Confrontation.
Jereez and Damon were plodding along at a much slower pace now that they were deeper into the woods. It simply wasn't safe to ride at full speed through this area, where leaf litter could hide protruding tree stumps that had the possibility of tripping a horse and sending its rider flying. And Jereez knew for a fact that, no matter what she was occasionally inclined to insist, especially whilst under the influence of ale, she could not actually fly.
Fortunately now Damon was content to ride along in silence, which suited her just fine. Plus, if she'd had it her way, the amount of words that passed between them would have been a negative number, regardless of whether or not that was actually possible.
Just as they were heading across a small clearing back into the tree line, two figures suddenly stepped out ahead of them. They were just on either side of the two riders, so that effectively, the figures blocked their path.
It took Jereez only a moment to recognise the two humans as the ones she had taken the gem from. To her right was the male, and to the left the female mage.
Immediately she backed her horse up in an effort to turn around and bolt the other way, but as she did so, she noticed the elf and oversized dwarf standing behind them also. There was nowhere to run.
Ok, Jereez accepted that this was going to be an encounter in which she'd have to rely on her wits to pull her through. Of course, it couldn't hurt that she would temporarily relocate her wits to her knives. She reached for them slowly. It could be astounding how often it came in handy to be proficient in at least one weapon when running a bar.
"Can I help you nice folks? A little lost are we?" she asked sugar sweetly.
"Give us back what is rightfully ours," the human mage replied instantly in a defiant tone. Well, at least she had a little spunk in her, but human mages and spirit could be a toxic combination to themselves as well as their opponents.
Jereez appeared to be thoughtfully pondering the statement for a moment, when really she was levering her weapon into a convenient position.
"Ah yes," she replied agreeably, "a most unfortunate misunderstanding that, but it does seem we may have reached an arrangement now." At that moment she whipped out two throwing knives, directing them towards Ridley.
Before he could respond, Ridley found himself pinned by the shoulders of his clothes to the tree directly behind him. Marina's eyes widened and she moved to assist him, tugging at the knives in vain.
At the same time Jereez, followed by Damon, were slipping down from their horses. Jereez's main intention had been to immobilise the mage before she became more than a nuisance, however she was forced to duck as the dwarf's great axe swung towards her head. She leapt backwards in shock as he came forward again. On the other side of the clearing, Damon and the elf were battling it out with swords.
Fortunately for Jereez, the dwarf was much less agile than herself and she closed in on the mage with the dwarf bumbling along behind her.
"Marina!" the human male suddenly warned as he looked up and spotted Jereez moving in on them. Marina turned in shock to see the brown-haired thief heading towards her and hastily reached towards her pouch. Drawing out a large pinch of sorceror's dust, she blew it on the woman.
Jereez saw the dust coming but was unable to get out of the way before it hit her. She sneezed violently and threw herself to her left when she saw the dwarf's axe heading her way again, except that suddenly she couldn't move. Her entire body felt restricted, and as she looked down, Jereez realised she'd been wound up in a long coil of thick rope. Her arms were pinned to her sides. Looking up, she saw the axe still heading her way and just managed to bound out of the way as the dwarf's blade whistled past only inches away. Fortunately as soon as he noticed Jereez was pretty much incapacitated he no longer seemed as interested in decapitating her.
Instead he rerouted his focus to Damon who, not doing particularly well against the elf himself, noticed that suddenly the odds, if they hadn't been good before, were now substantially worse. He backed up away from the elf, lowering his sword as he went.
"Folks," he told the group with a not-to-convincing charming smile, "I'm sure we can work this out peacefully " Norda and Elwood stopped at a distance away from Damon but continued to hold their weapons threateningly towards him.
Jereez rolled her eyes, "Damon, I'm, stuck." She was attempting to cut the rope with another of the knives hidden on her body and within reach of her hands, but the enchanted cord refused to be scratched let alone sliced open.
Marina had turned back to her original task and finally succeeded in freeing Ridley from his restraints. The thief stepped forward and, reaching through the cords binding Jereez, dragged out the dragon's eye.
"I believe this is mine," he told her as he took it back and Jereez grimaced unhappily. Newcomers with brains that was unforeseeable.
Suddenly there was the sound of the ring of swords being drawn and a collection of bows being cocked.
"I beg to differ," a clear, deep voice reverberated through the small clearing, and at that moment a whole collection of people stepped out through the trees surrounding the small area. There must have been about thirty of them, outnumbering the group nearly eight to one. Everyone in the clearing looked up in astonishment.
"I rather think that belongs to me now," the original voice explained as its owner, a slim, pale male elf stepped forward. He and his band wore brown and green colours to blend in with the forest, and whilst he was elvan, the rest of the group were a mixed blend. Mostly they were human, and also elvan, though there were a few halflings, dwarves and even a couple of orcs and a green faced goblin that snickered at the sight of the gem Ridley was holding.
The elvan leader held out his hand to the thief and Ridley had no choice but to hand the gem to him. There was no way his small party could take on the collection of warriors that now surrounded them. Of all the times to be hit by bandits.
The elf weighed up the object with an intrigued look and placed it deep within his brown jacket, then he looked back up again at the group of adventurers.
"Fellas," he waved to his band of followers, who immediately stepped forward and began restraining the group. Elwood struggled angrily whilst Norda calmly accepted that there was little she could do to change the situation. Marina defiantly shook off a hand as she was restrained. Then the elf stepped forward towards Jereez.
"Mantonus?" Jereez suddenly exclaimed, peering up, and an expression of delight slid across her face. The elf looked down on her neutrally for a moment, then his face suddenly broke out into a reciprocating smile.
"Jereez," he acknowledged and bent his knees slightly to stand face to face with her.
Jereez moved through her bonds and winced a little, "Mantonus, you know I'd be a bit more welcoming, except that I'm kind of a little stuck."
"Of course," Mantonus chuckled and stood, clapping his hands. Immediately a small, cloaked chubby man stepped forward. He raised his hands, hummed to himself and Marina's coils slid away from Jereez's body easily. Jereez almost couldn't believe her good luck.
"I almost didn't think you'd make it in time," she confessed to Mantonus. Of all the good things that could possibly happen, the people she'd been coming to see had turned up just in time to save her.
"Thanx for saving me," she continued, "and my gem." She eyed his pockets hungrily but Mantonus appeared to ignore her comment. Jereez's smile faded slightly.
"You know me and my timing," he replied good-naturedly, "what about him?" He nodded a head towards Damon who was, as of yet, still unbound.
Jereez turned and pondered the bard for a moment before a hint of amusement lit her eyes.
"Why not," she replied, "tie him up too." She shrugged, and grinned. Damon, on the other hand, looked unimpressed.
