The Bandits of Infinity Forest

Chapter Ten

I yawn drowsily and sit as I'm gently shaken awake.

"It's been two hours," Sa'an says, crouching next to me. "What now?"

I shake Lexie into awareness before answering. "No more sleep," I say, "it'll muck up our hours. Plus, we're still too close to the city, we need to keep moving."

"But, Jedi," Lexie begins, "what about food?"

"You hungry?"

She shrugs, "A little. I'm mostly too excited, though," she grins.

"Okay, I'll go hunting now, then, and be back soon-ish."

Grabbing my bow, I take a short walk to a small nearby lake where I easily take down a few ducks and fill my water-skin.

I make my way back to the other two, who have readied the horses and are now waiting for me.

"Eat now, or later?" I ask them.

Lexie shrugs, "Whatever."

"But it's probably better to move further away from the city, isn't it?" Sa'an adds.

"Agreed. Mount up!" I order.

We move on for about four hours before stopping by a clear spring where I pluck and clean the ducks.

Sa'an's and Lexie's reactions to this procedure crack me up: Lexie keeps her distance and ignores me the whole time, while Sa'an watches with a sort of horrified fascination.

I decide we're far enough away from the city and slowly roast the ducks, which takes up the rest of the day.

In the morning, after breakfast, we refill our water-skins and move on.

After a few hours I guide us eastward, toward the old campground where I was captured.

Arriving not long before dusk, I dismount near the tree where I hid my tent and look inside.

"What are you doing?" Sa'an asks, reining his horse in next to Black Robin.

"Fighting an old tree-trunk!" Lexie laughs as I struggle to hoist the tent out.

Completing the 'tree fighting', I give her directions to a nearby spring while I set the tent up and Sa'an pickets the horses. Then, after helping them light a small fire to re-heat a duck, I scour the area for any clues of Yelena and Flint's whereabouts, and also try to estimate what happened to the rest of my men.

But the outlaws have already been back to retrieve the bodies, and all that's left is a dog's jaw-bone.

I wordlessly make my way back to the other two.

Luckily we all manage to fit inside my tent: a light rain falls during the night.

After a small breakfast, I strap the rolled-up tent to Black Robin's saddle and lead us north-west, deeper into the forest.

After two days of journeying, just before we ride between two exceptionally large pines, I rein Black Robin in and motion urgently for Sa'an to stop, then whistle a signal known only to the bandit captains.

I hear a slight rustle and an outlaw sentinel drops skilfully from a tree.

He stares at me in astonishment, "Jed—uh, Captain Jedi!" he gasps. "I thought—I mean they said you were dead!"

"Captured," I say, grinning slightly. "I need to see Avolick."

He nods, "Of course, Sir, his cabin's in the middle of our camp. Only, who're these two?" He points at Sa'an and Lexie.