From Londoner To Lord

It didn't take too long to make sure that the basic treatment of others was done as well. Once all the cuts had been bandaged, Feroy stood up and looked around. "Did any of you see that bastard Joric during the fight? He better be dead already, or it won't end well for him..."

Hyola also looked around but didn't see him anywhere. "Maybe he ran away? He didn't seem like a bandit though, and I don't think I saw him in the fight."

"Hmm..." The ex-mercenary gazed to the west, where the sun had dipped behind the trees a while ago, and had likely already set by now. "We will need to move soon. It's already getting dark and we don't want to be here at night. The smell of so much blood and flesh will attract way too many predators here. We need to get a good distance away from this place before we make a camp for the night."

Feroy looked around for a moment at the nearly dark surroundings. "We need to hurry now. Tesyb, take two men and start stripping the dead bodies of anything useful. It doesn't seem like there is anyone else nearby to ambush us again - not humans anyway - but still, look out for any dangers and try to see if you can find Joric amongst the dead. Hyola, you and I will keep an eye on our surroundings until they are done."

Tesyb nodded and jogged to the first body, and started checking the pockets and removing the leather armors which weren't too damaged from the bodies. The other guards had also begun picking up the fallen swords from the dead bandits' hands, some of which still had bits of flesh stuck on them. Hyola grimaced seeing the grisly work, but knew that they couldn't afford to leave anything valuable here.

Before long, they had gathered whatever they could find from the bodies of the dead bandits - although they didn't find any coins on any of them - and had started tying the loot on the sides of the wagons, when they heard a loud howl from somewhere in the forest. Hyola had already fought with an adzee once, and wouldn't ever forget the sound of its howls, and she was pretty sure there was at least one adzee nearby, if not even more, since they usually roamed in packs.

"Hurry up! We need to leave right now!" Feroy barked.

Everyone began rushing to complete their tasks, and soon they all were sitting on the wagons. The two lightly injured guards were ordered to sit on different wagons so that each group would have some fighting capability intact, while the man who had lost his arm was already asleep on one of the wagon beds next to the smoked fish barrels after taking the losuvil powder. Hyola was glad that they had something like that with them, otherwise she wasn't sure what would have happened to him.

Immediately, Feroy whipped the horses, which began cantering once again, and their small caravan of two wagons started moving towards their home.

As Hyola looked at the passing bodies of the bandits, for a moment she wished they had time to bury them, since that was the only way that people were supposed to get any salvation after dying, but then she remembered what kind of men they were and what they planned to do to her and the others. If the guards hadn't been able to kill these bastards, then some of the guards would have been killed mercilessly, while others would have been sold into slavery. Her fate would have been even worse, and she didn't even want to think about it... So maybe it was better that these bastards became the dinner of some wild beasts tonight, since that was exactly what lowlifes like them deserved.

They had only moved a short distance, when one of the guards pointed towards the left of the road and shouted. "There is somebody out there!"

Hyola immediately picked up the crossbow she had already kept loaded, while some of the other guards removed their sword from their scabbards, in case there was another ambush. She squinted towards where the guard had pointed, before she saw a man running towards them.

"Don't stop moving," Feroy ordered, while whipping the horses once again to make them move faster, as risky as it was to do it when it was nearly dark by now.

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She quickly brought the crossbow sight in front of her eyes to kill the man, and was about to pull the trigger when somebody shouted, "Wait! Isn't that Joric?"

Hyola brought the crossbow down and looked carefully, and saw that it was indeed the bastard who had made them stop for the ambush, and he was running with both of his hands raised high instead of holding a sword or another weapon. She looked at the other side of the wagons but there wasn't anyone else running at them. The guards on the second wagon reported the same.

She gave a loud exhale trying to slow down her heart. At least they didn't have to deal with another ambush so soon, and with nearly half of them already injured, but she still didn't like the sight of this bastard. He could only be bad news for them.

"We really should kill him," she muttered.

The ex-mercenary, who had been looking all around them, focused back towards Joric and gently pulled the reins to slow down the horses. "I might very well do it later, but we need to see what he has to say first."

By now the running man was close enough that they could hear what he was shouting.

"Wait! Wait! Please stop! Don't leave me here!" Joric kept shouting as he reached close to them. "I am not a bandit! I swear!"

Feroy had to stop the wagon when Joric stopped right in front of them with a pleading face, before the ex-mercenary immediately jumped down and ran towards the man, with Tesyb following him there.

"Cover me," Feroy ordered, as he began to check if Joric had any weapons on him. Once he was satisfied, he glared at Joric. "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now. You only have a few moments before I leave or we all will become adzee food tonight."

Joric's eyes were darting around in fear. "But... But it wasn't my fault! If I hadn't done what they asked they would have killed me!" He continued hurriedly, "I really was a merchant before I sold myself into slavery so my family in Kirnos could remain safe. And... and I can tell you about them. I can tell you everything I know about Torhan and his compound!"

"Torhan?" Tesyb repeated in surprise. "I thought that bastard Nokozal had found more lackeys to order around and ambush us. But these were really Torhan's men?"

Joric nodded quickly.

"That bastard!" Tesyb cursed before looking at Feroy. "He was the one who burned half our village in the autumn. We need to take this man with us so he can tell us more about this Torhan."

Feroy seemed to be thinking for a moment, before he ordered, "Hop on, Joric. It seems it's your lucky day today. You didn't die during the ambush and now you are getting a free ride to Tiranat."

"Really?" Joric's eyes were wide in surprise. "I can come with you? Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Feroy quickly took his place on the seat beside her, while he told Joric to sit on the wagon bed behind them next to the barrels. Tesyb ran back to the second wagon, and immediately they started moving again. Just in time, it seemed, since she heard another loud howl of adzee from somewhere behind them.

"Hyola, keep an eye out," Feroy ordered before handing over the reins to her and turning around on his seat. "Joric, you are only alive because I can tell that you aren't a bandit and likely haven't killed anyone in your life."

"I really haven't!" Joric protested. "And I am not a bandit! I have never even held a sword in my hands in my life!"

Feroy nodded. "Start speaking now. If I don't like what you have to say then we might just drop you on our way. And don't even think about lying. The first hint that you aren't speaking the complete truth and you won't get to see another sunrise."

Joric gulped in unease but didn't take long to explain his full story. He told them how he used to be a merchant selling clothes in the marketplace of Kirnos until the previous autumn when he had to agree to become a slave of Torhan so he could pay off all the debt for his family. He had been working as a clay miner as a slave of Torhan since then and was only brought here today so he could find out if the caravan was worth looting, since the guards would never have agreed to stop if it was a scarred bandit with mismatched teeth asking for help, since nobody would ever accept them as a farmer asking for help.

While Hyola was still angry at this man, since the guards wouldn't have gotten injured and one of them wouldn't have lost his arm if this man hadn't tried to stop them for the ambush, but she also felt respect for him in a way, since unlike most of the men in this world, he had sold himself as a slave instead of his wife or children. That must have taken a whole lot of courage, which most men just didn't possess.