The Highwaymen of Bregan Dor

Gelnas and Boine were across the way, arrows nocked to their bows as they waited in the brush. Elbian had set two lookouts and hidden himself ahorse in the woods. Her head hidden under a hood and veil, Laila clutched her borrowed bow and pressed herself against the wall. In the distance, she heard the familiar snort of horses. They were coming.

The coach rounded a bend into view, pulled by four horses and driven by a driver in a red cloak. Beside him sat a man with a glaive in his hands. Two more mounted men-at-arms in gleaming white harness rode behind the coach, each of them holding a lance topped with the baron's pennant. They're short no guards, just like Father, Laila thought. Elbian will rob him blind!

There came a great creaking and cracking, and the tree that the highwaymen had prepared teetered on its trunk and crashed into the road. The coach driver pulled the horses to a halt and the men-at-arms spurred their horses forward to flank the coach. Lances leveled, their gleaming lanceheads darted about in search of an ambusher. But Elbian's men were too fast.

A red-fletched arrow streaked into the neck of one of the horses. The animal screamed in agony and reared back, nearly spilling its rider into the road. From the brush, the highwaymen rushed forward. Laila sprang through the door with her bow at the ready.

"Hold there!" cried Elbian, emerging from the forest at a canter with Anadra at his side. They both wore sabers at their hips but raised empty hands in greeting. The wounded horse staggered, and its rider deftly dismounted before he could be thrown off. The coach door opened, and the fat baron stormed out into the road, his fleshy rolls and jowls shaking under his black velvets. Wisps of white smoke puffed from his pipe and seeped from the door of his coach.

"Damnable brigands!" he roared, and even from this distance Laila could feel the fury in his voice. "I'll have you flayed alive!"

Elbian laughed as he slowed his horse to a halt. He looked down at the fuming baron from his saddle and tipped his hat.

"Good afternoon to you, sir!" the highwayman called, but his cheer did nothing to soothe the baron's fury.

"Come down here and fight me, you gutter-breeding whelp! I'll pull your arms from their sockets!"

"Father, no!" A young woman emerged from the coach behind the baron and Laila felt her breath catch. It was the baron's daughter Mira, a plain and mousy woman she knew from a hundred balls and banquets throughout her life. Mira grabbed at her father's heavy shoulders, but the taller and heavier man fought her off. He fumbled for the sword at his side but before he could draw it Elbian drew his own sword in a flash and laid it against the man's neck.

"I would advise against such intransigence, my good man," he supplied with an easy smile. The baron released his sword with a furious look. Mira pulled him back toward the coach.

"That's a good man," continued Elbian easily. "Now, if you're just hand over your coin and valuables, my friends and I will be on our way, and you can continue about your day. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like you'll be begging for the gallows soon enough," replied the baron with narrowed eyes.

"Father, don't anger them," Mira urged quietly. Baron Velidyr's face darkened in an impotent scowl and he glared daggers at the arquebusier.

"Come on, man! Are you going to stand there all day?" the arquebusier replied with a helpless shrug, and the men-at-arms were no more eager to take on so many. "Thieves! All of you!" roared the baron. "You take my money and then just stand by when I am beset by brigands?!"

As he fumed, the highwaymen tore into his coach, scattering the luggage about the road as they searched for gold and gems within them. The baron stalked about in the road, ranting and raving.

Laila watched with concern as he drew up close to Elbian's second, Suyren, the steel hidden by Elbian's silk. The baron jabbed at accusatory finger at Suyren and roared once more.

"You! You dare to rob me, brigand? When I'm finished with you, you'll be begging for a quick death. I'll feed what's left of you to the dogs."

"Big words from the fat man," Suyren spat, guiding his horse closer to the sputtering baron. "I wonder, are you are bold with your steel as with your words?" Suyren's sword flashed out from its scabbard, and he slashed at the baron's collar. A scrap of black velvet fluttered away. The baron stood still, his face a fearsome shade of red.

"No words?" Suyren asked. He sheathed his saber with a mocking smile. "As I thought. Enjoy watching your things ride away with us."

Fuming, Baron Velidyr rushed the gap between them and seized Suyren's horse by the reins. They struggled as Mira wailed and her father tried to tear Suyren from the horse but to no avail.

Suyren kicked him in the face. The baron yelped in pain and fell to the road with a wet thud. Mira squeaked in fear and Laila herself gasp. The baron turned to his back, his face growing somehow redder. Mira cried out to him, but it was little use. The baron tore his blade from its scabbard and lunged at Suyren. Startled by his victim's pluck, the highwayman only just managed to dart aside and draw his saber. The baron's gleaming blade cut air, then slashed through the rump of Suyren's horse.

The courser wailed in pain, joined immediately by its wounded counterpart, which bolted free of the man-at-arms' grasp. The two wounded horses threatened to run wild in the road, and the other highwaymen turned from their plundering to look at the disturbance. Gelnas had a fistful of silver coins in one hand when Suyren's panicking horse bowled him over. They flew from his hand, glittering in the forest sunlight, and all broke into chaos.

The arquebusier leveled his weapon at Suyren, but was felled by an arrow to the neck. The baron's two men-at-arms shouldered their lances, one afoot and the other ahorse. Arrows whistled from the trees around them, but all were defeated by their armor. Shattered shafts and blunted heads skipped off the polished plate and went skittering away into the forest. Elbian scrambled to mount his horse and the baron stabbed wildly at the fleeing Suyren. Laila stood stupefied on the inn's porch.

Sabers flashed in the sunlight and the highwaymen closed in around the baron. The mounted man-at-arms dashed to his master's aid, his lancehead slashing madly about. Boine caught it on the arm, and it cut apart his white sleeve to turn his swordarm red beneath it. Another, less fortunate highwayman took the lancepoint in his neck.

But the brave soldier was outnumbered and soon became surrounded. His horse was unarmored and soon enough brought to a halt. Gelnas pulled the man from his saddle and the highwaymen immobilized the poor soul. He thrashed and kicked, reaching for the long dagger at his hip, but it was no use. Roused to a murderous frenzy, the highwaymen abandoned their gentlemanly demeanor and stabbed blades into the gaps of his armor. Blood ran red over the shining plate and into the dirt.

His compatriot discarded his lance and drew a blade, but quickly realized he was doomed. With his steed still disabled by the arrow, he went to work cutting a horse free from the coach's yoke. The driver slumped from his seat with two arrows in his chest and fell to the road beside the terrified Mira.

Her father was apoplectic and oblivious to the demise of his servants. He charged ahead his man-at-arms was stabbed to death, blade held high for a wild slash. Suyren wheeled on him, horse under control at last, and spurred the animal to meet the baron's charge.

His saber flashed, blood sprayed, and the baron fell dead in the dirt. Mira screamed, Laila felt her own heart fall, and the forest fell still. The only sound was the last man-at-arms desperately hacking a coach horse free, and the sound of another arrow striking uselessly off his armor. Elbian looked from the dead baron to Suyren, holding a bloody sword and a satisfied smile.

"Grab the gold, we must leave now," he commanded. Boine tore off part of the baron's coat for a bandage, but the other bandits went for the money. Elbian ignored the sobbing Mira to tear into the coach's seats in search of more gold. Suyren dismounted and approached the crying woman.

"Suyren," called Elbian, "what are you doing?"

"Plundering," replied the other brigand. "Boine and Gelnas have their slut, I want one for myself."

"The first girl came willingly," Elbian reminded him, hand on his sword. past their notice, the surviving man-at-arms at last freed a horse and mounted it, galloping off down the road as arrows streaked past him. He cut quickly through Laila's vision, but she barely noticed, instead staring at the lifeless form of Baron Velidyr in the road.

"You will rob and kill a man, but not ravish his daughter?" Suyren sneered. "We are brigands, despite your pretensions of etiquette. Let us be brigands."

He reached down from his saddle and seized Mira by the arm. She screamed and beat useless at his grasp with her tear-streaked hands, but the highwayman was not to be denied.

"Suyren, let her go!" Elbian's saber was in his hands. Suyren rounded on him, his own saber darting forward. He snared Elbian's weapon beneath the crossguard and tore it from the man's startled grasp.

"Forget it, Elbian," call one of the archers, emerging from his hidden post to stand by the coach. "Let him take the girl and let's get out of here. One of them got away."

"Aye," said another archer. "We could do with another slut around the camp anyway. Highborn girls know the Ways of Nystra better than any but the priests."

Gelnas approached with an armful of plunder. "Suyren, we won't keep the peasants' love if we resort to this."

"Peasants? You think the peasants have any love for this girl? How many generations of peasants have endured lordlings riding down from their keeps for a night of fun in the villages, either for pay or an impromptu corvée? They will pay a silver a piece for a turn on her and a chance to give some back."

Laila could hear no more. A hundred conversations with Mira played through her head as Suyren hauled the girl over his saddlehorns. She ran forward and seized Suyren from the blind side. With a yelp of surprise, the man loosed his grip on Mira as Laila pulled hard at him. Wide-eyed, Suyren flailed about for a handhold and then fell to the ground.

"Run, Mira!" Laila cried. "Ride to safety!"

Mira needed no further encouraging. She clumsily hauled herself into the saddle and kicked the horse in its flanks. Suyren had made it to his feet and grabbed at her again, but between Mira's desperation and the other highwaymen, she slipped his grasp and went galloping down the road.

"Damn you!" Suyren roared. He wheeled on Laila and struck her across the face with a backhand slap. Her vision exploded with bright stars and she staggered back. "My horse! Bad enough you let her go, but that was a fine horse!"

"Take the dead knight's horse," Elbian replied coldly. "We must go. Now."

"This slut has lost me my horse," Suyren protested. His face a mask of cold rage, he stared down at Laila with murder in his eyes.

"We will continue this discussion at camp," Elbian declared. "Let us leave before any aid shows up."

Laila took the opportunity to flee Suyren's death glare and return to her horse behind the inn. In no time at all, they were all galloping away as fast as their horses would carry them.

Not far from the ruined inn lay a crossroads where, not so long ago, someone had built a wooden watchtower. It was poorly maintained and quite ramshackle to begin with, but Aranthir had managed to climb his way to the top of it for a good view. The crossroads lay perhaps two hundred yards down the slope of a little hill from the tower, and he had turned his horse loose on the grassy hill to graze. From his precarious perch, Aranthir surveyed the woods and meadows within view. Not far from the first crossroads, in the other direction, was another junction of backwoods trails. Already he had seen a pair of hunters, or more likely poachers, making their way down the trails with a boar between them.

Besides the hunters and a simple peddler, Aranthir's watch had seen nothing of interest pass by. The backwoods were deserted, and the peasants were out in the fields as winter gave way to spring and the fields needed tending to. So bored, Aranthir had slouched down in the watchtower, playing with the string of his horn-and-bone bow. It made an amusing twanging sound as he plucked at it, whiling away the hours under a warm early spring sun.

It was movement in the far distance that caught is eye. Barely visible through the trees were the white shapes of men on horseback. Aranthir sat up straight, the bow falling from his lap to the worn planks of the watchtower's floor. The horsemen were galloping and, even though he could only catch a glimpse of them here and there as they passed through open spaces in the treeline, he could make out their numbers well enough. They wore no lord's colors that he knew of, and this was where he expected to find the highwaymen in any case. Moreover, they were heading toward him.

He snatched up his spyglass from his belt and put it to his eye. The white-clad figures leapt a half-mile closer to him and, following their path back to where they had come from, he could just make out the form of a coach in the road behind them.

Apliss smiles upon me, my hunt is near its end, Aranthir thought with a smile. He stowed the spyglass and slung his bow over his shoulders before clambering down the ladder as fast as he dared. With elven grace, he leapt down the last half dozen rungs and whistled for his horse. The animal came obediently trotting toward him as Aranthir ran to meet it and swung into the saddle. He spied the riders again as they passed through an open meadow to his north and kicked the horse into a gallop.

The riders made a hard pace, winding through the backwoods trails and into the rugged foothills, but Aranthir kept pace with them and stayed out of sight as well. They were riding too fast to spend much time looking to their rear, but all the same he thrice dropped back as he gained on them and then picked up their trail from hoofprints later. It was after perhaps an hour of riding that they turned off the road and into an abandoned manor amid fallow vineyards.

Aranthir dismounted at a safe distance and tied up his steed. Crouching low in the brush as the sun sank toward the horizon, he approached the manor with all attendant stealth. A handful of highwaymen were gathered in the manor's main yard, embroiled in a heated argument. At this distance, even Aranthir's elven ears could not make out the nature of their dispute, though it was not heated enough to merit the drawing of swords. As best he could tell, it pitted two men against four of their fellows, while five more stood aloof, unable or unwilling to choose a side. As he picked his way close, the two men on the defensive threw down their caps and stormed off, leaving the rest to fume.

A man stepped forward and soothed the fuming quartet before dismissing them all with a wave of his hands. Bitterly, they dispersed to the tasks of maintaining a highwaymen base. Two men lifted pilfered coffers from their saddlebags and carried them into the manor house while another led the horses into a stable. Aranthir watched the money go with mild interest, but his mind was focused on counting their numbers.

The base was located, and the count's main task was fulfilled. But Aranthir was not of a mind to just up and leave. He crept along the edge of the hill to a perch in the trees and drew out his spyglass. Passing the glass over the manor, he stopped when he spied through the window of one bedroom a naked woman. She was young and slender, with long flaxen hair bound up in braids about her head, and she was bound with ropes and leather straps. Her hands were bound behind her and her ankles tied together. Two men stood over her, naked and with their cocks in their hands.

Aranthir put away his spyglass and drew his sword.

Laila knelt naked on the bedding. Gelnas and Boine had bound her in their leathers soon after arrival, eager to take their minds off the wronged ambush, but she could tell their hearts were not fully in it. Boine was stroking his cock with his wounded arm and wore a sad expression on his face, while Gelnas' eager demeanor was clearly feigned. Yet Laila was ready to suck their cocks all the same. Gelnas held his hard cock out to her and she strained against her bonds trying to reach it with her mouth.

From the hall outside came a sudden commotion and Laila drew back as the door burst open. In burst Suyren, followed close behind by Elbian. The lead bandit was irate and he stabbed an accusing finger at Laila, naked and bound with two men towering over her.

"You!" sneered Suyren, "you must go. You've been nothing but trouble since you arrived."

Elbian pulled at Suyren's arm. "Come on, leave them be."

"I will not!" Suyren shoved him away and stepped toward Laila. She recoiled, and fell to the bedding as she tried to back away. Boine knelt beside her to undo her bindings, and Suyren continued to rage. "I am still not sure you are not a spy, despite your... attempts to ingratiate yourself. If you will not leave, perhaps you could make yourself useful."

He stepped closer still and shoved Boine away. The bindings on her arms had been loosened, but Laila was still unable to free her hands. Suyren loomed closer, his hungry eyes drinking in her naked, vulnerable form. She felt her cheeks flush and pulled her legs up to her chest to cover herself.

"Suyren, leave before you do something you'll regret," called Elbian quietly.

"What would I regret?" Suyren asked, turning to face the other three in turn. "And who will stop me?"

In reply, an arrow streaked through the window and struck him in the throat. Suyren staggered and fell to the bedding beside Laila, his dark red lifeblood spilling across the floor. The others stood in shock and Laila stared into Suyren's eyes as the light went out.

Someone leapt through the window. He was tall and slender, but showed the muscles of a warrior. He wore a brigandine coat with worn sallet helm atop his head, beneath which were two piercing emerald eyes that swept quickly over the room and all within. A flashing sword was in one hand while the other held a short bow, made not of wood but of horn and sinew. His features were sharp and fierce, like those of a hawk.

Elbian was the first to regain his senses. He drew his saber and stabbed at the stranger, but his thrust was easily batted aside. Boine and Gelnas forgot the bound Laila and scrambled to retrieve their swords from where they lay against the wall. The stranger shouldered his bow with a fluid, practiced move and grasped his longsword with both hands. Elbian withdrew toward the door, his saber ringing against the longsword as he desperately parried his attacker's movements.

Gelnas produced his saber from its scabbard, but as he turned to face the stranger, a dagger flashed forth and struck him in his naked belly. With an agonized cry, he dropped his blade and fell to the wooden floor with a thud. Blood rushed from his wound as he curled up and waited to die. Laila screamed, fighting against her bonds as she kicked Suyren's dying bulk away. Boine had found his own sword, but when he saw Gelnas, he threw it aside and pulled Gelnas away from the fighting toward the side door.

Meanwhile, the stranger dipped his swordpoint beneath Elbian's guard and ran the highwaymen through up to the hilt. Elbian gasped, but did not scream. His saber clattered to the floor. The stranger twisted the blade in his belly and let him fall. He turned toward Laila, green eyes flashing.