43 Sneak attack

Finn signaled for Jess as they approached the source. When they got a little closer, Finn signaled for her to stay hidden as he approached stealthily. This was more to his style than the head on clash with the zombies.

Keeping to the shadows and crouching behind rocks and other obstacles, Finn finally saw what the light was.

A small campfire was burning and three men sat around it eating and chatting.

Finn inched closer for a better view, and to eavesdrop. He stopped behind a large rock and lay down quietly before inching forward on his elbows. They hadn't noticed him yet.

'What you lookin at?' The strongest looking of the group suddenly said, grabbing the skewer from the lanky one's hand. 'The meat'll burn if you keep staring off somewhere else.'

'I was just thinking,' the lanky guy responded, but before he could finish the short one interrupted.

'Thinking? You? Ha! You weren't hired to do that, leave that to the boss. You just take care to not mess up any of his orders. We got a good thing going here, and boss has plenty of coin for us to earn.'

'But, the zombies!' The other responded defensively.

'What about those nasty things?' The big one asked with disgust. He obviously disliked the half rotting abominations.

'Well, they left a while ago. They still haven't returned! What if something happened?'

'Of course something happened. You heard their crazed roaring as well as I did,' the short one cut in again. 'They probably killed some rat or lost miner. They'll be back when they are done with the body.'

'Aw yuk!! Why'd you have to go saying that. How am I supposed to enjoy my chicken with that image in my mind.' The strong one complained.'

Finn reckoned he had heard enough. These guys were in league with the zombies and therefore the necromancer should be their boss. That's all the reason needed to take them down.

Sneaking back to Jess, he whispered what he had heard and suggested a plan. She nodded to express her agreement before following him back to his hiding spot.

Finn took out his heavy crossbow and aimed it at the short one. It was probably a halfling, and they were known to hide or run, then sneak up and stab you from behind. The tall one didn't seem too bright, and the big one was probably overconfident in his strength. What Finn wanted to avoid was one escaping to fetch the necromancer and his army.

Finn pulled the trigger and saw the halfling almost get knocked over by the blow. Finn quickly passed the crossbow to Jess and took out his hand crossbow.

The small campsite was a mess, lanky had stood up in shock, looking around for the attackers as shorty screamed in pain. He had just taken a crossbow bolt to the knee.

Suddenly another bolt hit the strongest of the three, but it didn't seem to have pierced all the way through his armor. The big guy stood up angrily, grabbed his axe and looked in Finn's direction.

'So what if you've seen us,' Finn thought, 'try this baby on for size!'

Jess had just handed him his heavy crossbow that she had reloaded for him. Drawing her sword, she stood up ready to fight.

The largest of the three had already started running towards them yelling. The lanky one, finally knowing where to go drew his sword and followed.

Finn aimed at the biggest one again, this time at his legs instead of his chest. Jess would have an easier time against a wounded opponent. Releasing the bolt, Finn saw the large warrior stagger a little and grab his leg. Using brute force, the brute yanked out the bolt.

Finn switched to his daggers and went for the lanky one, Jess could handle an injured barbarian.

Throwing a knife at the guy, Finn got his attention. It didn't cause any harm, but the lanky swordsman ran at him anyway.

'I still need some practice with those,' Finn mumbled to himself as he dodged the first sword strike.

Finn's fighting style was quick but dirty, dodging most of the attacks before jumping in close to stab with his daggers. If he got the chance, he would kick the swordsman, step on his feet or throw stuff at his face.

The lanky swordsman started losing confidence after a few clashes. Although Finn had received multiple cuts, they didn't slow him down much. The swordsman's body was aching where he had been hit, but swung out again full force.

'Clank!' The sword hit the rock right next to Finn. Allowing the rock to block that strike, Finn hopped forward and delivered a side thrust kick at his opponent's chest. The swordsman stumbled and backed off, trying regain his footing.

Jumping back as well, Finn whipped out his hand crossbow. The swordsman realized his mistake and tried to close the gap again, but Finn fired a bolt into his chest. It was hard to miss when standing so close. The swordsman fell over and Finn finished him off with a quick stab.

Looking up, Finn saw Jess and the barbarian exchanging blows. Every strike filled with strength and knocking the other back a little. Jess seemed to have a slight advantage as she could nimbly dodge, the other had been injured in the leg and could only block each strike with his axe.

Looking around for the halfling, Finn spotted him running away! Well, it was more like limping away, but Finn new he needed to be stopped. Finn wanted to chase the escaping halfling, but as a teammate he knew that helping Jess was more important.

He sneaked up behind the the raging warrior. Jess was able to avoid getting injured, but the warrior also blocked every one of her strikes. When she saw Finn, she increased the intensity of her attacks.

The warrior had to step back after each clash, he leg was injured so he couldn't put all his weight into his strikes. Suddenly he felt his good leg buckle, Finn had kicked the back of his knee just as he was about to put his weight on it.

The warrior lost his balance almost fell backwards. Jess timed her next strike perfectly and knocked him over with a two handed slash. Not giving him any chance to recover, she rained sword strikes down on him until she gave him a fatal injury.

After his sneak attack Finn had pulled out his hand crossbow again, it was quicker to reload. He fired at the fleeing halfling, but missed by only a little.

'He's getting away!' Finn yelled, seeing him hobble towards a tunnel entrance.

Jess raised her left hand and started drawing a rune with her mana using her finger. It wasn't very complex, and soon it started glowing with a faint blue light. Speaking the incantation she pointed at the escaping halfling.

'Sagitta glaciei!'

Ice at the tip of her finger forming what looked like an arrow. When Jess pushed her finger forward it was sent flying at its target.

It struck the halfling's good leg, but didn't pierce through it. Instead, it behaved more like a liquid soaked through his pants, sucking the warmth out of his leg.

The halfling tripped and fell, shivering with cold. He turned around to see Finn running at him full sprint.

'I surrender! Don't kill me!' The halfling said, throwing his dagger away and putting his hands up.

Finn kept his hand crossbow aimed at the halfling until Jess came over and tied him up. Finn checked the two bodies for coins and other useful things before retrieving his bolts. He couldn't find the one that missed, and the barbarian had broken one too. The halfling still had a bolt in his leg, but Finn thought taking it out would be difficult.

Checking his quiver, Finn counted two broadhead tipped, three bodkin tipped, and seven small bolts.

The hired thugs didn't have much on them apart from their armor and weapons. There was a pouch with dried meat, a couple water skins and a coin purse with a collection of silver and copper coins. Jess didn't want any of it, so Finn kept the money and grabbed the large axe.

The axe was heavy, it had a thick shaft and broad axe head. Although the warrior had wielded it with one hand, Finn had to lean it on his shoulder to carry it.

After a quick discussion, Finn and Jess agreed on bringing the halfling back to the mining outpost for questioning. It would be too risky to hang around for too long.

To prevent the necromancer using the bodies of his hired help for making powerful zombies, they dumped the two bodies on the campfire and put the rest of the firewood on too. They watched for a while to make sure it was burning properly before leaving.

Heading back the way they came, Finn and Jess walked carefully. Finn walked with one hand holding his crossbow out and aimed at the halfling in front of them, the other supporting the axe resting on his shoulder. With this captive, they could prove that they had made some progress to Malmdal. They might even learn how find to the necromancer's main camp.