The Ambush

The bandits had moved. Liam knew that they couldn't stay in the same place, or even near it. They would have to move far away, if the soldiers had found them once, they could find them again. Liam's group had been almost destroyed in the attack a few days ago, but luckily the they had managed to survive and grow. They had their number back to one hundred now, the attack had killed about fifty of them, bit it didn't matter now Liam knew, they were back to their original number, and that's all that mattered. Liam started making preparations to move to the the far side of The Great Woods, they would stay there until the commotion died down.

They set up camp for the night in a small grove near the village of Velenzo, and Liam was already sick of everyone. The wind was howling that night, and it made the trees sway. So he took a heavy cloak and wrapped himself in it to avoid catching cold, and rode to the village on his horse. He had left his war axe at the camp, so he wouldn't be seen as a threat. So he rode to the tavern, when he arrived he tied his horse to the post, and walked in.

It was busy that night at the Bluebird, the only tavern in Velenzo ,it was a popular place for the villagers to unwind. The Bartender always made a good profit, and that made him a generous man. Every month he would mark up one day that all drinks were free, this was one of those nights. The fireplace was roaring and the villagers were enjoying a good ale with friends, and the atmosphere was bright and cheerful.

Then the doors flung open and a tall, dark, cloaked figure entered the room, followed by a gust of wind. The villagers shivered, but not because of the wind, this figure that had just walked in was ominous, and fear comes from the unknown. The man pulled off his hood, revealing short, messy brown, hair, and walked over to the Bartender. He tossed two copper coins on the bar and said, "That should be enough for an ale."

The Bartender smiled and handed back the coins, "Tonight's your lucky night, all drinks are free today, they are once every month as well."

The brown haired man smiled back, "Thank you for telling me, many a Bartender would have taken advantage of an ignorant traveler such as myself, I appreciate your honesty."

"Names Beldon, stranger, I'll get your ale as soon as possible, meanwhile have a seat, there's a table near the fire, go warm yourself up. The Bartender held out his hand in greeting and the man shook it.

"Name's Liam." The man said, and shook the Bartender's hand. He had a good handshake the Bartender thought, he was a good judge of character, and he sensed this Liam was a dangerous man to cross. That didn't matter though because he treated all customers like this, he tried to be a good host to strangers no matter where they came from. He then started to prepare the man's ale.

The Bartender brought Liam a large mug of ale, and Liam thanked him for it, then Liam took a long draft of ale and leaned back in his chair. He preferred this to the camp filled with petty thieves, although he chose the other life for the thrill of the fight, he knew he would get caught someday, but at least he had lived life. He stayed there for about a half hour until he heard two men discussing a rumor they had heard. The first said;

"I heard the King's tax collector is coming through this way with all the taxes from the outer villages." The second man gave a low whistle,

"How many wagons do they have? I'll wager there are at least fifty soldiers at least."

The first man replied "It's a small caravan, with around seventy-five soldiers!"

The second man gave a surprised whistle, "That's going to be a large sum then, to require even a small caravan."

The first replied "You bet, they're supposed to come through here in a couple of days."

Liam heard all this, and then tuned the men out, he stayed about ten more minutes, and then got up. Before exiting he turned to the Bartender and tossed him a gold coin,

"That's for your hospitality." He said and left, leaving a very surprised Bartender, and headed back to camp.

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Liam had his men positioned on either side of the road, hidden from sight. When he had gotten back from the tavern, he had devised a plan with his ten most trusted men. They would line up on both sides of the road, and attack from both sides, when the caravan was in the center.

The next day they prepared, and lay in wait. They had been there half of the day when the caravan arrived, there were a total of seven covered wagons. With five guards on each side of each wagon, and five bringing up the rear.

The two men gossiping in the tavern had been right, Liam thought, there were exactly seventy-five guards. The caravan would be easy pickings he thought.

He was wrong, when he signaled the men to attack and they streamed out from the bushes, the cloth covering the wagons fell down, and a large number of archers rose up, and aimed their bows.

It had been a setup Liam thought, he had realized too late though. He was leading the charge, but when the bows came up, everyone had halted. A figure emerged from one of the wagons, and said

"Well, gentlemen drop your weapons please."

The bandits complied and then the man turned to Liam,

"All of you may leave, except him." He pointed at Liam when he said this, "But leave your weapons." Most of the bandits took off immediately, even Liam's ten most trusted did, although they did so hesitantly. When they had all retreated like rats the man turned to Liam and said,

"The King wishes you to be brought to him." He then turned to the guards and said,

"Tie his hands behind him and put him in the the rear wagon." The guards immediately tied him up, and started to escort him to the wagon. But Liam forcefully turned around and spat out at the man,

"What could the King want with a lowly bandit like me!? The man eyed him nonchalantly and replied,

"Why your skills of course."