Chapter 12: “Night Raid”

Nothing ventured nothing gained

We would spend the night on the desolate road, we would not light fires so as not to attract attention and hidden lookouts would be placed at a distance, in front of and behind the caravan as a safety measure, we would carry out the attack the next night, during the day the infiltration team consisting of Vance, Jonas and I would approach the camp cautiously and wait.

The bombing team would be composed of six wizards, all level 2, Katarina who was the most powerful mage of the expedition would lead the attack, the six wizards would be escorted by the strongest warriors, two healers and would be guided by Val, along the path that we had already recognized.

Gilbert and Sophia accompanied the group as escort and healer respectively, the rest of the adventurers would take care of the caravan that would slowly advance to the resting point, when the lookouts saw the caravan and went to warn the camp, they would be ambushed by the bombardment group.

Finish our breakfast and get ready to go out, the infiltration team would be the first to leave, we had to locate the stream and then follow its course carefully so as not to be discovered, "be very careful", said Sophia with a worried face, "hey Lif if you don't come back I won't forgive you", Val said in a furious tone.

"Don't worry, I'm counting on you to guide them and you too Katarina, don't hold back when casting the spells", I said to both girls, "if you get back from this, I'll buy you a few drinks", Gilbert said with an expressionless face, "count on it, I'll make you regret it", I said with a mocking smile.

The bombing team would leave in the middle of the afternoon and the caravan would only reach the resting point after sunset, the bombing team had to eliminate the lookout from the entrance to the camp, the position occupied by the bandit lookout would be ideal to carry out the bombardment.

The bombing team's priority would be to attack the larger stores to cause confusion, the signal would be given by the infiltration team once we kill the leader of the bandits, from that moment on we would escape on our own.

We walked several kilometers between ravines and finally, we found the stream, its channel followed a deep canyon from north to south and made several curves, we began to advance at a brisk pace to avoid making noise.

After a long walk, we found a small cave and rested for an hour, we had already passed noon, in just two or three more hours the bombing team would start moving, after a light meal we continued on our way.

It was past mid-afternoon and shadows already covered much of the canyon, we barely had one more hour of light left when we heard laughter in the distance, we watch covered behind a great rock, there were several misaligned-looking men on the bank of the stream, some were collecting water, others were washing their clothes.

"So we get there?", asked Vance, "yes it is definitely the camp", I replied, although we could not see the camp yet due to a bend in the stream, "let's look carefully for a better place to observe", said Jonas, after getting a good vantage point we wait for the night to come, now everything depended on each one doing their part.

We waited a few hours before we started moving, we cautiously approached the last bend in the stream, when looking to the other side the canyon widened creating a small valley, there was the camp, there was still a bit of activity.

Some men drank around the campfires, you could smell the smell of alcohol in the air, "it's good that they are drinking alcohol, it will make things easier for us", said Jonas, "if once everyone goes to sleep it will be easier to get in", said Vance, "do you remember which way Val's group will be?", I asked them both, "YES", they answered.

Once the bombardment begins we had agreed to flee to the place where the group led by Val would be, "we must be careful, some bandits could remain as night sentries", I said to both of them, we waited a couple more hours and saw how after much drinking the last men who were still around a campfire went to sleep, we should already be close to midnight, the sky was cloudy and there were few fires left, "let's do it", I whispered to Vance and Jonas, then we began to move silently through the shadows.

We got to where the tents began, they were quite big and looked brand new, they had to contain between 10 to 12 people each, we crawl slowly to the shadow of one, we only communicated with touches and signs, I paid attention to all the sounds, then a strange scent caught my attention, Vance lightly tugged on my sleeve, when I looked at him he made a gesture pointing to his nose, he also smelled the same scent, it was lamp oil.

I dragged myself to a small wooden barrel and confirmed that it was indeed oil, the barrel was the size of a bucket of water and had a small cork plugging a hole in the top, I made a sign to Vance and he then repeated the signs to Jonas, I had reached the edge of the tent and after carefully observing the free space and listening carefully for a few seconds I crossed quickly to the shadow of the next tent.

Then Vance repeated the same process, then Jonas took out the cork and tipped the small barrel to the side of the tent, letting it slowly spill its contents and finally Jonas crossed to the next shadow.

We repeat the same process, advancing cautiously paying attention to the sounds around us, if we found another barrel with oil for lamps, we would overturn it and let it spill its contents when we left, some men were still awake and talking inside the tents, each time we got closer to the large store located in the center of the camp.

Finally, we hide in the shadow of a heap of provisions, there were oversized barrels and sacks piled high with grain, dried meat, and neatly arranged in wooden boxes, many one-handed swords of medium quality, "something is wrong, they are very well stocked, all the stores are new and of good quality and look at those swords !? I never saw such a well-stocked group before", Jonas said with a frustrated face.

"If they are definitely not just any bandit group", said Vance, "bandits are not usually that organized?", I asked both of them, "we have fought numerous bandit groups before, but I have never seen a group like this, their team looks more like an army than fugitive bandits", said Vance, "the only thing that makes them look like bandits is how careless they are", Jonas added.

"Are you both ready?", I asked both of them, "there's no way I'm ready for this", Jonas said grimly, "let's just do it and run", said Vance, we ready the weapons nervously, this would be my first fight against other humans in this life.

My adult conscience gave me some calm thanks to my previous experience, but my young mind and body added to the adrenaline rush almost made me feel aroused, take a little jar out of my bag, it contained a powerful poison with a paralyzing effect.

The mouth of the flask was covered with a stopper made of several layers of cloth so that it is semi-permeable to facilitate the "smear" poison on the edges of the weapons, "show me the edge of your weapons", I said to both of them and passed the mouth of the flask over the edge of Vance's spear, Jonas's rapier and dagger.

"You never miss a chance to gain some advantage huh?", said Vance, "ahh you're a guy with scary tricks", said Jonas, "no precaution is too much, we do not know what we will find inside that large tent" I answered them, we look at each other and reaffirm our resolve, then we moved carefully to the entrance of the large tent.

We stopped in front of the dark cloth that served as the door in the tent and listened carefully, several people were heard talking, "shit he's not alone" Vance whispered, "what will we do", Jonas said nervously, "if it turns out that there are a lot of people, immediately send the signal, we will manage", I said to Jonas, then using the tip of my right sword I moved the cloth slightly to take a look inside.

The tent was spacious but in the center, they had placed other light-colored fabrics hanging from the ceiling like curtains to obstruct the view of the center, I pushed the cloth aside and we entered silently, the people inside kept whispering to each other, we could see their silhouettes against the light of the lamps that hung between the main pillars of the tent, there were more than 6 people, 4 of them were almost supported by the curtain that hung from the ceiling, they would be the first we would finish, we would already get by with the others.

Look Vance and Jonas in the eye, there was no going back, we approached the curtain, Vance and Jonas were sweating profusely, then we launch our attack, "GUAGHHHH", 4 men shouted as they were stabbed through the curtain, to my left Vance skewered the one furthest from the group with his spear, to my right Jonas used his rapier to deliver a deadly upward stab straight to the heart.

I stab the two closest directly to the nape, attacking your spine to eliminate them quickly, the curtain fell and 5 other men were in front of us, one was decidedly the leader of the bandits accompanied by 3 of his henchmen and a large man dressed elegantly as a soldier who stood out as a beacon among the others.