Age of Retribution Part III: Shards of Eternity

[Tyler294]

The man grinned; he now had what he needed. He proceeded to pluck the smokeroll from his mouth and smother it on the counter.

"Now."

[Tyler294]

Nightfall...

The trio only needed a couple of hours to reach their query, as the man-in-leather had already scouted the bandit camp earlier. During the time it took them to travel there, the trio's leader had identified himself as Tarek. The man from Alizaria was known as Wondu, while the mysterious woman was called Marlia. Now all three were observing the bandits from an olive tree grove near a desert oasis. The bandits had made camp in a clearing near the spring at the center of the oasis.

These bandits were led by another Alizarian man by the name of Alapo the Blue, whose desert garb was colored a distinctive shade of blue. Most of his men were also Alizarians, as facescarfs and turbans were their primary headgear. There were a total of a dozen of them in the camp...

[DeadJim]

"I'm assuming you have a plan." Marliea whispered.

[Tyler294]

"How many do each of you think you can handle at once?" Tarek asked the two.

[DeadJim]

Marliea shrugged, "Depends on how many you want kept alive."

[Tyler294]

Tarek turned his attention to Wondu and awaited his answer.

[Shawnex]

"From the way that I see it," Wondu started, "It may not be easy since we may be outnumbered by them and their weapons."

[Tyler294]

"Perhaps, but we have the element of surprise and we can easily divide them. Wondu, you can remain here in the tree grove and play your flute. The noise will draw some of them into the trees to investigate, then Marlia and you can ambush them when they arrive. They'll likely send more to assist the first ones, further weakening their forces in the camp. Then I can sneak around that ridge with my horse and attack Alapo directly."

Tarek motioned at a nearby ridge in the direction of the desert on the opposite side of the camp from where they were currently hiding. There were enough gullies and hills in this area that the three had been able to easily hide their horses a short distance away.

[DeadJim]

"Just be sure to stay out of my way." Marliea warned Wondu.

[Shawnex]

Wondu looked at Marlia with an annoyed looked. Then he turned to Tarek.

"You be careful, Tarek." he said, "The leader of the thieves can be hard to defeat."

[Tyler294]

"Just keep his men busy and I will deal with him." Tarek replied, before slipping away to go recover his horse.

[DeadJim]

"Oh, they'll be busy." Marliea smiled smugly as she positioned herself behind a tree.

[Shawnex]

Wondu had gotten to his position, so the thieves wouldn't see him. He took his packet-basket, (a basket with straps that go behind a persons back) pulled out his flute, and began to play a song. As he was playing, the cobra raised his head again.

"Five more minutes, please." he yawned.

[Tyler294]

Meanwhile, in the bandit camp, a couple of the thieves heard the sound of a wind instrument coming from the tree grove nearby.

"What's that?" one asked, "Sounds like a flute..."

"That's just the wind." a second bandit dismissed him.

"No, I heard it too." a third chimed-in.

"Don't just sit there talking about it!" Alapo snapped angrily, "Go get the source and bring him to me!"

The three thieves jumped to their feet and quickly ran to the tree grove, drawing their scimitars as they did.

[DeadJim]

As they passed by her tree, Marliea crossed her arms and drew her two short swords in one motion. She lunged towards one of the bandits with one blade, while preparing the other blade for defense.

[Tyler294]

The rear-most thief let-out a shriek of pain as he was impaled in the back. The other two whirled around upon hearing their comrade cry-out.

"Curse you!" the lead bandit snarled as he swing horizontally at Marlia's neck.

In the process of turning to face Marlia, the two had turned their backs to Wondu...

[Shawnex]

Wondu looked at the two thieves with their swords.

"Gentlemen." he announced to them, "May I present to you...the Cobra Attack!"

He played a tune which made the cobra turned his head to the thieves. He hissed at them violently and attacked one of the men while Wondu draws his sword and attacked the other.

[Tyler294]

The cobra successfully bit the man attacking Marlia in the shin, causing him to yelp as he swung wildly at the woman again.

The other thief managed to turn around and block Wondu's attack with his own blade.

[DeadJim]

Marliea avoided the bandit's attack and attempted to grab his attacking arm with her free arm (she had left her other sword in the first bandit). At the same time she lunged her second blade towards his chest. 

[Tyler294]

With his sword out of position and arm being held, the thief could do nothing to prevent himself from being run-through. Even had he not, he would be dead from the Cobra's poison in short-order anyway.

***

The sound of swordplay and death screams in the woods had caught the attention of the rest of the camp.

"They're being attacked!" one of the bandit's exclaimed.

"Oh, really? You think?" Alapo sneered.

"Yeah! Don't you hear the fighting in there?" the bandit replied.

"..." Alapo glared at the bandit a moment in annoyance, "Get in there and help them you idiots!"

Most of the rest of the thieves quickly sprang to their feet and rushed into the grove. Two remained behind to guard their leader, meaning Marlia and Wondu would seen be facing six more enemies...

***

As this was happening Wondu was still battling the last of the original three thieves that entered the grove before.

[Shawnex]

He then kicked his shin and then punched his face with his fist.

"Didn't see that coming?" he toddled.

He then looked up and saw more bandits coming towards him and Marlia.

"Oh dear."

[DeadJim]

"Now the fun begins." Marliea grinned as she removed and cleaned her swords from the bodies.

[Tyler294]

The band of thieves soon came face-to-face with the two.

"Hey, there's only two if them!" one laughed.

"Dis will be easy!" another agreed.

"Git 'em!" the first roared.

One immediately charged Marlia, making a massive over the head swing with his larger-than-average scimitar. Two more went after Wondu, one trying to stab him with a long-knife, the other preparing to strike if Wondu dodged to the right.

[DeadJim]

As his sword started it's descent, Marliea grabbed his left arm and used it to fling herself onto his back. In a kneeling position on his shoulders, she lunged one sword into the back of his skull, and the other through the side of his neck. Still holding the swords, she angled them to the side, turning his falling dead body towards the tree thieves who were standing back. Once the body hit the ground she looked up at them, and slowly removed her swords.

[Tyler294]

The three men hesitated a moment and looked back and forth between each-other.

"GAAYYAAAHH!!!" one suddenly belted-out, before charging straight on, swinging at a forty-five degree angle.

The other two followed, one on the left flank, the other on the right flank, each trying to stab or slash at her sides.

***

Meanwhile, Tarek had made his way around the ridge, carefully keeping himself out of the sight of the bandits. Now, just beyond the crest of the hill, he pulled out a lone gauntlet from a pouch on his horse. The gauntlet was basically a metal arm bracer, woven into a leather glove with iron reinforcement in the fingers. Atop the metal bracer were five short, cylinder-shaped containers, all solidly mounted to the bracer but with a small locking system allowing the containers to be opened. There was a slight rattle of something solid within one of them.

After pulling it over his hand and strapping it in, he flexed his fingers a bit to make sure everything was set correctly. That done, he mounted his horse and drew forth his sword. He then began to slowly ride up to the top of the ridge...