Fire stood by the creature whom he had just decided to call "The Dog" for the sake of convenience, stooping to try and get a clear view of the dispute.
"What's happening in there?" He asked.
"I wish I could tell you," The Dog rumbled with dignity.
Through the woods, three figures, plated in diamond charged away from the ramshackle house. They were giants of men, but something had quite severely startled them. One could see in the background an obsidian-armoured Enderman with a staff was readying to strike their attacker, a man in spotless diamond armour, sword in hand. There was another person, seemingly a woman, firing arrows after the giants. There was another giant lain on the ground in the background, an arrow proudly protruding from his neck.
"Those are our men," The Dog suddenly called out to the giants. "Hey! What's happening?!"
Kay appeared at their side immediately, Warnado and Amanda following in tow.
"What is it? Bandits?" Kay inquired, with a tinge of eagerness that annoyed Fire.
"Looks like, but we can't be sure yet" The Dog muttered. "I know this guy."
He ran up to and dragged the nearest giant back to the Endling's lines.
"What's happening out there?"
"Couple of idiots have something that belongs to The Entity."
"Thieves?" Kay called out indignantly.
"You could say that," The giant grumbled distractedly.
"That settles it then," Kay affirmed. "We should act quickly, the Endling won't hold out forever. Bugger, his staff is broken..."
"Hang on, what do you mean?" Fire inquired, stooping in.
Kay was already sneaking off through the woods, trying to get a good angle from which to assail the swordsman.
"Kay!" Fire wanted to call, but he was forced to abandon it as an arrow was flying towards him.
Time slowed and he was able to take cover behind a tree. Amanda crouched beside him, crossbow in hand. She seemed to be trying to angle for a good shot.
Warnado was running after the obsidian-plated madman, calling "I'll make sure he comes back in one piece" over his shoulder before laughing. Fire wondered why was he stuck with such rash individuals.
The diamond-shelled man wiped his brow of sweat, staring out at Fire and seeming to groan wearily. For better, or worse, he was too busy lamenting a coming battle to hear or see Kay coming.
Kay struck him right in the jaw, and Fire felt the impact from a distance. The diamond-shelled bandit winced as the seams of his mouth were stretched to breaking point and blood spat from between them. He dropped the his knees, and Kay proceeded without any reservations, throwing a savage kick to the side of the bandit's chest which flipped him over. His pale hunter jumped forward and unleashed a flurry of stabs at him, forcing him to roll in the dirt like a dog. Meanwhile, Kay casually noted how neither the bandit's skin nor his armour was getting any dirtier.
Then Kay was struck in the armpit by an arrow and fell back, staggering. The woman was clasping her bow tightly, her jaw locked, her eyes filled with rage as she pressed another arrow against the bowstring... but Warnado's glowing shot struck her breastplate head on and broke her guard. She retreated behind the wooden shack, the arrows embedding in the wood and then dissipating.
Meanwhile, Kay had lost his element of surprise. His victim had risen, and Kay had only just succeeded in pulling the arrow, now holding his wounded arm tightly against his side to limit the flow of blood.
Kay raised his sword and the blades of the two men clashed. Kay seemed to wince at the unexpected weight of the man's blow. Kay retreated slightly and reshuffled his fingers, he attempted to snatch at the bandit's wrist, following up by swinging the sword at his knee. The bandit merely stepped back, wrenching his arm free from Kay's grip.
Then, seeming to have fully regained his senses, Kay's opponent struck in earnest. He repeated the same few decisive, merciless movements over and over again, one after another. For every swing Kay managed to block with his sword, another would strike Kay on the flank painfully. Kay would occasionally attempt to strike back and break his guard, sometimes even try to punch him again. Once Kay glanced him slightly, but the status quo was quickly restored.
It was clear to see that he was outclassed from that first engagement. Soon, Kay had to abandon holding his arm down outright just to stand a chance, allowing him to grip his sword with both hands and deal a powerful blow that broke his opponent's guard, and drove him back⦠but not far enough. Kay's opponent quickly closed the distance and swung thrice more before Kay stumbled and fell.
This prompted Warnado to abandon his shootout with the woman, conjuring an ethereal axe from thin air. The woman burst out from behind the wooden wall of the house, dropped to one knee and trained her fire on Warnado. Yet, her arrow embedded itself in the dirt. Amanda took up and continued the bombardment, and sent a crossbow bolt between her target's plated armour, staining her hip red, causing her to retreat behind the shack, assumedly slumping against it.
Warnado swung the axe at the back of the male bandit's leg, and while he missed the sinews of the leg, the resultant ring as the axe struck the diamond plating did manage to gain his attention.
The male bandit turned to Warnado, only for Kay to scramble back up and plunge his black sword into his knee.
He fell to his knees, but nonetheless batted Kay's sword aside, throwing him off balance and to the ground, before rising again and lunging at Warnado, who was clearly the weaker of the two in reflexes and strength.
Then, Fire realised he'd been entirely inactive during this fight, and ran forward to end it.
"Wait!" He called, waving his arms above his head. "Truce!"
The moment the words left his mouth he realized how silly and in fact pointless they were.
The bandit continued to struggle with Warnado and Kay was struggling to get up, so Fire entered directly.
Upon seeing the three-metre tall demi-god rush towards him, the bandit rose and swung his sword. Fire extended his arm and parried, the blade making this awful scraping noise as it peeled across the scales. Fire then immediately grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall of the house.
"Listen, you'll only hurt yourself!" Fire warned, glancing to make sure his female comrade wasn't about to put an arrow in his eye.
She was too, and Fire jerked his head aside, allowing the arrow to sail harmlessly past. Amanda's shot missed too.
"Shoot again and he'll slit his damned throat!" called Kay.
Both Fire and the woman seemed to have half a mind to bash Kay's skull in with the nearest rock, but it seemed to cause her to back down.
"There's no need for any deaths," Fire tried to explain. "Why were you fighting those men?"
The bandit lowered his head and muttered. "They attacked without provocation. We were just trying to defend ourselves. I don't understand what they wanted from us. We're not even from here."
Fire looked at Kay, who seemed rightly put out, and then back to the bandit. He lowered him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"We're lost here too. Same situation as you. We're going with these men to negotiate with the local warlord, The Entity. Perhaps there's a way for us all to depart on good terms?"
The bandit sheathed his sword as Fire stepped back, clearly still suspicious.
"I hope there is," He grumbled. "My name is Steve, this is Jennifer. There's another guy inside, Fristad."
He stepped forward and then collapsed. Fire caught him.
"I think it's best you all drink some of this. It will stop the bleeding, I don't have enough to fully heal all of you."
He pulled out a bottle of pink liquid, and it was passed around the group. The bleeding did stop, and their wounds were dressed. Kay was silent the entire time for a change. The other one they mentioned, Fristad, was in a bad way. They had to lay him in the carriage horizontally, forcing Fire to sit on the carriage's roof with Amanda and Warnado, those least wounded after the fighting.
Fire wasn't at all envious of them. He heard their pained moans, as the healing potion did its work, and to be honest, conversation would have just made the situation more awkward. Not the least with Kay, stuck in there with two people he had been ready to kill, and a person who seemed half-dead, if not dying.
Warnado and Amanda were not talkative either. Honestly, this suited Fire. He simply stared off into the distance, at the tower, anticipating the coming negotiations.
