Before Dura and Tejas fought, Vidur was also busy with some bandits of his own...
*Twang*
Vidur's bow twanged as he shot at the bandit in the distance. His fight was with a burly man who wielded a Talwar (saber).
Vidur shot several arrows in rapid-fire but the bandit, the first commander, who was running towards Vidur, deflected each arrow and cut most of them.
"Tsk"
Vidur clicked his tongue as he shot again. This time 4 arrows were shot near simultaneously, followed by other arrows in 8 seconds. Vidur ran at the first commander. He put his bow on his back as he drew his khukuri from his waist.
The first commander who was dodging and deflecting the arrows didn't seem to expect Vidur's approach. Taking advantage of the surprise element, Vidur aimed at the commander's leg.
"I won't fall that easily!"
The first commander said as he jumped behind, avoiding Vidur's swinging khukuri. Still, Vidur managed to cut a small part of his leg.
As if he didn't feel any pain, the first commander thrusted his saber at Vidur, who dodged the attack but was met with a punch to his face.
"Ack!"
Vidur and the first commander both took a couple of steps back, trying to regain their balance. Especially the first commander who found it hard to balance his center of gravity with a wound on his leg.
Still, the commander remarked.
"If a punch like that can make you shout in pain, you're way too weak to fight me!"
Saying that, the first commander took a giant step forward. His burly right arm intensely thrust the talwar at Vidur. Vidur also responded with his own fierce attacks. However, due to the long reach from the talwar, Vidur was in a disadvantageous situation.
*Clang*
The two weapons clashed once again. However, this time, the burly body of the first commander was able to send Vidur's body flying at a nearby tree.
*Cough*
Vidur coughed up blood but immediately grabbed a rock and threw it at the approaching First commander.
The second commander stepped to the side to dodge the stone, but Vidur shot an arrow at him this time. The arrow was deflected easily but Vidur managed to hide behind the tree before the first commander could see him.
"Haah, Haah"
Vidur panted as he slowly creeped around the tall bushes. He picked up another set of arrows that Tejas had left on the ground and sprung out from the first commander's side.
*Twang*
His bow twanged once again as he started shooting relentlessly. Although, this time he was shooting while running.
"This is nothing!"
The first commander remarked but He failed to deflect every arrow that Vidur shot at him. The compound wounds weren't serious but Vidur clearly noticed a sign of exhaustion in the commander's body.
"Coward bastard. If you are a real man, come out here and face me fairly. Stop hiding!"
Vidur ignored the curses of the first commander as he moved to another bush and picked up the arrows from there. However, he only had 11 left this time.
"Hmph, a fair fight? You want an archer to fight you in close combat? I'd rather have more fun listening to the rambles of Tejas than your nonsense."
Vidur climbed a nearby tree and his voice repeated inside the dense forest. The first commander looked around but failed to even find Vidur's silhouette.
"I found signs of a battle. Elephants, humans, and horse's recent footprints. There was a big fight between you and the villagers. No, it was more of a one-sided slaughter."
The first commander kept looking for the source of sound with an irritated look. Yet couldn't pinpoint the exact location due to the echoes of the forest.
"So, why did they leave them alive? Wouldn't it be better to deal with them once and for all and move to another village? Why go through the whole mercenary shenanigans if you were not going to kill them?"
The first commander stopped looking for Vidur. He clenched his fist but his expression was very calm when he replied.
"Kid you ask too many questions. Weren't you the one that told Sardhas to shut his mug in a fight?"
"..."
Vidur didn't reply but the first commander did the work for him.
"It's irritating but I can't watch an oblivious fool tarnish the leader's intention. I will tell you everything you want to know if you don't die at my hands!"
Right after the first commander finished talking, Vidur shot two triangle arrows from behind the commander. As if he had eyes on his back, the bandit turned around.
With a swift motion, he used his Talwar to deflect the arrows. However, the arrows pushed him back a few steps.
Looking closely at them, one could see that these heavy arrows were made specifically for people with larger body frames and physiques.
As the first commander adjusted his balance, Vidur dropped a leaf to the ground. The leaf swayed but didn't stray too much from its intended position.
"Wind check."
Vidur remembered what his father had taught him once. It was a flashy move but really effective if he could pull it off.
*Twang*
Vidur's bow twanged twice. At the same time, one arrow rose to the sky, and the other was aimed at the first commander.
The first commander upon having regained his balance, charged at Vidur. However, Vidur didn't hide this time. He shot the remaining arrows at the approaching bandit.
3 arrows to be specific.
After shooting the arrows, Vidur and the first commander engaged in a sword fight.
*Clank* *Clank* *Klang* *swoosh*
The first commander used his burly right arm to swing down with heavy force. Vidur could only parry the attacks. However, winning this fight wasn't his main objective at all.
"Naive!"
The first commander roared as his and Vidur's Khukuri clashed. The clash ended up as a contest of strength. However, Vidur lost too easily. The first commander grabbed Vidur's left arm and pulled him towards himself.
*Bang*
The first commander headbutted Vidur's head. The shockwave dulled Vidur's sense but he gritted his teeth and attacked the commander's chest with his Khukuri's hilt.
The commander let go of his arm and dodged the attack by taking a few steps backward.
Vidur immediately rushed forward, a rare urgency could be seen in his movements. With all his strength, he tackled the commander a few steps back.
However, their weight difference was obvious as the first commander not only stopped the tackle but grabbed Vidur's arm, freed himself, and twisted them.
As a response, Vidur twisted his body to match the twist. However, the first commander just flung him to the side.
*Bang*
Vidur's body crashed into a nearby tree. Coincidentally the one from where he had shot the arrows.
"Listen kid, you are a couple of years too early to even think you can defeat me in close combat."
The commander spoke as he wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead. He was exhausted but still radiated the aura of a proud winner.
"The only reason you are alive is that the leader ordered me to keep you alive."
Vidur struggled to get back up. His tall body was laying on the ground, writhing in pain. Struggling to even breathe properly as the dirt on the ground stained his hair.
*Cough*
Vidur coughed up blood as the commander approached him.
*Clang*
Suddenly, the commander, upon taking just a single step, swung his sword to cut an arrow in mid-air. It was the first arrow that Vidur had shot at the sky.
"Did you think I forgot about that trick of yours? You drove me to this place, right? I applaud your calculations and accuracy. Even the force it must have required to shoot an arrow so high to last this long."
The commander spoke with a huge sneer.
"I already knew it was com-"
However, that sentence was cut halfway by the sound of a small but sharp arrow piercing his left shoulder. The arrow squeaked a little as it dug deep in the muscles.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!"
The first commander let out a huge roar of pain. He fell to his knees and roared. However, another three arrows also fell down, one missed his head slightly but the other pierced his neck, and chest.
"Haah, of course, I know that you were aware of my plan but you were too confident. If you hadn't dropped your guard, the additional needle arrows I shot wouldn't have worked."
"...It was a good fight..."
Vidur said as he somehow managed to push his body to stand up enough that his back could rest on the tree.
As he watched, blood spurted out from the first commander's body. His burly back fell to the ground.
*Cough* *Cough*
The bandit coughed up a pool of blood. No, he was already lying on his own blood-soaked mud. The sight was harrowing, to say the least. Yet, Vidur watched the bandit struggle as he finally pulled the arrow out of his chest.
"Oi, what is your name? I want to at least know the name of my first ever formidable opponent."
"..."
The first commander didn't speak. However, he was still alive and Vidur could see it.
"Kanta."
After a few seconds that felt like an eternity to both men, Kanta spoke,
"You said you wanted answers right? I will keep my word. Ask what you want. I will spend my last moments warning you."
Vidur didn't waste a breath and immediately asked.
"Like I asked, why torture the villagers? It's stupid no matter how I think-"
Vidur was interrupted by Kanta who spoke with a somewhat sorrowful voice. Was it because of the blood blocking his vocal cords or something else? Vidur didn't know.
"We bandits follow our leader. He freed every bandit you saw, from slavery. We are his men to the bitter ends of our lives. You ask why we are torturing the villagers? It is because they made our leader what he is today."
Vidur felt like he had somewhat guessed such a response but still asked.
"What did they do to him?"
"Our leader is different. He strongly believes that living has no meaning if there is nothing fun. To make it fun, he plays with his hostages. Whether it's a woman or a child. He doesn't discriminate. To him, all lives are equal. Breaking their minds, and spirits. Manipulating their emotions."
With his voice getting shallower every second, Kanta spoke in a significantly lower voice. But his voice sounded strong when he talked about his leader, Rakta.
"We are his men and he is our leader. Moreover, if you think I was strong for you, give up kid. All 3 commanders in our group can't come close to the leader while training. Don't die young when you have this much poten-"
Kanta died midway. Did he choke on his own blood or did he forget to even breathe while talking about Rakta? Vidur couldn't know.
Vidur stared at the corpse of Kanta. Just around 15-20 minutes ago, this burly man had commanded his men to kill Vidur.
Now, he lay there motionless, drowning in his own pool of blood.
Later on, Tejas arrived at the place. He helped Vidur get up and treated his wounds.
"My opponent was better at archery than me. His only weakness was his overbearing nature and pride that he made way too much noise. He couldn't perform the 's' of the word stealth."
Hearing his ramblings, Vidur began thinking about Kanta words. Specifically, about the relation between Rakta and the villagers.
"It will be a tough fight Tejas. We aren't even close to Rakta according to that guy there."
Vidur said to hear Tejas reply as energetically as ever.
"So what? Does that mean you are going to just give up?"
Hearing the expected response, Vidur smiled.
"No, you idiot. I am warning you. Don't die before the fight even starts."
"Says the guy who still can't walk properly after fighting. So, your opponent also died in battle, did he ask any last wish."
Tejas asked Vidur
"Yes, but his last wish was that we are going to die by his leader's hand if we fight him, anyways let's go we shouldn't waste any more time."
"Wait! shouldn't we at least burn his or his men bodies? I know they are not good people but at least we can do that."
Vidur was making a contempt face.
"Tejas they are not worthy to get mukti, you know what they did to those village people or many others people who they meet, how many people have they killed we don't know, so I will not do any humane thing to them.
if you want to burn their bodies, you have to do it yourself because I will do nothing."
While saying that Vidur walked alone forward not looking back to Tejas.
"Ok, you're right Vidur, but at least we should bury their bodies. There is a big hole I made to trap them you know we can use that at least.
The two bickered while walking together. Kanta had been buried along with his men. Now they were heading to the tiger's den. To Rakta!