The two swordsmen stood their ground with their eyes locked on each other, waiting for one to make the first move. There was total silence in the area, save for a gentle breeze flowing through the dirt trail. Torin usually allowed his foes to attack first so that he could easily counter and strike when he saw an opening. But he could see that Nilas was too cautious to attack him, and with good reason as Torin took out all eight of his men.
As Torin took two steps forward, Nilas took two steps back, not giving Torin any room to swing his blade to strike him. But they could not stay still forever, one of them had to make a move. Nilas decided to act first, he charged at Torin using his shield to block his sword, and then made a swing at his exposed side. Torin moved back barely avoiding the blade, and then Torin started to thrust his sword at the bandit hoping to stab him. Nilas canceled out the stab by swinging his sword downward diverting Torins blade to the ground. He then used his shield to smash at Torin pushing the lizard back.
This continued onward as all Torins swings would get blocked by Nilas's shield, and yet all Nilas attacks would get blocked by Torins sword or dodged by the lizards nimbleness. Neither one had an advantage over the other, as it was a flat open terrain with nothing to use as cover or to lose ones balance. They have been at it for some time, but Torin notice that the leader was starting to show signs of fatigue. Torin then saw an opening when Nilas swung wildly at him leaving his right side completely exposed. Making a quick and powerful diagonal strike, Torin was able to land a blow that knocked Nilas's helmet from his head as well as his right ear.
A loud scream echoed in the air as Nilas dropped his sword and held his hand at the bloody side of the head that use to have an ear attached to it. Torin used this to his advantage and made another swing at him but was surprised when he was still able to block the blows with his shield. Knowing that Nilas will eventually tire out, he continued to swing his sword at him making blow after blow at his foe.
Splinters started to fly as Torin struck powerful blows at the wooden shield, if he continued then the shield would completely break leaving Nilas defenseless. But just then the bandit threw a small bag at him, right before Torin could make another swing. The bag opened throwing black and purple sparkling like dust at his face. It failed to reach his eyes as he closed them before the bag opened, but dust reached his nostrils and mouth, and it burned inside of him like fire, causing Torin to cough and wheeze covering his mouth.
"Curse you, you hellish beast, you'll suffer greatly for what you did" Nilas said with anger, feeling the sting where Torin struck him. "That's poison magic dust I got from a dark sorcerer some time ago, that stuff is so potent it would kill a grizzly bear in minutes, I never thought I would have to use it so soon."
Nilas picked up his one-handed sword and walked towards Torin with the intent of finishing him off. He was surprised that the lizard was still able to hold on to his weapon as he knelled down with a hand over his face. Nilas though about making the lizard suffer more from the poison, but he just wanted to end it with his blade chopping up the red scaled body.
He swung the sword down intending on splitting open Torins head. But Torin was able to lift up his own sword stopping the blade. He then pushed Nilas back and started to strike at him continuously like before. Nilas was shocked and confused how this lizard was able to do this with the strong poison still inside him.
Torin hit Nilas shield with more force then before, his wound bleeding out even more profusely, which was weakening him greatly. Nilas did not know what to do at this point, he was in pain, weak, and baffled, and could do nothing to stop the constant attacks by this lepidain warrior. His shield could take no more and now had deep cuts carved into it.
With a great mighty blow, Torin was able to cut the shield in half making it fly away from Nilas's hand, and with another swing Torin knocked the sword from his other hand. With a final blow Torin separated the bandit's head from the rest of his body. The last thing Nilas saw was the red lizard, the sky, and the road behind him before going to black as his head fell to the dirt floor.
Torin shook the remaining dust from his head, he did not expect a simple bandit to have such an item with him. It was a good thing that he as a lepidain was resistant to poisons, even magical ones. Torin despised sorcery of any kind and always preferred to avoid dealing with it, but sorcery always seemed to have a way to find him.
He sheathed his sword and took out a sack that hung from his side belt and then he grabbed at the dirty blonde hair of Nilas's head. Shaking the remaining blood from it, he put the head in the sack and tightened the string closing it. The bandit leader had a price on him, and the head was enough to be recognized for the reward.
Torin also took the one-handed sword and sheath it knowing he could get some good currency out of it. The helmet was nowhere to be seen, as it flew far and probably went into the woods, Torin decided that it was too much trouble to go looking for it. He checked Nilas's body and the rest of the fallen bandit's for anything of value but found nothing. The weapons they have would not fetch much of a price, and Torin did not like carrying much with him as he preferred to travel light. He went into the living quarters and found a chest containing five pieces of gold coin, twelve silver, and twenty bronze. He had expected more from the bandit's, even a small group like this, but he will take what he can get. He also found a few dried meats to carry with him for later consumption.
After getting all that he could carry, he retrieved the two spears and attached them to the black leather straps he wore around him. He then slung the bag that contained the head over his shoulder, took a bite from one of the dried meats and started walking towards the town that he left. He wanted to be back in town before nightfall to collect his reward, and he realized that it would be approaching soon.
Torin knew that the price on this bandits head would not fetch much but it would be enough for him to get by. As he walked away from the bandit site, the fly's and crows were already swarming around and pecking at their corpses. He then started to wonder who gave that bandit the magic dust and even why. Well, whoever it was, he hoped never to run into that sorcerer again, or any for that matter.