The Tale of a Mercenary

Chapter 2: The Bandits

Riverfield is a small village, with less than 500 villagers. To its south runs the river Maile, running west from the mountains of Dunborough, all the way to the far eastern ocean. Little is known about either, as hardly any of the villagers from Riverfield have been beyond the massive forest that surrounds the village, the few people being the village head or anyone who went looking to trade with one of the villages to the east or west. Communication between these villages and Riverfield is not that high, as people do not tend to wander into the forest due to the fear of beasts or other monsters. The paths that run through this forest have long since overgrown with weeds and other shrubbery. Along one of these paths tread Nele and his four friends. 

"Are you sure this is the right way, Jack? We've been walking for a while now, and we've never been this deep into the forest." Ashley asks Jack, whilst walking alongside him.

"Yeah, we should be there in a few minutes. I just hope my dad doesn't find out what we're doing." Jack replies.

"Ahh, Jack, we'll be fine!" Mia puts her arm around her brother's neck, "You've always worried too much about what dad thinks. What's the worst that could happen if he finds out?"

"You know exactly what would happen." Jack stops walking and stares at Mia, with a serious look in his eyes.

"Guys, stop fighting this close to the bandits. We better start hiding in the shrubbery so that we're not seen. Jack, didn't you say that they overtook the abandoned quarry? If that's so, we can hide at the edge of it and watch what happens from above." Nele says whilst turning to walk into the shrubbery.

"But Nele, you don't know what's in there!" Ashley exclaims, walking after him with Mia and Jack.

"Wasn't this yours and Ruppert's idea to begin with? If we want to stay hidden, the only way is through the shrubbery." Nele turns towards Ashley.

Ruppert walks up to Ashley, "Ash, don't worry, you think a beast would take a group of five of us on? I think not. If anything does happen, we can all run."

"Well, I guess you're both right..." Ashley mumbles, as they all continue into the shrubbery.

They trek through the forest for a few more minutes, before they see a clearing up ahead, as well as the sound of arrows whooshing and people yelling. They slowly approach the opening, and  stop at the edge. Directly in front of them is a steep slope leading downwards, towards the old abandoned quarry that Riverfield used to mine, before the bandits came. 

"Wow, I always heard rumours about the quarry. The adults used to come here a lot. Look how massive it is!" Ruppert says excitedly, but in a whisper.

The quarry is quite large. It is a massive circle, with a steep slope leading downwards from the forest on all sides. On the southern side of the quarry there's a path that leads down into it, less steep than the rest of the slope. Piles of stones of various kinds are located all throughout the quarry, and abandoned mining gear such as pickaxes are left scattered around. Carts, filled and unfilled, can be seen parked next to the path leading out, in preparation for when the miners return to bring back more stones for the village. Multiple tents have been set up throughout the quarry, with multiple dead campfires. Men and women, all wearing variousragged clothing or leather armour can be seen running through the camp in a panic. All the bandits wear similar clothing, the clothing and armour being mostly black, and nearly every one of them have a black bandanna equipped. Multiple corpses are on the floor, some pierced by arrows, others burnt alive.

Suddenly, multiple arrows shoot out of the forest from the opposite side from Nele and his friends, down into the quarry, piercing more victims as they scream in pain and die.