The girl Laborer Cary looked white as a sheet. She knelt, frozen with fear, as Aloy gathered her lance and headed for the door.
"Wait! Where are you going?" the girl said, much too loudly for Aloy's liking. "Who's out there? Can you see anything?"
Aloy stopped at the doorway, touched her Focus, and slowly turned to scan the area outside the building. Once, twice, a third time, she saw images sneaking in the darkness: BANDIT. HOSTILE HUMAN.
Aloy turned back toward the girl and motioned for her to be quiet. But to no avail. The girl was clearly shaken by the noises from the darkness. And now she stared at Aloy's Focus, a glowing green circle emanating from the device.
"Wh-what's that?" Cary asked as she slumped backward, away from Aloy, Sem at her side but ears alert – the dog had heard the rustling sounds from outside and he was starting to snarl.
"Listen," Aloy whispered as she once again waved her hand at Cary and her dog. "There are some Bandits out there, they probably saw the fire, and they're getting ready to come in here."
"B-Bandits? Wait – how do you know that? You're one of them, aren't you – you just came in here to catch me off guard, didn't you?"
"What? No! Now you've got to help me fight them off, or you've got to hide and keep quiet. Your choice. Just make it fast."
The girl grasped her dagger in her left hand and waved it menacingly at Aloy. It might have been comical – this young woman obviously had no idea how to wield a hand knife in combat, and her pose made her look especially vulnerable – except Aloy knew the Bandits could enter the building at any moment.
"Alright, you hide. Here –" Aloy unrolled her weapons pouch and held up a piece of fur-lined hide: a heavy and durable wrap, made by an artisan of the far northern Banuk Tribe "—you cover yourself and your dog with this. It'll buy me a little time if I don't take out all three Bandits before one of them gets in here."
"'Take out?' I don't understand," the girl said as she accepted the wrap and held it up to inspect it. "Are you one of them?"
"I told you, no, I'm not. Now get in the corner and pull the wrap over you, and get your dog to keep quiet!"
"H-how are you going to take them out?"
"I don't know, I'm making this up as I go along. If I can't scare them away I'll just have to kill them. Now hide!"
The girl might have protested once more, but Aloy had already slipped out of the building and into the dark night. Looks like #1 is just behind that pile of rubble, Aloy thought as she moved silently to the far side of the remains of a fallen structure. Her Focus was still active, giving her a clear view of the Bandit: a young man, maybe a boy, appearing a bit hesitant to take action. So Aloy made the first move.
Using a broken metal beam as a vault, Aloy lunged at the Bandit and slashed with her lance. It was meant to be a glancing blow, and it caught the Bandit on the shin, cutting a short gash in the surprised boy's left leg. The Bandit had been armed with a bow and a quiver full of arrows – which he dropped as he bolted from his hiding place, running over a grass-covered hill and away from the demon that attacked him. One down, not much bloodshed, Aloy thought. She knew there was a risk the Bandit would return, possibly with reinforcements, but she suspected she'd put enough fear into him that he was unlikely to do so right away. Besides, he'd have a hard enough time dealing with his Bandit gang when they found out he'd run from the fight – and he'd lost his only weapon in the process.
Bandit #2 was to her right, moving his head left and right, up and down, as if to get a better view of the contents of the building. He was just steps from the open doorway. This one is a threat, Aloy realized, as she deactivated her Focus to extinguish its glow – she knew where the Bandit hid, as he was hunkered down and peering into the building. He was so intent on watching for movement in the building that he failed to hear Aloy creeping up behind him. And in seconds, his days as a Bandit came to an end as the point of Aloy's lance thrust from between his shoulder blades and out his chest.
Her reactivated Focus revealed Bandit #3 hiding in a clump of brush that grew to the far side of the building. This one appeared to be female, well-armed with metal armor and a sword in one hand and a lance in the other. It would be difficult to sneak up on this one, as the dry brush around her was sure to crack underfoot. So Aloy took a more direct approach.
After once again deactivating her Focus, Aloy stood up, in clear view of the Bandit, and strolled casually toward the gaping back entrance to the building before her. She was certain the Bandit would take the bait, and as she reached the open doorway, she heard the soft crunch of footsteps on dry grass behind her. Aloy spun just in time, swinging her lance like a bat and knocking the Bandit off her feet.
"I suggest," Aloy spoke to the woman who now lay covered in branches and brambles from the dead brush, "that you leave while you have the chance."
From inside the building behind her, Aloy heard a voice that made her cringe: "Are you talking to me? Why do you want me to leave?" It was Laborer Cary, obviously thinking Aloy's warning was directed at her.
Aloy turned her head to one side, keeping an eye on the Bandit. "No, not you! Keep quiet, okay?"
That moment's distraction was enough for the stunned Bandit to jump to her feet and rush Aloy. The Bandit's lance struck the unprepared Nora in the chest, knocking the air out of her lungs and forcing her backwards. But the Shield-Weaver armor Aloy wore took the force of the blow and prevented injury, causing her only a moment's pain and the shock that she'd let her guard down.
The Bandit looked surprised. Clearly, the woman had expected the attack to deal considerable damage, yet Aloy was unfazed. Aloy stepped forward, drove the point of her lance into the woman's bare midsection, and pulled. The woman collapsed onto her knees, dropping both her weapons and grasping at her belly as blood spread over her hands.
"Please, please don't kill me!" the Bandit pleaded. She looked up at Aloy with dark eyes, blue and green paint streaked across her face, now running down her cheeks as the paint mixed with tears. Aloy couldn't help but feel pity for this woman, but still, the woman had made a choice in life to be a Bandit, and that choice had led her here, waiting for Aloy to strike a fatal blow. "I… I don't want to do this! I was forced to… they took my husband and my son, and they said they'd kill them if I didn't join them. You must believe me!"
"Not much chance of that," Aloy replied. "But maybe you can convince me. Who are you, where are you from, and most importantly – who are 'they'?"
Aloy noticed a shadow from a movement behind her: it was Laborer Cary, emerging from the building, the fire inside throwing long shadows on the ground around her.
"You're not going to trust her, are you?" Laborer Cary asked. "Don't you see? She's a Bandit! She would've killed us if she had the chance. She still might!"
Without turning to look at Laborer Cary, Aloy addressed Cary's objection while watching the Bandit, judging the woman's reactions. "You're probably right, she is a Bandit after all. I've never known a Bandit who chose to reform. It's a lifestyle.
"Still," Aloy continued, "I think we should let her talk a little more before we do something drastic. Right?"
The Bandit, kneeling on the ground, blood still dripping between her hands as she held them against her midsection, suddenly looked up, a frightful expression across her face.
Aloy realized why: Laborer Cary was rushing at the Bandit, knife held high, as if she were going to stab the Bandit. Aloy managed to grab Cary from behind as she passed. Cary fell to the ground beside the Bandit. Now both the Bandit and Cary glared up at Aloy.
"Why did you do that?" Cary asked, anger showing on her face, in the indirect glow from the fire inside the building behind Aloy. "She deserves to die!"
"Really?" Aloy replied. "And you are going to kill her? You don't even know how to hold a knife, much less use one in anger, do you?"
"I… uh… well, no." Cary dropped the knife beside her, not realizing that, as she did so, she left it on the ground next to the kneeling Bandit. "I'm a Laborer, not a Guard. Killing is a Guard's job. I've never even hit anyone, ever."
"It shows," Aloy replied with a smirk. "All you'd have done was make this woman mad at you, too."
As Aloy and Cary were talking, the Bandit glanced at the ground next to her and spied the knife. She looked back at Aloy, a long look that, Aloy realized, was meant to assure eye contact. Then the Bandit leaned to her right, slowly reached out, and with a bloodied hand picked up the knife by its blade. Cary emitted a high, piercing shriek as she realized the Bandit had her knife; the dog Sem came trotting out from the building and ran toward Cary, as the Bandit held the handle of the knife up toward Aloy.
With a labored voice, pain apparent in it, the Bandit said, "Here, take this. This girl is going to hurt herself with it."
Cary moved further away, crawling through the brush around her, but Aloy chuckled and leaned forward to take the knife from the Bandit.
"I think you're right," Aloy said. "I think I'll keep it, for her own protection."
"If… if you plan to kill me, please do it quickly," the Bandit said, slumping down, her head dropping to her chest.
"I have a better idea," Aloy responded as she tucked Cary's knife into her belt. "Why don't you come on in and we'll see to that wound."
Cary lay on the ground in utter disbelief as Aloy walked to the Bandit's side, helped her to her feet, and led her into the glowing light of the building. Cary was left to herself in the darkness, Sem whining softly beside her. Cary scanned the darkened hilltop around her, realized she was alone in the darkness, stood, and quickly walked back into the building, where Aloy was already preparing a salve and bandages for the savage Bandit's wound.
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