Chapter 4

The following morning found Ayron and five of the other Rangers riding in the rain on their way to Lantern Waste. Their plan was to stop in Beruna for supplies before following the Great River to Beaversdam, where they would take a ferry across to Lantern Waste.

Prince Kylian's plan was for the Rangers to investigate and see how bad the situation was. If needed, they would report back to Cair Paravel, and soldiers would be sent to aid the Rangers in subduing the outlaws.

As they rode toward the town, Ayron dropped back to ask Royden about setting up some Ranger stations once they had taken care of the problem when something caught their attention.

Emlyn, who had ridden a little ways ahead, had come back and was gesturing for the others to be quiet. They went silent instantly — waiting. With his body turned so that he could still keep an eye on the road, Emlyn held up three fingers, then turned his hand sideways and drew it across his eyes, palm toward his face. That meant there were three men — bandits — on up ahead of them.

They had little choice but to confront them. The brush was too thick to lead the horses off and around — and the odds were for the Rangers, who outnumbered the bandits by six to three.

~o~o~

As a cloaked rider came around the bend in the road a masked man stepped out of the bushes. "Stop!" He ordered.

Surprised, the rider jerked back on the reins, bringing his chestnut gelding to a stop.

"Hand over your coin-purse," the brigand said, "and you can pass without any trouble."

"And what if I don't?"

There was the slightest hint of a hard edge in the horseman's voice — but either the bandit did not hear it, or he chose to ignore it.

"Then," he continued, "we'll have to take it by force."

As he spoke two more masked men stepped out of the bushes, weapons held at the ready.

"Now which will it be?" The first outlaw levelled his crossbow at the rider. "An easy passage…" the weapon clicked as a bolt was readied, "...or a painful one?"

The rider's hand moved under his cloak, which was drawn about him to conceal his body.

Seeing the movement, the bandit fired his crossbow. With a click the bolt flew through the air toward the rider's head…but there was nothing there. He had thrown himself out of the saddle and onto the ground, drawing his knife as he did. He did not stay on the ground for long, but jumped up and gave a shrill whistle.

Five men — two from the brush and three from behind the bandits — came out. All of them, including the one who had been on horseback, threw back their cloaks — revealing tunics with a golden lion stitched on the front. It was the symbol of the Narnian Rangers.

Just in case I wasn't clear enough about the hand gesture that Emlyn used: the number of fingers he held up indicates how many men there are, and the drawing his had across his face with the palm toward it is supposed to signify a mask (which is what bandits would typically wear).

This was my first attempt at writing/having a character use hand signals, and then explaining (for the reader's benefit) what they meant. I hope I did okay, but if there was a way I could have done that better I would love to hear your thoughts.