When
The Garrison Captain wanted to urge Lorist not to act rashly. He couldn't bear to watch Lorist and his companions ride out to their deaths. But when he thought of the bandits' threat to slaughter the entire town, he didn't dare say too much—lest Lorist change his mind and refuse to leave, only for the bandits to storm Venyata and slaughter its innocent residents. That was over two thousand lives at stake.
Lorist, however, saw through the Garrison Captain's conflicted feelings and smiled reassuringly, telling him there was nothing to worry about. Since this mess had started because of him, he wouldn't let the innocent people of Venyata pay the price for his troubles. As a noble, he had that much sense of responsibility.
Before long, Lorist followed the Garrison Captain up to the town walls. One look outside, and most of his worries melted away. Scattered across the plains outside Venyata were several hundred bandits in all manner of disheveled attire—some in armor, some in animal-skin robes, and others with women's long skirts tied over their shoulders as cloaks.
Perhaps the deadline the Panshan Wolf had set for Venyata was noon, because it was still early. The disheveled, fierce-looking bandits treated this siege as a sort of outing. They gathered in clusters of three to five, lighting campfires everywhere—some boiling water, some roasting food, and others lounging around telling tall tales, periodically erupting in bursts of laughter. A few especially bored bandits had even run up to the base of the walls to hurl insults at the guards above, make faces, and threaten that once the walls were breached, they'd teach the guards a lesson they'd never forget...
"A rabble..." Lorist snorted softly. He could only wonder how incompetent the local lord must have been to lose to these bandits twice. He had expected them to at least form some kind of battle formation and stand ready, which would have made dealing with them more troublesome—but instead, the bandits outside were completely disorganized and unprepared.
"Where's this Panshan Wolf you mentioned? What does he look like?" Lorist asked the Garrison Captain beside him.
"My lord, look there—right in the middle where the largest group is gathered, by the campfire roasting a sheep. The big bearded man in bright chain mail and blue clothing, with the long scar across his face—that's the Panshan Wolf. The dozen or so men surrounding him are the bandit leaders. Most of them are Silver-rank experts." The Garrison Captain pointed out each bandit leader to Lorist one by one.
"Reddy, go prepare the horses.
The Garrison Captain listened from the side, feeling dizzy. There were four or five hundred bandits out there, and Lorist planned to charge in with just five men, kill the leaders, and then confidently order the bandits to surrender? Wasn't he being a bit too self-assured? These were bandits, not flocks of chickens and ducks...
The Garrison Captain was just debating whether to try talking Lorist out of it when he saw Lorist turn to him and ask whether the garrison had any javelins. If so, to prepare some for him.
The Garrison Captain remembered there might be some javelins somewhere and hurried off to look. He finally found about twenty javelins bundled in a large sack and handed them to Lorist. By that time, Lorist's group had finished their preparations, mounted their horses, and were waiting for the garrison to open the gates.
Venyata had no moat or drawbridge. Opening the gates led directly onto the main road and the open plains. Lorist spurred his horse into a gallop, a long spear resting across the front of his saddle, and charged straight toward the central campfire.
Jossk trailed a few steps behind Lorist, riding his horse while continuously drawing and firing arrows left and right. Every bandit who got in Lorist's way or came too close from the sides was struck down by the incoming arrows. A blood-soaked path strewn with corpses appeared before Lorist, leading straight to the central campfire.
The campfire where the bandit leaders were gathered was roughly three hundred meters from the gate. In the blink of an eye, Lorist and Jossk had covered half the distance, and thirty or forty bandits had fallen to arrows. By now, the bandit leaders had been alerted. They scrambled to their feet, staring at the two riders bearing down on them.
The scar-faced Panshan Wolf flew into a rage, pointing at Lorist and Jossk a hundred meters away and bellowing: "Everyone charge together! Hack these two clueless brats to pieces!"
But aside from a few slower-witted bandit leaders who charged forward with weapons drawn, the rest scrambled for shields. To these leaders, Jossk—with his deadly accurate arrows—was clearly the more dangerous threat.
Sure enough, the moment those bandit leaders rushed forward, Jossk noticed them. A cold gleam flashed in his eyes, and the bowstring of his jade-green longbow cracked like thunder. Five green arrow streaks flashed past in an instant. The five charging bandit leaders froze as if struck by lightning, then toppled to the ground in unison.
The scar-faced Panshan Wolf sucked in a sharp breath: "Gold-rank..."
He hastily drew his sword and braced himself.
Hssss—Lorist charged forward without hesitation. The long spear in his hand produced hundreds of spear-shadows, enveloping himself and his mount in a zone roughly ten feet across. By the time Lorist galloped past, over thirty bandits were spinning to the ground, blood spraying from their chests, abdomens, and throats. They couldn't even scream before they fell dead.
Four bandit leaders charged directly at Lorist, their swords blazing with white sword qi—four Silver-rank bandit leaders. The two on the left and right held shields to protect their bodies, swinging their longswords at the horse's legs. The two in front—one wielding a two-handed sword—shouted angrily and leaped high into the air, bringing the great blade crashing down toward Lorist's head. The other held a longsword, intending to dash past the front of the horse and thrust at Lorist's left chest...
Lorist let out a soft hum, swinging his spear left and right. With two wet thuds, the two shield-bearing leaders were impaled clean through—shields and all—by Lorist's spear. Blood sprayed wildly as screams of agony rang out. The spear pointed upward to meet the descending two-handed sword and knocked it aside. Then the spear plunged into flesh like striking a drumhead, and the airborne leader's eyes rolled back like a dead fish. With a single choked grunt, his life ended...
The spear continued its downward arc, flinging the impaled corpse toward the fourth leader charging from the front. That leader recoiled in shock, halting his advance and twisting aside to avoid his companion's body. But he didn't expect the now-unburdened spear to strike like a venomous snake, punching straight through his throat...
In that brief instant, Lorist had slain four bandit leaders in succession and galloped right up to the Panshan Wolf.
"You've got some nerve, boy!" The Panshan Wolf watched his four subordinates die under Lorist's spear and flew into a towering rage. With a flick of his wrist, he sent three crescent-shaped blades of light hurtling toward Lorist.
Lorist didn't deign to respond. With a light sweep of his spear, he deflected the light blades with three sharp clanging sounds. Then the spear shot forward like lightning, aimed straight at the Panshan Wolf's chest and abdomen. A hideous grin spread across the Panshan Wolf's scarred face: "Right on time..."
He spun his body aside, evading the spear's thrust, and his longsword blazed with golden sword qi as it slashed down at the spear: "You're asking to die, boy..."
Lorist tried to pull the spear back, but it was too late. The sword struck and snapped the spear clean in two. The Panshan Wolf laughed: "Now hand over your li— wha— what is this..."
To his astonishment, the Panshan Wolf discovered that Lorist and his horse were already right on top of him. In a flash of steel, his head soared high into the air. Lorist had used the moment when the Panshan Wolf's attention was fixed on the spear to close the distance on horseback, drawn his longsword with his left hand, and beheaded him in a single stroke.
Lorist spat: "You talk too much..."
From the moment Lorist killed the four leaders to the Panshan Wolf's decapitation, everything had unfolded in mere seconds—too fast for the eye to follow. The dozen or so remaining bandit leaders stood frozen, seemingly stunned by what they had just witnessed.
The sound of bowstrings rang out repeatedly. Three dazed leaders screamed in agony, clutching at their arrow wounds as they fell to the ground. The remaining seven or eight leaders snapped out of their stupor, shouted, and turned to flee.
Lorist pulled a javelin from where it hung at the rear of his saddle and charged at full gallop. The javelin flew like a bolt of lightning, pinning six fleeing leaders to the ground. One leader vaulted onto a nearby sturdy horse and was about to whip it into a run when Jossk's arrow from afar sent him tumbling off. The last remaining leader, a big bearded man, saw Lorist galloping toward him and was terrified out of his wits. He flung his longsword aside, dropped to his knees, and begged loudly for mercy.
Well, another Yinjereck. Lorist raised his hand and hurled the javelin over the kneeling leader's head, pinning to the ground a bandit about thirty paces behind him who was charging this way with an axe raised high. The big bearded leader collapsed in relief, thinking himself lucky to have read the situation quickly enough to save his old life.
Lorist reined his horse to a stop before the big bearded leader and said coldly: "Get up. Tell your men to drop their weapons and surrender immediately—kneel on the ground. Otherwise, I'll slaughter every last one of them!"
In that moment, Lorist's killing intent erupted in full, and the big bearded leader on the ground leaped to his feet in terror. He spun toward the bandits converging from all directions and roared: "Drop your weapons! Hurry! Throw everything down and get on your knees..."
One bandit asked blankly: "Boss Os, why are we throwing down our weapons?"
The big bearded leader slapped him across the face, snatched the spear from his hands, and threw it on the ground: "Get on your knees now! Drop your weapons! Hurry, all of you, kneel down! I'm trying to save your lives, don't you understand..."
Another group of bandits surged up from behind. Their leader, seeing what was happening, cursed loudly: "Ovikis, what do you think you're doing? You traitor—trying to surrender to the enemy mid-battle? Brothers, don't listen to him! If the boss finds out, he'll never forgive you—ahh!"
That final sound was a scream. The bandit lieutenant was pinned to the ground by Lorist's javelin, his shriek piercing and horrifying. Lorist charged into the group of bandits with sword in hand, and in just two rounds, he had scattered them. Only five or six sharper-witted bandits who had thrown down their weapons early and kneeled managed to survive.
The big bearded leader said to the cluster of bandits kneeling before him: "See that? He's a god of death. Forty-something men, and thirty-plus dropped in the blink of an eye. The boss and those big brothers didn't even last a few exchanges before they were killed. If I hadn't told you to throw down your weapons and kneel, you'd all be dead like them..."
Lorist rode back to the big bearded leader: "You—pick up a weapon. Take a few men and prop up the heads of the Panshan Wolf and the others where everyone can see them. Tell all the bandits to kneel and surrender. Anyone who refuses gets killed on the spot."
The big bearded leader, already thoroughly cowed by Lorist's slaughter, bowed respectfully: "Yes, my lord. It shall be done as you command."
...
When the heads of the Panshan Wolf and the other leaders were held high and cries of "The boss is dead! Everyone surrender quickly!" rang out, many bandits couldn't grasp the situation. Some even thought the big bearded leader was staging an internal coup and charged forward menacingly, weapons raised, swearing to avenge the boss.
These witless fellows quickly became corpses beneath the iron hooves of Lorist's steed, and a few who turned to flee became Jossk's prey. This time, the bandits finally understood what was happening. The greater half obediently dropped their weapons and knelt, while a smaller group scattered and fled in all directions.
Pat came sweeping around with Reddy and Sedekamp from a distance. Having only recently advanced to Silver One-Star, Pat rode his Zenoa horse and wielded his gleaming longsword. The fastest-fleeing bandits were cut clean in half by his sweeping strikes. Reddy and Sedekamp followed behind with their crossbows, quickly mopping up the remaining dozen-odd fugitives. Only twenty or thirty bandits who fled in another direction made it into the forest and escaped.
The gates of Venyata opened, and the grim-faced Garrison Captain charged out with several dozen garrison soldiers. Seeing that the outcome was decided, they had come to kick a drowning man.
Two to three hundred bandits knelt obediently on the ground. Lorist and Jossk held their positions at the front. The big bearded leader ran up to Lorist and respectfully asked whether they should tie the bandits up and gather the weapons scattered on the ground as well.
Lorist nodded. Better to have them tied up, in case any of the bandits suddenly tried to escape and caused a commotion. The big bearded leader, seeing Lorist's approval, ran into the crowd of bandits and called out a dozen or so names, ordering them to help him bind the rest.
Lorist found the big bearded leader rather interesting—by now, the man seemed to have become his loyal subordinate. And the big bearded leader's method of tying people up was quite amusing: he'd undo a bandit's belt, bind both hands behind his back, then pull his pants back up. That way, even if the bandit tried to run, he'd have to worry about his pants falling down.
Of course, during the binding process, some bandits cursed and struggled. The big bearded leader and a few of the binders responded with hearty punches, beating the resisters until they cried for their parents. Lorist and Jossk found this strange and called over one of the bandits carrying a leader's head to ask what was going on—weren't they all part of the same bandit crew?
The bandit was nervous and stammered, but he answered without hesitation that they were definitely not all the same group. After much questioning, Lorist and Jossk finally understood. Although all the bandits nominally followed the Panshan Wolf, they were internally divided into several factions. This big bearded leader, named Ovikis, had about thirty men under him. They were all deserters from the civil war who had refused to serve the
They had lived peacefully for a few years before the Panshan Wolf arrived and forcibly conscripted them with his superior martial strength. Although they had merged into the same mountain stronghold, they frequently clashed with the other bandits—fistfights were commonplace. This time, the big bearded Ovikis had used the opportunity to separate his men from the rest. During the binding, seeing their old enemies, they showed no mercy and took every chance to land a few extra punches.
Pat returned with the other two, escorting a dozen or so captured bandits who had tried to flee. The big bearded Ovikis ran over and took custody of the prisoners, having his men tie them up. Then he returned to Lorist and suggested that Lorist consider raiding the bandits' main camp. The big bearded man said the bandits had come out in full force, leaving behind only the old, the weak, and the women and children. He was willing to serve as a guide. Moreover, the Panshan Wolf had accumulated enormous spoils from his raids, all stored in the stronghold—if Lorist didn't go claim them, someone else would.
Lorist glanced at Jossk, who nodded. Lorist said: "Very well. Jossk, I'll have you make the trip. Big Beard, take a few men as guides and go with them. Pat, you three can join them if you want."
The big bearded man took three of his own and, before leaving, instructed his dozen or so subordinates to follow Lorist's orders without question. He then found mounts and led Jossk, Pat, and Sedekamp toward the Panshan Wolf's stronghold. Back at Venyata, Lorist had Reddy take charge of the dozen or so men the big bearded leader had left behind to guard the prisoners, while he went to meet the approaching garrison soldiers.