Chapter 25

Two days later a large convoy departed from the white city and headed towards the Ermil Kingdom. The convoy was escorted by almost all the available mercenaries and guards the company could gather and the discipline member of the Van Don-Company, Mr. Bark. And at the front of the convoy there was a lone man running. That was Alec, clad in his leather armor and the same old, pale blue shirt and black pants. On his back was the big leather backpack and at the side of his belt hung his trusted weapon, the spiked metal club. The convoy was equipped with the best armors, weapons and carriages the company had in stock and the horses, which were pulling the said carriages, were the best of the whole town. Like this they could travel as fast as possible.

They travelled for almost a month through the ownerless lands. The various city states, like the white city or the city of Berse never really claimed much of the surrounding land, because it was filled with countless dangerous demonic beasts and groups of outlaws and bandits. It would’ve cost them way too much gold and manpower to occupy and hold the territories around the cities, so all of the city states refused to claim any of the land around them. This made the whole area, with almost twenty different city states, an almost completely lawless land, which was obviously heaven for all the outlaws and bandits.

Although there were countless dangers like this in the area, it was mostly known for the merchant companies. A normal person would think: ‘why are there so many merchant companies in this area, isn’t that totally reckless?’ And on the first glance this statement would seem correct, but there was one really good reason for a merchant to build up his company in this area, which was tax-exemption on wares. Then again one would ask themselves: ‘How can they pay no tax, they are obviously living in the city states?’ Once again they would guess the truth, as some time ago many of the city states demanded high taxes, without actually providing anything than protection inside of the single city.

That was a huge problem to all the merchants at first, as they lost lots of convoys to bandits, because those couldn’t be defended accordingly. So the merchants complained loudly to the various city state governors and demanded soldiers to protect their convoys. Unfortunately for the city states, none of them had enough soldiers to spare. If they would decide to send soldiers to protect convoys, they wouldn’t have enough soldiers remaining in the city, which would leave them extremely vulnerable, not only for other city states, but also the bandit clans and outlaws. So they decided, after long discussions, that they wouldn’t demand any taxes anymore in exchange for the privilege of having merchant companies inside of their cities. Like this the various city states wouldn’t lose their only source of new people and they could sell their own wares to the merchant companies. The only thing they had to do was protecting the merchant companies while they were residing in their cities.

So this area was obviously heaven to all merchants, even though it was dangerous. High risk, high reward.

The month passed relatively fast, as nothing particularly happened. The only interruption was caused by a broken wheel on one of the carriages, which cost the convoy only half a day to fix. During this month Alec mostly ran together with the mercenaries, trained his basic martial arts, which one could barely call techniques and tried to discover new things to document. He didn’t really encounter anything new, but some of the discoveries he made, increased the knowledge about some magic beasts or plants. His martial arts, which were crafted out of several pieces of martial arts techniques he had witnessed during his lone travels, couldn’t really advance, but he became more used to the moves. If an outsider would look at the ‘martial techniques’ of Alec, he would think that the tall man clad in leather armor was just wildly swinging his club in various directions. Even though, they wouldn’t dare to go near the heavy storm of hard steel. On the other hand, if someone versed in martial arts would take a look at Alec’s ‘techniques’ he would think…the same, except that the actual martial artist could probably easily break through the steel storm produced by Alec’s swings. Apparently, Alec was absolutely untalented in martial arts. No one told him these little details though, because none of them thought that he would have to fight for real. The convoy was escorted by a lot of martial artists and normal guards. And even if he had to fight, they believed that Alec would easily be able to kill normal bandits, as long as they hadn’t reached the novice rank or higher.

After another half of a month, the convoy drew closer to the free mountain area, which was the only real dangerous point on their route. Bark decided for the convoy to set camp, as they reached a clearing in the forest. The convoys carriages were set at the edges of the clearing, building a circle with the members of the convoy in the middle. Some of the guards and martial artists spread into the surroundings, scouting and guarding the area.

“Only three bonfires tonight! I don’t want to risk an attack in the first night!” Bark shouted and prepared a fireplace in the middle of the camp. After the fireplace was prepared he signalled a few of the members of the convoy, who were responsible for collecting wood, to bring some of it to him. As the wood collector hurriedly followed his command, Bark sat back on the ground, grabbed into a small leather bag and after a short moment of searching around, a tobacco pipe and an even smaller bag came to light. Alec, who sat down next to the old man, could smell a strong exotic odor from the bag. He was already used to this sight, as he knew the old man for quite some time already. The bag contained a strange kind of plant, which if inhaled, would relax the consumer. (WN: Blaze it…sorry) Alec himself had tried this kind of plant some time ago, but he didn’t like the feeling at all, as it clouded his discernment. That was one reason, the other was that apparently this strange grassy plant was highly addicting and could actually ruin ones life completely. Alec didn’t want to spend the rest of his life sitting in a house, as he already did that most of the time he had lived until now. He never wanted to be ‘imprisoned’ again in his lifetime.

Alec watched the old man light the grassy plant inside of the pipe. Bark inhaled deeply and after some time he exhaled loudly, spreading yellowish smoke in the air. After that the old man’s eyes became glassy and a relaxed expression appeared on his face.

“What do you think will we be attacked?” Alec asked slowly, while looking at the old man with a curious and a little fearful gaze. It was not like he hadn’t fought anyone before, but if a bandit clan would decide to ambush the convoy, it would be a completely new scale of battle. It would be chaotic and nothing like a fight one against one. There was no honor on the battlefield. Who wouldn’t be afraid of facing lots of fierce fighters with nothing to lose in a battle to the death. Even more so when they couldn’t control the battlefield at all, they couldn’t decide to attack the bandits earlier, as they didn’t know where the bandits were. Also the bandits clearly have a huge advantage, as the free mountains were their territory. The convoy could be ambushed at any time from anywhere and they wouldn’t even have time to react. That was the really terrifying part.

Bark looked at Alec and inhaled another deep breath of yellow smoke.

“They will definitely attack us. Although I don’t believe that they will do it at the start of the free mountains. That would be really dumb, as the guards of the convoy are still motivated and rested.” Bark said with a dark voice and Alec frowned deeply at his words.

“Why shouldn’t they attack tonight? Wouldn’t that be completely out of our expectations?” Alec asked and worry flashed in his eyes.

“Well, they would certainly surprise us and catch us off guard, but they wouldn’t have a chance of killing us all. My men are trained and experienced, also they are, as I said already, fully rested and motivated. Their mind is still clear. If I were the leader of a bandit clan, I’d wait until the convoy has passed two thirds of the way through their territory before I’d start attacking, as the convoy’s guards would certainly be not as motivated and rested as before. You have to consider the psychological pressure on the mind if you are a guard passing through a from bandits controlled area. The feeling that you can die at every moment is absolutely nerve wrecking and terrifying. That puts a huge strain on the mind of every single member of the convoy and that in turn affects the guard’s health itself, as he will not get enough sleep and be alarmed at every single noise. That would be the perfect moment to attack.” Bark said and his glassy gaze immediately became sharp as he mustered the surroundings.

Alec wasn’t completely convinced by the explanation the old man gave him, but somehow his mind calmed down a lot after Bark’s words and he decided to eat something, while still pondering about possible scenarios.

“Stop thinking further about it, Alec! You should go to sleep.” Bark said in a low voice and pointed towards one of the makeshift beds on the side, which were built out of wood and cloth. Alec followed the gaze of the old man, thought shortly about it, nodded and made his way towards the makeshift bed.

‘It doesn’t help if I think about the countless other possibilities and if the old mans words are true, then I should get enough sleep, as long as I can!’ Alec thought, laid down on the bed and closed his eyes. Most of the other convoy members laid down to sleep as well and soon the camp was filled with snores and occasional whispers from the people that were on guard duty.

The night passed without any interruptions, just like Bark said and the next day the convoy continued on their route towards their destination, the Ermil Kingdom. The travel through the first part of the free mountains continued surprisingly smooth, if one would look from an ignorant point of view. In reality the convoy was tensed to the max and the guards would jump at any small noise.

Alec was really impressed, because everything until now happened accordingly to Barks words.

A few uneventful days later the convoy was already deep in the mountain area and the former wide road was becoming increasingly narrow. The road had turned into a pass, which led upwards into the mountains. The road became so narrow that only the carriages had space on the road. The remaining horses of the guards were left behind on the bottom of the mountains, together with some men to wait for their return. The escorting guards were travelling on foot, between the carriages, as there was not enough space for them to walk next to them.

It was a rather normal day, only occasionally snowflakes would fall from the sky. The temperature was slowly falling with the increasing height and the men began to feel sullen. The nerves of the guards were tense, almost tearing at any moment. Alec was walking next to Bark, who sharply mustered his surroundings with a concerned gaze.

“What are you worrying about?” Alec asked as he too tried to observe the surroundings. He couldn’t see anything but stone, snow and occasionally small trees with giant roots, which stubbornly held onto the stone walls. He couldn’t figure out how these trees were able to live in this environment. It was amazing, especially for a tree, which needed a lot of nutritions to grow and live.

“This route is becoming more dangerous. At first, travelling through the free mountain area would have been a challenge, but this path worsens the situation. I think it is very likely that-“ Bark said but was interrupted mid-sentence by a loud shout coming from the front of the convoy.

“BANDITS!!” one of the guards in front of them understood the content of the shout and transmitted it loudly to the other members of the convoy.

Alec was immediately alarmed. ‘Bandits? On this small road?’

He turned towards Bark and saw that the old man deeply frowned.

“This is bad…” Bark said and the frown turned deeper. He directly stormed to the front of the convoy, while simultaneously unsheathing his sword.

Alec could hear screams and shouts form the front of the convoy and fear started to creep into his mind. What were the bandits trying to do? Kill everything form the front to the back until no man was left alive?! No…that would be inefficient, as a lot of the bandits would die by using this method as well. Alec’s gaze instantly flew towards the top of the steep wall, which was located right next to the convoy.

“SHIT!” Alec abruptly jumped back while shouting. Just like he thought, the bandits were using their advanced knowledge of this area to their advantage. On the top of the steep wall were standing countless bandits with black wooden bows in their hands, ready to fire at any time.

“WATCH OUT! ARCHERS! FROM ABOVE!!” Alec shouted and tried to cover himself with behind one of the horses that was pulling the carriages. Just as his shout reached the ears of the other members of the convoy in his surroundings, a sharp whistling sound could be heard from behind the convoy and the bandit archers on the top of the steep wall were releasing their arrows with a clacking noise. The arrows flew through the air as fast as lightning with a shrill sound and some of the guards and merchants in the immediate surroundings of Alec instantly got impaled by them. Almost every single one of the guards which got hit, was hit with several arrows, sending them to the ground. Screams filled the air and some of the surviving guards of the convoy readied their bows and boldly returned fire. A few of the bandits on top of the steep wall were shot and fell down towards the carriages with bloodcurling screams and wide opened eyes. Alec, who managed to grab a bow and some arrows from one of the fallen guards, was about to shoot the bandits on the top, to support the surviving guards, when suddenly the back of the convoy was filled with screams and alarmed shouts as well. He turned towards that direction and observed with horror as the guards on the back of the convoy were slaughtered by a group of black and golden clothed warriors. They were obviously martial artists of the advanced rank, as there would occasionally spark fire, lightning or even water around the curved weapons of the black golden clothed attackers.

“THEY ARE ATTACKING FROM BOTH SIDES! WE HAVE TO REACH THE FRONT AND BREAK THROUGH!! FOLLOW ME!” Alec roared dropped the bow, unsheathed his spiked metal club and started running towards the front of the convoy. Arrows were flying towards him from above, hitting the ground, horses and men alike. Most of the guards that heard his shout were on the same way as him, but unfortunately ended as shields for the young man. Alec didn’t even notice that as the adrenalin pumped through his veins. He was running for his life and the sound of arrows hitting, flesh, stone and wood around him was the only thing that filled his ears together with his heartbeat.

An arrow scratched his right arm just as he managed to jump onto one of the carriages and blood started to flow from the wound, but Alec didn’t have to time to be concerned about that. As soon as the remaining guards behind him saw that he made it out of this danger zone they stopped following him and turned around to return fire again, as they knew that the bandits would now focus on people trying to get to the front.

Alec jumped down from the carriage and continued running towards the front of the convoy. With the support of the convoy’s guards, which were firing their arrows towards the top of the steep wall, Alec managed to reach the next carriage straight away. He climbed it, ran to the other side and jumped down again. The guards in this section of the convoy were firing their arrows the same way as the guards from before, trying to give cover for the injured guards on the ground, which tried to crawl into safety.

Suddenly another shrill whistling sound could be heard. As soon as the sound ended, thick, black ropes were thrown down from the steep wall. The convoy’s guards momentarily stopped firing, confused from the bandit’s actions.

“DON’T STOP FIRING! THEY WILL COME DOWN!” a hoarse voice roared from the front of the convoy, alarming the convoy’s guards. In that moment, countless loud roars rang out from the top of the steep wall and numerous bandits jumped down. The first few metres, they were almost free falling, but after that they immediately grabbed the ropes and slid down towards the ground. Their bloodthirsty and crazed roars shook the minds of Alec and the guard, which led to them stepping a step back. The bandits let go of the rope almost three metres above the ground and, as they fell down with roars and screams, unsheathed scary looking one handed axes from their backs. As soon as their feet touched the ground they immediately rushed towards the guards and started swinging their axes with blood shot eyes.

Alec was directly attacked by one of the rushing bandits and only managed to save his life by raising his metal club as fast as he could. The axe hit the metal club with a loud noise and the bandit was pushed back by his own strength.

Alec saw his chance at once and with a loud roar he swung his spiked metal club towards the still stumbling bandit it front of him.

With a terrible crushing sound the bandits face caved in and he was sent flying to the side as Alec used all of his strength in that strike. The young man didn’t have time to be happy about surviving this fight as a new opponent, who looked even fiercer jumped in front of him with a crazy wide grin on his face. The bandit’s teeth were dripping with a blood red liquid and his face was covered in strange symbols. Alec immediately raised his weapon to guard against the opponents attack, but it was no use as his opponent kicked his left leg with a lot of strength, which led to Alec almost falling to the ground. (WN: Guardbreak lol…nvm) Alec looked up towards the bandit and discovered terrified that he couldn’t evade the enemies attack in his current position.

The axe was swishing through the air and hit Alec’s face with a terrifying sound.

A huge wound was cleaved into his head and blood was spraying everywhere as he slowly fell backwards.

The surrounding suddenly turned a lot darker and Alec slowly fell over the edge of the mountain pass, into the gorge underneath it.

The last thing he saw was the laughing bandit with the symbol covered face, after that everything turned dark.