Waylaying Bandits

(OOC – Wow, great introduction, Ren, and great writing! I'm not sure what other characters are presently able to meet Kline on the road at the very moment, so I thought I'd write something up to occupy Kline in the meantime. Hopefully it's not too rushed. The bandits are NPCs. I'm sure you can write them a lot better than me, so by all means have fun with them if you'd like.)

As Kline and his men arranged themselves protectively about the wine-laden wagons, their concern of potential threats soon became a reality as, a bit spookily, and without any warning, nearly two dozen dishevelled, wild-eyed figures stepped out of the trees onto the dirt road. The men brandished a motley assortment of cheap weapons: rusted swords, axes, daggers, cudgels, and crude longbows. The men looked all the world like a bunch of rough, rabid misfits, filthy and malnourished, yet decidedly dangerous all the same, a terrible low breed of human that could and would kill with no compunction or mercy. A few were runaway slaves that had escaped the abuse of their owners, and others had the seasoned look of the skirmishers that had been employed by the Dalen army in the last war; poorly paid and treated, and then cut loose when no longer needed.

"Oh ho," said a big bearded one with rotted teeth. "Look at all those fine casks bound for the market. And me and my boys out here all thirsty for strong drink. That's kismet, it is. An answered prayer from the gods above. Who are you to defy their will?"

The smiling bandits began to converge on the wagons with shouts of triumphant glee, even as several approached Kline on his horse with some added wariness for a mounted man wielding a spear.

"Get up and start walkin'," said the bearded man, directing the harsh, mocking words at the wagon driver and the others hirelings that were in plain sight. "That's right. Walk on home to your lord now. We'll be takin' your wagons an' horses too!" He let out a sardonic snicker. "How else can we haul all of this off otherwise, eh?"

The bandit leader had a strange, mad gleam in his beady brown eyes, as though suffering from a mind-melting disease of some sort or other. He glanced back at an unseen audience, and from out of the dense forest on one side of the road came a chorus of raucous shouts from even more of the fiends still waiting to emerge from the treeline. With cruel, predatory laughter, the bandits advanced on Kline, his men, and the shipment, intending on taking it readily along with their lives.

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Kalena noticed that Enyo was restless and wanted some exercise. The great midnight black war horse always liked to be ridden regularly and already seemed to have regained much of her prodigious strength. After testing Enyo's range of capabilities in the courtyard, Kalena quickly decided that a ride through the countryside was in order to burn off some of the mare's excess energy, and she was soon galloping out of the city and into the thick forested land that stretched between the far-flung towns of the kingdom. She thought about heading off to Ragodast again and seeing if she could locate Oruvand who had proved such a splendid companion-in-arms the other day, but then thought better of it; the long trip might be too hard on poor Enyo, who was not back to normal quite yet.

Turning off the dirt road, Kalena headed down a narrow trail cutting through the dense woodland that offered a shortcut past the closest towns that lay beyond the capital's farthest outskirts. The trail eventually emerged in a huge, rolling meadow where she stopped for a time to allow Enyo to rest and graze on the abundant wild grass and clover. As the horse ate, Kalena dismounted and stretched her lithe muscles; she drew her sabre and idly, but smoothly moved about, going through a few practice thrusts, blocks and slashes with automatic ease.

She stopped short as the raucous shouts reached her ears. They were coming from not so far in the distance. Soldiers out on patrol? No. She dismissed the notion instantly. They were far too disciplined and would never dare be so boisterous and unruly. Perhaps it was drunken woodsmen or some foreign travellers who foolishly disturbed the Queen's peace? Or it could be criminals... that was always a more than distinct possibility in lawless Dalen. This was not a bandit-plagued area as much as other parts of the kingdom, but occasional robberies were definitely not unheard of. She climbed back on Enyo and cantered across the meadow to the adjacent road to investigate.

Soon the sounds became recognizable as those of a battle in progress, and Kalena immediately spurred Enyo into a blazing gallop. Rounding a turn, she came upon the scene: a couple of wagons laden with merchandise that were being besieged by a swarm of rough-looking cutthroats. Two score, at least. The merchant's guards were making a very good fight of it, especially a very tall man on horseback, but they could likely use some assistance.

Having been involved in countless mounted battles, Enyo was an old hand at them, and the superbly-trained wonder horse charged forward with cheetah-like acceleration. The bandits farthest from the wagons turned in surprise as Kalena suddenly bore down on them in a thunder of hoofbeats. One only had the chance to loose an arrow that did not even come close to striking her, and then they were desperately leaping aside to avoid being rammed or trampled under Enyo's great hooves. Grinning, Kalena leaned out and swiped with her sabre, gashing one fleeing bandit across the back of the neck. The man dropped to the ground, his spinal cord neatly severed.

From the opposite side a bandit lunged up at her with a dagger. The blade missed, but nicked Enyo in the side. The powerful mare twisted about at the stinging pain and reared up with her monstrous front legs. The hooves crashed down on the bandit, who collapsed to the sickening crunch of breaking bones. Enyo was named for the Achaean goddess of war and seemed to enjoy battles as much, or perhaps even more, than Kelana did at times. The horse viciously stomped and trampled the fallen bandit, then launched her rear hooves out at another unfortunate man who came within range, giving him a double-legged kick that sent him hurtling ten feet through the air, whereupon his broken body vanished into the underbrush growing alongside the road.

Gods! Kalena's grin began to falter. There are so damn many of them! she thought, clutching her sabre in her hand that was the sole weapon she'd carried with her when she impulsively set off. She could have really used that new improved set of armour that Gularzob was forging for her right about now.

A bandit rushed at her with a broadsword aimed at her chest. With a grunt of effort, she deflected the heavy blade and kicked out at the same time, the toe of her steel-capped riding boot catching the man under the chin. She wheeled Enyo around and slashed her sabre hard across the man's temple, staving it in. She turned and spotted another bandit aiming at her with a long bow. She hurriedly swayed out of the arrow's path, then Enyo bounded forward and Kalena ripped her blade through the archer's neck in a decapitating stroke that sent his head flying from his shoulders, bouncing and rolling gruesomely across the road like a ball.