The Lost Ruins, Chapter 2

Hours later, Elena woke up and glanced around her tent. It was still fully dark outside, obviously still the middle of the night. She could see the faint glow of their watchfire through the canvas of her tent, and nothing seemed to have been the cause of her sudden awakening. Something, however, felt wrong.   She lay perfectly still in the darkness, listening and trying to determine what was giving her that feeling. Time passed, and her straining ears caught the sounds of movement outside. She concentrated on the sounds, deciding after a moment that she was hearing of multiple sets of feet out in the near-dark. She was about to roll over and go back to sleep when she heard what sounded like a muffled exclamation followed by a dull thwack.   Her heart immediately leapt into her throat. That was not a sound that she would normally be hearing in the middle of the night. She rolled onto her knees and crawled silently to the collapsible chair that she had left her weapons hanging from. She retrieved her climbing axes and crept towards her tent flap, silently praising Theus that she had slept in the teal shirt and brown pants that she wore during the day. Once there, she carefully moved the flap aside, glancing out at what she could see of her camp.   The first thing she saw, or rather, didn’t see, were the two men who were supposed to be on watch. Instead of their shadows against the watchfire, Elena saw a crumpled form lying near the fire, and a few shadows moving away from the body. Turning to peer in the other direction, she saw still more shadows atop the supply wagon, rummaging through the provisions stacked there. Realizing immediately that the camp was being raided, Elena knew that she had to act fast if she was going to save any of the supplies. She considered calling out to alert the camp of the bandits, but then decided against it. There could be bandits that she couldn’t see, and if she raised the alarm now, they might start killing her companions before they had a chance to react. She needed to do something to alert her companions of the danger while confusing and distracting the bandits to give them enough time to arm themselves.   Elena slipped out of her tent and crept towards the supply wagon, using the tent’s shadow to hide her own. She reached the side of the supply wagon and ducked underneath it before she could be seen. From her new position, she could hear the men above her talking in quiet Eisen, trying to decide which supplies were worth stealing. She waited for an opportunity to strike, glancing around to see if she could see any other bandits from her new vantage point. Unfortunately, she could see fewer shadows here than she could from her tent.   After a few minutes, one of the bandits climbed down from the wagon, telling his comrade to pass him one of the boxes. Elena watched his legs take the weight of the box, and he held it against the side of the wagon while his companion climbed down to help him with it. Recognizing her opportunity, Elena reached out with her axes, positioning them near the bandits’ ankles while they stabilized their grip on whatever box they had taken.   I hope it’s heavy, she thought as she brought her axes back towards her in a single swift jerk that sheared through two boots and the flesh beneath.   Both bandits let out loud shrieks of pain and collapsed, the box falling on one of them. Elena rolled out from under the wagon, kicking out at the bandit who had avoided the falling supply box as she scrambled to her feet. Deciding that the pair of yells had destroyed any chance she might have had to move stealthily, she yelled, “The camp is under attack! To arms!”   She whirled back to face the rest of her camp, catching sight of two more bandits apparently facing her with the fire to their backs. She raised her left hand, still gripping the now-bloody axe, and beckoned to the bandits. “Come on, then,” she called. “Your game’s up!”   She heard one of the pair utter an insult, and both charged. Elena met their charge, swinging her axes towards her foes. She was no duelist, but it seemed that neither were her opponents. Standing in the darkness and with her attackers having just destroyed their night vision with the watchfire, Elena easily evaded their misaimed swings. With her own targets backlit by the fire, her blades had no trouble finding their marks. Both men fell with pained grunts.   By now, more shouts were beginning to sound in the camp, radiating outwards from where Elena stood. Torches flared to life, though she could not tell how many of them were carried by her allies and how many were carried by the bandits. People emerged from their tents, some carrying weapons. Elena raced back into the camp, shouting for her companions to grab weapons and fight the bandits. Angry Eisen voices shouted out as well, ordering attacks on the camp’s defenders. More than a few coarse words flew in the now-chaotic night.   As she dove into the fray, Elena found herself passing Marcus, who was wielding a sword as he fought the bandits. She heard him call out, “This is a right bloody mess we’ve gotten into!” before she lost track of him. She passed other members of the expedition and dozens of bandits all locked into vicious battles. A gunshot cracked out in the night, but Elena had no idea who or even which side had fired. She swung her axes around as she encountered bandits, though never got into any protracted duels. Many of the bandits seemed to be simply trying to run away. The ones that stayed and tried to fight her quickly found out that she was skilled with her weapons.   Elena had just finished dealing with a particularly overzealous bandit when she spun to find a powerfully-built woman facing her. The woman was calm, collected, and filled with a confidence that the other bandits had so far seemed to lack. She carried a wicked-looking sword, which she held loosely in her right hand, though she would probably have to use both hands to actually attack with it. Judging by the scars on her face and arms, she had seen much combat in her life.   The woman caught sight of Elena, and her eyes narrowed. She raised her blade in challenge, and Elena realized that her small axes were going to have a hard time getting inside the reach of that blade. The woman spoke in harsh, grating Eisen. “Lay down your weapons and surrender. You have no need to die like your fellow travelers.”   In response, Elena swung her axes around and moved into a more stable position. It took her a moment to remember the correct Eisen words, and her pronunciation was probably off, but the other woman seemed to understand when she snapped, “You will pay for killing my men.”   The bandit woman grinned fiercely and raised her blade. Elena braced herself to meet any sort of blow or charge that she might have to face.   All of a sudden, Nic came rushing in from somewhere, one of his swords drawn and held high. “Stop!” he yelled, skidding to a halt before the woman. He held out his free hand towards her.   “Nic, what are you–?” Elena started, but to her surprise, the woman’s eyes widened, and her long sword shifted from its combat position. Instead, she raised it high over her head and yelled out for the bandits to stop fighting. She shouted it a second time, and this time the nearby bandits began to slow their assault. The command was passed on through the camp, and in a few minutes the sounds of skirmishing began to diminish.   “You again,” the woman said. She lowered her sword and shook her head in disbelief. “Of all the camps I had to raid.”   “Hello again, Ingrid.” Nic’s voice was faintly bitter, though there was a strong pleased undertone to it. “I’m glad to see that the ghouls didn’t get you.”   “Thanks to you, yes.” Ingrid put the hand not holding her sword on her hip and glared at Nic. “I suppose that I should officially thank you for that, even if it was you that shot me.”   Nic shrugged. “You were about to kill my friend. Would you have done differently?”   A small smile appeared on Ingrid’s lips. “I’d have aimed for a more vital area.”   “No reason to kill someone who is just trying to earn a living.”   “Good of you to admit that.” Ingrid sheathed her sword and crossed her arms. “I suppose that I owe you one. If this is your group, we’ll leave you alone. But now we’re even, okay? No more sparing your large, easily-robbed groups.”   “Deal.” Nic saluted her with his blade. “Good hunting, Ingrid.”   “And to you.” She turned her head and barked orders to her bandits and led them towards the edge of the camp. As they passed where she stood, Elena noticed that many of them did not look pleased, but none of them made any move to disobey their leader. As the bandits continued to depart, Elena turned to face Nic. He sheathed his sword, but as he did, she noticed that the blade seemed to be discolored somehow. She only had a moment to notice it.   “What was all that about?” Elena asked in bewilderment.   “I’ve encountered Ingrid before,” Nic said. “We had a bit of a… disagreement.”   “You shot her?”   Nic winced just a bit. “She and her band were trying to kill us. It was several months ago, right before I killed Baroness Baderbaasch.”   “You killed a Baroness?” Elena asked incredulously.   “Well, she was undead.”   Elena laughed. She couldn’t help it, caught somewhere between curiosity and utter bewilderment. “You’ll have to tell me that story someday!”   Nic let out a noncommittal grunt. “Someday.” Then he nodded respectfully to her and turned to go check on something elsewhere in the camp.