NOBLEMAN ADVENTURER

Slaves

I waited and as I almost nodded off to sleep, I heard the sound of horses neighing. A jolt of anticipation rushed through my mind. I could not make a mistake. Any mistake could cost me my life. When the horses stopped, I reflexively peeked through an opening I created. In the dim moonlight, I saw the men still on horses motionless.

"Where is the camp?" A loud voice boomed.

My heartbeat rapidly increased.

The tough bandit and his men descended from their horses. The tough bandit stepped forward, as his steps increased, he slowly created a wider distance between himself and his men.

No matter how scared I was by that tremendously powerful voice, I ignored the fear threatening to paralyze my limbs. I only had one chance.

I quickly ran up behind the tough bandit and struck him on the back of the head. I used all my force in that one attack, hoping to render the tough bandit unconscious.

My plan worked better than I expected, because the tough bandit fell forward with a loud thud! The other bandits rushed over to catch me, but I had already taken off the moment I finished striking the tough bandit. In the chaos, I managed to escape into the sandy dunes.

The bandits followed in my direction on horseback, leaving their leader and the captured merchants behind. Only the traitorous merchant was left behind. After losing the other bandit, I returned to find the traitorous merchant busily tending to the tough bandit. However, no matter how he roused him, he could not get the tough bandit to wake up.

I quietly approached the unsupervised merchants and released the ropes tying their hands behind them. The merchants knew not to make too much noise. Once they were all freed, they used hand movements to communicate with each other. They approached the traitorous merchant and fell upon him. A ruckus of a beating followed resulting in both the still unconscious tough bandit and the traitorous merchant being tied up.

Their eyes sparkled as they looked at me.

This appreciation made me feel rather shy and nervous.

Feeling awkward under their fervent gaze, I told them we should run quickly. They agreed and Squire Sam used his compass to lead us to the closest inhabited place.

We moved as fast as we could, knowing the bandits on horseback could return at any moment. Being on horseback, they would certainly catch up with us. If we were caught, it would most likely equal death.

Squire Sam breathed loudly, showing how out of shape he was. He had never pushed his body so hard in his life. Ahead of him, other merchants rallied those falling behind by saying, "keep going," and "we're almost there."

Such words of encouragement served as a mental push and those who fell behind pushed themselves to the limit to keep up.

By the time the sun rose on the horizon, we saw black structures in the distance.

"It's a village," one merchant in front shouted, while pointing his finger.

My gaze followed that finger and settled on the village in front and my heart which had been leaping into the clouds, finally fell back into place.