I had just about finished my dinner when I was near-simultaneously informed both that the bandits were showing signs that they were about to head out and that our reinforcements had arrived. The addition of eight archers and the same number of men at arms to the force that was about to ambush the bandits was welcomed. As to the indications that the bandits might soon be moving out well, there was no telling how long it might take for them to do so.
It could be the case that they were simply sent out an advanced party and the rest wouldn’t move out until later. If that was the case then Erdal and I would have to decide whether or not to let them go and leave them for Kincarn to deal with or take them out ourselves and then be forced to assault the camp without a full picture of it.
Thankfully we never had to make that decision as the bandit moved out in force, they may have left a few of their weaker members behind to guard the camp but if so they should be easy to take care of once the main force was dealt with.
We knew that once they left the camp they could do one of four things:
They could head straight across the border.
They could go to the left in the direction of the mountains and then cross the border at some point.
They could go to the right in the direction of the river and then cross the border at some point.
Or they could head slightly further into Membe and then move parallel to the border in either direction and then cross it at any point.
The last seemed unlikely as did the second but the other two seemed equally likely. I thought they would go straight ahead but Erdal was of the option that they would head left but we were prepared for all eventualities even if it was to differing degrees.
In the end, thirty-eight bandits exited the tunnel that led to their camp and headed in the direction of the border just as I suspected they would. More than half of them, twenty to be exact carried bows across one or other of their shoulders, and of the other bandits, one was clearly their leader. This was not just because unlike most of the others all the armor he was wearing matched and was of much better quality, no what set him apart from the rest was his military bearing. It was obvious to anyone even slightly in the know that at one point or another he had been a soldier or at least a guard for someone or other.
Why exactly he turned to a life of banditry was unknown but generally, men such as him were let go by their employer either because of drink, theft, or some similar reason. No matter the reason he was here and thus had to die first since with him out of the picture the bandits would become less organized and thus less able to inflict casualties on Amondo’s men. This task was given to William Kohult the newly appointed head archer of Membe who upon independently identifying the bandit chief immediately targeted him for death and waited for the signal to begin the battle.
Once he heard the signal, the mating call of the Bucoli, a bird not native to the area he immediately nocked an arrow, pulled back his bowstring, lined up his target, and then released it. He was not alone in doing so, sixteen other members of the ambush party were equipped with bows. There were twelve other professional archers, the bowyer, Amondo’s squire, and two of the light cavalrymen.
Of these sixteen others, thirteen were in position to fire upon the bandits when the signal was given, and they fired thirteen arrows at eleven different bow-carrying bandits. All but two of them hit their intended target, Amondo’s squire for whom it was his first time firing an arrow at a human target actual hit a bandit other than the one he was aiming at, will not mention who it was that missed entirely but luckily his target was one that had been targeted by multiple archers.
Williem managed to hit the bandit leader right between the eyes and he was already as good as dead but his follow-up arrow made sure of that. Of the other eleven bandits hit one received only a flesh wound, five were out of the fight entirely, another wouldn’t be capable of firing an arrow for a while even if he survived and his side was victorious and the remaining four were still in the fight at least for a little while longer.
The Membe archers were able to get off another round of arrows before the bandits even began to respond, this time taking five bandits out of the fight including all but the one who had received a flesh wound the first time around. It wasn’t until after the third flight of arrows killed or incapacitated four others that a single bandit had a bow in his arms and it was after another eight of his fellow bandits, two of whom carried bows met the same fate that he spotted one of those firing at them. By the time he returned fire, incidentally, missing his target nearly all the bandits with bows were out of the picture. He didn’t get a chance to fire another arrow, williem saw to that, nor did the remaining two bandit archers.
By that time only seven of the bandits were in any shape to but up any kind of a fight when they were set apron by the rest of Amondo’s force, himself included, and in the end, all but one of the bandits were either dead, dying or wounded. How many of them would be alive enough to hang when the time came was anybody’s guess?
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