"Sigman here knows where the main bandit camp is. At exactly midnight, we'll all meet in front of the forest. This way, we can get 'em all while they're sleeping. This combined with the fact that we outnumber them means that they're history."
"And what about the hag?"
"If we see her, then we kill her. This time we ain't defenseless travelers. We're an army."
"What if it's a total rout like at the Albion keep?"
"Like I just said, we're an army now. We got almost every grown man from the town armed and pissed off. Their brigade of bandits won't be enough to fend all of us off."
I saw a patrolling bandit walking our direction, so I whispered into the dark meeting room. "Psst! One of them is coming! Hush up!"
I closed the door and stood there with my basket full of loaves of bread. The conspirators inside shut up. The bandit walked up to me.
"Hello, sir. Would you like to buy some bread?" I asked him in my sweetest voice.
He glared at me and swiped one of the loaves away. Without breaking his gaze, he took a huge bite out of the bread. He chewed, his face scrunched up, and he spat mushy bread out. He threw the rest of the loaf at me, hitting me square in the face.
"Disgusting."
He continued on with his patrol. After he turned away, I stuck my tongue out at him.
"The jerk is gone," I whispered into the room.
"That bastard. Those are some of the finest loaves I've ever baked," someone muttered angrily.
"All the more reason to wipe them out tonight. All of you, inform the army that we're meeting at midnight, as planned."
Nighttime came. I wanted to help fight against the brigands, but I decided against it since I would probably just get in the way, or even worse, get injured or killed. I wasn't ready to die until I got the truth out of Lord Augustus. Instead, at midnight, I went to the pillories to see if I could sneak the poor old man some water. It was a miracle that he had survived this long without it. The brigands kept the pillories well-guarded, so no one had successfully given him any food or water.
I hid behind a building with a jug of water, peering into the square where the old man was being held. As before, there were around eight armed bandits guarding him. Someone had wrapped a cloth blindfold over his eyes. I decided to wait for a while to see if the bandits would let their guard down or leave their posts.
BOOOOOOM!
An enormous explosion erupted from somewhere far away, but it seemed like it came from the forest. A feeling of dread creeped down through my stomach. One of the bandits pointed in the direction of the forest, and most of them moved out, but two of them remained to watch over the old man. Darn. For the next minute, I thought about if I should try and take down the two bandits and how I would do that.
Without warning, the old man let out a howl and ripped the board out of the pillory. He was like a man possessed. With his head and arms still stuck in the huge wooden board, he swung himself into the both of the bandits' heads. The wood hit their heads with sickening cracks, and they fell to the ground.
"The end is coming!" he screamed.
He ran off in the same direction as the bandits did. I wanted to yell after him not to go, but it looked like he was in a terrifying rage.
BOOOOOOM!
Once again, the explosion rang out. This time, I was sure that its point of origin was the forest. I trotted over to the two bandits and checked their pulses. Nothing. I picked up one of their blood-crusted swords and carefully made my way to the forest. I just had to know what those explosions were.
I avoided detection and eventually arrived at the forest. A man with one of his legs seemingly ripped off crawled towards me on the dirt path, writhing in pain.
"Save… me…"
He keeled over. I ran to his side, but it was too late for him. I hurried into the forest and found a gruesome trail of dead townspeople, each with limbs missing or other fatal injuries. I steeled myself and made my way forward, my morbid curiosity getting the better of me. Finally, I could hear some grunting through the trees. I quickly dived behind a tree and looked out from behind it to investigate. The bandit camp was in the clearing. I saw something large and metal in the center of the camp so I got closer to make out what it was.
Surrounded by a few dead bandits and a lot of dead townspeople was a giant war machine of terrible implication. I had heard of cannons before, but I had never seen one in person. This cannon was absolutely colossal. It was a hulking iron abomination. The sides of the cannon were decorated with the crests of none other than the Albion family, confirming my deepest fears. The whole thing was mounted on a wooden chariot of sorts, partly plated with iron. A cannon of this size could easily tear through a castle wall, not to mention human flesh. The presence of this thing explained the loud explosion from earlier and the mutilated corpses of the townspeople on the trail and surrounding the bandit camp. Only a few of the brigands had been killed, and it seemed like only a few of the townspeople had survived. The cannon must have caught them by surprise, leading to their demise. The bandits were piling the dead bodies onto a series of wagons.
"Looks like we have enough food to last the fat king for the next week, at least," one bandit said, throwing a body into a wagon.
"Thanks to this beaut," another one replied, patting the cannon. "And thanks to the townspeople for their thoughtful donation."
I left the camp and headed back home, deeply disturbed by what I had seen. Were the brigands going to punish the rest of the town for the actions of the army? So many townspeople were killed in that massacre that the town seemed empty when I returned in the morning. Not too long after I got back, a large group of bandits got to town and went around to the houses, ordering everyone to assemble in the town square. The giant bandit stepped out again and began yelling.
"Peasants! Many of your men came last night in hopes of killing us! Don't worry, we didn't let that happen," he announced with a wicked grin. The people in the crowd were dead silent. "Of course, we can't let their traitorous actions go unpunished. That's why we brought this to town."
Two horses strained to pull the giant cannon into the town square. This time, the silence was broken by gasps.
"Since the population of this town has so dramatically declined in the past day, all of these nice buildings seem unnecessary. Men?"
The bandits rotated the cannon, aiming it straight at the tavern.
"No issues here, so long as everyone heard our orders to gather here. Fire!"
A matchman lit the fuse on the cannon. People screamed in protest but were drowned out by its deafening roar. The cannonball plowed straight through the side of the tavern's roof, blowing the entire roof off.
"Next!" the giant shouted, pointing at the blacksmith's workshop.
One by one, all of the buildings in town were shot through. The last one to be ravaged was the abbey. I must have been shouting the loudest as the fuse was lit and the cannonball punched through the steeple of the abbey, bringing it down. I broke into tears. Although I never liked the place that much, it was still my home. Seeing the building shake from the impact tore at my heart.
"How could you, you monsters!?" I shouted without thinking.
"What was that, little girl? You got a problem with the punishment?"
"You'll pay for this! I swear it!"
"Matchman. Teach this whelp how we handle disobedience."
He pointed the cannon a little lower and lit the fuse again.
"No, wait! I'm sorry!"
Too late. Another cannonball burst out and blew a massive hole in the roof of the abbey. The whole structure wobbled and most of the beautiful stain glass windows shattered.
"No… no…"
I crumpled to the floor and cried.