Chapter 4
The Bandit Assault
"Friends! You have done an outstanding job helping us destroy Feldiron and Lord Vultrex's forces. How can we ever repay you?" asked Artillius. "Well, we are in need of a way out of this forest. Also we need archers as you promised along with a place to stay for the night. My men have fought hard and deserve a break, not to mention myself for that matter." replied Olithia. "True you are my friend! I shall see arrangements made for your stay. Please find a building you feel comfortable in and make yourself at home!"
The men all broke off in different directions, dragging there feet as they went. Their faces were worn with dirt and blood and their shoulders sagged heavily. Olithia found himself a nice little building at the northern end of the town and sat down on the dusty feather bed.
The walls were cracked as was the ceiling. The door had been ripped off its hinges by monsters and the windows were all but shattered. Pieces of glass lay scattered on the floor and shutters along with them. There was a splatter of blood on one wall and the fireplace had ashes and embers burning from the previous night. The chairs and furniture were all turned over.
As Olithia got up to walk around he noticed a weird thud in the floor. He stomped a few times then realized he was standing on a secret door covered by a rug. He quickly threw the rug back and climbed down the passage. At the bottom was a room filled to the brim with runes and spell books. And there, leaning on a wall, was a grand staff. The staff was of a splendid wood that was no longer found and the gem at the top was the second strongest fire gem in the world. Down the shaft of the staff were red runes that glowed as he touched the marvelous weapon.
"What prize can this be? It is far to marvelous to have been used by a common soldier...perhaps...perhaps this is the lost staff from my studies...yes...I seem to recall a staff of great power that went missing eons ago. But how it ended up in a place like this...in such a unprotected room beats me. No matter, I must guard it with my life now."
He then climbed back out of the passage and walked over to his bed. With a slow movement he carefully laid the staff on the ground next to him. " Ahhh...I cannot remember such comfort as this since we left Hasendor many a day ago." He quickly drifted off to sleep, but this time he had no dreams.
It was now morning and Olithia awoke feeling much refreshed. He looked over at the ground to notice the staff was gone! "Tisk tisk...you shouldn't leave such things as this laying around. Someone might...take it...heh" Olithia quickly turned around to see who had spoken to him. Leaning, in the corner of the room, was Hikari Kami examining the staff carefully. "And you should not take such things. One might think of you as a thief." "A thief? Me? Rubbish. I merely examined its properties. It has many and that makes it of great value to some. Guard it with your life and never let it go to the hands of those not worth its power," said Hikari Kami. He quickly tossed the staff to Olithia then vanished. "What a odd man that one..." muttered Olithia under his breath.
Olithia walked outside and tapped one of his officers on the shoulder and told him to rally the soldiers in the town center. The officer gave a sharp nod then ran off from door to door pounding heavily as he went. Olithia turned and followed a little path to a cliff over looking the town. It was a great view and he saw much even beyond the city such as the horizon where the forest ended and the sky began. He could see storm clouds hanging low in the distance and knew it would be a miserable march with all the rain falling.
As he turned to return to the town Artillius strode out from the bushes to make his presence noticed. "So you found my treasure ey? I knew it would only be a matter before it was found. It was just a question of who would find it," said Artillius. "Oh im terribly sorry if it is yours I should not have taken it. Please have it back!" "No no its quite alright. The staff was meant to find the one who could bear it. My trust belongs in arrows anyway. I have no use for the magics of the world but perhaps you will find use of them in your travels," replied Artillius. "My many thanks friend. I will guard it well and keep it from enemy hands as long as there is breath in me to do it," said Olithia. "You need not thank me. You found it as it was meant to be. Now come. Your army awaits you to lead them valiantly to battle."
Upon returning to the town center, he saw that all of the men had gotten in position, but none were looking happy about the oncoming storms. Without a second thought he turned them about and they marched out of the big stone gates that at one time welcomed and saw off many travelers. They had just reached the fork in the road when the rain hit. It poured like waterfalls and drenched the men and the baggage they carried. The road soon was full of pools of mud and the men slipped every now and then.
A commander standing next to Olithia slipped, but Olithia cast a powerful arm down to help the man up. "A leader helps his men with anything. Even if its just a lending a hand now and then." As he said that the commander looked at him, smiled, and nodded approvingly. Huge flashes of lightning lit the sky as booms of thunder shook the very earth itself. They soon reached a small bridge that only 1 man could cross at a time. It was a long treacherous moment as they crossed, for the bridge kept shaking and they felt that any second the bridge could break beneath them. Right as the last soldier tried to cross a bolt of lightning struck the bridge, breaking it and setting it ablaze. The men watched in horror as the soldier fell to the bottom of the cliff, burning as he went. Olithia could not bear to watch a fate so cruel as that so he looked away, eyes full of tears.
"Come men...let us keep moving...we've much ground to cover still and the rain does not seem to want to end in our favor." So the men trudged on through the day, some weeping, some remembering. On the side of the road they saw a wounded man with blood gushing from his leg. "Sir are you ok? Your bleeding badly..." asked Olithia. "Its too late for me! I can't be helped! Run! Save yourself! It is a tra-" Right as the man was about to say trap a arrow came out of the trees and stuck in his neck. The man twitched a bit then died sitting up against the trunk of a grand oak.
Olithia, with his keen eyes, traced out where the arrow had come from. He quickly took a throwing knife out of his boot and threw it at the top of a tall tree. There was a slight gagging sound as a man fell out of the tree with the knife in his neck. The moment the archer's body hit the ground, a voice cried out. "Bandits!!!!! We've been led into a ambush!" Men sprung up from the bushes and shrubs on the sides of the roads. Archers, hidden by the leaves, fired a flurry of arrows down on Olithia's men.
"Men we must stay together! If we scatter our forces they will be able to pick us off one by one!" As Olithia commanded this, the men fell into ranks and started charging towards the bandits. A army of war cries could be heard all over the woods and the clash of steel grew louder with every passing second. A bandit slashed at Olithia, but he quickly dodged the knife and stabbed the bandit in counter attack. He put his sword in his scabbard and shot fireballs into the sky which exploded into several smaller fireballs that pelted down on the enemy. Archers in the trees attempted volleys of arrows, but the trees were so thick that the arrows could not make it through without hitting them.
One bandit was tackled to the ground and stabbed in the face repeatedly for killing one of his friends. Another was cut in half by a razor sharp blade from a knight. The bandits were not the only ones who suffered losses. One knight was hit 8 times by throwing stars and another was slashed repeatedly by razor sharp duel knives. The fight ravaged on for many hours. Neither side seemed to be gaining a clear victory as the massacre of men and bandits raced on.
There was a puff of smoke as a bandit, kicking off the trunk of a tree, shot into the sky and threw several knives randomly at the ground. Olithia quickly jumped between the knives and a group of soldiers, blocking all of them with his sword and shield. There was another puff of smoke as the bandit disappeared and yet another as he reappeared behind Olithia. Grabbing his cape he pulled Olithia down to the ground with a strong force and stabbed him in his shoulder.
Olithia, covering the wound with his hand, did a rising kick which knocked the bandit to his knees. With one quick stab of sword the bandit fell to the ground helplessly. Olithia quickly used this as a lure and jumped into the bushes. Sure enough 5 bandit apprentices came over to carry the body to safety, and as they did this Olithia made his strike. He shot out of the bushes stabbing one of them in the back and slicing down a few others. He turned and faced another apprentice, stuck his left hand on his chest, and with one burst of energy sent the apprentice flying into a jagged pike sticking out of the ground. "THIS BATTLE IS OVER!! IVE SEEN ENOUGH BLOODSHED!" yelled Olithia in rage. He quickly rushed forward and using a quick slicing motion struck down two bandits where they stood.
He then jumped off a rock and stabbed downward into another bandits skull. A group of archers stood up out of the bushes and fired arrows at Olithia, but he rapidly sliced the arrows out of his way as he charged towards them. He knocked one archer to the ground and stabbed his sword into his chest. Then taking his hands off of the handle and sticking them out to the side, shot 2 fireballs at each remaining archer. A blade came down a inch away from his face and stuck in the ground. He quickly ran up the blade and kicked the bandit in the face. Then as he came down he pulled the sword out of the ground and jabbed it into the bandits neck.
A rough voice yelled and stood out of all the others and said "DO NOT SURRENDER! BRING THAT MAN DOWN AT ALL COSTS! IF THIS MAN DOESN'T KILL YOU ALITHIA SURELY WILL FOR FAILING HER!" A blurred shadow ripped through the forest between trees and rocks. Olithia pursued the shadow deeper and deeper leaving his men behind when all of a sudden a ambush of about 30 bandit rangers appeared. Arrows sharp and in place for fire aimed down at Olithia. Olithia, full of rage, yelled out loud as an explosion of energy was released. When the bright light dimmed Olithia stood there covered from head to toe in flames, his eyes glowing red.
The archers fired but his agility had increased so much that to the enemy it looked as if he had just blurred out right before their eyes. "Where did he go?" said a archer looking around nervously. He backed away slowly when suddenly he made a gasp for air as he looked down and saw 2 knives thrust through his chest. As the body fell the enemy saw Olithia standing tall behind him. They quickly shot a second barrage of arrows at him, yet with one swipe of his hand he had summoned a wave of fire from the ground which deflected all arrows.
"Heh thats no way to shoot arrows now is it?" said Olithia sarcastically. He grabbed a bow off the ground and aimed it at the enemy. "Ha ha your gonna try to shoot us with no arrows? How amusing!" "Oh! Well if its arrows you wish to see then I shall keep you waiting no longer!" In a flash a burning arrow appeared in the empty space. He shot it into the sky and watched it fly towards the archers. "Oh my this is terrifying boys. Better run for cover this is gonna be a hard one to dodge! Ha ha how pathetic." But their laughs quickly died as their faces filled with horror at what they saw next. The arrow had exploded into several arrows now and rained down on the enemy. As if the arrows hitting the enemy wasn't bad enough, the bodies of all those it hit were incinerated by flame. And even more so the flame then jumped from enemy to enemy till all were gone. All of the fire then gathered in mid air and shot onto Olithia's sword as he rushed towards the bandit leader.
"PLEASE NO! HAVE MERCY! ILL TELL YOU ANYTHING!" replied the bandit. "I see...well then tell me first what your name is." "My name i-is Anistar. I am a mercenary who was hired by Alithia to assassinate you and your men. Please spare me and the rest of my men! If you do so we will leave now and never fight again!" "Hmm...the tongue of the thief is never to be trusted, or so it is said in my town. How can I be sure yours is any different?" "Well what does thy heart desire sir?" "Tell me what Alithia's current plans are and be quick or my blade will be quicker!" "OK...if it is what you wish..." replied the bandit.