“So my dear friend, how did a strapping young man like you get caught up in this?”
It wasn't long before the three were talking and Solynne was able to catch up on events.
In the hall Wollfen had found Kane and had announced his presence. They were now in a three way talk between Kane, Lord Ernust and himself. The Lord wasn't pleased by Wollfen's plans at all,
“I don't need you stirring up trouble out in the wilds and making things harder for us here. There is no need to go seek vengeance. We have enough troops here to take care of things and your companions are training a number of people to establish a constabulary for the town too. This adventure of yours would serve no purpose.” Wollfen knew the man would be against him and turned to Kane,
“Have you anything to add?” He nodded,
“Yes, we picked up a bandit in town a few days ago and he had a written list of the troop numbers too, he was obviously checking out how things are here with the idea of reporting back to his colleagues.” Wollfen had expected as much,
“That proves my point my Lord, they are a well organized gang who will not go away so easily, they obviously have plans to come back again, do you want to be the next kidnap victim?”
That set the man back on his heels a bit and he thought for a moment before speaking again,
“Very well, I will authorize you to use some resources to go after them. Just make sure it is a success otherwise there could be consequences.”
“Agreed, I won't need much, mostly food supplies for the journey, other than that maybe two men.”
“Is that all? I expected you to want at least a dozen more troops, well you are free to pick who you want, two will not be problem.”
The Lord spun on his heel nodding to his adjutant to take care of the details and he stalked off to his chambers. He wasn't interested in any small talk.
Wollfen and Kane watched him leave and then turned back to each other,
“So how was the trip?”
“It proved to be interesting and fruitful, we have a new team member.”
“Oh, you will have to introduce me.”
“Yes let's go do that now, I don't want to waste any more time. The sooner we can leave the happier I will be.”
The Offensive
Blackstorm looked around at his men, they had been grumbling now for awhile, their attempt at kidnapping the Lord of Outrock hadn't played out and it had cost the lives of five of them. He had promised vengeance for that and had managed to have Lord Hale killed. They had even killed a few others too, but it wasn't enough. These men wanted blood, a lot of it. They all wanted to see Outrock pay for their insolence.
“Listen to me men! Yes they have got a lot of troops in place at Outrock now, but mark my words, they will leave in time. The Kingdom won't keep paying for them to stay, we know this. But let me also tell you something else,” He paused for effect, letting the tension build a little, “When the troops leave we WILL ride in and exact a heavy price of the townspeople! We will bleed them like never before!”
The men roared their approval waving their swords above their heads cheering their leader on, if nothing else this man was good at stirring them up, good at getting their emotions flowing. Was it no wonder he was in charge?
“I can tell you now too, we are the biggest outlaw gang this side of Kassandrea!” Again the men cheered, “And we will grow bigger too, once the word gets around of our exploits with Outrock, every murderer, robber, rapist and more will flock to our cause!”
Once more he paused for effect, letting the men work themselves up, it could only help the situation. Then he went on,
“We will become so strong, so big, that we will own the outlands! No one will be able to touch us!”
Blackstorm looked around at them with a smile. Yes, he was going to lead them to glory and fame, his fame. There was power to be had here and he would take it by force. Unknown to these men he also had grander ideas too. All he need do was prove to be too much trouble for the Kingdom to deal with, too powerful, too expensive to eliminate. Then he would be in a position to negotiate for concessions from them. He knew how they worked, there was a fiefdom to be owned down here and he had every intention of presiding over it.
Now he turned and pointed to two large barrels of ale,
“This is for all for you, drunk up and enjoy, because I promise you this and far more.”
The men cheered again and moved forward crowding around the barrels as the ale started to be poured into mugs that were greedily snatched at.
Blackstorm walked outside of the cave into the night air and looked up at the stars. It was a clear night with the full moon low in the sky, it looked larger than usual.
He spotted the silhouettes of the two sentries standing off in the distance, quietly monitoring the surrounding woods. He didn't expect there to be any trouble, it had been over a month since the killing of the Lord and there hadn't been one single patrol that had left Outrock since. No they were all too scared to come out.
He smiled to himself, a year ago his entire clan had been wiped out by the orcs and he thought his life was over, but now the possibilities were endless he realized. All it needed was a strong man just like himself to go out and take it. It was strange really, when he had been in the clan he didn't hold any standing, he wasn't thought of being very capable at all. All he got to do was some minor sentry duties and short patrols, no one ever gave him the respect he knew deep down he deserved. Yes that was it, respect, well he had that now, that and more.
A man by the name of Henrick came up quietly from behind him and stood there looking out into the darkness in silent contemplation. Then after a minute he spoke,
“Fine speech you made there,” Blackstorm nodded in appreciation, “Pity it was more talk than anything else.”
Blackstorm gave a start and gave the man a sharp look,
“You questioning my abilities?” Henrick shook his head,
“No, but I do question where your mind is at.” Blackstorm swung the back of his hand at the man's head but he ducked away at the last moment, “Listen to me Storm!”
“Why should I? Have I not delivered on my promises enough times?”
“Maybe so, but you need to hear me out.”
Storm was angry but he waved the man to go on, he rested his hand on his dagger to remind this upstart that he was close to being killed. Henrick though was well aware he was dancing with a dangerous person right now.
“We may have killed the Lord in the gates of Outrock and yes that probably did shock the townspeople but do you really think they are cowering behind those walls? Do you remember what our spies are telling us? They aren't running scared, they are training up more people as soldiers, each week they have more. It's only a matter of time before they have enough men to come after us, they will search us out, mark my words.” Storm laughed,
“Ha! They are soft people of the Kingdom! It's been a month! If they were going to do anything, it would have happened by now. No, they are sitting behind those walls waiting. They expect us to come riding in and get ourselves killed attacking them directly.” Henrick could only shake his head,
“We don't know that, our last spy hasn't come back, he is well overdue, maybe they are already on their way? Who knows? We can't know, you won't send any more spies.”
Storm was gripping the handle of his dagger tightly, all he wanted was an excuse to cut this mans throat and shut him up.
“The last three spies all told us exactly the same thing. As for the last one, who knows what has happened to him, probably run off by my reckoning. Now shut up and leave me alone, otherwise I will run you through.”
The last words were delivered with a growl through gritted teeth, he had had enough of this talk. Henrick knew to go, he turned on his heel and went back inside. By daybreak he would be gone, he was no fool like the rest of these men. None of them were smart enough to know to get out while the going was good.
Wollfen and his team were on their second day of their ride and had two scouts far ahead watching for any activity or sign of the bandits he was sure were nearby. They were well past the spot where they had rescued Lord Hale from the clutches of the criminals. It was only a matter of time now before there was some contact. The eight of them had left the road hours before so as to not tip off any sentries, but how far out from whatever lair they had he did not know. It was best to be cautious.
Being late afternoon he hoped they could find the nest of bandits and later be able to sneak up close in the dark with hopes of finding out how many there were. Once he could establish the size of the gang he could then formulate a plan of attack too. It was slow going though, he had made it understood to Kane and Solynne up ahead that they had to exercise extreme caution, if the enemy got wind of their presence then there was no telling how things would turn out.
A few minutes later Solynne came galloping and pulled up, Wollfen held up his hand for the others to stop.
“We found a sentry further up a valley to the left about five hundred yards ahead, Kane is going to see if he can get around him and do a quick reconnoiter before coming back. He recommends we wait for his return here.”
“Alright sounds good,” He turned to the others, “Dismount we will lead our horses in for awhile before finding a place to tie them off. We are going to wait for Kane's return first though.”
The others acknowledged his instructions getting off their horses quietly and waiting patiently, tension had been mounting slowly over the last couple of hours and now it was almost palpable. Everyone understood what danger they were in. Wollfen turned back to Solynne,
“Did you see much evidence of traffic on the ground going into that valley?” She nodded,
“Yes it is what tipped us off to the possibility of something being up there, the ground is well worn in that particular spot with only light wear continuing past it. It is obvious that is where they go in and out. The sentry confirms it.”
He thought about this and voiced his thoughts on the subject,
“I wonder if we can travel along the ridge line and drop down into the valley further in?” Solynne didn't think so,
“From what I could see the hillsides there are rocky and get steeper the further in you go, it wouldn't surprise me if it is only one way in and out.”
“Hmm, that doesn't help us at all, if we had fifty or more troops that would be an advantage but we are only eight, that is nowhere near enough to cage them in. It also means we can't do a hit and run into there because they would be able to run us down with sheer numbers.”
He was disappointed by the news, the last couple of days Kane and him had been discussing hit and run tactics to whittle down the numbers of the gang over time. But with only one way in it meant they couldn't do so. Any attack would face a concentrated force. What was really needed was to have the bandits out in the open with the posse having the ability to attack from any direction and retreat again quickly.
“All we can do then is wait for Kane to return and then decide where we go from here.”
They didn't have long to wait, Kane came riding up to them about thirty minutes later and dismounted. He didn't waste any time in filling Wollfen in on what he saw.
“Alright, I got past the sentry and managed to find a cave further up the valley, there were a couple of sentries near the entrance so I didn't get too close but I could hear sounds coming from it, a lot of voices there. It has to be where they are holed up.”
“Did you manage to see anyone else besides the sentries?”
“No, it appeared everyone was inside so picking off the sentries without alerting the rest shouldn't be too much of a problem. But there are other issues.”
“Go on, I'm all ears.”
“Well I went past the cave and looked to see if there was any other way into the valley but it stops about another half mile or so beyond. It is definitely a one ended valley. We can't openly attack them while they stay there.”
“I was afraid of that and we have no idea if they plan a raid anytime soon either.”
Wollfen had been brooding on that very thing since Solynne had told him of the nature of the valley.
“Do you have any suggestions Kane?” He shook his head,
“Nothing that doesn't involve us being chased down by a big group of angry bandits no.” Wollfen perked up at Kane's words,
“Hmm, you may have something there eh?” Kane couldn't help but look at him with surprise,
“You aren't seriously suggesting we ride in there directly and let them see us?” Wollfen nodded slowly as an idea formed in his head,
“You know, that might work, it's risky, but I think I am willing to give it a go.” Kane wasn't so sure,
“You don't think that eight of us riding in and attacking is going to work out do you?” Wollfen smiled,
“No, but two riding in and attacking might be just what we need to do.”
One of the soldiers on loan from Outrock couldn't help but speak up,
“Are you nuts? If two riders go in there they will be cut to pieces!” Wollfen understood his concerns,
“Yes that could happen but I have a plan, gather around everyone,” The group closed in listening intently, “If we eliminate the three sentries first two riders could get very close to the cave entrance and fire a volley of arrows in. That would surely stir up a reaction I am sure. Also then they could bid a hasty retreat and I bet a number of bandits would give chase. That's exactly what we want, we need to draw the bandits out and have them out of that valley, then the rest of us can pick some off from different directions. I don't expect to wipe them out in one big battle, but if we can reduce their numbers piecemeal over time then we will achieve victory.”
Again one of the soldiers spoke up,
“Alright so we get some of them to give chase and we manage to kill a few, the rest will retreat back to the cave where the rest are. They surely won't come back out again to another volley of arrows, they will be prepared the next time and be on guard.”
“Yes but I am not worried about that, I want to see how they react and what they do, it will give me more ideas on what to do next.”
Wollfen looked around at all of them,
“So right now I need two volunteers to ride in, it will be dangerous stuff too, I won't lie.”
Justin stuck his hand up,
“I'm game, I am good with a bow.” Wollfen hesitated,
“Are you sure? You will be fighting men intent on killing you, are you prepared to kill in return?” Justin gave him a sober look,
“I am ready to do what's needed yes.”
“Alright then, you are one, who else will go in?”
Keera sighed, she had been riding with Justin the last few days and gained a liking for him, he was a bright man, well built and full of energy. She would be damned if she sat by and watched him ride off to his death now, not if she could help it.
“Count me in, I will ride with him.”
“Okay Keera good, I'm glad you will do so, you can look after the recruit and keep him out of danger.”
“Hey! I can take care of myself!”
Justin's feelings were bruised by the comment but Wollfen would have nothing of it,
“Listen to me Justin, Keera has been riding and fighting for ten years, she knows her stuff and you would do well to listen to her. She has the experience okay?”