Chris and The Three Wizards by D.A.Sanford - HTML preview

Gaining wealth and information

We were on our way towards our next town, Zandar. From what was told to us, it was a fairly large town with its share of travelers. Those are the ones being robbed and killed. It was now affecting the towns income.

We need to watch ourselves on the way there. If attacked, we will strip them again and this time walk them in. Even if they are not the group, it will bolster our image. Naked and tied. Nothing demoralizes someone better than that.

We had discussed the fact there are females that cause as much mayhem as do the males. They will be treated no differently. Bandits are bandits.

This time, we don’t get lucky. We arrive at Zandar unacosted. We will have to work for our money. The mayor of the town is glad that there is at least someone wanting to help. He accepts the letter from our previous town but tells us that he will pay only after we catch the bandits.

“Trust is the most fragile thing.” I comment. “That’s not the deal you described to that chief in your letter.” I tell him, “Something so hard to obtain can be broken to pieces with a single word or statement. Sorry to bother you.”

I turn to my companions and motion for us to leave.

“Please don’t go.” Now he starts his excuses. “My memory is not as great as it once was. If you say that the referral money is paid to that chief, that is what will happen once we come to an agreement on your services.”

I’ll accept that, even though we both know that his excuse is full of shit. We will need to watch him.

Jim starts laying our base. “First and foremost, we insist that you do what that chief did. You will deposit our reward for capturing the bandits in the bank with the instructions that the guard unit will confirm their taking possession of the bandits. Next if we discover their camp, we have spoils rights.”

Garth now says something that Jim and I did not think about. “You will have someone make sketches of the captured bandits faces. You will sign each stating that these are captured. This way, if other towns were affected by those we have already caught, they will be required to pay out the reward.”

I slap his elbow, then look the mayor in the eyes. “These points are not negotiable. Again, if you cannot abide, we leave but not before you deposit the reward to the chief that sent us.”

He looks like he is trying to formulate a way out but finding none, he tells us to follow him and we went to the bank where he sent payment to the chief and deposited our reward with the provisos agreed upon. He looked like he was found out.

We were given the description of the gang and their last known location.

I give him one more thing.

“We do realize that these ones may be caught by others. We will accept it but, just in case you try something, we reserve the right to execute the ones you say are the bandits. That part is a given.”

He is stuttering when he tells us that we can’t do that.

You forget,” Jim tells him, “This country has that law. We are hired by you. By the law to prevent someone from substituting your own people to escape paying the rewards. It seems that you did not remember that either. You are right, you are getting old and forgetful.”

Jim shows him the scroll that the mayor signed hiring us.

We have a gang to catch.

Information is the key to finding the gang in question. We walked through the areas. It is better to look like we are lost. Invite them in. Garth has said he wants to fight.

“I want you to give me a boost. That sensation with the rock, I want that again. Your method is quick but I want to pull my weight, your way is just too easy. I haven’t had a good fight since the arena.

We promise him that he will be able to fight them. “You cannot beat them to a pulp. They need to be recognizable. Knock them out but no deliberately killing them.”

It was a good walk. We ran into a few people and were warned not to travel on certain trails. This is where perception comes in handy. The second I set my foot on that trail, I knew that there was a group lying in wait for us.

I tell my companions that they are very close. It seems that they will wait until we pass and take us from behind. Knowing this, we casually walk by them . They did not count that Garth was itching for a battle. Two of them try to tackle him to the ground . It was actually a funny sight. They are hanging in his back while he hit a few more with that fist of his. Everyone he hit had their bell rung.

It gets to the point that the only two left were those two. “Chris or Jim, hold my club.”

I take it and Garth flops onto his back with enough force that we did hear bones crack.

He looks at all the broken and tells us that is almost what he wanted but they stopped so soon.

By the descriptions, these are not the ones that have been bothering Zandar. Garth picks up the broken ones and slings them over his shoulder. Jim and I tie up the remaining three.

It was almost a full day to the next village. The guards were told that these tried to ambush us. “Would you please look up to see if they are wanted.” Jim asks. “They did not seem too skilled.” They were found to have only struck a few times. The reward was low but it is still money

Garth tells me that on ones like this, I can use the bottle. These were not even worth the effort.

“Garth, we will try to find some that are worth the effort.”

“It will be appreciated.”

We laugh but perception is going off and it is telling me to turn around. This is a strong feeling. Hopefully, these are the ones but it feels like it.

Jim notices, “What direction?” He now knows the look.

We need to go back towards Zaran. These ones that we turned over were a distraction by these bandits. It just is so strong that I think it will satisfy the big guy.”

Garth perks up. He turns and starts to walk with purpose. We need almost to run to keep up with him.

We are ambushed once again. This time it is the right number and look like the ones by the description. I look at Garth and ask him if they look good enough. To which he starts whipping the shit out of them. He is starting and Jim is also. I want to try something so I trigger boost but think Jim and Garth.

They both show the effects. The gang tried to double and triple up on them with no effect. The fight was over but the two look at each other and then to me. Jim asks,

“Did you just cast it on both of us?”

“I thought about the description of the power and realized that there wasn’t a specific number. Yes I cast it on both. Now get away from them.” As I pull out a bottle.

They run, I broke the bottle and the gang went silent. They ask why did I do that. I tell them that it will be easier to search and strip them. I also feel that their base is not too far from here.

Stripped and tied up we wait until they wake. There were no objections from them to show us their base. It was not as loaded as we hoped but it was a good haul. It was a long day but by twilight we got back to Zaran.

The guards took control of the prisoners and gave us the letter for the bank. We now had another two hundred gold in our accounts. True to the contract, in the morning there was the sketches and each had a note from the mayor stating that we had captured them. We told him of the small gang of amateurs and we already got a reward. He was informed that we would let him keep any reward if there was one.

It was decided that we would stay here for another night. The beds were very comfortable. We gave the clerk our money and were going to find a good place to eat but the person arguing with the clerk set off my feelings.

Could she be the second wizard.