30 Water vs Wood

As they entered the square, the bandits automatically split in to two groups. Three of them headed towards one side, glaring angrily at the other two who headed towards Mark's side. The three were called Michael, Archibald and Hans. They were all slim, with long beards and their arms exposed through their vests. Michael had a large cut across his torso that was covered in a bandage from the earlier fight.

The other two were covered in dirt, their names were Howard and Jamal. They both had wounds covering them, with Jamal having recieved an arrow to the leg. He had a slight hobble as they walked to their side.

Eduardo had a collection of weapons thrown in to the square. Swords, shields and spears littered the ground, enough for each man. The Red Ribbons drew their own weapons this time, not allowing a similar situation to appear as had with Wu Song. They still felt slightly stupid for allowing their boss to be put in to a precarious position.

Wu Song and the other Cave Bandits joined the Red Ribbons in closing down the circle, preparing to enjoy the show and defend their new colleagues if anyone got any stupid ideas.

"This is a battle to the death!" Eduardo announced loudly! "This was going to be last man standing, but seemingly you have already drawn a line. So for now a team battle it is. Three vs Two! Water vs Wood."

The five men ran forwards and grabbed weapons, before stepping back to their original places. The three bearded bandits prepared themselves, weapons glittering in the remaining sunlight. The two dirty bandits looked less impressed, they held a sword each and stood side to side, prepared for the onslaught.

"The bearded bandits I remember, they were violent and twisted. Some of the things I saw the centre one do were disgusting." Carol whispered to Mark, pointing towards the bandit named Archibald, a British Colonialist and Hunter "I don't recognise the other two, maybe they are from one of the other bandit groups."

Eduardo paced around the edge of the arena, raising his hands in the air to grab the attention of the crowd.

"Let the battle commence!" Eduardo shouted.

A cheer erupted from the crowd as the three hairy bandits charged towards Howard and Jamal. The two of them stood shoulder to shoulder and pointed their swords at the charging enemies, bracing themselves for the impact. The three hairy bandits, Michael, Archibald and Hans held a collection of swords or axes and ran straight in to Howard and Jamal who were stood ready to defend.

There was several quick rising movements and then the slashing of weapons from the three hairy bandits, a loud grunt and a crash followed as Howard fell to the floor, dead, blood flowing freely from multiple wounds.

Jamal had been attacked by Hans and was unable to help his friend, who was out skilled and outpaced by Michael and Archibald. Jamal's face dropped and he knew he had little to no chance in this fight.

The crowd booed in response, expecting this fight to have been much more entertaining. Jamal continued to defend against Hans, but the other hairy bandits soon joined and turned to him and struck. He was quickly out strengthened and fell to the floor, his eyes wide open in his unfortunate death.

The hairy bandits cheered and hugged each other, excited at the easy victory and their chance at joining the Red Ribbons! Archibald headed towards Mark.

"We won, we join yeah?" He asked happily.

"Not quite." Mark replied, before raising his hand to the crowd for silence. "It seems the three of you were a higher level than the others. The fight was unfair. Let's have you fight someone more to your quality."

There was some looks from the crowd, expecting some hidden bandit to enter the arena and fight.

"Little Tai, Gan Ning and Boudica?" Mark asked, "Would you like to have a go?"

This was followed by a loud cheer, the leaders of the Red Ribbons were going to fight in the arena, bringing more glory to end the proceedings.

"Do you not feel this is overkill?" Boudica asked Mark quietly.

"I don't want them in the Red Ribbons." Mark replied matter of fact.

Little Tai was the first in to the arena, his sword naked shining in the light. His armour was cleaner than earlier, but he still looked like the bringer of death. He wore a black bandana, and his to scabbard's showed his expertise in his craft.

"I could fight them alone!" Little Tai explained loudly, another cheer erupting.

Gan Ning walked in second, his duel swords spinning in his wrists, the bell upon his waist jangling with each step.

"But why should you get all of the fun?" Gan Ning retorted.

"This is not fair!" Archibald explained, stepping back to Hans and Michael to fight the new enemies.

"Each member of the Red Ribbons has had to last three strikes against one of my generals. I offer you the same chance." Mark replied honestly.

Boudica shook her head, her long red hair flowing in the slight breeze. She stepped forwards, her bastard sword still grasped tightly in her hand from the earlier fight. She looked very much the warrior princess that she was.

"Are we doing this as one each, or a free for all?" Boudica asked.

Archibald couldn't take the frustration of being played with and charged at Boudica, expecting her to be the weakest opponent. His sword strike struck down quickly towards her. Boudica easily parried it to the side. She span after the parry and drove her bastard sword, two handed, in to the side of Archibald.

He looked down at the blade that was protruding from him, gasping in agony. Shock was on his face as she pulled the blade loose and stood up straight, resting the bloodied tip of her sword on the ground. He crumpled to the floor, holding his his side as blood flowed between his things.

"One strike, you failed selection." Mark announced loudly.

Archibald tried to turn to stare at Mark, but the strength left him. He was soon a dead corpse on the floor. The other two hairy bandits looked at him disappointed, hoping he would have kept him calm longer than that.

"Next!" Eduardo shouted from the side. Gan Ning smiled towards Hans, who was looking uncomfortable at the new situation.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, before walking slowly towards Gan Ning, "Three strikes? I'm going to fuck you up."

Gan Ning laughed, beckoning him on. "Come then, let's see what you've got."

Hans gingerly paced towards Gan Ning, sword pointing in front of him. "You're just pirate, scum." He exclaimed.

He stabbed his sword forwards, aimed at Gan Nings chest. Gan Ning lifted one blade up to deflect and stabbed the other forwards towards Hans belly. Hans reacted by jumping backwards, slightly avoiding the stab.

"One clash down." Eduardo announced, smiling. The crowd had gone quiet in anticipation. "Two more to go."

Hans recovered himself and struck towards Gan Ning again, in a similar fashion to his previous strike. Gan Ning parried the blade to the side and stepped forwards as he did it, leaving Hans open to a counterattack. Gan Ning frust his second blade forwards, driving it straight between Hans's ribs and in to his heart. He lifted his leg and kicked Hans from his blade, whose lifeless body crashed to the floor heavily.

Gan Ning bent down and wiped his blades on Hans's vest, before standing up and walking back to the edge of the Arena. He looked towards Little Tai and smiled.

"A shame." Eduardo announced. "Next!"

Michael looked at the ground, the lifeless bodies of his two friends lying nearby. He then looked up at the Gan Ning and Boudica who had just taken their lives, anger on his face.

Today had been a terrible day for him, they had come here for a discussion on capturing the local town and becoming a major player in the area. Instead everyone was dead but him and their cashflow of ransoms were watching him and cheering his friends death.

Little Tai stepped forwards, "My turn?" he asked no one in particular.

Michael roared in anguish and ran at Little Tai, planning the way he would defeat this giant of a man. He zig zaged his way forwards, trying to confuse Little Tai of the direction of attack. He soon reached him and slashed to Little Tai's side.

Little Tai watched the approaching Michael, who was criss crossing his way forwards. He fondled the handle of his sword, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

As Michael slashed, a feeling of numbness washed over him, he felt as if he was flying away from the fight, and was even able to see a larger part of the arena. Little Tai drew further away from him, and soon he was also able to see more of the crowd, then his friends bodies, Boudica and Gan Ning. Everyone was watching him and he started to spin through the air.

There was a crash as Michael's body fell to the floor, a stream of blood spurting from the stump of his neck. Michaels head had detached and flown in to the distance. Little Tai had angled his sword for the decapitating strike so that the pressure released was like a baseball bat hitting the oncoming ball.

Little Tai looked across his blade, and shook his head in disappointment, a single drop of blood was on the shaft. He had aimed for it to be a clean strike, and it almost was.

"What a disappointment!" Eduardo roared to the crowd. "Our leaders are just too good!"

There was lots of cheering from the crowd in response. Happy at the easy victory from their fellow Red Ribbons. Mark nodded in satisfaction before stepping in to the centre of the square arena.

"Fellow Red Ribbons, the gladiator games have now ended! Our four victorious winners will join the Red Ribbons upon our return to Ravens Peak. For now, gather the loot, bury these bodies and we will head back home." He announced, "Merchants, Guards and others, you are now all free to do what you want. I hope that you will follow us home and help us build our community, we will have need for all of your skills."

There were nods of satisfaction as the crowd dispersed, listening to the commands of Boudica, Eduardo, Tsubotai, Little Tai, Bertrand and Gan Ning. The Red Ribbons got to work, whilst the released captives helped them. They seemed to unite as one force and it made Mark happy. Carol nodded her head at Mark and ran of to join her other merchants getting equipment piled up so that it would be easy to transport.

Sakura reappeared at his side, a serious look on her face.

"What's next?" she asked seriously.

"We need to send men with Dian Wei to recruit the rest of the Mount Tai Cave Bandits. We also need to send someone to track down and recruit the Hunters. I also need to check on Captain Zheng and see if she will help with the defence of Runetown and plan what we will do there." Mark replied.

"We could recruit from other towns across the mountains and we should also set up a few scouts in that area to give us a lead time on the Wolfheads arrival." Sakura offered. "We also need to warn Runetown but not alert the wolfheads that we know."

"Agreed." Mark replied, "We'll sort out the intricacies when we return home."