Some time later, the carriage was back on the road.
In order to transport all five brigands, three of them had to be in the carriage with Marco and Reina. The duo sat next to each other in one of the long seats, with the brigands crammed into the other. They were tied up and had their weapons taken away, of course. Yet even without their weapons, the men still posed a threat with sheer stench alone.
"Okay, I get it, you're not happy," Marco said after about the thirty-fourth time Reina glared at him in between page turns.
"Oh do you? Then why do you continually insist on doing things that add to my unhappiness?" she replied.
He coughed through the smell that filled the stuffy carriage. "If you see guys robbing people on the road, shouldn't you do something about it?"
"No?" chimed in the brigand with the high-pitched voice.
"Who asked you?" Marco snapped.
"I for one agree with him!" yelled another one of the brigands. He was strapped to the top of the carriage along with his fellow.
"Shut up!" Reina and Marco said together.
A hush fell over the brigands, all except the leader, who chuckled.
"I gotta say, I don't think I've ever seen a pair quite like you. You'd be a better comedy duo than Hero and princess."
"We captured you," said Marco.
"She captured me," the leader said with a mocking smirk.
"He does have a point," said Reina in a sing-songy voice.
"He has experience fighting Heroes!" Marco shouted.
The leader's chuckle turned into genuine laughter. "Hey lad, I envy you. I wish I had a pretty little thing like her caring for me."
"Care...for him?" Reina said with a face that looked like she was going to vomit. "He's useful to me is all. And why am I even explaining myself to a common criminal?"
"He apparently fights Heroes, so he can't be too common," said Marco. "What is your story, anyway?"
The leader glanced at him with narrowed eyes. "Why should I tell you?"
"It's a long ride to the next town," Marco said, leaning against the widow.
The brigand looked at the people around him. No one but Reina had anything to do. With his only option being sitting there, tied up for hours in silence, he began.
"I grew up in a small village of woodcutters. It was boring, so I joined the army. Got put with some local lord. Spent more time collecting taxes and beating up commoners than I did fighting battles. Never actually saw a battle. So I left and fell in with a band of sellswords. That was fun. Till our prick of a boss tried to cheat us out of our cut of a big job. I killed him and became the leader. I was a shit leader, so the gang left. All but these four, and we found it was easier to rob people than fight for our money. Then some rich girl and her idiot Hero came along and stuffed us into a carriage. The end."
With that, he leaned back.
"That's it?" Marco asked. "What about the part where you fought a Hero?"
"Right," the brigand leader grunted. "One time the Second Prince hired my mercenary gang to be a distraction against some cult of dark magic arseholes. We were supposed to throw ourselves at them while his Heroes snuck around and took out their leader. Me and the boys here, plus some others, managed to live. His highness didn't like that. Didn't feel like paying us for what he said was "sloppy work." Guess he wanted us all to die for him, so he made of one his Heroes finish the job."
"So how did you beat the Hero?" asked Marco, wide-eyed.
"I kicked him in the nads and ran away."
Marco sat there with a blank look. "What!? What kind of story is that?"
"Most people don't have great stories," the brigand said with a shrug.
"No, you said you fought a Hero and killed him!"
"I lied."
Marco looked at the floor. "That's…"
"Dissatisfying," Reina finished for him.
"But then...how did you beat me?" asked Marco.
"You suck at fighting. Your attacks are plain as day. I didn't lie about that. If I can see everything you do and have enough men, your magic Hero stuff ain't nothing."
Suddenly, spending the long ride in silence was a lot more appealing.
****
It was well into the night when the carriage finally descended the last hill and made its way into the valley.
There was a town immediately at the base of the hill. It was a plain little town, the typical spattering of huts, shops, and a middle centered around a well.
At the edge of town was a fortress. The carriage pulled up to its wooden gates, entered the stone building, and spoke to a generic-looking soldier at a desk. He flipped through a stack of wanted posters, found ones that matched the brigands, and gave Marco the corresponding reward. A handful of silver coins.
After that, a group of armored guards came to take away the brigands. The five dirty men were chained up and brought into the fortress without a word.
Not that Marco expected a fond farewell. In fact he knew that future travels would be a lot more pleasant without the stink of the men filling their carriage.
Still, he stood there holding his coins, waiting for something else to happen.
"Finally," Reina said, stretching her arms. "You know, despite spending so much time with their oppressive odor...I'm quite famished. Let us go to the inn."
So they made their way to the most expensive inn in town and ate.
****
Being a smaller town, this inn wasn't as elegant as the one from the previous day. There was no garden, but there was a large outdoor area near the stables.
That was where Reina found Marco later that night, swinging his sword.
"The driver said I would find you here," she said as she watched him from a suitable distance.
"I don't think he likes being called 'the driver.' His name is Arnold," Marco replied.
"I didn't realize you and our driver were on such good terms," she said in mock appreciation. "Marco Flores, Hero of the common man!"
"What do you want?" he snapped.
"Is that any way to speak to your Patron?"
He stopped swinging his sword to give her an exhausted glare. "I'm sorry, my lady. What is it you desire?"
"I came to discuss today's events, naturally," she said, crossing her arms. "How did you manage to break my spell?"
Marco's heart skipped a beat. How did she know? Or was she merely guessing? "I didn't, I was just knocked out of the carriage when we hit that bump."
She regarded him warily, but nodded. "That's what I suspected. Still, I cannot have any more foolishness on this trip."
"Yes, your highness."
"I mean it!" she said, approaching him. "You want a villain to face? Look no further than my brother. Help me, Marco, and we can take him down. That's how you become the Hero you want to be."
"The Hero I want to be stops any evil he finds," he said.
He could see Reina take a sharp breath and tense up, but she did a long exhale as if to calm herself. "You can't even stop a brigand. Why are you so stubborn?"
"I'm sorry," was all he could say.
"Don't be sorry, just be better," she said bitterly. "On that note, your form is entirely too stiff."
"What?"
"If you're going to be using a saber, you need to be more fluid. Like you were against Leo."
He looked at the sword in his hand. "I think the flame's power made me like that. I tried to use it against those guys earlier but it wouldn't activate like with Leo."
"Well if you can't rely on the flame, you have to rely on your own abilities."
"Or you," he replied. "How did you learn to fight like that?"
"Never you mind." She grabbed the sword from his hand. "Just watch, and do as I do."
Under the lantern light and with the company of sleeping horses, Marco and Reina spent the greater part of the night training.