Fendrel, priest of the Order of the Eight, awoke. The previous night he had been visited by a scout for the bandit group he had hired to terrorise the village. He’d been tasked with converting Eastthorpe to the Order, but they had not been very receiving. He had been forced to resort to more drastic measures. Two mercenaries had rolled into town, however, and killed the last group of bandits that Fendrel had perfectly planned to walk into the church when the entire village was there, defenceless, to show them how foolish their religion was. It seemed like one of the mercenaries had also somehow managed to sneak into the bandit camp and killed their leader. Now the group was angry and wanted revenge.

“Two weeks?” he asked to no one in particular. He shook his head. It was impossible. He started to pack his things. He’d be leaving the village as fast as he could. He would have to tell his superiors that he had failed… but at least the village would be gone. That was a success in one way. The bandits wouldn’t be able to reach him once he was in Francorum, a bastion of a city. Then there was a knock at the door.

He opened it to see three faces he did not want to see. The two mercenaries and the Mayor.

“Don’t worry, Thorpe, I’ve decided to leave. I’m sure your head priest will be happy to hear it.” Fendrel said. The taller of the two mercenaries; the older one who wore a hat and a coat that obscured most of his face, pushed Fendrel back from the door and barged into his house.

Thorpe coughed awkwardly, unable to look Fendrel in the eye. The taller mercenary pulled Fendrel’s hands behind his back as the other one with strange white hair revealed rope in his hands.

“There’ll be no need for that.” Thorpe said, trying to seem intimidating. “We… we know what you’ve been doing. Y-you’re the reason for these attacks!”

How? How could they know? Fendrel wondered, panicking.

“Ridiculous.” He scoffed. “What proof do you have?”

The mercenary who was binding his hands together laughed.

“I guess you didn’t notice that you had two visitors last night. I heard everything.” He said.

“Have you got the letter ready, Mayor?” the other mercenary asked. “I’d like to get him out of the village and formally arrested as soon as possible.”

“O-of course” Thorpe responded, nodding and revealing a letter with his mayoral seal on it. “This should be enough to get him to a trial at least.”

“And…” the hatted mercenary started. He handed Fendrel over to the white-haired mercenary and walked to Fendrel’s table. “this should do the rest.” He looked through the letters that Fendrel had been writing.

“Stop that! They’re private!” Fendrel objected.

“I wonder why. Here. This one is to the former bandit leader, and this one is to one of your head priests. I guess this corruption even goes to your superiors, huh?” he said. “This should be enough to get him in prison. We can put him on one of the horses from the bandits that attacked yesterday, and I’ll take him to Francorum. Do you think you’ll be able to handle things here, Kail?”

“I’ll try.” The white-haired Kail responded. “I’ve got a few ideas to prepare for their attack but… we’ll see. Are you coming back?”

The hatted mercenary hesitated, then sighed. “I guess so. Kin certainly wouldn’t leave me alone if I left his friend to die… Besides… I’m invested now.”

“Great.” Kail said joyfully. “Well let me know when you’re back and I’ll update you on the situation.”

“It should only take a few days. I’m just going to hand him in to the guard with the Mayor’s letter, and this evidence, then I’ll come back.” He said assuredly.

Then Fendrel was being yanked by rope out the door. He was escorted to the stables and put on a horse then tied to the saddle. As the mercenary with the hat mounted his own horse Fendrel noticed a bag hanging from the saddle. It looked to be holding a suspiciously head-sized object, and there was a horrible smell coming from it. The mercenary then grabbed a hold of the reins on Fendrel’s horse and led it out of the village. Fendrel thought about shouting out but he realised that the villagers weren’t going to be his allies. He even noticed a few of them looking out their doors to see him tied up. They simply went back inside, seeming like they didn’t want to get involved. However, if this man really was going to leave him in the hands of the city guard in Francorum, then all hope might not be lost for him…

Kail stood in the blacksmith’s smithy once again, talking to their prisoner.

“Your group is going to attack in two weeks. They didn’t take well to losing their people.” Kail said to him.

“They came, then?” he asked, seeming disappointed. Kail realised that he had likely been hoping to have been freed by anyone that came to the village.

“If you help us prepare, then we’ll let you go when it’s all over.” Kail offered. The man laughed.

“I doubt your friend would let me go. Besides, you’ll lose this fight. They’ll kill you all and collect me at the end. I’m sure of it.” he said, although Kail could hear a hint of doubt in his voice. Even so, Kail decided to leave the issue alone for the moment. He wasn’t sure how to convince him. Perhaps Yiannis could be more convincing when he returned.

He left the room to see the blacksmith, Brom, looking rather grumpy, staring at the pile of weaponry and armour that had suddenly taken up most of his smithy. The Mayor and the four guards that were still alive were also there, waiting for him.

“I brought what you asked for.” Mayor Thorpe said. “These are all the arms we have in the village.”

“Alright. Next I want you to round up everyone in the village that’s able-bodied enough to fight. I’m going to teach them how.” Kail said.

The Mayor looked doubtful. “You really think you can do that?” he asked, eyeing Kail nervously.

Kail knew his physique wasn’t impressive, but he also knew he had a lot to offer.

“I was trained to be a knight.” he said, drawing a doubtful look from the Mayor. “Get everyone together and I’ll do the rest. Now who can tell me exactly what we’ve got here?” he asked, motioning to the pile of weapons. One of the guards stepped forward, while the others followed the Mayor as he left to follow Kail’s orders.

“We got ten swords, two shields, five bows with plenty of arrows. Don’t get much chance to use them. Also got two spears, and ten sets of armour, though we’ve never had ten guards.” He shrugged. “Oh yeah also the bandits, from them we got another four swords, small ones though, six axes, and each of them had a pretty nasty looking dagger on them too.”

Kail nodded. “That’s a lot of weapon. Twenty eight melee, and five ranged… But I don’t know if it’ll be enough.” He turned to the blacksmith. “Hey… Brom, is it?” he asked.

“Aye that’s me.” He said. “And I know what yer gonna ask.” He said, moving over and picking up one of the swords, inspecting it. “Been a while since I made a sword… If I had to guess I’d say it’d take me at least a day and a half to make just one.” He said.

“That’d be… maybe another ten, eleven if we’re lucky… ” Kail said, holding his chin in contemplation.

“However..” Brom started, putting down the sword and looking at one of the spears. “These spearheads are easy work. I bet even my apprentice, Dane, could make these. If you get old Hankins the woodcrafter to make the shafts then that could work. He makes all the furniture for people. He might need some assistants though.” He said.

“Spears are good.” Kail said, reminded of his friend that used a spear: Kin. If they could arm everyone with spears, then perhaps they’d stand a chance. They would be a good countermeasure against the bandits if they entered the village on horseback.

Kail set Brom to work on making spearheads, with his apprentice Dane. Kail and one of these guards started moving all the weapons and the sets of armour outside into a big pile to give Brom more space to work on, and to have them ready for the people Kail would be trying to teach to fight.

Yiannis returned two days later, and when he found Kail he saw an unexpected sight. There was a large group of villagers, a mixed selection of men and women. Some looked young, and some looked to be in their later years. A lot of them held weapons. Some swords, and some axes. In the middle Kail was sparring with one of them while the others watched. He shouted out advice, but the person he was sparring with didn’t manage to hit him. Kail didn’t go easy on him though, he hit him multiple times with his own sword. Not hard enough to cut him through his clothes, but surely hard enough to bruise him. He even closed in and floored him a few times. Despite his seemingly kind-hearted nature, Kail seemed to be quite the strict teacher.

“Alright, that’s enough for now.” Kail said, helping the man up. “Who wants to go next?” he asked. No one responded. Then he noticed Yiannis. His face lit up. “Alright everyone, go back to striking the dummies for now.” He said, motioning to some training dummies that seemed to be armour stands with hay tied to them. The villagers made surprisingly organised lines and took it in turns attacking them.

“Welcome back.” Kail said when it was just the two of them. He motioned over to smithy and they started to walk there.

“Impressive.” Yiannis said. “How many do we have?”

“Forty-one. Some are around my age. Some between twenty and thirty. Some older. And we’ve got about twenty-eight weapons, although I’ve got the smith and a local wordworker working on spears.” Kail answered.

“Spears. That will be useful.” Yiannis approved.

“We’ve also got five bows but no one that knows how to use them.” Kail sighed. “And I wouldn’t know where to get started with them.”

“Bows, huh?” Yiannis asked thoughtfully. “No one in the entire village? Seems unlikely… I’ll ask around.”

Kail shrugged. If Yiannis found someone who could use a bow then it would be very handy.

They walked into the smithy to be greeted with the clanging of metal. The smith and his apprentice were hard at work. The small boy looked up.

“Kail!” he shouted. “Teach me to be a knight!” he said enthusiastically. Kail laughed and shook his head.

“If Brom runs out of work for you then I’ll teach you.” He said. The boy looked dejected and went back to his work.

“A knight?” Yiannis asked. “He still thinks you’re a knight?”

“Well…” Kail started. Should I tell him? I think he’d make fun of me if he knew I’d been trained by a knight. “He’s a kid.” Kail answered with a shrug.

“What’s his story, anyway? Is he the blacksmith’s son? I haven’t seen him with a woman.” Yiannis inquired. Kail shook his head sadly.

“His parents died a few years back. Eastthorpe was attacked by bandits then as well… Although they were better prepared for it then. They actually had guards employed from Francorum protecting the place. Seems like they’ve been recalled over the years.” Kail explained. He wondered if it was because of Eastthorpe refusing to conform to the ways of The Order. “His parents died in the attack, so Brom took him in.”

“What a nice guy.” Yiannis replied sarcastically. “So how is our hostage doing?”

Kail shook his head. “I haven’t had any luck getting information out of him.” He said.

“What about the ghosts?” Yiannis asked.

“They won’t tell me anything either.” Kail replied without missing a step. “We need to know how many people they have. If there’s over a hundred of them, then we’re done for.” Kail said.

“I don’t think they had that many. If only I’d counted them when I was there…” Yiannis said wistfully. Then he shook his head. “Then again, I didn’t think I’d be staying here. Maybe I can our hostage to cooperate…” There was a dark look in his eyes.

“We’re not torturing him.” Kail said defiantly.

“No torture.” Yiannis said. “Just follow my lead. Agree with what I say in front of him. I’m not actually going to hurt him… Just trust me this one time.”

Kail sighed and nodded in agreement. They went into the room where their hostage was. The bandit narrowed his eyes at the sight of Yiannis.

“Back to kill me?” he asked sarcastically.

“Maybe.” Yiannis answered. “That depends on you. See, Kail here is far too lenient on you, but I’ve convinced him to look at things my way.” he said. The bandit looked over to Kail, who nodded. “Firstly, your name is James, right?” he asked, taking a gamble. The scout visiting the priest had mentioned the name. “James” could have been any of the ones who had attacked, but the name had stuck in his mind. The bandit looked shocked and nodded. Yiannis continued. “I know that because one of your colleagues did come to speak to the priest, like you said. The priest told him that you were here, but he didn’t seem concerned. He could’ve come after you, but he didn’t.” he said. The bandit looked down in annoyance. “Now I’m not expecting you to jump sides, I’m just going to give you a chance. If you won’t help us, then you’re useless to us. Just another mouth to feed, and a security risk that we don’t need. So…” He glanced to Kail, who nodded. “I will kill you. Right here. Right now.” He said. James’ eyes widened in panic. He seemed to have a silent debate with himself before responding.

“Fine… I’ll… help.” He said bitterly.

“Good, good.” Yiannis said. Kail was surprised at how easily that had worked, but he had felt the evil promise in Yiannis’ voice. “Now let me warn you. If you give us wrong information, then, on the day they attack, I will personally make sure to come here and kill you before they get in.” The bandit sighed with despair, realising the situation he was in.

“What do you want to know?” he asked.

“Numbers.” Yiannis said. “Tactics. And weaponry.” James nodded.

“We had fifty of us…” he started.

“Before I took out your leader, then the nine of your friends that you came here with. And, of course, you’re here. So that’s thirty-nine left.” Yiannis responded.

“We outnumber them.” Kail said in shock, then breathing a sigh of relief.

“Some use swords, some uses axes. Everyone has a bow, and everyone has a horse.” James continued. Kail’s hopes fell. Thirty-nine bandits on horseback is very different to thirty-nine bandits on foot. “If we’re planning on really attacking a village full force then we shoot flaming arrows in first to set their roofs on fire and cause panic, then sweep the streets on horseback, taking everyone out.”

“Do you think they’ll try and rescue you?” Yiannis asked. James gulped.

“Depends who’s in charge now. If it’s…. Law… Bate Law… then probably not. He always wanted to take charge of the group. Me and him didn’t get along… and he was more violent than Ulric. With him in charge they’ll burn these buildings down even if I’m in one.” he admitted.

“Good to know” Yiannis said. “Right, let’s discuss tactics.” He said to Kail, motioning for them to leave.

“Wait!” James said. “Will you really let me live after all this?” he asked.

“Of course.” Yiannis responded. “Kail would never let me kill you anyway.”

James sighed in relief. Then he thought about the wording Yiannis had used. “Never”, he had said. He realised he’d been tricked again. Yiannis was never planning on killing him if he’d refused. He shouted profanities at them as they left, which was starting to become a habit of his.

“They all have horses.” Kail said.

“I think I know how we can even the odds. Besides, we’ll have spears, right?” Yiannis said. “Let’s go over a few ideas.”