Chapter Seven: Bounty Work

They walked a few feet out of the city until Martha spoke up. "So, what does that paper say?" They stopped and Jethro unrolled the paper. It read "A thousand gold coins for the disposal of the bandit group hiding out in Heitho's Pass. Proof Required for reward." "Wow a thousand gold coins," exclaimed Martha, "That's more than what they usually offer." "Must be a really bad group," said Jethro. "Yeah but don't worry," said Martha, "We got this." Jethro laughed. "Yeah with my sword and your bow, we'll make short work of them," said Jethro. He rolled up the paper and put it in his pouch, and then Jethro and Martha started walking again. "So where is Heitho's Pass?" asked Jethro. "It's just up the road from here," replied Martha, "Follow me." Martha started running and Jethro followed.

They eventually came across a point where the road went in between two mountains. "This is Heitho's Pass," said Martha. Jethro nodded and looked around. He eventually spotted a large camp a few yards away. He then pointed in its direction. "That must be where the bandits are hiding out at," said Jethro. Martha looked over to where he was pointing. "Let's investigate first," said Martha, "Stealthily." They crouched down and approached the camp. As they got close they hid behind a few bushes. They scanned the camp for hostiles and saw twelve men in leather armor. Jethro looked at Martha and grinned. "Ready when you are," he whispered. Martha nodded and brought her bow and fired an arrow. The arrow flew through the air and impacted into the side of one of the bandit's head. The bandit fell to the ground with a loud thud. The other eleven men noticed the noise and turned to the fallen man. Jethro stood up and charged at the group as Martha kept firing arrows. The bandits were slowly cut down one by one by the duo. As the last bandit fell Martha stood up out of the bushes and began to walk over to Jethro, who was looking around for more enemies. "I think that might be all of them," said Jethro, "Good work." Martha smiled and said, "You too." She was about to say more when she saw a figure moving directly behind Jethro. There was no time to warn him. She brought up her bow and fired an arrow. It flew through the air, wizzing past Jethro's head. It impacted into the figure and the figure fell to the ground. Jethro turned around with shock. The figure was another bandit. Jethro turned back around at Martha. "Thanks," he said. Martha nodded and let out a sigh of relief. As they searched the camp for proof of their deed they decided to cut off a piece of the leather armor that one of the bandits wore. They then turned back to the direction they had come from and headed back to Weylok.

When they arrived back at the city it was getting dark. They walked through the city and up to Lord Campbell's courthouse. They entered the building together and approached Lord Campbell, who was still sitting in his chair. "So you're back, and you brought a friend," Lord Campbell said, "Were you successful in disposing of those bandits?" Jethro nodded and handed over the roll of paper and the piece of leather. Lord Campbell smiled and turned to the scrawny man next to him. The scrawny man handed Jethro a bag. "That's exactly a thousand gold coins," the scrawny man said. "Enjoy your reward and if you need more work there's always more to be done," Lord Campbell said. Jethro and Martha bowed. "Thank you my lord," said Jethro. Jethro and Martha then turned around and walked out of the courthouse.

When they were outside Jethro turned to Martha and handed her a half of the gold. "Thanks again for today," Jethro said, "For everything honestly." Martha smiled. "You don't have to thank me," Martha said, "I was happy to help." Jethro smiled back at her. "I'm going to head to the inn this city has and have a drink," said Jethro, "Would you like to join me?" Martha shook her head. "Not tonight but maybe some other time sounds great," said Martha, "I'm going to set up camp outside of the city and get some sleep." "Okay well have a good night," said Jethro. They shook hands and went their separate ways.