It was a late afternoon and the sun was low on the slowly reddening sky. Jack and Nathaniel were still walking on the dirt road. The forest had become significantly lighter. The trees didn't provide enough shade to protect them from the sun, they had to walk with their heads lowered to avoid looking directly into the light.
It had been a few days since their departure from Redwater, they had spent the nights by campfires. One advantage of travelling next to the stream of Redwater was that fish was plentiful. They had been fishing using rudimentary rods and then grilled the fish over their campfire. They wanted to go as far as possible without using the supplies they had bought in the town since they wouldn't be able to find much in the snowy area they planned to cross. They would normally walk beside each other silently and occasionally exchange various tales.
Nathaniel suddenly spoke in a quiet voice: "Someone has been following us for a few hours now."
Jack understood and kept walking, then asked in an equally quiet voice: "You think it's bandits?"
"Probably. They were waiting for sunset to prepare an ambush because we would be blinded by the sun. I think they will attack any moment now."
Jack reached behind his back and unhooked his shield, then put his left hand into the straps, his right hand was resting on the handle of his battleaxe. Nathaniel took similar precautions. If the bandits were still watching they knew that they just had lost the moment of surprise. Depending on how desperate they were they would probably attack despite this.
Jack had been practicing with his axe a good deal before setting out on his adventure but he hadn't yet been in an actual combat scenario. He had gotten into some serious fights in real life but none of those had had a fatal outcome. Tension built up inside of him.
He looked ahead and saw that there was a group of trees a small distance ahead of them, they provided cover and shade so he assumed that this was where they would be attacked from. With a quick glance to the side Nathaniel confirmed that he had seen it as well. Now only a couple of meters separated them from the ambush spot.
Jack was almost too slow to react when he saw the arrow flying towards him, he raised his shield just in time for the arrow to get stuck in it. Jack could feel the force of the impact pushing his arm back, at the same time he tried to figure out where the arrow was being shot from. Two more arrows flew towards them in rapid succession, one missed entirely and the other one was blocked by Nathaniel. Jack could see a silhouette between the trees and unhooked the battleaxe from his belt.
Nathaniel and Jack approached the group of trees at a faster speed now, making sure not to move in straight lines. They still had quite a way to go when Jack was hit by an arrow in the left shoulder. His chainmail armor stopped the arrow from getting to his skin but the impact still hurt. Suppressing a scream, Jack continued forward.
Just as they were about to reach the archer, two more bandits stepped out from behind a tree, a woman and a man. They were holding what looked like lumber axes and were wearing leather armor. It was obvious that they were not doing great in the banditing business.
Nathaniel gave Jack a quick look and then continued storming past the two bandits, he wanted to go after the archer to prevent him from getting more shots in. It was now Jack's responsibility to deal with the other two.
The bandits hesitated for a short moment, they clearly wanted to prevent Nathaniel from getting to their friend. Jack quickly closed the gap to the man and delivered a hefty blow to the side of his hip, his axe was slowed down considerably by the leather armor but got deep enough to draw blood. The man screamed in pain. Jack knew that the woman would attack him, he quickly kicked the man in the side of the knee and turned around to block the woman's axe with this shield. The impact was hard and his shoulder already hurt from the arrow, a flash of pain went up his arm. Jack sincerely hoped that Nathaniel would be done with the archer quickly.
The woman's axe was stuck in Jack's shield and she tried to get it out. Jack took a few quick steps back and at the same time tore his shield away to the side, making the woman lose grip on her axe that was still firmly embedded in the shield.
Meanwhile the man had gotten back on his feet and attacked Jack again, he wasn't quick enough to block his blow as well, the axe blade scraped along Jack's left arm and hit him in the shoulder once again. Jack's entire left arm was lit up with pain and it was getting difficult to focus. Jack narrowly avoided the attempt of the woman to jump him, instead he swung at the man. By sheer luck Jack's axe blade found the man's throat. With another kick Jack sent him to the ground.
The woman had gotten back up and this time her attempt at jumping Jack was successful, she managed to throw him to the ground and started choking him. Jack desperately looked over to Nathaniel who was still in a fight with the archer, presumable the most skilled of the three bandits. Jack's right hand was buried under his own body and his left hand was still stuck in the straps of his shield.
The woman was still on him and despite her being lighter than him she did her best to keep him under control. Slowly Jack's vision began to fade as his air supply was cut off, a few seconds later his eyes closed. Just as the woman loosened her grip on Jack's neck, he suddenly opened his eyes again and managed to get his hand free. He reached down to his belt, drew his dagger and fiercely attacked the woman, taking her by surprise. Jack's stabs were well placed and quick, much to his own surprise. His last attack managed slit the woman's throat. Jack pushed her off of him and looked over to Nathaniel, it seemed like he had won his battle as well.
Groaning, Jack stood up and made sure that both his opponents were dead, then he walked over to Nathaniel, who seemed to be largely unharmed. About half way there Jack really began to feel the pain in his left arm as the adrenaline started wearing off.
He said: "That could have gone much worse."
Nathaniel asked: "Are you wounded?"
Jack replied: "Not really, this is their blood. My left arm did take quite a beating but it should only be bruises. Still hurts like hell though."
"No broken ribs or anything?"
"Not that I know."
"That's good. You were outnumbered and we both know how quickly such battles can go south."
Jack nodded. "Did they have anything of value?"
Nathaniel held up the archer's bow. "The bow seems to be exceptionally well made, it might even be from Drandin. This dark wood and the red string are usually a good indicator."
Jack asked: "Any idea who they were?"
"They are dead now. I assume that the archer was their leader since he also had a bag with coins on him. We should look around to see if they dropped their supplies off somewhere near here."
Jack couldn't argue with that. They searched the general area around where the ambush had happened and indeed found a cloth bag hidden inside a bush. As they inspected it they were surprised that the bandits had quite a bit of food inside it, along with some jewelry.
"They must have hit a trade caravan. I can only make assumptions but maybe their group used to be bigger and some of them died in the fight there. They might have grabbed something that fell off the caravan in the battle before being forced to retreat." Nathaniel said.
Jack replied: "It makes sense that they would go after two mercs after that, they needed to get some decent equipment and they needed it fast."
"I think I saw the face of the archer at the bounty hunter board in Redwater, they are obviously wanted there so they can't just go to the town to get gear."
Jack nodded. "Yeah."
Nathaniel said: "Let's keep going until sun sets, then we'll make a campfire and I'll have a look at that arm of yours."
Jack had no objections towards this course of action. The two mercenaries started to walk silently beside each other once again. It was slowly dawning on Jack that his search for Fire would give him more than he bargained for.