The trade caravan crossed the distance from Bufort and entered the Benault Forest before Ethan or Damion noticed. It would not be much longer before they reached the halfway point and not long after that they would be out of the forest and in the home stretch.
Unfortunately, the uneventful escort mission was about to become much more exciting. As Damion was eating his sandwich for lunch, which when Ethan saw he laughed and shook his head in defeat, the trade caravan came to a screeching halt. Damion was thrown forward in his seat and losing his grip on his sandwich and was forced to watch it fly into the dirt.
Damion wanted to cry out about his lost sandwich but before he could even form the words, he could hear fighting ahead of truck 1. Ethan freed himself of his straps and was already checking the back of their truck. By the time Damion started freeing himself, Ethan was jumping over to truck 1 headed towards the fighting.
Following after Ethan, Damion jumped over to truck 1 and ran up to the cap the see what was going on. Damion saw that a large tree had been felled across the road, which had forced the caravan to stop. Mr. Hoyt was squaring off against three men with swords while Ethan was facing a two on one himself.
To Damion’s surprise, Mr. Hoyt had several injuries, the most noticeable was a cut on his side that seemed to have pierced his armor. No one had noticed Damion on top of the truck yet and this gave him the opportunity to deliver a potentially game-changing blow to the bandits.
Damion channeled mana into his sword as the fight continued below. Mr. Hoyt was managing to hold off the three he was facing, keeping them mostly in front of him as they exchanged blows.
Ethan, with his two daggers, was moving around quite a bit, dodging and evading. Only staying still long enough to launch a quick attack at either his opponents or his father’s. Ethan’s erratic style forced all the bandits to keep an eye on him, which was why none of them had noticed Damion yet.
Once Damion had channeled all the mana he could into his blade and the fire attack glyph, Damion jumped off the roof of the truck as far as he could. Just as he was nearing the apex of his leap, the bandits realized he was in the air, but before they could fully register what he was doing there and what threat he might pose, Damion launched his attack.
With a swing of his sword, Damion sent his fire slash toward the middle bandit of the three who were fighting Mr. Hoyt. The bandit’s eyes went wide when he saw the fiery wave coming at him, but he did not have time to form an attack of his own to block or deflect Damion’s attack.
The fire splashed across the bandit’s masked face, igniting the cloth mask he wore as well as causing the rest of his upper garments burst into flame. As Damion landed on the ground near the remaining two bandits, he rolled forward with his momentum from the jump and as he did he saw Mr. Hoyt decapitate the burning bandit.
“Help Ethan,” Mr. Hoyt yelled as Damion rolled to his feet.
Damion understood the command. Now that Mr. Hoyt was facing a two on one situation instead of three on one, he felt he could hold his remaining opponents off and wanted Damion to help his son.
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While Ethan was doing alright in staying a step ahead of his opponents, he was still out matched and was barely hanging on. It would not be long before Ethan began to tire, which would give the bandits a chance to land a blow on him.
With a quick dash, Damion headed towards one of Ethan’s enemies and made a quick stab with his sword. The bandit deflected it to the side with his axe, but Damion expected that. Using the time it took to make the jab and for the bandit to parry, Damion had charged his fire glyph again. Taking a half jump backwards to be out of the bandit’s reach, Damion unleashed his second fire slash.
Even though Damion had moved back, he was still incredibly close to the bandit and from that distance, the bandit did not stand a chance of blocking or deflecting Damion’s attack. As Damion slashed his sword through the air the fire leapt from the blade and splashed across the Bandit’s chest. The fire burned away the bandit’s outer shirt revealing a dark armored breastplate underneath.
Seeing the armor, Damion felt jealous. He did not have any shiny armor to protect him from attacks, magic or otherwise. It made him wonder why Ms. Teft did not advise his parents to get him armor and a weapon, surely if they bought a lower tier weapon then they could have afforded at least basic armor for him.
The armor managed to stop the bandit’s chest from being burned, but it did not stop his face or arms from getting minor burns. What came to Damion’s mind when seeing the bandit’s armor, was how could a bandit afford such nice armor? On the breastplate Damion could even see an emblem that looked moderately familiar. Whatever the answer to the question was, Damion did not have time to ponder it for long.
Stunned by the burns to his face, Damion’s bandit staggered backwards. Ethan’s remaining opponent called out to his wounded companion, but Damion did not catch what was said, since while the bandit was distracted by calling out to his friend, Ethan took the opportunity to throw one of his daggers. Ethan’s dagger caught the bandit in the throat, dropping the man to the ground in an instant.
The two bandits that were still fighting Mr. Hoyt were not fairing too well either. Both had taken glancing blows from Mr. Hoyt and were nursing minor cuts. They were not severe injuries, but the wounds would start slowing the bandits down as the fight prolonged.
When Damion’s burned bandit saw his friend go down, he turned to try and flee. Unfortunately for him, Damion was not going to let him. Having given a lot of thought to the other bandits he had let go, Damion decided not to allow a bandit to escape from him again if he could help it.
As the bandit was turning, Damion leapt forward, his blade fully charged with mana and stabbed the man in the side, below the edge of his breastplate. When Damion’s blade bit flesh, he pushed it forward in an arc with his momentum, spilling the bandit’s guts on the forest road. The bandit let out a moan as the blade tore through his abdomen and collapsed on the ground.
The two bandits fighting Mr. Hoyt, seeing three of their comrades die in such a short time, decided it was best to flee. They jumped back from Mr. Hoyt and dashed into the forest.
The bandits knew none of the escorts would follow, the escorts’ job was to protect the convoy. Mr. Hoyt was unlikely to follow since he was wounded and the risk of being led into an ambush was too great. This gave the surviving bandits a good chance of getting away.
Damion and Ethan let out sighs of relief when the remaining bandits fled. Sure, with Damion’s appearance they had gained a moment of surprise which quickly led to taking the upper hand in the fight, but that was not always the case. Often if the first wave failed, bandits would just send another. Luckily, these bandits appeared to be part of a small group.
“Hey, take a look at the emblem on this guy’s armor. It looks really familiar,” Ethan said as he rolled the bandit Damion had killed onto his back.
The bandit’s outer wear had nearly been completely burned away by Damion’s attack and once the soot and blood were wiped away, there was a clear emblem on the breastplate.