Chapter 29
The Viper's Sting
The world exploded into violence with the silent efficiency of a predator's strike. One moment, the canyon was bathed in the pale, silent grey of pre-dawn. The next, Anya was a blur of motion. Using the deep shadows cast by the towering canyon walls, she covered the ground to the sentry in a heartbeat. There was a faint, sickening crunch, and the man slumped without a sound.
"Now!" Bary roared.
His ten men surged forward like a unleashed tide, their battle cries shattering the morning calm. Bary led from the front, a roaring avalanche of muscle and steel. Mark, positioned on a high rock, began firing with rhythmic precision, his arrows whistling down to thud into bandits scrambling from their tents.
The bandit camp, caught off-guard, was a scene of panicked confusion for a precious few seconds. Then, the leader, a hulking man in mismatched plate armor, bellowed a command, his voice echoing in the confined space. He strode forward, hefting a massive, double-headed axe.
Bary, seeing his primary target, grinned and altered his course to intercept. The bandit leader, expecting to meet the giant warrior, was caught completely by surprise when a shadow detached itself from behind Bary. Anya, using the big man as a living shield, darted out. Her sword was a silver streak aimed at the leader's neck. He jerked back at the last possible second, the blade scoring a deep gash along his shoulder instead of a killing blow. He roared in pain and fury, his eyes locking on Anya.
Meanwhile, Bary slammed into the True Warrior deputy, a brute nearly his size wielding a spiked maul. The impact was like two rams colliding. The fight was immediate and brutal, a contest of pure, concussive force.
Seeing his comrades engaged, the other deputy—a lean, cruel-faced man Renly had been assigned—drew his sword and rushed to help the beleaguered rank-and-file bandits who were now clashing with Bary's men.
Renly moved to intercept him, his new longsword flashing in the growing light. "Your fight is with me," he stated, his voice calm.
The deputy sneered, his eyes flicking to Renly's youthful face and unfamiliar sigil. "Out of my way, boy. This doesn't concern you." He tried to sidestep, but Renly mirrored his movement perfectly, his stance a blend of Valerian solidity and hyper-efficient footwork.
"It does now," Renly said, and attacked.
The fight was tense and fluid. The deputy was fast and experienced, his style dirty and pragmatic. But Renly's movements were sharper, his parries and counters preternaturally precise. He analyzed the man's patterns, finding the rhythm. He saw an opening—a slight over-extension in a lunge. Renly didn't slash; he lunged inward, his free hand snapping out to grab the man's sword wrist. The moment his skin made contact, he released a controlled pulse of the Electric Surge.
The deputy convulsed, his grip loosening. Seizing the moment, Renly drove his sword forward, aiming for the gap between his opponent's leather armor plates at the waist.
The blade bit deep. But instead of a cry of pain, the deputy let out a grating laugh. A grey, stone-like texture spread from the wound, hardening his skin and actually gripping the blade. Renly's eyes widened. Petrification ability. He's not a Peak Squire. He's an Official Knight.
The revelation sent a shockwave through the battlefield. Everyone sensed the shift in the fight's energy.
"A second Knight!" one of Bary's men yelled, his voice tinged with panic.
The situation deteriorated rapidly. Bary, though holding a slight upper hand against the True Warrior, was now locked in a desperate struggle. Anya was a dancing storm around the bandit leader, her Shadow-Step allowing her to avoid his wild, powerful swings. She'd left a dozen bleeding cuts on him, but his Bear Strength bloodline kept him going. The real problem was the twenty bandits. They weren't disorganized rabble; they moved with a grim coordination, forming a shield wall that began to push Bary's outnumbered men back. Even Mark's expert archery couldn't break their disciplined formation. The battle had stalled, tilting dangerously towards the enemy. The guild's intelligence had been catastrophically wrong.
But,the stalemate was broken by Renly.
Even with the petrification protecting him, the deputy was wounded and poisoned. Renly saw the man's movements growing sluggish, his eyes darting towards the gash in his side where a faint, dark discoloration was spreading from the coated blade.
"Using poison…" the deputy spat, his face a mask of contempt. "A disgrace to the title of Knight."
"A title you hide behind while preying on the weak," Renly retorted, his voice cold. He didn't give him time to respond. He feigned a high strike, and as the deputy raised his sword to block, Renly dropped low and kicked his legs out from under him. As the man fell, Renly was on him, his hand slamming onto the deputy's chestplate. He channeled the Electric Surge directly into the metal.
The deputy arched, a strangled gasp escaping his lips as the current coursed through him, overriding his nervous system. Before he could recover, Renly's sword found his throat. The petrification faded as the light died in his eyes.
Without pause, Renly turned and sprinted towards Anya's fight. "Anya! Switch!"
Understanding instantly, Anya disengaged from the bleeding leader and blurred towards the True Warrior fighting Bary. The leader, now facing Renly, was enraged and weakening. He swung his massive axe in a wild arc. Renly didn't try to block it. He used his speed and the Electric Surge in short, stunning bursts to disrupt the man's already faltering movements. He couldn't pierce the heavy armor, but he didn't need to.His poison and Anya's countless cuts were doing their work. The leader took a final, stumbling step and collapsed, his axe falling from his grip, his eyes fixed on Renly with a final, hateful glare.
With both enemy Knights down, the heart went out of the bandits. Bary and Anya made short work of the remaining True Warrior. The coordinated shield wall broke into a rout, which Bary's vengeful men and Mark's arrows efficiently ended.
Silence returned to the canyon, broken only by the moans of the wounded and the heavy breathing of the survivors. The victory was bitter. Two of Bary's men were dead, three more seriously injured.
Bary, his armor splattered with blood, stalked over to Anya, his face a thundercloud. "An Official Knight deputy! Your Guild intelligence called him a Peak Squire! My men are dead because of this!"
Anya met his gaze, her expression unreadable but her tone formal. "The error is acknowledged, and it will be reported. You have my word, there will be an additional compensation from the Count's coffers, and the Guild reward will be doubled due to the grievous misinformation." Her words were an official apology, not a personal one.
Bary stared at her for a long moment, then let out a frustrated breath, the fight going out of him. The promise of more silver was a potent balm. He nodded curtly and turned to see to his men and the looting.
Anya then turned to Renly. "Your support was… decisive. Thank you." Her tone was still blank, professional, but the acknowledgment was there. She then moved off to the bandit leader's shack to gather documents.
Renly, his mind racing, searched the body of the petrification Knight. In an inner pocket, he found a small, oilskin pouch. Inside was a heavy silver signet ring and a single sheet of parchment. The ring bore the sigil of a gnarled ironwood tree. The parchment was a short, cryptic message about "disruptingpotion shipments" and "inconveniencingtheRose," sealed with the same Ironwood wax. He pocketed the silver from the body but took the ring and document to Anya.
She was collecting papers from the shack. When he handed them to her, her eyes flickered to the Ironwood seal, a flicker of grim satisfaction in their depths. She said nothing, simply nodding and taking the items.
The mood on the return journey was somber. They camped one night on the road, the camaraderie of the outbound trip replaced by a heavy silence. They reached the gates of Rose City near noon the next day, the triumphant return marred by the cost of the victory. Renly had his connections, and a larger reward was coming, but he now understood the true, bloody price of advancement in this world, and the dark political currents that ran beneath its surface.