A Tale of Crown and Country

Tavin

Everything was over before he had had a chance to react.

    Tavin stared in disbelief at where the group of travellers and the unfortunate bandits had met. It hadn't been a quick encounter, but Tavin's braid had lagged behind. Indecisive in debating whether to help or hide, it was all over before he'd had a chance to figure anything out. He was all for helping others, but his own self-preservation had come into sharp contrast against what many would have considered the right thing to do. Nasta would have helped them, he chastised himself, Fenwur would have helped them.

    He didn't know what really happened, only that there were lots of shouts and at least one fist fight broke out. With his small dagger Tavin doubted he'd have done anything except promote excessive violence towards himself.

    The bandits had definitely snatched one of the four travellers up though. He was sure of that. And that larger man travelling with them–though he guessed they were roughly the same age as him–had been beaten down. He was still lying still on the ground, the other two still recovering from the swift attack.

    Tavin took in a deep breath. Making sure his dagger was still at his waist, he ventured out of the forest and towards the trio on the road. It was growing darker by the minute and nobody had passed by since the bandits. Checking up and down the long, relatively straight road, Tavin noticed that nobody was coming anytime soon either.

    A boy and girl, slightly older than him, who could have been siblings, were still conscious. The girl was rubbing her head and the boy was looking around in wild amazement. His eyes took a moment to focus on Tavin who was walking swiftly towards them.

    If he played this right, Tavin knew he could distract them from the fact that he had stood by as their friend was taken.

    The larger boy lay crumpled on the road. Growing closer to the trio, Tavin could discern the slight rise and fall of his chest, and he let out a breath of relief.

    "Are you alright?" he asked. Worry flooded his voice, more sincerely than he had expected.

   The girl answered him first. "I think so." She peered around, "I am, at least," she corrected.

    "I'm fine," the boy answered.

    "Castin isn't," the girl said. Still rubbing her head, she pushed herself to her feet and wandered over to where the third boy still lay. She checked his pulse and said his name a few times, trying to wake him. She poked him repeatedly in the arm and snapped her fingers by his ears. "Castin?" she asked.

    A soft groan was her reply. She let out a sigh of relief, before looking at the other boy and Tavin.

    "We need to get him out of the road before anyone else comes along. Those cart drivers are vicious."

    Tavin nodded his agreement. He had first-hand knowledge of that exact incident.

    The girl called them both over and together they lifted the larger boy to his feet. It took all three of them to pull him off the side of the road. He still wasn't conscious enough to move his limbs on his own, and he was quite large compared to Tavin's small frame.

    "I've got a small camp over there," Tavin pointed in the general direction of the mossy bed he'd made for himself. He remembered that his sack with all his money and food lay there too. Hopefully there wasn't anybody else around to find it; Tavin had no doubt somebody would steal it without a second glance.

    "Did you see those bandits?" the boy asked suspiciously.

    Tavin waved off the answer, by lying to himself. "I'm sorry, I didn't," he said. He hadn't seen the bandits arrive within his field of view. Not that they needed to know that particular detail.