Bandits

Once a demand had been made from the bandits, there was a little time for everyone involved to come to a decision before they took action themselves.

They seemed experienced in how they did things and seemed to be used to the typical responses of carriages that passed through.

Merchants usually gave away some of their money or goods while they would give in to additional demands if they felt threatened enough.

If someone took the bandits attention then they would even demand for that person or more than one at a time.

They had seen women among the people travelling with the carriages so they wished to take them for themselves too.

The only time they restrained themselves and acted within their set rules to only take so much to satisfy their needs was when they felt that the other side could do them damage if a fight broke out on both sides.

If they were certain that they could take everything for themselves then they would do so but there were some people on the roads that were not worth getting involved with.

Attacking noble carriages or coveting those with strong connections to important people was a great taboo for anyone that was more experienced with illegal activities.

There were certain areas where they simply could not touch if they wished to keep doing what they were doing so that too much attention would not be drawn to them.

A couple of thefts or killings on the road could be overlooked but when someone important was involved, there would be more than a small bounty placed on their heads.

A bounty was something they could avoid by hiding away in the forest or mountains and then only coming out to plunder once again but a fully organised extermination party was different.

There would be experienced trackers, hunters and mercenaries that would be putting in their best efforts towards finding them then wiping out every member of their group.

They had recently came down again and encountered their first victims which had looked like they had packed enough to travel very far so they were very happy to see that they would gain a lot.

Upon making the requests and additional demands, they waited as they expected the close group to start to fall apart due to their panic.

There would always be cowards among the groups they encountered that were not willing to risk their lives for others and would willingly sacrifice others.

It could be worse at times when an entire group turned on a single individual for the sake of the survival of the entire group.

There were some women among the herbalists, doctors and blacksmiths then there were Blush, Coral, Flutter and Fizz that qualified for their request of healthy females that were no longer considered as children.

Coral listened to one of the people that came over to ask what Blush planned to do since there were not many among the group that could be used to fight back if anything bad happened.

It was clear that unease had spread among those that chose to join Blush and some among them had begun to question their decision.

Coral went to those that she considered to be closer to Blush than the others which were her newly introduced brothers and sisters. "What should I tell them?"

Flutter stared towards the distance and said lazily. "Blush told us to wait for now. She must have something planned but if we do have to fight then you should be able to trust in my brothers abilities. She did say to delay for as long as possible."

Coral nodded. "I will ready myself for battle and will inform the others of everything."

The plan had begun as some were told a little about what was happening while others were left in the dark.

Do make things more believable, it was best to fool those closest too so that they could put on a performance that would not look faked.

Conflict did break out a little as protests began and demands were made from some people in the group. "Just hand a couple over and this will be over."

"It is not like they want all the women right?"

Coral grit his teeth as she commented back. "You are so fast to throw us away but not so willing to sacrifice yourselves for the sake of everyone else. How about I make you a woman and send you to them?"

The naginata in her hands was very threatening to a lot of the weaker men that protested and the threat had caused them to retreat while protecting their private areas.

Fizz watched from far away and showed a small mischievous smile. "That human is interesting."

Flutter yawned. "She is alright I guess."

Zap looked bored as he asked. "How much longer?"

Fizz looked up towards the bigger figure of Zap then sighed. "I know you are bored but be a little more patient. It seems like our sister is planning to use this mess to figure out who can be trusted among those with her. What I want to know is how she will solve this problem."

It was a little true that Blush planned to test the loyalties of those around her but there was another reason why she had chosen to hide away.

She was busy with connecting to her familiar and needed time to do so then it needed to come to her.

Blush did wish that she prepared a better escort to protect everyone but there was a limit to how far people were willing to travel and escort her people along the way.

Displaying magic or psychic powers so close to the city when there had already been a witch hunt would draw too much attention to her and could gain the attention of the other demons that were lurking around in the human world that wished to eliminate any witches or others that could interfere with their plans.

Displaying what she could do would come with too many problems unless she made a change of scenery and moved to another land where it would be safer for people like herself.

The bandits started to become impatient when they saw no action was being taken to hand over anything they had demanded. "Are you going to hand it all over or are we going to have to take it ourselves?"

"Hehehe.. you really do not want us to come ourselves."

"The boss will have his fun with each of you slowly."

The taunts from the bandits made more scared and hesitant but Coral shouted. "Ready!"

"Fire!"

There were some more trusted people that could be relied on and Coral passed some things to them which came from Blush to aid in their defence.

Crossbows were fired towards the bandits that were lingering near the roads closer to the forest or were waiting to launch an ambush.

Large shields were lifted up to block the incoming arrows fired from those hiding out in the forest or further down the road.

The bandits were used to dealing with less experienced groups that had people that were unwilling to take the risk of fighting and even if there was some brave people among them, those that did fight would not be able to hold off everyone on their own or would have to listen to their superiors words first before taking action.

They were not prepared for dealing with others that had very high grade weaponry and armour that could help to turn the tables on them.

Even if many were too inexperienced to use them effectively, they still outnumbered and outmatched the bandits who were used to picking on the weak and did not have equipment anywhere near being as useful as what Blush's group had access to.

A battle had broke out and Zap showed a large grin on his face after he had put on the armour and held a large battle axe. "Now I get to have my fun."

While everything was happening, there was another location that had experienced some changes which further added to the chaos created which was a golden brown wolf that was being chased by three dark grey wolves.

A golden brown wolf ran past someone that was firing towards the road from within cover of the trees then the three wolves jumped towards the man and bit down onto him. "Argh aah aaah!"