The girls casually reloaded the crossbows like practiced soldiers. Atop the carriage, sat the other females in a circle scanning the surroundings with their backs against each other.

A large number of beautiful women restored their zeal, causing the bandits to momentarily forget the cold steel held by those silky hands.

"Vengeance! Vengeance for the captain."

"Torture those wenches, let them beg to die."

The few bandits overturned the shock and raised their weapons, ranging from pitchforks to swords. With more than twenty companions expected to soon join them from over the opposite ridge, these travelers would enjoy a torturous ending.

Trying to reason with frenzied men during a fight was like trying to out a forest fire with a cup of water. Chu focused on the man rushing towards him with an outstretched pitchfork.

From the top of the carriage, another volley of bolts whizzed through the air initiating bellows of pain.

"Die brat."

The man jabbed the wooden prongs towards him, while Chu sidestepped to the left. As if practiced for a thousand times, he entered into attacking range when the man yanked the weapon in preparation for a second stab.

An average man would have kept his distance, but Chu had shed the mentality of fear.

Creating a flash, a silver arc descended from above, halted by a crunching sound.

Chu completed his actions by kicking the man in the chest, freeing his sword from the skull in a fluid motion. Wasting no time, he thrust his sword into the ribs of a bandit, engaged in a one on one sword fight with Ming.

"Argg, brat you have no honor!"

The bandit dropped to his knees while clutching his fresh wound. Chu refused to accept the bait parrying a mirrored sneak attack from a copying bandit. Ming answered the man with a stab through the heart, before avoiding a cleaving strike from another foe.

About eight bandits had accompanied the leader, hoping to pocket the best of the spoils. Accustomed to swiftly ambushing and overpowering their prey, the dwindling survivors sobered on realizing they kicked a boulder.

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A really hard boulder.

Three of them dropped dead soon after, by cross-bolts fired from an unlikely source. Never in their lives would a man think females could wield weapons with deadly efficiency.

"Dammit, where are Joe and the archers!"

"By the Nord Pass! What devilry is this?"

Over the ridge of expected reinforcements, walked out two girls. The short one wore a cloak with blood-colored hair lifting slightly in the wind. The green eyes surveyed the remaining two men as if staring at tasty morsels.

The blond-haired girl, however, looked like a heavenly devil. Clad in leather armor, she held twin daggers that dripped with blood. Under the scattered moonlight, the newcomers reeked like harbingers of death.

What froze the blood of the experienced highwaymen, flanked the girls. Two large wolves materialized from the shadows, their yellow eyes stifling the very souls of the impious men. A third beast trod from behind the ridge, tossing the carcass of a man like a ragged doll from its bloodied maw. The nonchalant display turned their legs into jelly.

Chu tapped a spellbound robber lightly on the shoulder with the flat of his blade. The action prompted a scream, nearly jolting the man to death.

"Hey, take us to your stash."

***

"Hmph! What kind of bandit camp is this? No ledgers, your accounts are also in a mess, and anyone has access to the money chest. No wonder you look like beggars."

Amanda berated while crossing her legs on a chair. Her long dress highlighted her body, endowing her with a regal countenance. The lone bandit survivor kneeled in the middle of the cave, bowing his head while twiddling his fingers in consternation.

A few hours ago, he would have torn the robes off this rare beauty and ravished her for days, rather than listen to her scoldings in shame.

Those fantasies occurred before she buried a cross-bolt into the forehead of the camp guard. The guy did ask for it since he displayed some lewd actions when they entered the camp. The body of a dead woman tossed nearby and begging for a burial didn't help his cause either.

This survivor's only thoughts lay in how to please the terrifying goddess.

She tossed a parchment from her dainty fingers and then focused her eyes on him. Her commanding display caused him to flinch.

"What's your name again, Hurl is it?"

"Burl, its Burl young miss."

Amanda waved her hands in dismissal at such a trivial matter. She clasped her hands on her lap before continuing.

"Hurl, this young miss is already within marriageable age. As such she requires a large dowry so as not to bring shame to her family. Now, a box containing a measly thousand pieces of gold, along with a few scraps of armor, surely cannot suffice. Don't you agree?"

"Ah, young miss this stash is all we have. I swear an oath to the heavens since we have nothing again hidden in secret. And begging your pardon miss, but my name is Burl."

What the heck, this young woman acted as though they worked for her. That chest of gold coins required painstaking effort to collect. The bandit troupe had literally shed blood and lives to gather that amount. As for fibbing to these monsters, Burl would never dare attempt it.

His bandit companion who survived the ambush had tried to lead them into a trap, but the blue-eyed reaper thwarted it. The punishment had been a horrendous death as the wolves meticulously tore him alive, limb from limb, with Burl witnessing the unthinkable death.

Did these devils bear some sort of grudge against the reputable, hard-working bandit community?

"Hurl, Hurl, this isn't enough. Do you really want this young miss to enter into Limerock City as a pauper? Without coin and status, those vile and ungodly men would have their way with this young maiden."

The monologue had Burl coughing up blood.

Amanda locked eyes with the disheveled man, causing him to spring sweat like a fountain. After witnessing tonight's slaughter, only a fool wouldn't know what would happen with an unsatisfactory answer.

She sighed softly with a face of disappointment, thus causing the man to panic.

"Wait, wait a moment young miss. On this road to Limerock, we are not the only gang around. Though the garrison patrols the road, highwaymen still roam unchecked. Some even slaughter entire convoys while others implement taxes on merchants."

"So what does this have to do with you, Hurl?"

Amanda asked.

"The saintly miss may not know, but gangs tend to liaise with each other to avoid infringing into the territory of the other. I know where to find them along the road since we maintain trade for supplies and equipment."

Chu nodded on the side. It made sense for these robbers to conduct trade with each other. Not only did they not avoid the perils of being recognized in the towns, but they could pass information among each other as to garrison activities.

"Lead the way Hurl. Lead the way..."

***

Three weeks later, a convoy of four wagons plodded along the road, heading east. The last wagon contained the toils from their journey. Chu and Ming both wore bandages wrapped around different parts of their body, while Mr. Thomas sported one on his shoulder from an arrow wound.

Even Tye didn't escape, also nursing a bloodied nose after a tussle. The apprentice learned more about the true nature of these companions in the past few weeks than in the months living at the farm. Tye only had one goal at present and that was to cast off these shameless devils as soon as possible.

A horse clipped at the front, as the rider approached the lead carriage.

Bella wasted no time to deliver her message, with overflowing excitement. She brushed the morning dew from her black hair.

"We can see it from over the hill about a mile away. I saw a city, a CITY! Limerock!"