Before the Ambush

"This is going to be a standard ambush. We'll lay in wait in an advantageous spot, take out as many guards as we can right away and then clean up the rest. Our informant says there will be up to seven guards." Thelora had started to tell us the plan after Lariss and I caught up to them.

It was exactly what Floriana said. Wassa's people had a rare item that they stole from a merchant on his way to an Earl further east. Unfortunately for them, Earl Kronolr had support close by. They were driven into hiding before they could make their way to Torinheim to hand it over to the Night Mistress' people to fence. Even an Earl couldn't pay the search parties continuously and they have been cut in half.

One of Skadi's spies in Wassa's camp had sent the details to her. Our goal was to intercept them on the road before they got too close to Torinheim. Based on the information provided, most of their people were at the Intermediate basic aura stage, with maybe one expert and an adept mage. They'd be the first ones we'd try to kill.

"Do we really need to kill them?" Lariss said.

"What did you think you signed up for, little lady?" Hrothgar said with a sneer.

"Don't mind him, he hasn't had a conscience in years. If it makes you feel better, they're thieves and murderers who wouldn't hesitate a moment to kill and violate you in either order. But I don't plan on letting them have their way with you." Feadr said.

"But how would killing them make us any better than them?" Lariss said. I was a little confused by her line of questioning because she had no problem killing bandits on our way to the forest.

"It doesn't. We're just doing what we need to do. And I'll remind you that you were the one that insisted on joining us. Feel free to head back to Torinheim. Just remember that if you say anything, Wilmaer will be the first one to die." Thelora said.

"I never said I wasn't going to help, I was just curious if there was an alternative." Lariss replied.

"Don't worry, if you're a little squeamish I can help you through it." Feadr gave her what he must have felt was a flattering smile but just came across as creepy. Hrothgar just grunted as he shook her head. I had to hold back a laugh as I knew this was all an act. I wasn't sure what she intended to accomplish but it was amusing. Thelora had a slight smile on her face as she was also aware of the act.

That night I was surprised when Thelora bought three rooms at the inn we were staying at and took one for herself. That left Hrothgar and Feadr to a room and Lariss and I to a room. She took on a bashful smile when we found out. For some reason Feadr gave me a death stare. What was it with men getting jealous of women not being interested in them?

After we got into our small one bed room, I was about to talk when Lariss placed her finger on my lips. She took out an iron ball and gave it a little spin on the top of the dresser. It let off a ringing noise.

"That should help keep people from eavesdropping." Lariss said.

"Smart thinking." I said.

"So how successful are we going to make this job?" She said.

"This time we're not going to screw them over. I still need to get a better grip on what's going on. There's going to be a new Bandit Queen whether we screw Skadi over or help her. When we do make a move to cripple them, it needs to be big." I said.

"I'll follow your lead." She said.

"Bytheway, what was with your questions earlier? I know for a fact you don't care about killing bandits." I said.

She started giggling. "Oh, that's a little trick I picked up. By asking questions against the grain of the mission, people have a tendency to reveal themselves by how they respond since they're questions they hadn't thought of before. For example, my question made Hrothgar uncomfortable, it's possible he's had that thought before. I don't think he likes killing but will when necessary, much like you or I. But Feadr wasn't bothered by the question, he was more interested in trying to impress me. He won't think twice about killing us if it benefits him.

"Thelora, on the other hand, hid her reaction well. She was judging me as much as I was judging them. But I think I saw a shift in her impression of me. Also, when I do kill without batting an eye, there's a good chance they'll be a little afraid of me. That might make them hesitant when they try to kill us." I was a little impressed by her psychological warfare she used against them.

When it came to sleeping arrangements that night, Lariss shyly indicated that it would be okay for me to share the bed with her. While our relationship had been slightly flirtatious before she lost her memory, I had to keep in mind that she really didn't know who I was anymore. Getting back to that point could take time and I wasn't even really sure if we'd end up in the same place. In the end I sat in a meditative position on the floor and cultivated my basic aura throughout the night.

The next morning Thelora set a fast pace for us. We needed to reach the place she had chosen for the ambush by nightfall. If her calculations were correct, the group we were after would be passing by that area early the following day.

We arrived just after sunset. The road here followed the course of a deep river cutting back and forth reducing visibility on the road. It was also surrounded by trees with numerous hills that had been dug back to small cliffs in order to make way for the road.

Before we settled down for the night Thelora went over the plan in greater detail. She had chosen a sharp turn in the road for the attack. Lariss and Feadr would position themselves on one of the hills that had a flat side facing the road, harassing them from the high ground. Once they had their attention, the rest of us would come out of hiding spots along the river side.

It was a good and basic plan. Which is why I just had a feeling something was going to go wrong. Plans like these always went wrong for the hero of the story.

Before the sun rose, we hitched our horses away from the road and slipped into our hiding places. I rotated my shadow mote to activate my Cloaking spell. Thelora gave us a look over before she disappeared herself.

The first group to pass us right after sunrise was a group dressed in the robes and armor of priests and knights of the Church of the Holy Light. Shortly after them was a large wagon with several barrels of alcohol with three guards. The driver seemed to be partaking in his wares as he was singing a fairly lewd song at the top of his lungs. I wondered if they had stayed at the same inn with the followers of the Holy Light and that was why the first group was out so early.

An hour later Thelora gave the first signal that our target was on their way. The wagon had a heavy cloth tied down over its cargo, with two men with bows riding along with the driver. There were four guards in the front, two on each side and another three in the rear. This was twice as many bandits as we were told to expect.

I was waiting for the suicidal signal to come but they passed without Thelora being an idiot. We stayed in hiding for another 30 minutes before Thelora gave the signal for us to come out. She quickly led us up the hill and to the location where our horses were hitched.

"What in darkness' name was that?" Hrothgar yelled after we got to the horses.

"That's what I want to know. There were only supposed to be seven of them, not forteen. Even with the addition of the lass here, we would have been screwed." Feadr said.

"It looks like our intelligence was wrong. What do we do now?" I said.

"Unless we get more help, we should just give up." Feadr said.

Thelora didn't respond as she was deep in thought. I stood next to her waiting for her reply. Hrothgar paced around mumbling to himself while Feadr tried to comfort Lariss who just ignored him.

"We could just steal the wagon while they slept." I suggested.

"Too risky, they'll have several on watch and we'll be slower once we have the wagon." She said.

"What about putting the item in a Storage Device? Lariss has a Bracelet." I said.

"It can't enter the Extra Dimensional space." She said. It wasn't too uncommon for certain magical items to not be able to enter a Storage Device. The magic would interfere with each other.

"Well what else do we have at our disposal?" From her reaction to this question I saw a plan start to form.

"It might not work but we won't know until they stop for the night. Either way, that's when we'll have to make our move." Thelora had us mount up as we followed our target.