Mercenaries

"Who are they?"

Clay asked quietly.

"I don't know."

Replied Blake without looking away from the several men who had set up camp on the shore of the Shivering Sea.

"Zafar, warn the group, tell my father to stop advancing and send some good warriors hunting, make sure they are not seen."

Zafar, who was on the other side of Blake, nodded, moving away from the trees and back into the forest.

"There are 12 of them, all are well armed, with chainmail, helmet, and breastplate. They have horses, so a head-on confrontation would be dangerous."

Clay said with a frown.

Unlike the northern meager horses, these men had war horses, much larger and stronger.

"How many men do you think are left on the ship?"

Blake asked looking at the large Ship on the men's backs, it was very large, perhaps a galley of some sort, it had 3 sails, plus a scorpion on the bow.

"I have no idea, this is the first time I've ever seen a ship."

Clay said spitting on the ground.

The two stood guard for much of the morning, walking away as the men approached the forest for firewood.

As the afternoon was beginning to set in, Zafar returned with 10 warriors from the caravan, Wymond included.

"They must be slavers from across the sea, I have heard many stories of them coming to the shores of the Shivering Sea and taking every man, woman, and child they can find."

This was all the justification Blake needed.

"You will all board the ship from the sea, I want you to subdue everyone inside, but do not kill them if possible, I need them alive."

Blake gave orders to Wymond to lead the attack.

All the clan members knew how to swim, and the cold sea would not slow them down enough, they would wait for nightfall and make the attack.

"The 3 of us will follow the group of men to find out what they are after."

Blake said to Clay and Zafar as he watched the men depart from the camp on their horses.

"Just the 3 of us will be very dangerous, more so if that beast makes noise."

Clay said looking at Blake's wool pack, where Direwolf's pup was sleeping, then looking at the dagger at his waist, his intentions were obvious.

"It won't make a sound."

Blake said after touching the puppy, who had fallen asleep from waiting.

"Suit yourself, let's go fast, I don't want to trail them too close."

Clay grimaced and walked deeper into the woods, making them far enough away so they wouldn't be seen.

These men seemed to have been in this place for several days, they were familiar with the forest, moving forward making a place they knew.

It wasn't easy to keep up with them with the horses, but with Blake's eyesight, and Clay's trail-following skills, they were able to do so without too much trouble.

After a couple of hours, the men finally stopped,

"What the hell are they doing..."

Zafar said as he watched the men slowly approach towards a cavern.

"ROOOOAR."

An angry roar was heard from the cavern.

"Quick, he's tied up, get him out of the cavern!"

The two men who went into the cavern came out shortly after, signaling to their companions who had tied the ends of the rope to the horses, causing 3 horses to start pulling on the rope.

Soon after, a giant slowly emerged from the cavern, being pulled by the horses, he was a little shorter than the giant who had joined the caravan a short while ago, and his right hand was tightly bound by a rope.

"They're after giants, they'll fetch a lot more than a person."

Blake said watching the men capture the giant in the distance.

Taking advantage of the winter, a time when the giants hibernated, it didn't take them much effort to locate a giant.

"Let's go back, we'll set up an ambush at the forest exit."

The giant struggled to free himself, pulling at the horses, and even came close to knocking one down, but after exiting the cavern the men threw several more ropes at him, tying him up completely.

This was an organized group, and it didn't look like it was the first time they had kidnapped a giant.

Watching as the men finished the job, Blake gave orders to go back and set up an ambush.

The sun was setting, so Blake estimated that he was already attacking the ship.

"MHFM!!!"

Hidden behind the trees, they watched as the 12 men came out of the forest dragging the giant with the horses.

When they had moved about 20 yards away from the forest, Blake gave the signal and together with Clay and Zafar began firing arrows at the slavers.

"Ambush!"

3 men fell with the first attack, Blake's arrow pierced the breastplate and chainmail of one, Zafar managed to hit another in the eye who had turned, and Clay finally hit the shoulder of yet another.

The slavers hesitated whether to advance or retreat and kill the archers who seemed to be few, but the violence with which the men died when pierced by arrows gave the final verdict and they ran in retreat.

The fastest cut the ropes with which they were pulling the giant, spurring their horses towards the coast.

The second wave of arrows did not take long to arrive, Blake hit another one in the middle of the shoulder blades, causing the rider to fall after riding a few meters, Zafar and Clay did not miss either, but due to the slavers' armor and the fact that it had gotten dark, they did not manage to cause definitive wounds.

One of Clay's arrows stuck in the neck of a slaver, knocking him off his horse, while Zafar needed 2 more arrows to knock down a burly man.

Blake for his part knocked down 4 other men, his arrows piercing the slavers from side to side, so no second volleys were needed.

The ship was 2 kilometers from the forest, and it did not take long for the slavers to reach the camp they had set up on the shore, but barely 4 men arrived to take shelter from the arrows.

"Let us advance, at this distance they are no threat."

With Blake's command, the group left the forest, walking towards the slavers' camp.

It had grown dark and neither Clay nor Zafar would manage to hit them from long distances, they could only advance to look for better targets.

One of the slavers had taken cover behind a barrel, but Blake still shot an arrow, piercing the barrel and almost sticking the arrow in the slaver's face.

"Shit, we'll die if we don't make it to the ship, leave everything behind, to the ship."

One of the men, tall and thin, seeing Blake's group advancing towards them shooting arrows, gave orders to return to the ship.

There were barrels of wine and salted fish, tents, furs, and weapons, but none of that mattered to them as they made a quick retreat to the ship.

What they encountered was not something they expected.

The 4 men boarded the ship and found themselves surrounded by bronze swords and daggers, with a Wymond, pale from swimming in the sea in the dead of winter, in the lead.

"We surrender, we surrender!"

The slavers saw several sailors bound on the ground and dropped their weapons in surrender.

One of the men who had been shot in the leg with an arrow fell to the ground after dropping his sword.

The quick confrontation was over.

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I'll upload another chapter later