Dragon Knights Fan Fiction ❯ Thatz's Quest for Food ❯ Bandit Attack! ( Chapter 3 )
A peaceful camp, where the knights have bunked, is assaulted by a group of bandits. Shock! Horror! Aieee!
Anime/Manga: Dragon Knights Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 07.03.2006 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 255 | Status: Work In Progress
Gah, hopefully Rath will be easier on me when I go back to him. I hope the next update doesn't take as long.
Anyhow here's the second (usually third, but hopefully it should make no difference when you're reading it) part of the set piece.
Ruela wore a stunning necklace. Its sparkle was far beyond her family's means and Thatz guessed that it was a gift from an admirer and that the girl had no idea of its true value. Ruela herself had something about her. She was bowlegged and her teeth grew in three separate directions, but every time she smiled, Thatz's stomach fluttered. It was both horribly uncomfortable and incredibly wonderful. Thatz felt that way every time he thought about robbing the Dragonlord blind.
The two of them walked easily alongside her family's wagon, while her little sister ran back and forth between their neighbours. The wagon's slow and careful pace meant that most of the other wagoneers had passed them out and they were now holding up the last few in the train at one of the narrower parts of the road. A green-looking Rune had clambered aboard at Draqueen and the family were far too polite to kick him out and make him walk. Thatz had thought of many choice remarks to deliver when he finally showed his face.
The one good thing that came out of the wagon's slow progress, was that Thatz had a chance to scope out all of the others and to learn a little more about Ruela.
"Dad lost his job and mum has family in Luwa, so we're moving out there. Mum reckons that one of her brothers will employ him and she wrote a letter a month ago, explaining things." She paused, looking around before hitting Thatz for the sympathy vote. "I mean, can you believe it? They've packed up the whole family and we're travelling across country!"
"I dunno," said Thatz. "I used to see Draqueen as the world, but I've travelled so much now, that the thought of seeing one new town is really exciting."
"Oh it's exciting," said Ruela, "but at the same time, it hurts to think about it." She rubbed her stomach before saying, "My stomach turns over and over."
"You're homesick," laughed Thatz. "That'll go after your first good meal. Trust me."
She smiled bravely, but continued to clutch her stomach as they chatted on. Ruela's little sister, Marcy, flitted back and forth to them from other interests and by the time the caravan stopped for the night, Thatz knew almost everything about Ruela and was ready to stretch his wings. He bade her goodnight once her family had settled into the campsite and went on the prowl.
Even after he'd started working for the Dragonlord, Thatz had kept up his thiefly habits. He'd attempted to be honourable and a credit to his employer and insisted that scoping out his environment in a surreptitious manner was an important part of how he kept safe. Rath may be able to kill everything and Rune could whine his way out of any problem, but Thatz avoided trouble where possible and always had three escape routes and several hidey-holes, no matter where he was.
Still, those habits came with other habits and when he wasn't collared following the disappearance of five small and valuable trinkets, Thatz stopped lying to himself and pursued a sideline in petty crime. He justified it by considering that he needed to keep a hand in, just in case the Dragon Knight job went sour.
Thatz stretched in the shadows: although he was one of the last to arrive, there were still plenty jostling for camping space. Horses were being hobbled, wagons staked down and firewood collected. Sparks shone in the distance as the early-arrivers put flint to steel. "Rath would be able to make an extra penny or two if he put himself out a bit," he muttered, shivering in the cold air.
He sauntered through the glade, chatting to guards and drivers and sneaking peeks at their goods when he thought that no-one would notice. The important thing was not to draw attention to himself and he succeeded. It turned out that the carts with the heaviest loads were full of flour and grain, which are only profitable when sold in bulk. The silk merchant's caravan was heavily guarded and his goods too difficult to slip away with. It looked like it was going to be a bad night, until Thatz spotted Hamilton, the portly head of the train, stashing a small box inside his wagon.
"Oh ho," he muttered, moving swiftly past. "What can that be?"
By the time Thatz had completed his first pass, some of the fires had taken and on his next set of rounds, he stopped by the cooking pots and sampled the delights therein. A brief taste from each chef's spoon was enough for Thatz to choose who to befriend and who to make excuses to and move past. Some of the cooks were generous and as well as a hearty bowl of what everyone else was having, food was pressed on him for the rest of his party. He munched on the snacks that he'd gleaned before wending his way back to the other dragons and bedding down for the night.
His finely honed senses - the ones that could detect an unguarded purse at five hundred yards - woke him up. The confused yells and screams had also roused Rune and Rath, but they were groggy, blinking in the campfire light and rubbing their eyes, even as he rolled to his feet and drew his sword.
"I'll find out what's going on," he said, melding into the shadows and leaving them behind.
Darkness is the thief's friend and Thatz used it. He snuck past frightened merchants, heading for the centre of the clamour, when the low fires blazed up, exposing him to the full gaze of the bandits assaulting the caravan. He threw a knife at one surprised attacker, whose heavy scarf was unable to absorb the steel and ducked behind a wagon, heart beating madly. He pushed on, until a comforting blanket of shadow descended again and he was able to approach Hamilton's wagon from another angle.
He found the head of the wagon train slumped beside his cart, his body still warm, but un-moving. He closed the fat man's eyes, moving his lips in an unuttered prayer, before heaving himself into the wagon. The cloth tunnel seemed to amplify the sounds outside and he heard feet running past: frantic footsteps, uneven shuffles and measured treads. Safe from view, Thatz turned his attention to the wagon's interior. Boxes had been stacked at the rear of the vehicle to make room for a simple bedroll. It now lay in a heap, disconcerting when viewed beside neatly folded clothing, ordered books and the precisely stacked boxes.
The thief knelt down beside it and began running his fingers lightly over the wooden planks that formed the floor of the wagon. Again and again he brushed the wood, a frown deepening on his brow. He finally found something, a slightly different texture indicating an area that was rubbed or removed more often than its neighbours. He stared at it for a while, then began to press and prod odd patches of wood nearby. Finally, he extracted long, thin, metal needles with different shaped hooks on the end and slid them into the gap between the boards. He worked them delicately and patiently and was rewarded with a low click and the section of wood popping up. It didn't jut out enough to lever it out and Thatz pushed it back into place when he attached a suction cup. A moment's work popped it again and Thatz removed the wooden section, a gleeful grin on his face as he peered into the new-born hole.
His unrepentant curse echoed back in his face and rang in his ears.
"Why pay good money for a safe place to stash your loot, if you remove it all at the first sign of trouble?" he whined, throwing the wood back at the hollow. "Moron!"
He flopped down. Just then a thin blade sliced through the cloth tunnel, neatly decapitating his flickering shadow, but missing Thatz by inches. He made no noise this time, but rolled softly to his left and eased his sword from its scabbard. A head poked through the hole in the canvas and Thatz stabbed it square in the eye. The bandit made a gurgling cry and slumped down. Thatz was gone before the body stopped moving.
He slid through the clamour, somehow managing not to get caught up in one of the running battles, although he did take the opportunity to stab from dark safety whenever possible. He caught sight of a tall figure, hidden mostly by the shadows and watched him flit through the battlefield, avoiding nearly as many crazed fights as Thatz did. Oho, thought the thief. Looks like Mr. Stealthy has accomplished his mission and is trying to escape. He set off after the dark figure.
The figure was hard to track and Thatz thought that he'd lost him once or twice, but finally caught a glimpse of something slipping out of the clearing and raced after it.
A few steps into the trees and the sound of battle muted. You could almost imagine that there was a party going on nearby, with the excited squeals of children and chittering of adults. Almost. Shadows moved to either side and Thatz hunkered down and slithered into the bushes. Conversation drifted through the branches and Thatz crawled closer, hoping for a good view.
Through the leaves he saw Tetheus, the Black Dragon Officer, talking with arms outstretched, to another figure. Thatz moved some twigs out of the way in order to see better, but Tetheus shot a piercing glare in his direction and Thatz let them be. His heart thumped faster, but Tetheus soon turned back to his friend.
"You seek an assignation with the mistress," said an exotic, husky voice. "I can't allow that. My Lord has ordered me to stop you."
Thatz stuffed his hand into his mouth to keep his guffaws inside. He started shaking, then spasms wracked his body and he crawled away, leaving Tetheus to his rendezvous.
He met few bandits on the way back - the frenzy of the attack sated with the theft of Hamilton's box, no doubt. He caught up with Rath, who was severely winded and being comforted by Ruela. He gave her a curt nod and dragged Rath away, teasing him with the gossip, but refusing to tell until his audience included Rune.
They found him surrounded by well-wishers, safely ensconced inside a barricaded circle. He fussed over Rath as soon as they arrived, who gamely tried to brush him off. Thatz cooled his heels, as the glow of healing suffused Rath.
"Give off, Rune," snapped the Fire Knight, slapping his hands away. "Look at Thatz."
"Thatz is fine," replied Rune, without even checking.
"You'll never guess what I heard!" spilled Thatz, unable to keep it in any longer. "Wonder where Tetheus is?" He mimed looking around.
Rath frowned and Rune sighed, not playing along.
"He's meeting a girl!" continued Thatz, in full swing. "Tetheus! A girl!"
Rune spluttered, his eyes bulging out. Rath froze, incrementally turning to the left, although he was the first to speak. "I didn't think he was the type."
"I thought he was asexual," said Rune.
They looked at each other and for some reason Rune started to laugh, tears running down his face. Rath joined in and Thatz watched them with a rueful smile. "Come on," he said. "Let's get back to sleep. There's still a few hours until daylight."
And so they crawled back into their beds while the camp bustled around them.
What a delay, my apologies. I also don't know when Rath's side will be completed.
There is a fourth thread in this trilogy. There wasn't supposed to be originally, but when I started plotting this bit out in my head, I realised that I'd have to figure out what Tetheus was up to. It all kinda came together and linked up. I've written this chapter from his eyes too, but I don't know if I'll post it up. Certainly not until these three quests have finished, if I do. I wonder if anyone's figured what what's really happened here? Maybe I'll finish off Tetheus's Quest for Meaning if anyone has a decent stab at it.
Only another 7 in total now. Phew.