Under the suns' oppressive rays a prison transfer convoy moved along. Dozens of horsemen surrounded the enclosed wagons used to transport the prisoners.
They moved steadily on the underdeveloped roads.
*Twang*
An arrow hit the back of a guard, and with that as a signal dozens more arrows rained down on the convoy.
"It's an ambush!" someone gave a rather redundant warning. It seemed that this prison convoy was ambushed by a group of bandits, and experienced ones at that. The bandits took cover on the side of a forested hill while unloading arrows at the convoy.
Some guards took cover using the transport wagons to return fire at the bandits, whilst an officer rallied the others to rush the bandit's position.
It was hectic, and the guards were outnumbered and were caught off guard, putting them in a very disadvantageous situation.
As the cavalry charged toward the bandits many were picked off before they could make it, and it looked like the bandits were prepared. Pulling out chipped short swords of their own, they threw off their bows and started a melee against the guards.
In this melee, there was a guard or rather mercenary, who ruthlessly slaughtered any bandit he came across, violently slaying them as he switched out for new weapons each time one was stuck in an enemy. Not even bothering to avoid the shower of blood that poured on him.
"The hell is wrong with you!" a bandit cried as he struggled to keep his internal organs, well internal. Right now they were more like external organs.
Other bandits didn't dare come near him and some tried shooting arrows at him, however, despite his large size he deftly dodged and weaved past them as cut up the bandits.
It was quite savage.
Indeed, it was the Savage!
Being a reputable and highly experienced mercenary he was hired to take part in protecting this prison convoy, as there was a rather high profile prisoner being transported, so the Tanz City Lord was sure to put plenty of precautions in place. However, there are limits, being a small city it would be beyond suspicious to put a high roster of guards for a prison transfer, not to mention Tanz City rarely ever does prisoner transfers. The official reason given was that crime was rampant recently -which was true- and they couldn't accommodate all the new convicts - which was not true-.
…
Hefting the short bow at the sky, he nocked an arrow and released it.
"So close," he murmured. The arrow barely missed a bandit, however, his companion managed to hit one square in the head, instantly killing him.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," she comforted him.
Yes, Jeffrey was trying to use a bow.
In fact, bringing home that elf netted him a promotion to a Lieutenant as the scout who first found and engaged with the enemy. Lieutenant sounded neat so he took it.
He got the idea to use a bow after seeing how that archer elf devastated that poor tree and how annoying it was to try to flee from them. Indeed, he wanted to try as well!
He had always stuck to melee weapons, but now he was enlightened to the usefulness of ranged weapons.
With the help of his trustworthy if at times odd companion Kelli to train him. She was the only member of his team who was part of the guard convoy.
"What's the casualty count?" Karl surveyed the bloodied trees and strewn corpses around. Karl was just your average scout, he couldn't get used to such a gruesome scene. But in recent times, he felt detached per se, to these occurrences.
"thirteen in all, with three fatalities," a guard reported.
"Sigh, how many captives do we have?"
The reporting guard sucked in a cold breath, "None Sir, Savage made sure of that,"
Karl frowned, it wasn't against the law to execute bandits, but this was an issue of morality, he would rather not have psychotic murderers around him and his men.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear, Savage walked up to Karl. Covered in blood and viscera, he made little attempt to clean himself, as he just let the blood coagulate. It would no doubt stink up like ass if left for a day.
"The fiends are gone," he simply stated as he went and rested by a wagon.
"Savage is no doubt efficient, but I have to question his ethics," Karl gave his judgement on Savage. Karl found it strange that he wasn't recognised by any formal name but rather the word savage, but now he could see why. Savage was an accurate description of the man. An utter savage who would ruthlessly cut down his enemies whilst bathing in their blood, using any number of underhanded tactics and tricks to absolutely crush his enemy.
Checking up on the prisoners, he found none had escaped. Aside from a few arrows stuck in the wagon, it was still perfectly functional. Good.
As the battlefield was cleaned up, it saddened Karl's heart that three of his comrades had to be buried far from home in a random location.
Shaking his head, he pushed these thoughts away. For the moment, there was another problem to solve. How had the bandits snuck up on them? They were not just meandering the roads all willy nilly, of course, they had sent scouts ahead to survey and make sure the path ahead was clear.
Interrogating the scouts in question, Karl made his stance clear,
"You two have neglected your duty and as a result, allowed brigands to take the lives of three of our comrades.
"Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"
One of them stammered as he tried to defend himself, "N-no, it must've, the bandits must've set up after we left,"
"So you're telling me," Karl spoke slowly,
"That dozens of brigands managed to set up an ambush location such as this, in the brief period of time you took to report back? And managed to do so, without kicking a fuss or leaving any notable traces?"
Karl was never this strict, but when it concerned the lives of his men, he would step up on the plate. Karl was no pushover.
The scout paled, his excuses were third rate and he knew it. Dereliction of duty was a major crime, punishable by long term incarceration and hard labour. They would be stripped of their rank and shamed by their peers.
"We'll talk when we get back, dismissed," It looked like Karl wouldn't be letting them off, the two walked away dejected, not looking forward to their ill fate.
Medics walked around tending to the wounded as able bodied guards set up a perimeter around them, making a makeshift camp.
Why couldn't things ever go his way for once?