"We should turn back" whispered Layen the words barely escaping his grey bushy beard.
"How can we turn back?" countered Jared, as his breath ascends in chilling cold.
"This is not enough, what will we report to Lord Starg when he asks how many there were?" Jared adds voice grim for a young man of his age.
"I agree" Mayer confidently affirms Jared's view they had become friend's recently.
Layen did not rise to argue, he was an old man past 50.Around 5'10 tall, he had numerous cuts across his grumpy face, not to mention dozens on his body, he wore brown leather boots, multiple stacked fabric clothes, he had a dagger to his left side of the belt, a crossbow on his back and a sheathed long sword.He spoke less but his words and experience were not something to be belittled and since Jared was half right, he went with it.
The three of them had been tracking the bandits for 5 days within the mountains coming closer each day going deeper and deeper consequently.
Eskhire was invaded by the raiders which was northernest part of the Kingdom and beyond them were the Dreaded Northern Mountains.
"Hey! Mayer, do you see that flickering campfire? Jared whispered.
"Hmm, there they are! " Mayer replied excitedly.
"Shush boy!, They might sense us " urged Layen.
The raiders were around 600m away.
The Darkness around them was blinding only the moonlight which occasionally slipped from the dense forest helped them see.
The rhythmic nocturnal chorus of the insects further added to the eerieness.As they got closer and closer to the fire, they could hear the foreign laughter of these people.
Coldness today had an icy edge to it, sometimes the wind blew so hard that it would freeze their hands and nose taking cover and pausing the search would become inevitable.
What peaked their interest was that these raiders were different from the occasional bandits.They had weird camping techniques and they did not leave tracks in the mountains.
"There's six of them, strange bulky weapons and they are large like Jared,we should pull back that's enough evidence for Lord Starg." muttered Layen crouching near the tall grass about 100m far from the campfire.
"No! , look we can take them out, we have the upper hand, we can ambush three of them and then handle those three" urged Jared in a low voice.
"I don't know guys" replied Mayer nervously in a high pitched voice, unbeknownst to them his stomach was churning while a sweat ran down his round head.
Mayer was just a coachman for a merchant before he met Jared and then joined the army, he did not have much combat experience nor did he had the spine for it.He was just not built for it.
"Listen Jared, do not cause trouble and let's go back, that's enough." replied Layen in a bitter commanding tone.
"Shut yer trap! Old man this is my chance to shine and I am not letting it go to waste" as soon as he said it, he shot himself upwards and threw his axe at the barbarian with an intense force.
The axe flew across the air and lodged itself deep into the barbarian's rib cage, almost immediately his scream rang across the forest, blood oozing out the wedge, rendering him gasping for air and killed him on the spot.
Simultaneously, Layen Drew his crossbow and shot the arrow to the head of the other barbarians.Since there was no going back he had to act fast there was no time to hold Jared accountable.
"Such a clout chasing fool" thought Layen.
The arrow found its mark perfectly, it hit the barbarian's head with a thump and down he went.
Mayer on the other hand was dumbfounded by the development and was shriveling in fear.
Meanwhile, the barbarians now started shouting in a foreign, ancient and guttural language which seemed hard on the tongue.
Jared threw another axe at the barbarians, unfortunately this time it was blocked by the barbarian.This barbarian was slightly larger than the other ones,he was musuclar, taller, had a huge and crude dual iron axe.Same as the one Jared has but his war axe was much more finer and superior in quality.
Layen quickly changed position and fired multiple bolts to injure the rest of the barbarians.