The Sword of Retribution

Haldorn - Part 5

     Ashlazzar scowled and scratched his bristly chin noisily, visibly daunted by Shaun's sword which an experienced fighting man could easily see was magical. Then there was the fact that Shaun and Matthew were wearing Beltharan uniforms. Beltharans had a reputation across the continent for being superb warriors and, to be carrying a magic sword, the outlaw would be assuming that Shaun was one of the best, young though he looked.

     Thomas tried to add his own intimidation to that of the woodsmen by staring the bandit leader straight in the eyes and grinning, as if he wanted them to attack. I might look young, he thought, but looks can be deceiving. For all you know I might be able to wipe out the lot of you with a few muttered words and casual hand movements. Do you want to take the chance? After all, there must be plenty of easier prey all around.

     Then his heart leapt into his throat when he saw the bandit looking at Lirenna. The outlaw licked his lips, grinned evilly and leaned closer to the bandit beside him to pass what was undoubtedly a bawdy comment with him. The other bandits saw it as well and readied themselves to attack so that, when Ashlazzar gave the hand signal, they were ready for it. They spurred their horses into a gallop and all rushed in at once, shouting and waving their scimitars.

     Thomas cast his spell, and a ball of fire sprang into being in front of him, rolling towards the outlaws. Several horses reared up in fear. Two more, directly in its path, jumped out of its way, but a third was caught by it and its rider was engulfed in flames, all his clothing catching fire and his battlecry turning into a scream of agony. Jerry and Lirenna cast sleep spells at the same time, sending half a dozen more into spell induced unconsciousness, but any hope they might have had that a demonstration of their magical powers might scare the others off was dashed as the outlaws continued their charge. Some of them, the younger and least battle hardened, did indeed waver, and if the wizards had had time to cast another barrage of spells they might have succeeded in breaking their attack, but they were too close, the momentum of their charge was too great. For better or for worse they were committed to the attack, and a moment later they were on top of them.

     Shaun and Matthew, who had remounted in order to fight mounted opponents, had moved their horses to the front of their group and the trogs, who were still on foot, stood beside them to take the brunt of the attack. The trogs fought magnificently and several of the bandits’ horses fell to their skillfully swung hammeraxes, whereupon the bandits themselves were finished off before they could get back to their feet. Their short stature counted against them, though, and they had great difficulty parrying the blows of the outlaws with their height and their much longer reach.

     Behind them, Shaun and Matthew weren’t doing much better. Shaun’s magic sword took a heavy toll of the outlaws, but after seeing that he was skilled with the weapon the rest of them hung back out of reach and concentrated on his younger brother, who was hard pressed to defend himself.

     Inside the circle, the wizards tried to cast more spells but were prevented from doing so by the constant jostling and bumping they were receiving from their defenders as they were forced into a small huddled group by their attackers. To cast a spell required time to stand still and concentrate without interruption, and that was impossible under the present circumstances. Their close grouping was also causing problems for their defenders. Fighting was difficult in such close quarters, even for Shaun and Matthew who were the only ones still on horseback, and they didn't dare move their horses forward for fear of leaving the others undefended behind them. Their only advantage was that, to reach them, the outlaws also had to crowd close against each other. There was only room for one outlaw to fight each defender, but if an outlaw fell, there were twenty more to step into their place, while the questers would be overwhelmed and taken if they lost just one man.