“SHIT,” JADE SAID.
He scrambled forward as Cat pulled back on the reins. Emily leaned to one side to allow him to pass, one hand dropping to her dagger. She wasn’t expected to fight openly, not if they ran into trouble, but she would be damned if she made herself look defenseless. She’d been in enough bad places to know that one could avoid a fight by looking as though one was ready to fight.
Jade jumped down to the cobblestones. “There’s a barricade across the road. It looks to have been hastily established…”
Someone shouted in alarm. Emily tensed, drawing the dagger, as a small army of men swarmed in from both sides of the road. Cat jumped down and landed next to Jade, drawing his sword in one smooth motion. Emily ducked back into the wagon, hastily grabbing her sword. She wasn’t the most skilled swordswoman in the world, but she knew how to use the blade. The men didn’t look friendly, she thought as she hurried to the back and jumped down to the ground. They were scruffy, carrying makeshift weapons and a handful of swords that had seen better days. Bandits, almost certainly. Any nobleman who wanted to search the convoy would have ordered them to stop and then resorted to violence.
A dark-eyed man came at her, face alight with grim anticipation. He carried a sword, but it was obvious he didn’t know how to use it. Sergeant Miles would have kicked him out of class, literally, for being a damned fool. Emily side-stepped his jab and swung her blade, cutting off his hand in a shower of blood. He stared at her in horror as his sword crashed to the ground, then threw himself forward. Emily brought up her sword, impaling him on the blade, then jumped back to pull it back out of him as his legs tottered and collapsed. She felt sick. She’d killed before–she knew she’d killed before–but it was the first time she’d killed a man with a blade.
But there was no time for that now. She had to help the others, quickly.
Law and order really has broken down, she thought, as she jumped over the body and hurried to where Jade and Cat were battling other bandits with brutal efficiency. The bandits wouldn’t have been able to get so close to the roads if the shire reeves and sheriffs were doing their duty.
Another man came at her, waving a sword that had definitely seen better days. He clearly had at least some training, although it looked to have been informal. Emily blocked his first swipe, gritting her teeth at the force of the blow. The man was strong enough to make up for his weaknesses, she noted as she parried a second blow. His defense was weak, but he was clearly not inclined to be put on the defensive. She glanced at Cat as he came into her field of vision, then allowed herself to look vulnerable. The bandit took the bait, overextending himself as he tried to break through her defenses. A moment later, Cat put a blade in his back. He tumbled to the ground and lay still.
“Thanks,” Emily said.
“Think nothing of it,” Cat told her. He was grinning from ear to ear, sweat shining on his forehead as he searched for more targets. “This is fun.”
“….Right,” Emily said, privately thinking it was no such thing. “But there are a lot of them.”
Jade was exchanging blows with one of the older bandits, their feet stamping on the cobblestones as each thrust and parried in a desperate bid to get through the other’s defenses first. Emily hesitated, unsure what to do, but Cat had no such doubts. He made a hooting sound, distracting the bandit for a second. It was long enough to let Jade knock the bandit’s sword aside and stab his blade into the man’s throat.
“Better move,” Jade said, jabbing a thumb towards the rest of the convoy. “They need help.”
Emily nodded and followed Jade and Cat, watching their backs as they threw themselves into the fray. It was clear that the bandits hadn’t expected serious resistance, although they’d come loaded for bear. They might have won by now if Jade and Cat hadn’t accompanied the convoy. The two men sliced through bandits one by one; some too young to know how to fight trained men, others old enough to give them a challenge. And then, as if a signal had been given, the remaining bandits broke and ran.
“Check the wagons and do a head count,” Jade ordered, harshly. “Make sure they didn’t take anyone with them.”
The merchants hurried to obey. Emily’s lips twitched, unsure if it was the display of fighting prowess or the blood dripping from Jade’s sword that encouraged them to hurry. She moved up behind Jade, grimly aware of Linder staring at the three of them in horror. Emily had no idea if she’d be attracted to Jade any longer or not, but she might take the mercenary lifestyle a great deal more seriously after this. She’d seen Emily gut a man as though he were a trout.
Unless she missed that, Emily thought. She had no idea if Linder had been preparing to fight or not. She would have had no choice, unless she wanted to be dragged off and raped. She might have seen everything or nothing.
“Everyone is accounted for,” Coffman said. He was the leader of the convoy, or at least the closest thing the convoy had to a leader. “Ollie is dead.”
“Wrap up the body and stow it in a cart,” Jade ordered. “The rest of you, help me get the barricade out of the way.”
He looked the barricade up and down, then started to push the tree trunks and branches off the road. It was cunningly designed, Emily had to admit; it looked as though it would be difficult to move without a dozen strong men or magic, but a good push in the right place would be enough to get it moving. She guessed the bandits had done it before. They’d probably spotted the convoy a few miles back and set up the ambush. Hopefully, the dead bodies would be enough to convince the survivors to go elsewhere.
“Emily, check the bodies,” Jade said. “Cat, go with her.”
Emily nodded and hurried to the nearest. It felt wrong to touch a dead man, but she had no choice. He was clearly a peasant, judging from his clothes; the lack of anything in his pockets, save for a small packet of tobacco, confirmed it. The remainder of the bodies were similar, apart from one man who was probably a former soldier. He didn’t seem to have drilled his little band in anything beyond basic tactics.
“They probably got forced off the land,” she mused, as they searched the final body. “And they took to banditry to keep themselves alive.”
“That may be true,” Cat said, briskly. “But does that excuse their crimes?”
Emily shook her head. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, she was starting to shake. The men she’d killed wouldn’t have posed any threat if she’d been able to use magic. She would have had no difficulty in freezing them in their tracks, or turning them into toads, or doing something else that would have rendered them harmless. But she’d had to kill them instead…they’d been bad people, she knew they’d been bad people, but they’d had to die. She didn’t feel comfortable about it. She had never grown used to how cheap life was on the Nameless World and she hoped she never would.
“Mount up,” Jade called. “We have to move!”
Emily jumped into the wagon, returned her sword to its resting place and then sat beside Cat as the convoy rumbled back into life. Jade was at the front vehicle, no doubt pushing the driver to go as fast as he dared. The bandits had been given a nasty surprise, but it wouldn’t be long before they got over it. They wouldn’t want the convoy to get away. If nothing else, it would reveal their existence to the authorities.