Raza and her group continues up the trail to the budding town they plan to guard. The refugees they were sent to escort dead, they have no choice but to move on without them, but they did retrieve a cart to travel a bit easier.
Partway there the Ranger notices something and tells the group to stop. He looks up the trail then down off to the side and then returns saying,
"The bandits are ahead."
"What!? But back at the battleground you said they ran to the forests?" Responds the Rogue.
"I did, but one of them had very distinct footprints and that one realigned with our path. They can't be more than a half hour ahead of us. They number around a dozen, not counting the weird footprints."
"What's so weird about this guy's feet?" Asks the Sorcerer. The ranger lowers his had and tries to collect his thoughts.
"It's like his boots are a collection of multiple kinds of material, and they are frilled as well, with bits of materiel hanging from the cuff. It's common among people with fur boots, but it is sloppy, uneven, just kinda strange." Raza walks forward and reaches up to the elf's shoulder.
"Good work. This won't take long." Raza begins to walk forward, but the Barbarian steps in her way.
"Hold on, you're just going to lead us in and fight, you saw what these people did."
Raza looks up to the woman with a defiant eye and says,"First, the day a savage gives me advice in tactics is that day that I slit my own throat. Second, I never said we were going, I am going."
"Are you insane!? They killed an entire village for no reason, they will kill you on the spot!" Says the Sorcerer. Raza turns to the Barbarian and says,
"You heard him, I'll die. I figure that is what you want, still gonna stop me?"
The Barbarian stands to the side and Raza walks by. As the rest of the group beings to walk forward, but Raza motions for them to stop.
"I'll handle this, trust me, the rest of you will just interfere." And that is the last thing Raza said before she picked up her pace and ran ahead of the group.
After an hour of moving along the trail Raza spots a small caravan of people dressed up in dirty leather armor, she clinks her double sided sword against her sword breaker dagger to get the groups attention.
Even after running for an hour straight Raza's training let her catch her breath on the short stroll back over to the group.
"What do you want girlie?" Says one of the 12 men who exit their carts and start moving toward Raza. She examines each of the boots that they wear and besides the third bandit from the left having laughably small feet, they all looked normal.
"I'm not here for you guys, I'm here to talk to your boss."
"You want to talk with me?" Says a rough manly voice from the back of one of the carts.
Out of the back of the cart leaps a hulk of a man, standing around 7 feet tall covered head to toe in a mishmash of cloth, leather, metal bits, and layers of fur. It looks like being in the outfit would make a man sweat within seconds, but this man walks like he is perfectly comfortable.
His face looks wild, with bits of brown hair poking out of his horrid clattered material helm, and he walks like a monster more than a man, with a giant greatsword gripped in his hand.
"My name is Raza Lockter, mercenary leader of the Wings. I have come to Parley." Says Raza standing firm. The man laughs a strong laugh that pierces his men to the core, but does little more to Raza than make her blink.
"Do I look the sort to Parley!?"
"No, you look the sort to murder, pillage, and maim, but I stand by my question. I wish to have you answer questions about you and your men regarding the dead refugee villagers to the south."
At that the man's eyes focus in on Raza and he walks over to her, kneeling down to meet her eyes.
"Well well, the bird's done her homework. Well, Raza was it? Give me one good reason that I should Parley."
"I'll give you three!" Says Raza indignantly pressing forward into the man's face, making him recoil back.
"First because I will not run. I've seen plenty of bandits kill plenty of villages and from how splayed and scattered the dead were with wounds in their backs, I think you are the sort who gets off on people fleeing and letting you chase. You hunt for fear, and I have none."
"Second I am not affiliated with the kingdom. With how efficient you left with none left alive save for one hidden elf that you missed, I think that you were given a job to attack those people of the kingdom, and I do not fit that bill."
"And third you don't get a say in it, because to lead a group as capable as the one who killed those people would take leadership, experience, and planning. Meanwhile you look like you are just simply a brute, meaning you have a boss who has a brain. Meaning your boss would want you to keep someone as involved aand influential as a Merc leader alive to meet with himself."
The man is taken aback by Raza's words, as everything she said was true. The man grimaces then walks back to his cart and takes out a crate. He places the crate on the ground and sits on it.
"Fine, we can Parley."
Raza walks forward to talk with the man.
"Firstly, what should I call you?"
"My name is the Tatterer to those who've heard of me." says the man, motioning to his disheveled armor.
"Alright then, who is your leader?"
"Me brother. He tells me where to take our men and I get to go wild, he doesn't tell me more than I need to know."
"Why are you attacking the settlers?"
"They're in our territory. We're just protectin our land."
Raza turns and begins to walk back down the path without saying a word to the Tatterer. Then suddenly the Tatterer rises.
"Hold it there bird. That's it?"
"Yes I have what I need."
"Well I got a question for you bird. Why do you care what happens to some doomed town?"
Raza turns, gripping her sword. She knows that he just called her bluff. Unfortunately she refused to lie, as her code would contradict lying to an adversary.
"I was hired to guard the settlers by the kingdom."
The Tatterer smiles and haunches forward. With each statement taking another step and noticing Raza's worry come clear.
"So you are with the kingdom. And my brother said that I can kill as many guards as I'd like."
Raza shakes as the the hulking man raises his sword and Raza grips her double blade.
"And from the looks of it you do feel that fear that I supposedly love."
"It's not fear... It's excitement!"
Raza leaps up into the man and before he can reach she punches him in the nose, following up and over him into a flip. Raza had fought plenty of bruisers in her time, and as long as she could out pace them, she could aim for their vitals. Knowing that, she swiped with her blade right at the nape of his spine, hoping to kill him in a single slice.
Unfortunately the Tattered armor across his body leaped and stretched it's material to intercept and blunt Raza's attack, making the slice much too weak. Raza thinking that the Tatterer was to die was in shock, and didn't see the massive man's back hand coming at her. She was struck and flung back with four more cracked ribs than she started with.
The Tatterer screamed and charged at the little bird woman with a big overhand swing coming at her. Raza knew that she couldn't block the strike, so she would instead use it to strike back. As the blade comes down Raza twirls taking the blade on one half of her double blade, forcing it down and away.
However Raza set the second blade to act as a lever and when the first blade was forced down, her second blade sprang up to fly into the Tatterer's face, another fatal strike. Just like her strike before the armor worn by the Tatterer reacted and blunted the strike, only leaving a flesh wound across the large man's cheek.
Anticipating another immediate retaliation, Raza lept back and finally saw the impact of the sword on the ground, and shuddered. The impact of the blade left more than a slash on the ground, but it left a miniature crater. Raza figured that after a single strike from that sword, and she would be put on death's door.
"You aren't that bad girl, you hit pretty good for a tiny thing." Says the Tatterer. rubbing his cheek where his new wound was placed.
"Boss! Incoming!" Shouts one of the bandits pointing down the path at Raza's group closing in.
The Tatterer curses under his breath then him and his men get back into their carts.
"For now you live, but I'll be back for you Raza Lockter."
The bandits take off and Raza stands firm, at least until they are out of sight, then she crumbles down and holds her ribs. Chakan is the first to get to her, and tries to support her onto the cart.
"He was impressive, let me tell you Chakan, you've got some competition, If I met him before you, then he'd be Raze's father."
"Shut up and get in the cart!" Shouts the Barbarian.
Once in the cart one of her Tengu sits by her, she turns to them and says, "I need you to go back to Sarin and gather the tribe, We will not lose to these bandits a second time."
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