20 The negotiation

The ground rumbled as five meters high transmuted from the ground hiding the cliff making any attempt to escape not true. Sir Jack thought perhaps rolling from the cliff to the Plaguelands would be better but now even that solution was blocked by someone; he felt as if the bandits had an Earth mage with them in addition to the healer. They had to be strong since they covered such a wide range.

Sir Jack looked back at Stephan who was acting funny with his chains; if the boy was a mage and he only needed a sceptre, he had to get him a sceptre. However, he had to get to the locations of the mages and there was no clear opening to know where they were.

Stephan showed an uncaring attitude by playing with his chains while his mind thought of a solution to the current situation. He didn't have any skills and the system wasn't of much help except for his eyes. He looked around the mountainside and noticed an arrow nocked and the bow drawn, imbuing the tip with a faint light signalling mana of blue colour.

He understood that the whole formation, the fact that the bandits didn't fight them with rage, archers over the cliff, and the matter that someone that looked like the chief of the bandits that didn't intend to harm them and had use of them. It didn't take a genius to understand that but the other knights didn't seem to have a brain for that.

"Talk about karma."

"You are making it worse again. Since you are an apprentice magician, can you do something about it?" Mike whispered walking back to Stephan.

"Well, if you didn't…"

"I know the tale just tell me if there is anything we can do to outdo them," he cut him hissing.

"I think the solution is in giving up. As long as we live, we can find a way to escape and something tells me, they are not the only ones called bandits and we need to get rid of them all."

"Do you think they will let us stay alive? We are knights. We will bring nothing to them."

Stephan raised a hand waved it around then tasted it. "This is salty! Wait and see! They will tell us of the tale soon. If they wanted to kill us, they would have done this first thing they saw us. Yet, they were sparring with us like old buddies so rejoice."

"Why would I rejoice? I am no buddies with bandits."

"Well, you will be," Stephan threw him a smile and then started walking toward the giant bandit.

The apprentice slipped around excusing himself as he advanced. He had an idea and he meant for it to work. He started by the noise everyone made but he didn't stop. He kept going forward until he stopped in front of the giant man who meant to have a conversation with Sir Jack who seemed the older one in the group and also their head.

Stephan gave Sir Jack a hard poke. Another. The man had eyes full of anger of what the boy did. He not only didn't listen to the atmosphere of the group, he was coming at the same level as the others.

"What are you doing?" Jack bellowed.

"I am saving your life and especially me life," he replied with a big smile that didn't leave his face even when he talked. Slowly, he stretched his hand towards the man asking for a handshake but he soon retracted it embarrassed. "I believe you are in need of a cannon folder since you went to such great lengths to trap us here. Mostly, you must have done the plan in days. Did someone from the city send you? Because if it's the case, I don't hope for it to kill us."

"You look like a girl, are you sure you aren't one in disguise? Because if it's the case, then I will train you so hard that you'll be begging to stay with me," the giant man, the head of the bandits, bent his head down slightly until it was just a few inches from Stephan's, his eyes looking for any sign the lad in front of him was a lass.

Stephan's eyes moved to the man's crotch then to his eyes again and waved his hands in disgust. "I don't think that I may be to your taste. I have been in the Wildlands for a while and I do not wish for my body to be violated the wrong way. However, I believe we can be subject to the wildness rules and be taken to your real chief, instead of you."

"What are you talking about, pussy?"

"Excuse me, I am no pussy but I am in the knowledge of the rules of the wild; one of the rules the bandits follow is when a fellow traveller, bandits or criminals asks for negotiation, he needs to be directed immediately to the chief. I don't believe you are one since your head doesn't have the tattoo."

The giant man looked at his comrades. They nodded their heads in approval.

"May I ask what you need from us?" he threw a half-hearted smile.

"There is a witch in the valley who requests organs in exchange for weapons. You all have enough organs. If you think you are worthless to us, then be happy you are not."

The very thought of being taken as a valuable product made him shudder, but, at this point, all he could do was clench his fists in frustration. Against one fighter, he could outplay him. However, against this whole lot of people, he had no chance.

"What would I say? I am flattered. So negotiation it is."

"There is no negotiation for city livestock."

"But there is for ones living in the wilderness. I am a wanderer. As you can see, I don't wear anything that looks like their clothes and also I was in chains. The rules apply to me."

He threw another half-hearted smile.