The Banditos

The Disappearance

The next morning, I'm gone.

Clancy sits up and looks around the tent. When he doesn't see me inside, he stands up and shuffles through the tent flap. He looks around the clearing, searching for me.

Clancy realizes that I am nowhere to be seen in the clearing. He quickly scans the surroundings intently, searching for me. When he still doesn't see me, he realizes that I'm not in the clearing at all. He curses under his breath.

"Dammit!" he mutters angrily, starting to hurry around the clearing, looking for me. "She can't have gone far..."

Soon after he started searching, Clancy hears a noise nearby. He turns, his eyes settling on a Figure just outside of the clearing. From a distance, Clancy can see what looks to be a red robe. Clancy clenches his jaw and looks back to the clearing, where some of the Banditos are beginning to stir.

He glances back to the Figure watching him and quickly walks over to the nearest Bandito who has started to wake up. He leans down and shakes the Bandito awake.

"Hey, get up."

The Bandito's eyes open and he looks up, disoriented.

"What...?" he mutters sleepily, "What's going on..."

"Get up, I need to talk to you," Clancy says, his tone urgent. He grabs the Bandito's shoulder and hauls him to his feet.

"Woah, what--"

"Be quiet for a second. I need your help with something," Clancy says, still trying to keep his voice low so as not to alarm other Banditos.

The Bandito rubs his eyes and grunts, shaking off the tiredness.

"Okay, what is it?" he says groggily.

The Figure is still watching them.

"You see that Figure outside the Bandito camp?" Clancy murmurs, pointing to the Figure watching them from a distance.

The Bandito looks over at the Figure, then back at Clancy with a confused expression. "Yeah, what about it?"

Clancy glances back at the Figure, who is still watching them intently. "That's a guy Nico sent to find someone here," he says, his voice low. "And I think he's here to find someone who was in our camp last night..."

The Bandito's eyes widen.

"Someone was here last--wait, who is he looking for?"

Clancy sighs, glancing back at the Figure again.

"He's looking for that girl we brought here last night. Bella."

The Bandito's eyes widen again.

"You're kidding. Nico was looking for a girl in our camp, and we let her stay here last night?!"

"Shh! Keep it down," Clancy hisses, looking around at the other Banditos, who are starting to take notice of them. "I know. I know she was here, as I'm the one that let her come here. And now Nico's here to take her. I need you to help me figure out what to do."

The Bandito shakes his head, looking just as worried as Clancy.

"There's no time to figure out what to do," he replies, gesturing to the Figure. "He's *right there*. We need to do something *now*."

"What do you suggest?" Clancy asks, watching the Figure. "We can't just let Nico take her and drag her to the city, or Dema will win once and for all."

He looks back at the bishop, who is still standing there, watching them. His mind is racing, trying to figure out what to do. He looks back to the Banditos who are standing around him and looks them straight in the eye.

"All right, let's move."

The Banditos all exchange nervous looks, but don't object. They follow Clancy's lead as he marches purposefully out of the camp and towards the bishop.

As they approach the bishop, Clancy's heart is beating faster and faster. He doesn't know what the Figure will do, but he knows he's not just going to let him kidnap Bella.

"That's far enough," he says firmly, stopping about 15 feet from the bishop.

The bishop looks him up and down, not saying anything.

"What do you want?" Clancy asks, his voice tight. "If you think we're going to just let you take her away, you've got another thing coming."

The other Banditos are watching silently from behind him, their hands hovering close to their weapons.

"I'm just here to watch."

His voice is stern.

"Watch? What do you mean, watch?" Clancy asks, confusion mixed with anger on his face. "What are you planning to watch, exactly?"

"Just watching your interactions. That's what Nico wanted, anyways...."

His voice trails off before he speaks again.

"You may want to go get your friend back. Nico was planning on smearing and/or killing her."

His heart leaps into his throat as he hears the words "Smearing" and "killing." The other Banditos around him all tense up, their weapons clutched tighter.

"Nico is what?!" he says, his eyes wide in horror.

"I can't stop him."

He shrugs, turning to walk off.

"Stop!" Clancy says, taking a few steps forward and stopping the bishop. "At least tell me where he has her."

"They're in the towers in District One."

The bishop takes off his hood, revealing his face. His name is Reisdro.

Clancy's eyes widen in surprise. He glances back at the other Banditos, who also look shocked.

"District One..." he muses out loud, then turns back to Reisdro with a fire in his eyes. "We have to go get her right now."

"You may not have much time, Clancy."

"Yeah, I think I figured that out," he snaps back. He's frustrated by the situation but refrains from lashing out at Reisdro. He looks back at the other Banditos.

"We need to go rescue Bella before Nico does something to her."

The Banditos all nod grimly. They all look to Clancy, waiting for his next move.

He looks over at Reisdro again. "Thanks for the warning," he mutters grudgingly, then gestures for the Banditos to follow him. "Let's go."

Reisdro gets on his horse and leaves, heading back to Dema.

Clancy and the other Banditos set off towards the city of Dema, their pace urgent and tense. They all silently hope that they can make it to Bella before Nico does something bad to her.