It took longer for the two bandit hunters to return than expected and it was Anwar Khey who returned to our camp to report on what had happened during their hunt.
"Well they seemed competent enough hunters but they're new to the area and they had a spot of bad luck, but they eventually managed to bag themselves a nice sized dear, a brace of rabbits, and a couple of birds. They weren't all that talkative on the way out but once they had finished their hunt that soon changed. We daren't get close enough to hear everything they said but we managed to catch their names and the name of the individual whom we presume is the bandit chief plus the fact that they plan to move out soon and that they were promised a good payday from it."
"Good work Anwar, did they give any indication where or what they might be hitting and whether or not they have any horses hidden nearby?"
"They speculated what their target might be which seems to indicate they hadn't been told the specifics yet which seems odd and as for the other matter they didn't mention it, not that we heard anyway."
"Anything else to report?"
"Well milord they did say something that seemed odd at the time and I'm not even sure it's worth mentioning especially since neither of us had heard it before and thus have no idea what it means."
"And what word pray tell was that?"
"I'm not quite sure if I'm pronouncing it right but it sounded something like, Texacomm."
"Isn't texacom old Tibous for some kind of poison, no poisoned arrows, gods I hope they're not using poisoned arrows, those haven't been used in warfare for centuries. Well outside the outer islands, let's hope they haven't gotten ahold of the poisons they use there. Alright Anwar you can return to your post and it's best if you don't speak a word about what you have heard just now, we could be mistaken after all and they might have been talking about something else after all. Erdal what can be done to protect our men from poisoned arrows and if we can't is there any hope if anyone gets poisoned?"
"Sire if they do make use of poisoned arrows, I imagine theirs a wide range of poisons they could be using from something to simply knock out the recipient to ones that kill them in an instance and anything in between. There's no poisonous plants or animals in the area thus I doubt we have any antidotes or anything. So, all we can do is try to prevent any poison the bandit's arrows might contain from infecting anyone hit by one. How one might go about doing that I have no idea other than taking them out before they get a chance to fire any arrows at us, sorry but I have no better idea."
"How about shields, most of our current force has them and they should provide some measure of protection."
"It won't be enough, they'll reduce the numbers hit but if enough of them get fired at us some will get through, there's no helping it. Again, it comes back to taking them by enough of a surprise that they can be taken care of quickly and efficiently, which won't leave much room for taking prisoners I'm afraid."
"So be it the safety of the men comes first. "
With the information about the bandit's possible use of poisoned arrows in hand together with what we already knew we set about devising a proper plan for how we would deal with the bandits once they left their camp. Well, there were actually two different plans depending on whether or not our reinforcement would arrive in time.
Shortly after we had finalized the plans a messenger arrived from the toll booth to inform us that Darrell Carne had arrived there and asked permission to cross into Membe to meet with me. As I had instructed them, they had granted his request and he was on his way and was probably only minutes behind the messenger.
When he arrived, he wasn't alone being accompanied by two others one of whom I recognized and the other that I did not. Sir Turbot Creagan and I had been pages together at the court of Issac Zayat from the ages of seven to fourteen. We weren't exactly friends or anything and in fact, the only reason I had been able to recognize him was his missing left earlobe which I had accidentally removed when I was sparring with him one day.
"I believe you already know Sir Turbot, but may I also present to you Fergus Cesca the chief forester of Kincarn. So, you went looking for treasure and found yourself some trouble instead just like your brother. Though this will no doubt be easier to get out of than the mess he left you with."
"Don't mind Darrell Amondo his mouth isn't always connected to his head, when was the last time we saw each other three lobes?
"It must have been your accolade ceremony one lobe."
"Right from your message the bandit's number around forty or so, any sign of movement from them?"
"Not yet but from what we've managed to figure out they plan to make a move tonight or sometime tomorrow."
"So what's the plan?"
"Wait until they're out in the open and then unleash hell."
"Seems a bit simplistic but viable, so what do you need from us?"
"I need you to have your men guard your side of the border and deal with any escapees that come their way but be careful we have indications they might be making use of poisoned arrows."
"That's fine with me though I'm concerned about what you said about the arrows, Darrell what do you think?"
"That's our most realistic option, I'd like to do more but that just isn't practical."