After a few meters he looked around, they were alone.
"Just calm down. I'm not one of them. If you do what I tell you, I'll get you and the other hostages out of here," he whispered to the hostage.
"Brax," Kalat hissed from behind the nearest tent and approached him. "It looks good, we can start it."
"Wait a minute," Brax stopped him and spoke softly to the hostage again.
He didn't know who it was - his back was turned to him. Brax was holding him from behind by his bound hands.
"I'm going to take the gag off you now. But if you start screaming, I'll kill you on the spot," he said, reaching forward and starting to take the gag off. While his rough fingers pulled it off the captive's face, he looked around. Fortunately, there was silence everywhere and no one noticed them.
Lina's eyes widened, not knowing if it was still the shock of being caught or the thought of hearing a familiar voice.
But when the man turned her to face him and she could look into his face, dimly lit by the glow of the fire, her heart began to pound as if it were about to burst from her chest.
She stared at Brax as if at an apparition. She couldn't think of anything to say. Suddenly, however, the memory of what she had said when they first met came flooding back.
She felt her lips trembling, so she only whispered, "You've been... attacked by... a lot of women, haven't you?"
"Lina?" Brax's eyes widened in undisguised astonishment and he hugged the girl tightly.
He immediately realized how stupid he had done and quickly let go of her. If anyone had seen him hugging his captive, they might have blown the whistle on the plan.
He didn't know if he liked seeing her or not. But she was here and alive and that was the main thing.
He stared into her face, dirty with mud and blood.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, a little harsher than he had intended, because the sight of her injuries made him furious.
"She's a lady," Kalat raised his eyebrows and bowed respectfully to Lina. "Kalat, at your service, my lady."
"Are you crazy?!" Brax snapped at him and punched him in the shoulder. "Who ever saw a robber bow to a captive, you bastard!"
Kalat stabbed him with an equally furious look: "Yeah? And who ever saw a robber and a hostage embrace, you bastard!"
The two of them stared at each other with hostile glances for a few seconds, until Kalat turned his gaze to Lina.
"Anyway, my lady, I'm fully at your service," he said and bowed his head slightly.
Brax shook his head in disbelief. First a talkative idiot, Kalat had turned out to be a skilled fighter, and now he was a gallant gentleman whose charm and grace must have charmed more than one girl. Lina seemed surprised, too.
"We don't have time for this," Brax said, turning back to Lina. "Listen. We're going to pretend to be bandits and take you to the cages. There are four prisoners in them. We're going to send two away, lock you in the cage, then we'll take care of the other two and you. We'll get you all out of here. But you have to play along with us, understand?"
Lina's eyes darted from Kalat to Brax, trying to understand what they were actually saying to her.
She remembered the last sentence: "To play with you... sure," she nodded. "But... what?"
"Just shut up and don't resist," Kalat smiled.
So they headed for the cages. Brax and Kalat each held Lina by one arm.
"Hey you two, you have the day off, we're going to relieve you," Brax shouted at the first two guards.
"Really? Great, guys. Enjoy it, we're going to drink," they both cheered and left.
The other two remained standing in their places a short distance in front of the cages.
"Give me the keys, I'll lock this bird up," Kalat ordered one of them.
The guard handed him the keys, and then they unlocked one cage and pushed Lina into it. They didn't lock it again.
"Now look away," Brax whispered to Lina out of the corner of his mouth, and he and Kalat nodded to each other.
They straightened up as quickly as cats and drew their daggers.
Each of them grabbed one of the guards - one hand covered his mouth and the other cut his throat. It was quick and silent. That's what they needed.
"Go ahead, unlock the other cages," Brax hissed at Kalat as he wiped the blade of his dagger on the clothing of one of the dead.
The remaining three hostages, two elderly men and a woman, clearly still didn't understand what had just happened.
"We're here for you," Kalat explained, unlocking a cage.
They helped all the hostages out of their cages.
"Now, hurry up, before they find out," Kalat urged them all, and they began to run along the rock face, where a rope was already ready in the water.
It was going well, they almost reached the shelter when the whole camp started to hear: "Alarm, the hostages are gone!"
"And it's fucked up," Kalat assessed the situation.
"There they are!" someone shouted and arrows immediately started raining in their direction.
They crawled into the shelter just as one hit Brax in the calf. He rolled his eyes in disgust, gritted his teeth and broke the shaft of the arrow at the skin and threw the rest behind him. As if nothing
had happened, he then reached for his armor. "Kalat, you know what to do," he growled at his friend.
"Sure," Kalat nodded and pulled a rope out of the water. "Everyone in the water, get to the other side!"
Brax, meanwhile, quickly slipped into his armor and grabbed his hammer. At the same moment, the first bandit appeared a meter away from him. Brax didn't wait for anything, he swung and knocked the man to the ground with a blow to the helmet.
"Now, quick," Brax thundered and stood in the mouth of the shelter.
Lina watched him stand there and it woke her up from the shock. Before, when she had seen the guards killed in front of the cages, she had felt as if she were not even in her body, it seemed to her that she was watching it all from somewhere else. She felt that she was scared, weak and completely useless, she felt that she had ruined everything that was possible. But now her reason and feelings, courage, strength and faith in her own abilities had returned to their place.
"A bow… do you have a bow somewhere?" asked Kalata, who was helping a man into the river.
"What the hell would I do with a bow here?" Kalat growled, reaching out to her. "Quick, you're the last one!"
"Do it," Brax growled, sending another enemy to the ground with a single blow. "Lina, fuck off!"
Everything was starting to fall on him - both sober and drunk. But even though there were many of them, they had one disadvantage. They had to go at him one at a time, two at most. Brax stood deftly. A rock protected him from the left, and not many could come from the front.
"Maybe," Lina shouted, bending down.
She pulled a dagger from her boot, straightened, and threw it forward. It hit one of the bandits, who was a few feet away from Brax and was aiming his sword at his head.
"At this!" she shouted again.
She preferred not to notice Kalat's wide-eyed surprise. She hesitated for a second, but then it occurred to her that if she didn't go, Brax would probably kill her himself.
She took Kalat's hand and stepped into the river. She grabbed the rope and wriggled across the river to the other side like the people before her.
Soon Kalat was also wriggling across to the other side.
Brax didn't wait any longer and, after fending off the attackers for a moment, he cut the rope with his dagger and grabbed the end of it with his hand.
Kalat quickly attached the other end to Burinsfel's saddle and slapped the horse on the back. That was their agreement, so they didn't even have to look back to see what the other was doing.
Brax jerked and in the next moment he was in the river and being dragged to the other bank. Burinsfel kept going, pulling Brax out of the water and through the thickets into the forest.
He was scratched, but at least he was in the forest, out of range of bows and crossbows.
He struggled to his feet. He had a few scratches and minor cuts that were bleeding, but nothing that was life-threatening - they were minor wounds.
"Are you okay?" Kalat helped him to his feet.
"I think so, is everyone here?"
He looked around - they were all here. He swung himself into Burinsfel's saddle.
"Phase two," he nodded to Kalat. "Get out of here as quickly as possible, I'll throw them off their trail."
With only two horses, they had no chance of escaping directly, so it was now up to Brax to attract the bandits' attention and lead them to the other side before Kalat could flee with the hostages.
"Are you sure you can do this?" Kalat raised an eyebrow.
"Do I have a choice?" Brax smiled.
"Of course you are! Aren't you crazy? Do you know how many there are?" Lina shouted and walked over to Burinsfel.
She had sincerely admired what she and Kalat had accomplished, but now she felt like they must have missed the point.
"That was just a rhetorical question," Brax said, amused. "If I don't do this, they'll catch us all and kill us. This way I'll throw them off their trail for a long time and then I'll leave."
"And what if they catch you, you fool," Kalat objected.
"So much the worse for them," Brax smiled madly and hefted the hammer.
The noise from the camp reached them, they had no time to argue.
"I know you can handle this, but this is suicide! Me or him… someone has to help you!" Lina said resolutely, her gaze piercing him as if trying to bring him to his senses.
Brax looked around nervously. There was no time for this. They had to leave now, and Lina could be quite stubborn.
"Kalate, a bow," he said to his friend, who had untied a short bow and quiver of arrows from his horse's saddle.
He glanced uncertainly at Brax, but the latter pretended not to notice.
Then he clipped both to the side of his saddle and held out his hand to Lina to help her up Burinsfel.
The girl looked at him in surprise, because she had not thought that he would agree to this, although she was determined not to let him just ride away.
She quickly took his hand and in a moment she was already sitting on her horse after Brax.
He urged Burinsfel, who immediately set off briskly. Although he was carrying two people, he ran as fast as the wind.
They were heading towards the entrance to the bandits' camp. They heard noise and shouting. They passed close by, just enough for the bandits to notice them, but at the same time out of range of their bows.
"Follow them!" came a shout from the camp.
Brax urged his horse again and looked back. A group of riders set off after them.
"That's it, boys, just ride," he muttered contentedly.
The plan was working, the bandits were chasing them and heading in the opposite direction from Kalat with the prisoners.
But as strong, hardy, and well-trained as Burinsfel was, he was still carrying two people. He was snorting and snorting, and Brax could see clouds of steam billowing from the horse's mouth.
This wouldn't last long. If they kept going, Burinsfel would get sick. It was time for a backup plan. And soon one came up - a hill that rose toward a rock face. This was his chance.
He turned his horse around and stopped it at the bottom of the hill.
"Climb up," Brax ordered Lina, handing her a bow and arrows. "I'll hold them off here, shoot anyone who comes running toward you."
He slapped the horse away. They were left alone.
He took up his war hammer. Now all they had to do was wait for the bandits.
Lina looked at him and saw him turn around, ready to fight at once. On the one hand, she admired his tirelessness, on the other, she didn't understand it.
She started toward the hill, but suddenly stopped.
"I'm warning you, if anything happens to you… don't wish for me," she told him.
Then she turned and ran up the hill he'd told her to go.
Brax watched her run away. He shouldn't have let her go with him. Now he had to not only kill bandits, but also watch over and protect her. He was an idiot.
He shook his head and put the hammer down on the ground. He bent down and examined the arrow stuck in his calf. It didn't look good. He had pulled the shin guard a little tighter, but the wound was still bleeding. It had covered his entire calf and foot.
But he couldn't waste time on it now. He pulled the wound tighter again. A shoe stained with blood would be slippery, he had to be careful.
"Heh," he snorted in amusement, "again in the front line, but alone this time."
He picked up the hammer and threw it over his shoulder with the head. He looked up at the sky.
A beautiful, clear night, like that time in Bilgheim. He had never forgiven himself for surviving that battle, because all his remaining friends had died there. But he might soon follow them.
As soon as Lina ran up the hill, she crouched down and put an arrow in the string. Her eyes quickly scanned the surroundings, trying to get a sense of what was around her and where she would be moving. She knew it would be foolish to stay in one place.
She immediately looked down at Brax. She hadn't missed that he was binding his leg. She set her jaw and decided that she would check his injuries and treat him as soon as she could, even if it meant stunning him if he resisted too much. She couldn't think of how, but she would definitely come up with something.
"Over there," a voice called from the edge of the forest.
The bandits charged out from there on their horses, stopping just in front of Brax.
"Where are the others?" one asked.
"Do I need anyone else on you?" he laughed, his hammer heavy in his hands.
"He's alone, guys! Bald, take him down!" one of the riders ordered another, and he immediately charged at Brax.
"Bad choice," Brax smiled. Slowly but surely, he was starting to see red.
Lina watched the approaching robbers. She took a deep breath and aimed.
Suddenly it occurred to her that now she would have to aim precisely, not as she was used to, not so that the person hit would survive. Her fingers holding the arrow quivered from it.
No! This is not the time for this! - she shouted to herself.
The rider charged straight at Brax, but he - prepared and experienced - stepped forward, swung his hammer until it jerked, turned around and, by inertia, hit the rider's tool straight into the chest plate of his armor, knocking him off his horse.
There was a loud bang when the rider hit the ground.
"If you go one at a time, it will be dawn before I crush all your skulls," he growled, putting on such a crazy and bloodthirsty expression on his face that it was terrifying.
"He's strong, but still only one! Get at him, men!" was another order, and the bandits charged at their seemingly easy opponent.
But Brax didn't care who his target was. If he couldn't get his hammer to the rider, the horse would. Either way, he was determined to kill them all.
Lina had watched, motionless, as Brax took down the first one. She swallowed hard. But then her mind spoke up. It was either Brax or them. All of us or them.
She closed her eyes and took a breath. She held the air in her lungs for a moment, then slowly exhaled. At the same time, she began to open her eyes.
The trembling of her fingers was a thing of the past, and Lina aimed at the man rushing towards Brax from her left. She drew the string and released the arrow. She didn't look to see if she had hit or not. She was sure she had. She reached into her quiver and fired at another one. And again and again.
"Come on!" Brax shouted. "I've got enough for everyone!"
He swung his hammer around him as if in a mad dance of death.
"Kampak," he growled, knocking another opponent who wanted to run past and try to attack Lina with a blow to the back.
But the price for this was a slashing wound to the thigh. Although not very deep and certainly not life-threatening, it was noticeable.
Brax crushed the skull in question in retaliation.
When he swung at the next one, he put too much weight on his injured leg and lost his balance for a moment. He already thought that the approaching robber would hit him in the side with his sword. He tried to straighten himself into a firm stance and reach out to the man with his hammer, but he knew that he would not have time.
Suddenly the man stopped, his eyes widened and a gurgling sound escaped his mouth. Immediately afterwards he fell to the ground.
Just before he fell, Braxi noticed the arrow stuck in his chest.
Before the others approached him, he had already regained his lost balance and started fighting again. In the second that came between the fight, he turned his head behind him and looked at Lina.
He saw her run a few meters further and hit another bandit.
Although he didn't want to admit it, he realized that when he killed another robber, she had just saved his life. If one of them had hit him before he could recover, ten more would have been stuck on him.
The bandits wouldn't give up and kept on hitting him. He attacked, defended himself, killed and maimed.
The wounds were starting to pile up. Small slash wounds all over his body. Here on his arms, legs, one even on his face. A disgusting slash wound started just below his left eye and extended all the way to his neck. Whoever had caused it had paid with his life.
Brax had entered a completely different level of combat. He had entered a state of absolute bloodthirstiness. He didn't feel his body or his wounds. Only the enemies that needed to be killed.
"The devil, he's the devil!" one of them shouted and started to retreat.
He didn't get far, however, as Brax killed him by thrusting a dagger straight into the back of his head.
"There's only one way out of here," he roared in his bloody madness, "and that's on me!"
The bandits retreated in terror. Brax knocked down whoever he could, but now that they were retreating, what was he to do?
"Don't run, fight and die quickly!" he shouted frantically as he ran after them into the forest.
Lina stopped firing more arrows for a moment and stared wide-eyed at the raging man in front of her. It seemed to her that she was in some kind of trance, because what she saw completely contradicted her memories of yesterday.
She immediately realized that the bandits were fleeing back into the forest. A smile flashed across her face, but it seemed like it wasn't there, because in the next second it was replaced by shock.
With her mouth half-open, she watched Brax run after them, shouting for them not to run.
"I'll probably kill him myself!" she breathed out furiously and ran downstairs.