The Sword Maiden

Bandit Hideout

As we made our way towards the lone scraggly pine tree, the ground slowly but steadily rose.  I began to lean forward to help Axe.  I could tell he was starting to tire from trotting through the creek and now having to climb upwards.  But I also knew he would go all out for me, probably until he dropped dead from exhaustion.  

We were silent as we climbed.  The sun was higher in the sky now, and inching towards noon.  The night chill was banished, and the horses' wet legs dried quickly.  

Finally we reached the scraggly pine tree.  Up close, he looked worse than he did from afar.  For some reason, I felt a little sorry for him.

The ground leveled out where the pine tree was.  Redwar pulled Ladine up.  "Where next?"  He asked.  

"Ya can't take the horses with ya, leave 'em here."  Daxton slipped down off of Ladine.  

I swung off of Axe.  I winced as my feet hit the hard ground and caused a shock wave of pain to hit my legs.  

"Ya can tie ya horses to the pine trees if you want.  Don't tie 'em tight, ya might need 'em later."  

I did as he directed, grateful that the horses could hopefully get a short rest.  Still, I didn't like leaving them behind.  

We gathered around Daxton.  

"Alright, so, let me draw out a map here."  He squatted down and pried a rock loose from its burrow in the ground.  He managed to find a small clear patch of dirt and used the rock to begin drawing as he talked.  

"We're here."  He marked out an X in the ground.  "And there's this trail that runs along here.  Actually, it's a creek, but it's dry in the summer."  He drew a scraggly line away from the X.  

"It's the only way in ta the hideout by horseback.  See, 'cause the hideout is surrounded by these big boulders."  He drew a big circle that I took to be the hideout.  

"But if ya are careful 'n' quiet, ya can crawl along the boulders.  That's what we a'doin."  He dropped the rock and stood, brushing his hands off.  

"If we're quiet, we should be fine.  See, 'cause the bandits think the only way in the hideout is through the creek.  But I know several different ways through those boulders.  Just follow me."  

If he didn't start walking, I wasn't about to do no following.   I could sense my brother was close, closer than he'd been in months.  

He lead us to the right and the ground began to climb more steeply.  Just before we reached where the boulders were, he pointed out the thin dry creek.  "It'll flood in the spring next year," he said.  

The boulders were warm against my hands, but the shade they provided as we wove between them was cool.  We were surrounded by them, and I had the sensation of pulling into myself in an effort to become smaller.  It felt like we could be crushed at any moment.  

Sometimes we'd crawl over the smaller ones and duck under others.  Sometimes Daxton would stop and climb up over the huge rocks to look.  He'd mutter something, then crawl back down.  

About the fifth time he did this, he came back down with his face more solemn than I'd ever seen it.  "We're close now.  No talkin' and keep quiet.  Things can echo up in here."  

We moved slower and even more carefully now.  I was not about to lose my brother because my sheathed sword scraped against a rock.  

I jerked to a halt when I heard voices.  Low, grumbly men voices.  They bounced off the boulders, creating a low thrum of noise that helped cover our movement.  

Daxton knelt down, peering through a crevice between two boulders.  Then he waved to for us to come up beside him.  

I knelt down on hands and feet and made my way over to him.  He pointed down to the scene below.  "See yer brother?"  

I pressed my hand against the huge rock as I leaned forward to look.  

The gang consisted of ten to fifteen men, and it looked like they had roughly two horses per man.  These horses were penned in a corral down below us, with a makeshift black smith next to it.  Saddles were dumped carelessly beside it.

  Straight across from that was what looked like a big cooking place, which was where most of men were.  The rest of the space to the right was a bunch of small tents.  I guess that was where the gang lived.  The left side across from the tents had a sort of pile of supplies, hay, harness, an odd wagon.  But other than that was an empty space.  

Running through the middle of the camp was that dried up creek bed.  I wondered where they got water.  I didn't see a well anywhere.  

My eyes jumped from bandit to bandit, looking for my brother's lanky frame.  But I didn't see him, and my heart sank a little.  I didn't give up hope just yet; maybe he was in one of the tents.  

I had many questions I wanted to ask Daxton, and I'm sure the others did too.  However, our curiosity did not outweigh our caution, and we kept our mouths shut.  

We soon found out what that empty space was used for.  A dispute seemed to arise between two of the bandits, a man with an eyepatch and another with a stained red shirt.  After yelling at each other, something about Eyepatch couldn't beat Red Shirt if Red Shirt had one arm tied behind his back, they went over to that clear space with the other following them. 

The two started circling each other with upraised fists.  It was clear they were going to dual it out.  The other bandits started cheering one or the other on, and some even started placing bets on who would win.

The upraised din bounced off the rocks.  There was no way they would have been able to hear us speaking, and so we spoke.  

"I don't see Derrek," I said to Daxton.  

"'E's probably in one of the tents."  Daxton hesitated.  "Or dead." 

My breath was stopped by a lump of fear.  I hadn't thought of that.  Or rather, I hadn't wanted to.  

Suddenly Valera pointed down at the camp.  "Who's that?"  

Another bandit had stepped out of the tent and was looking towards the fight, which was now in full swing.  

"That's Megidil, the leader."  

This man caused me to clench my dagger.  While the other bandits were brutes who didn't care much for anything else but drink, money, and beating each other up, it was clear this guy was the brain of the whole operation.  He had a confident cunning look about him. 

The other bandits let out a roar as Eyepatch landed a solid punch to Red Shirt.  I started to look that way, everyone else already was.  

But before I could, someone lifted the tent flap behind Megidil and stepped out.  

I think I screamed his name.  But I don't remember.  I was too focused on his face.  It'd been been months since I'd last seen it, but I knew it was him.  

AN:  Guess who she saw :)