Cleaning stables was the worst job Moss could think of. No wait, there were worse. Moss quickly thanked the gods under his breath that he didn't have to resort to those. Still, though, working two jobs to make ends meet? Besides stable hand for one of the local lords, he was a crossbowman for the local militia. Of course, the militia only took him because he already had his own kit. All they had to issue him was the lords colors to wear over his armor.

Moss poured the cool well water over his head. This summer was hotter than usual. Shoveling horse manure was harder work than it looked like. Luckily, he was used to the hard work from his upbringing.

Darren, a local militia man, strode through the stable master's house door and headed towards him. The lord's colors were neatly worn, hanging over his shoulders. Before Darren had even gotten all the way over to the well Moss was resting at, Darren had begun to speak. "The Captain says he needs you to come along with the patrol squad today. They're checking out a potential thieves' camp out in the woods and want a few extra hands. I've already spoken to your master, and he says your work for today was just about done anyway."

Moss held back a face, "he's not my master. I'm a freeman; I chose to become employed by him."

Darren shrugged his shoulders and started walking towards the front gate, "whatever you say. You're due at the muster field in an hour. Get your kit and meet the patrol squad there. I'll be coming along too."

…

An hour is what Darren had said. Although, Moss was sure it had been longer, there was no way for him to tell the time, besides the position of the sun. Just when he decided to stand up and stretch the patrol squad walked onto the muster field next to the towns front gate. Well, archway. The gate had long since fallen apart and been discarded and all that was left was the stone archway that was connected to the wooden walls. Luckily, brigands stuck to robbing travelers along the highway and not trying to rob the town.

There was a knight leading the patrol today. As well as a small number of extra militia men along with them. Moss straightened his armor and pulled the wrinkles out of the surcoat that bore the lord's colors. He adjusted the axe hanging from his belt and picked up his crossbow. His bolts were in a quiver that hung from his belt.

The knight quickly rode out to Moss, once he sighted him, straightened himself out. As the knight spoke Moss brought himself to a semblance of being at attention. "Ah, you're early. Good. I'm sir Mikel Greenston. Lord Becker asked me to lead the patrol today. However, your patrol leader will still be issuing most the commands. I don't want to get in the way of him completing his duties. I'm only here to lead the attack against the camp of thieves in the woods, if that is what it turns out to be. I know. It's not usually the job of the militia to patrol so far out on the highway, but with most of our man-at-arms are away right now, we don't have much choice."

Moss stopped himself from shrugging and instead decided to speak, "The militia don't get out and do enough anyway. I just hope the stable master doesn't think too much of me being away from work. I know he said my day was almost done anyway, but there's always too much work to be done there with not enough hands."

Sir Greenston forced a smile and nodded. "we'll leave in just a few minutes. We're still waiting on a few more people.

…

The patrol was now 18 men strong. The patrol squad's usual six town guards, plus another six from the militia, augmented with five man-at-arms and a knight. Moss couldn't imagine that a few thieves would be able to do much damage against them. The campsite they were to investigate was about an hour walk from the town. The sun would be close to setting as they got back.

After walking for close to an hour Sergeant Tanner, the patrol leader, signaled a halt to the miniature column and the knight walked forward with his horse. Sir Greenston had decided to walk along with everyone else, and lead his horse along. They talked amongst themselves for a minute then motioned forward the militia.

Once Moss and the militia members approached, Tanner immediately started talking. "Darren, you're the senior militia man, right?" Darren nods. "Take one man and check out the campsite I described to you earlier. Sir Greenston is going to want to know how the place is set up and how many there are. Don't be seen."

Darren nods quickly and taps the shoulder of another militia man, who silently follows Darren into the woods. Moss hadn't realized just how quickly and quietly Darren could vanish until he saw him melt into the woods. If Moss didn't know any better, he would have thought Darren a wizard, but there was only one of those in town.

The wait felt like an eternity, but the sun had barely moved across the sky when Darren and the other militia man returned. For the life of him, Moss could not remember the man's name. After thinking about it, Moss realized that the distance isn't exactly that short when taking into consideration that they needed to remain unseen and may have had to view the campsite from multiple angles.

After briefly discussing the details of the camp and the knight briefing the group the details of a plan the patrol leader quickly got everyone moving and quiet. The trek into the woods was relatively short and had Moss not been paying attention, he would have walked straight into the camp.

Everyone stayed hidden, except Sir Greenston, who walked out into the open, having tied up his horse a short way back. His voice boomed throughout the area, "I am Sir Mikel Greenston and have been sent here on behalf of Lord Becker. There have been a number of highway robberies in this area, and I am tasked to investigate. Please identify yourselves and whether you know who the perpetrators are."

A tall lanky man who was sitting by the fire quickly stands up while the knight is talking, but waits for the knight to finish before responding. The man quickly looks at the seven other men surrounding him and clears his throat, "my lord, we are but homeless vagabonds. We don't know who these brigands you speak of may be, but they have not molested us. We have nothing for them to steal."

Moss surveyed his surroundings and the camp and quickly surmised that these were not 'homeless vagabonds'. They did not look starved nor did it look like they had any want of personal possessions. The knight didn't show any expression on his face, but a small smile, and spoke a bit quieter, "If that is the case, I apologize for disturbing you. However, I would be neglecting my duties if I did not question you further and be suspicious of strangers to my lords' lands. Please identify yourselves. I need to know your names and where you came from."

As the interaction between the knight and the strangers continued. Moss could barely perceive the knight start to tense up slightly and relax, as if expecting a fight. The eight strangers looked very fit and held themselves in a way not consistent with peasantry, but more in a way similar to trained soldiers. The hairs on Moss's neck began to rise and he raised his crossbow up slowly.

…

It was cooler now. The sun was setting. Lying on his back, oss could see the sky was clear. Sitting up Moss could see the fire in the campsite had died down. Memories slowly started to come back. One of the strangers had started acting suspiciously and had pulled out an intricately decorated stick. Before he could react, the stranger had casted lightning spell, which cause blue arches of electricity to spring forth from the wooden wand, striking the knight. It was less than a second after that when Moss let loose a quarrel from his crossbow, striking the man in the center of the chest. Another stranger threw a stone imbued with magical power at Moss's feet causing an explosion.

Darren patted Moss on the back, "good shot, I'm glad I suggested you come along. Tod would have never made that shot… well, if fact, he'll never make it now." Darren gestured to a body that had been thrown over the knight's horse. "Sir Greenston is alive though. Lord Becker's court wizard had cast some protective spells on him before coming out with us. Although, I don't know how long it will be before he's back in action. We're staying the night to let the wounded rest. In the morning we'll drag our prisoners back to town. It was a quick fight and they quickly surrendered, thanks to you. Don't go expecting some kind of bonus though. We're not mercenaries, but militia."

Moss groaned, "I wasn't a mercenary. I was an adventurer in an adventuring guild." Moss emphasized the word adventuring. "We didn't just go around killing things for some lord or another."

Darren shook his head. "An adventurer in an 'adventuring guild' is just a mercenary by another name."