“A good decision, sir,” the brigand leader said—he had not bothered to draw his own weapon, yet. “I think ye all should put yer weapons on the ground, if ye wish to live.” He could see Humphrey grinding his teeth in a deadly grimace, and the knight’s sword was still pointed at the leader’s chest. “We have no desire to harm ye,” he said with a dangerous smile, “but merely seek yer weapons and mounts.”

Humphrey did not believe the man at all, and was thinking quickly for an option to this situation, when someone on the edge of the clearing screamed. He quickly turned, as did everyone else, to see one of the thieves grab his stomach as blood began to pour from a large hole in his belly. This man was holding one of the crossbows, and as he dropped the weapon to hold in his guts, Humphrey took a quick step forward and drove his sword into the leader’s chest before he could react.

The man had a surprised expression on his face as Humphrey took another step and closed on the man, then pushed his sword into him up to the hilt. The knight grabbed hold of the dead thief’s jacket and using his sword as a lever, turned him around so his back faced the clearing, just as a quarrel from one of the crossbows slammed into the dead man’s back. Humphrey howled in triumph. He placed one foot against the leader’s chest and shoved him off his sword.

The band of thieves appeared momentarily stunned by this sudden change of events and Humphrey’s little group took full advantage of their surprise. Barker threw his axe at the closest bowman. It was a long throw with little time to aim properly, and the axe head only hit the man in his shoulder, but it was enough to spin him sideways and the quarrel from the bow flew harmlessly into the air. Bruce was on the man quickly and before he could draw his sword, the squire cut him down with a blow to his neck which was only stopped after slicing through several ribs.

Another thief thought better of standing to fight and jumped toward the horses with the intention of stealing one to escape. He was stopped quickly as Bastion reared up and brought his front hooves down on the frightened man and then trampled him to death. The third bowman fired wildly and then ran into the woods.

One of the thieves turned to flee into the forest, but was stopped cold when he was confronted by a young man holding a large round shield before him. With no option left to him, the man raised his sword and attacked, although he merely wanted to push this boy aside that he might disappear into the forest. Mydwyn easily blocked the overhead swing and pushed both the man’s sword and arm out of the way, exposing his entire front to attack. His spear flashed into and through the man’s body—he gasped in shock, his eyes wide open in surprise, as Mydwyn rotated the spear shaft a quarter turn and ripped the spear head from his body. The man fell to his knees before him and Mydwyn swung his shield down. Its hard edge caught the thief on the side of his head and cracked open his skull. He fell dead in the grass.

Humphrey saw the final blow of Mydwyn’s battle and looked around quickly to see if any other enemy was still present.

“The other two fled, Sir Knight,” Barker told him. “Should we seek them out?”

“Nay,” Humphrey said. “They will cause nae more harm to us.” He bent down and ripped a piece of cloth from the dead leader’s jacket and moved over to where Mydwyn stood as he wiped blood from his blade.