บท 90: Bandit Raid
//Sorry for the late chapter//
Will stepped out of the carriage. Looking around the carriage, Will saw a group of over 20 men. There also looked to be at least one mage and one healer.
"Greetings, Sir. William vont Ballard, we'd like a moment of your time," said the man Will presumed to be the leader.
"And who might you be?" Will asked politely.
"I'm Captain Wade Dillinger, leader of this here crew. And we hoped you might feel inclined to part with some money.
"Why would I give money to the man who shoot my footman with an arrow?" Will asked.
"I merely did that to get your attention. I'm sure your sister Rebecca, or Elizabeth could heal him no problem," Captain Wade Dillinger said.
Will looked at the footman, he was right Elizabeth was already on the ground healing the injured man. Rebecca remained in the carriage, Will noticed she looked shocked and scared. Will also noticed Elder Thaddeus remained asleep, although Archimedes was nowhere to be seen.
However, Will was sure Elder Thaddeus was not sleeping and he had probably already cast a barrier formation over the carriage. Seeing his master asleep Will, knew this was a test of some kind.
"Shall we fight then? I'm confident my master has already cast a formation over the carriage?" Will said confidently in the outcome.
"If Grandmaster Thaddeus, had already cast a barrier formation, then why was the arrow able to hit your footman?" the bandit captain asked.
Will had not thought of that before, but he continued to bluff, "Formations spells are locational, you cannot cast a formation of moving carriage?"
The captain looked at his mage, who shrugged his soldiers.
"Hey you, fire an arrow!" the captain said. When money was a high-stakes game, and clearly Wade Dillinger was betting everything attacking a cadet and Grandmaster.
Thankfully, the arrow bounced over a barrier protecting the carriage. Whew, at least Elder Thaddeus was able to do him this favor. He knew the Elder Thaddeus would protect the other, this was only a test for Will after all.
Knowing that everyone was self, Will cast [iron body] and unsheathed his sword. Immediately, he cast [earthen dome] over the mage and sent [earth spikes] to the traped caster and healer.
Will ran to the nearest bandits and killed two with his sword. Channeling his magic with his sword he cast [quicksand] and [entangle] on two groups of archers.
Five bandits ran to Will brandishing their swords, Will parried their swords, and the cast [rock wall] stopping another group of bandits rushing to him.
"Stop, stop, stop!" yelled the bandit captain.
"You made a mess Baronet vont Ballard. I only brought a few men to threaten you, but in five minutes you were able to injure all 20. But now, I have to get mean, and I don't play fair. The other carriage, that belongs to Elizabeth vont Whitby, we captured and directed to our hideout," Wade Dillinger said shouted arrogantly.
If the girl wants her maids in waiting, I think nows the time to have a conversation, yeah?" Wade said.
"I'm listening," Will shouted.
"There, there that's all I ask. None of this mess. Other people have to use this road too, we can't go about making a mess of it," Wade said smiling.
Wade placed a whistle made from human bones to lips and played short notes. No doubt there were various sounds to convey different information. Suddenly, more than 200 people came out of the brush, Will estimated. A few of them carriage swords, shields, daggers, others carried pitchforks and scythes. It looked like a nearby farming village had come out to intercept Will carriage.
"Brother what have you done!" coughed an injured girl, with boils on her arms and face.
"Something, I had to do," Wade said looking at her.
"Baronet vont Ballard, I want your sister, the Disciple of the Aether Church, to heal my sister," Wade said.
"And, why should my sister, save your sister, especially after you held up my carriage?" Will asked.
"Oh brother, tell me you didn't hold up carriage of a disciple? That's blasphemous!" the girl began crying.
"I had to Sylvie if I wanted to save your life! You know we can't afford to send you to Yorkshire, this was the only opportunity we had," Wade said, holding his sister.
"Your sister is dying with the consumption disease," Elizabeth said coming over and scanning the girl, with her light magic.
"She only has a few days to live," Elizabeth said, moving to stand next to Will. Will still wore his iron body armor and had his sword stretch out in front of him.
"That's right. Our entire village paid a healer to come and cure Sylvie, but she said only a disciple had the power to cure this disease. I paid her all our family's saving to come down and tell me she could save my sister," said Wade frustratingly.
"Please Baronet vont Ballard, I beg you please ask your sister to help save Sylvie's life," Wade kowtowed and begged.
Will and Elizabeth walked to the carriage, "Rebecca can you cure that disease?" Elizabeth asked her.
"Yes, but consumption infects a person's lungs, and it requires a great deal of effort to cure such a disease," Rebbeca said sadly getting out of the carriage.
"I know the spell, but I've never practiced it on a person before. I could accidentally harm your sister, what if I kill her," Rebecca cried.
"Disciple, you could never harm me. I believe the Lord God Aether has destined you for great things. No matter, your choice I am destined to die in a few days regardless," Sylvie coughed.
"Alright, I'll try it then," Rebecca said meekly.
Sylvie knelled before Rebecca. Rebecca clasped her disciple's necklace between her hands and began prying.
"Father Aether, I call upon thee to hear my plea. I freely give your my body as manifest your grace on this your believer. Let your healing light channel through me and cure this girl's disease," Rebecca said.
Rebecca's body floated in the air, a bolt of light flew into her mouth and out of her hands into Sylvie's body. Rebecca's gold disciple chain floated in the air away from her neck. The bandits and villagers knelled and praise Aether. After a couple of minutes, the spell ended. An unconscious Rebecca floated down into Will's embrace. Sylvie's boils slowly started to diminish and fade.
"Your sister is cured, return Duke vont Whitby's staff to his carriage post haste," Will said casting [rock golem].
Rocky roared into existence. Will cast [iron lance] to equip Rocky with a weapon. Will knew it was always better to negotiate from a position of power.
"There's no need for such a display, they are returning the maids now," Wade said, blowing three long chords on his bone whistle.
"Besides you all, are there other bandits on this road?" Will asked.
"We're more farmers than, bandits. But this whole highway is under the control of the Brutus the Butcher. He's a right nasty fellow. Why do you ask?" Wade inquired.
"Could you introduce us?"Will asked.
"I could, but then it's your funeral. His gang, makes us look like a little tea party. Those brutes are liable to take everything from you including your clothes, carriage, and horses," Wade said cautiously.
"I've dealt with tyrants in the past," Will said accidentally out loud. On Earth, he had done business with tyrants, violent dictators, and autocrats. In business, sometimes you had to deal with the worst.
Wade played five long and short chords, and then another pop out from the brush.
"Wade, what do you want?" said a skinny stick figure of a man.
"Finch, this man here is Baronet vont Ballard, and he wants to see Boss Brutus," Wade's voiced wavered.
"Is he crazy, why would he ask to see big Boss Brutus? " Finch asked.
"Just get Brutus for me please,?" Wade said.
An hour later, in the dead of night, a huge burly man said, "Finch the Pinch, said a noble wants to meet me, har-har-har" he laughed maniacally.
"I'm William vont Ballard, and I'd like to make a little arrangement with you," Will said diplomatically.
"Oh yeah, what kind of arrangement?" asked Brutus.
"I'm guessing the increased soldiers on the highway have made it more difficult and riskier to rob merchant caravans?" Will questioned.
"Aye, it's been a real problem for me," hissed Brutus.
"Let's say. I'm new to this region," Will continued. "And I wish to buy a trade route that passes through this road. What would it cost me to keep it safe from your people?"
"Come again?" Brutus said, wrinkling his face at the question.
"How much can I pay you in order for you to leave my shipments alone?" Will clarified.
"No one's ever asked that question before…" Brutus said. "I mean, no one has. Mostly they just try to round up a posse, or hire mercs to fight us. Sometimes Yorkshire sends a few guards to deal with us."
"You and your men are outlaws, I understand. You need the money. But it's in everyone's best interest if we can come to an arrangement. You see, it would be cheaper for me to pay you, than hire a team of mercenaries or Merchant Knights to protect my caravans. You don't bother my shipments coming back and forth, and you make sure no one else bothers them."
"But what's to stop us from just taking it all?" Brutus asked as he drew out a knife, licked it, and lurched forward, placing it against my cheek.
Will didn't flinch. This was theater; he could see it in Brutus' eyes. The idea of getting paid to do nothing was enticing.
"Because then I stop shipping goods and you get no more money. Tell me, how many caravans have you attacked recently?" Will asked. The highway between Guidon and Yorkshire was the business road in the country.
"Less and less," Brutus replied, lowering the blade. "With the increase in patrols, my men and I haven't been able to rob a decent shipment in weeks."
"Exactly, If you keep this up, you'll have to move somewhere else, There may be fewer guards, but territory will be less profitable. You even have to fight other bandits to claim the territory. Eventually, the war will be over and the guard presence will decrease. At that time, the business will return to normal but our agreement will remain. You get paid by me upon each shipment and everyone's happy."
"How much are we talking?" Brutus asked.
"Right now, I am willing to pay you 10 gold per shipment. You will be paid by the driver of the caravan, either coming to or going from Guidon. I'll have my trader stop in this farm's village."
"10 gold?" Brutus laughed. "We clear ten times that in a single haul."
"And when was your last haul?" Will asked. Brutus the Butcher frowned at me.
"How many shipments are you planning?"
"That's the best part. You see, when you allow me to make my first few shipments, it profits my business. We grow and pay you more. The more shipments that go out, the more you make, simply for the task of sitting back and making sure the road is clear of any of your competitors. And seeing how this is your territory, you do that anyway," Will explained.
"10 gold's too low," Brutus said. "Make it a hundred."
Will was unsure if Brutus was greedy or an excellent negotiator with a diplomacy. By coming in at such a high price, he had room to talk me to a much lower offer, but still getting significantly more than 10 gold."
A hundred a shipment? No, that's not in either of our best interests because I wouldn't be able to ship so much. I'm willing to go 15 gold per shipment, with the agreement that you are paid a flat fee of 100 gold a month. This payment will be at the end of the month as long as all shipments arrived to their destination safely."
Brutus rubbed the beard as he thought, what do you think men?"
"Does this mean we'd finally get a decent pay? I want to buy meat, I haven't had meat in three weeks," said the skinny stick figure scout said.
"Awright, Baronet vont Ballard, it's a deal," Brutus said.
Will and Brutus shook hands formalizing the deal. After the agreement, Rebecca and Elizabeth healed the injured farmers, and the carriage set off again for Yorkshire.
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