Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 22 Defensive Protection.

“I told you you were a bad influence on him.” Lenna commented from the group’s place just out of sight of the road that led from Safeharbor to the dwarven fortress. Lenny had just finished explaining his plan of attack to Isaac and Lenna.

“It does sound like a plan I would come up with.” Isaac wholeheartedly agreed.

“I also, may have, kind of-” Lenny began.

“Out with it.” Lenna said, waving him on. The wagon train leaving Safeharbor was getting closer and closer to their position.

“I confronted Duncan and told him to ship all of the slaves out at once otherwise I was going to go get whatever ones he hadn’t.” Lenny confessed in a deluge of words and a single breath. “I just gave him a good scare and made sure he would actually follow through with our plan.”

“You did what!?” Isaac demanded. “What if he trapped the wagons instead of going along with what you told him?”

“That’s why I am offering to do it this way.” Lenny insisted. “If it’s just loaded with a bunch more guards than usual it’s no big deal but if he has some anti-magic bomb or something then I’ll be the only one hit by it.”

Isaac ran his hand down his face. “Fine.” He acquiesced. “Do it now.” He ordered and settled in to wait.

Lenny looked a bit bashful as he asked: “Can you, maybe, make me invisible?”

Isaac gave him a flat look but did as Lenny asked. “Now go.” He ordered again and the rogue-warrior took off in a run. “Is an anti-magic bomb a real thing?” Isaac asked Lenna who shrugged.

“I have no idea.” She replied. “In my experience, elves are more dedicated to an idea or study than humans but humans are more creative. Take that as you will.”

Isaac frowned. “That kid better not get himself blown up because he went off script.”

—

Kenten Kimberson was a low level adventurer from Sapphirestone who had escorted a caravan into Safeharbor for easy coin. When he was approached with a request to escort another caravan out of Safeharbor on the day of the festival he wasn’t sure if he would take it. When they offered double the usual rate for someone of his level he couldn’t say no. Sapphirestone had plenty of festivals and those festivals had the sun-kissed beauties of southwestern Altia walking about instead of sunstarved dwarves.

Kenten sat in the lead wagon right next to the driver with his crossbow on his lap and his greatsword resting behind him just inside the wagon. His chainmail was in the process of slowly being replaced by plate armor so at present his biceps and thighs were exposed and he only had an open face helmet but it had proved to be more than enough against any wild animals they came across. Suddenly something caught him by surprise. It took him a moment to truly realize what it was. “Fog.” He said aloud. The man next to him suddenly started to look extremely nervous. “It’s two hours before noon right?” He asked the wagon driver.

The wagon driver nodded. “Yes. I think we should hurry up.” He said while shifting in his seat.

Kenten gestured towards the rapidly disappearing road. “Through that?” he asked and shook his head. Kenten stood up and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Prepare for contact!” He called out loud enough that he was sure the soldiers at the dwarven fortress would have heard him. It was unlikely that the guards at Safeharbor heard them over the clamoring of the festival but the dwarves had always taken their jobs seriously. He was sure that they would have reinforcements soon enough. What struck Kenten as weird was the area in which the ambush was happening. They were far too close to two locations full of reinforcements for any bandits worth owning something like a Cloud in a Bottle to risk robbing them.

Disembodied laughter started rolling from just ahead of them and the wagon driver pulled the wagon to a halt. The fog was too thick for them to be sure that they were even still on the road. “Contact?” A young man’s voice full of humor and question asked. “That is a word for it. Now, I believe you have something you shouldn’t. A few somethings, actually, a few more people than you should.” A man clad in rags over leather armor wearing a white mask with an exaggerated smile across it sauntered into view. He had a pair of exquisite curved swords that glinted in the stifled torchlight.

“One on me!” Kenten called out to the rest of the caravan. “Sound off!” He was met by a chorus of names from the rest of the caravan but none mentioned anything about more robbers. Kenten watched as the figure in front of them waited patiently without a care in the world and it made him nervous. “What do you want?” He asked the masked stranger.

“Slaves.” The masked man replied with a grin in his voice. “Oh! But not you of course. The ones you have stashed away.” He giggled out and started sauntering his way over to them. “Let the slaves out into the fog and I won’t take any of you instead.” He threatened them jovially.

Kenten swallowed hard under the pressure and turned to look at the driver who had turned deathly pale. “What is he saying about slaves?” Kenten demanded. “You said it was just potions and ingredients.” He snapped at the driver.

“He-he’s lying to you.” The driver replied. “D-Do something about him! It’s what we are paying you for!” At that moment the other caravan guards and some of the other wagon drivers approached up the sides of their wagon and arrayed themselves towards the masked man.

“Oh goodie!” The masked man exclaimed. “You know, Phantoms aren’t usually in the presence of more than one person at a time but I made an exception today. It makes me so happy that you all decided to show up together.” He sighed dramatically and dusted his knee pad off with the flat of one of his swords. “But unfortunately I am afraid that only one of you is allowed to fight me at a time.”

—

Lenny’s face paled even as he kept up the act. He was not expecting seventeen armed and armored men to be arranged against him. There were supposed to be twelve members of Duncan’s men but even among them he doubted that all of them would be combat ready and even if they were he doubted that they would all come to meet him at the same time through the dense fog. He could not have been more wrong. “Hey, boss, a little help here?” He whispered under his breath. “This may have gotten a bit out of hand.” He added quietly before he raised his swords into the air. “Now, who is first?” He said with as much of a grin in his voice as he could muster.

—

Isaac sighed deeply from his position next to Lenny. He originally wasn’t going to join the rogue-warrior but now he was glad that he had. Lenna and Kahtesh were left just out of sight and it was time for everything to come to head. Or at least it would be as soon as the small army arrayed in front of Lenny decided to make a move. Lenny had asked for help and help he would get, only if it looked like he actually needed it though.

—

Kenten held up a hand. “Hold!” He commanded. “Jess, Benny, and John, check every inch of the wagons for secret compartments and search every expanded storage for slaves. If it turns out that we are carrying slaves this job is finished.” He ordered the makeshift team he was a part of. The three looked hesitant at first but then moved to do as he had instructed. He was the de facto leader only because he had completed one more caravan job than Jess who had completed six of her own.

“What are you doing?!” The lead wagon driver exclaimed. “Kill him!” He ordered and pointed at the masked man who suddenly burst into raucous laughter. Everyone halted at the sudden noise.

“You can’t even kill a phantom with steel swords.” He laughed. “What are you going to do against the Phantom with them?”

The small army of black spider armor clad warriors moved forwards and fanned out a bit as they did so. “What are you doing?” Kenten snapped. “Get back in line. Guard the wagons in case he had companions.”

The lead wagon driver scoffed. “Who do you think you are ordering around? If you aren’t going to help then you aren’t getting paid.” He threatened Kenten.

“If I am not sure that you aren’t actually carrying slaves then the most you can expect out of me is defensive protection.” Kenten retorted simply. “Now, everyone just stay calm until the search has been completed.” As if his words were the exact opposite of what he had said, all chaos broke loose as soon as he had spoken the final syllable. Unfortunately for Kenten he wasn’t really the one in charge of the caravan and its defense. No, the man next to him was, Kenten had always just been along for the ride. Hopefully it would be a ride that he could walk away from but the feeling he was getting from the black armored warriors, the man next to him, and the masked man across from them, brought far too much doubt into his mind for his liking.