It was almost nightfall when the bandits were upon us.

Mosha still hadn’t said a word to me, following behind me like a pouting child. My heart felt a twang of sympathy for her, but my duty would not allow me to comfort her in any way. We were only a day’s walk from the castle, but it wasn’t safe to travel through the forest at night. All manner of beasts both human and creature could be lurking behind every log and tree.

“We’ll stop here for the night, Mosha. This stand of trees will serve as a barrier around us.”

The girl said nothing but sat heavily upon the log, turning me toward her slightly via the rope. I glanced at her, long enough for her to look away and understand my warning. I took off the knot and lashed the rope around the tree in the center of the protective circle.

Her eyebrows rose as she watched me come toward her. The wary eyes watched my hands carefully as a dog while I untied her bonds. She began to stand, joy like I hadn’t seen since encountering her shone through her eyes. She began to embrace me, until she felt my hands wrap around her waist and connect the ends of the rope.

“What are you…”

It died in her throat faster than the hope drifted from her eyes.

She sank down upon the log and I busied myself with building the fire. She sulked and buried her face in her hands. Soon enough flame took to the branches and sticks. Shadows flickered to life, building silhouettes against the trunks of the trees.

I sat on the log opposite the girl, putting the fire between us. It cracked and popped and the girl cried. I felt for her but thought she must make peace with her fate before the night was through.

“Are you hungry?”

The girl looked up, she didn’t have to nod to say yes. I smiled and dug into my satchel for the strip of dried meat that would serve as our dinner. She watched me rip it in two and lay the pieces in the fire, to her surprise.

“It’s already cooked, I know. I just enjoy a hot meal when I can. Only a moment longer.”

“I see.”

A branch broke in the night.

Sneaking sounds echoed off the trees.

My sword broke through the darkness, reflecting the flames from the fire. Mosha’s eyes widened in alarm. The sound of the blade slipping from the scabbard was joined like a dark symphony by the trio of bandit blades.

I thrust my sword into the fire, counting down the seconds until they came. Mosha slid off her log, and backed against the tree that constrained her. I dug my heels into the dirt, bending at the knee as I readied to fight. The count ran down.

The heat traveled down the sword into my hand, I knew it was time. A pelted man jumped over the fire, axe brought over his head aimed at my own. My sword cut a swathe of light through the air to reveal his brethren at my sides. They screamed and jumped away from the crimson blade.

The axeman proved too eager to take my life and lost his own through the gash in his throat. His body fell back into the fire, his greasy body catching flame instantly. Dark balls of smoke puffed into the air taking some of the fire’s light with it.

The scoundrels circled the fire bent low with daggers in their teeth. I kept Mosha behind me, leaving no chance for the vile beasts to harm her. I let the heat in my hands move me to action, swaying toward them with my sword poised to thrust. They watched my arm and I watched their feet.

One of the dogs, a gangly looking thing with a patchy beard dashed to my left. I swung my sword in a wide arc, thwarting the man to my right’s attempt to skewer me. His spear pierced the dead man’s ass, lodging itself deep in his fat.

The man to my left swiped low, glancing off the armor protecting my stomach. I struck the man in the face, slicing off a portion of his tongue with the knife in his mouth. He gurgled a cry and fell back, into the darkness.

The spearman rushed forward with his knife. I parried him at the last second, earning a cut across my palm for my trouble. He spat upon the ground, murder in his eyes. I stepped back and checked for Mosha. No girl did my foot feel but dirt. The savage smiled like a hyena with the few teeth he still possessed.

I pounced onto the dead man’s corpse and threw my arm as far as it could extend my sword through the barbarian’s sword arm. He screamed and we fell into a heap. I pushed myself off of him, removing my sword as I rose. He screeched and clutched his wound. The man was powerless on the ground, kicking at the dirt but getting no farther away from me.

The man no longer a threat, I searched for Mosha. I first followed the trail of the tongueless one, until I ruled him out of having a part in her escape. Oddly enough, I found no trace of the rope that bound her, not even a fiber indicative of a cut.

Fortunately, she left a wild enough trail left for me to follow once I sorted out the mess she had so kindly left for me to deal with. The smell of a dead man was bad enough but a man left to cook was a singular displeasure. But, there was another man still alive, alas.

“Do you wish to die? Or be taken to the castle dungeons? I have a feeling you don’t want to be cut loose.”

He spat again, though he didn’t have the strength to propel it over his chest.

“I hate to see a man suffer, even if I’m not there to see it all the way through. Do you know what I’m saying?”

The bleeding man said nothing but pushed himself up with his good arm. He looked up to me, fear peeking out from those dark eyes.

“You disappoint me, barbarian. Surely men have looked you in the eye with honest mercy pleading for you to spare them.”

I grabbed the pathetic wretch and brought him to his feet. He cried out and held his arm as if he needed it to stand. I fished out another length of rope and tied it around his chest.

“You’re lucky the castle is so close. Lest I’d sport a similar attitude.”

He grunted and began to seethe through his foamy anguish. I yanked him hard and pushed him against the tree.

“You’re going to watch me bury him. You’re lucky soils so good in civilized lands. If this were Winter I’d have left him for the beasts.”

I labored until the spear was free of the fat man. I held it in the embers until it was red hot. The barbarian knew what I was doing, his struggling bought him only a few more moments of familiar pain until I could scald his wound and make him howl into the night.