The hallway leading down into the dungeon below the guardhouse was cold and slightly damp, yet it was still mostly clean. The only dirt was from our boots as Calavia and myself followed the sergeant who was carrying a torch in his left hand.

  Reaching the actual dungeon we were greeted by a guardsman sitting in a chair with a thick metal rod and a small shield with a good view of most of the cells.

  “Good evening Corporal.” The sergeant said to the guardsman as he passed by.

  “Good evening Sergeant.” The corporal replied as he stood and gave a quick salute. “Who might these two be? New prisoners you brought personally?”

  “Thankfully not.” The sergeant continued walking with the corporal right next to him. “These two are powerful mages and they have offered to help with the bandit issues we are dealing with at the moment.” I noticed the eyes of the corporal lit up slightly as the sergeant finished speaking.

  “Is that so?” A small grin formed on his face. “Well I hope they can get more out of those three than we could. I honestly believe they don’t actually know anything and are just trying to buy time till something happens.” He then turned to us. “If you can prove they don’t actually know anything I would certainly appreciate it, the executioner has been waiting a while to deal with them once and for all.”

  Calavia seemed to be a little off put by the enthusiasm the corporal was showing, I however didn’t really mind. In fact it was likely a good thing that the guards were so dedicated to their jobs here, it would likely make a good place to stay if most of the guards showed such dedication to their work the same way this corporal was.

  “We will see what we can do. Now where are these prisoners?”

  “Just keep following me. And keep to your post corporal, I will also be bringing them back out.” The sergeant ordered.

  “Of course sir, good luck with them. They can be a rather nasty bunch so keep your hands clear lest them bite them off.”

  We continued walking down the hallway and around a corner before we found the cells that housed the bandits we were looking for. Like the corporal said there were three, all of which were middle aged and ragged looking humans. They still had on what I assumed was their armor which just amounted to untreated animal skins stitched together, their weapons however were thankfully missing.

  “Look at this boys, the sergeant himself has decided to come and pay us a visit. And he brought two others with him.” The bandit in the left-most cell said in a sarcastic and amused tone quickly rousing up the other two who were half asleep. “And look at that, one of em is a woman, and she’s pretty. It's been a while since I have seen a pretty woman like you.”

  “That is enough out of you!” The sergeant barked at the vocal bandit who stepped back into his cell slightly. “My friends here are here to ask you some questions. I suggest that you tell them the truth because I don’t think I will be able to keep them from killing you if you piss them off too much.”

  Right on que Calavia conjured up three fire bolts with a swift wave of her hand, one bolt for each of the bandits and they took notice. Given how frail and hungry they looked nobody believed they had the strength or dexterity to dodge out of the way of their fire bolt, and even if they did she could just conjure up three more and begin again.

  “Damned mage.” The vocal bandit sneered. “Go on then, ask your damned questions.”

  “From what I have been hearing your leader is the former heir to the land, a young lord Tullus to be precise.” I stepped forwards as I spoke looking directly to the vocal bandit as he was likely the de facto leader of these three sorry fools.

  Slowly a grin formed on his face as he studied my face. “Looks like someone has been paying attention.” The bandit looked as if he was about to burst out into laughter with how wide his smile was. “Lord Tullus is in fact our leader, and he has been for a while now. The boss was the one who broke the news to us along with a nice sum of silver and beer for each of us. Since then things have been pretty good for all of us.”

  “But you never actually saw the young lord personally, this is just second hand information you were told by your boss.” I pushed back against the unreliable statement.

  “Yeah, so what? Everyone here knows what the young lord did to lose his inheritance, is it really that much of a stretch to believe he would resort to banditry to get his revenge!” The bandits stood firm and pushed back. It was a little surprising, but then again not many enjoyed being called a liar and this bandit seemed to have a small amount of pride.

  “And what about your ‘boss’, do they have a reputation of lying often? I wouldn't exactly believe the word of bandit let alone that of someone who leads a whole gang of bandits.” The bandit stayed quest for a moment as he stared me in the eyes, his dislike of my choice of words clear as day on his face.

  “You should show some respect for her, she would turn you and that bitch next to you into a pile of rotting flesh in just a handful of seconds.” The bandit spoke in a slow and cold voice. “Your magic will do nothing against her for she is far faster than you could ever hope to be. She will crush you, everyone, and everything you care about.”

  The two of us remained in a stare-down for a handful of seconds before I eventually turned away. ‘I likely have everything he is willing to give me. I suppose I should be thankful he was even willing to tell me anything about their leader, hopefully both Calavia and I will be able to come up with some countermeasures for her speed.’

  “I think it is time we leave sergeant. I also think it would be wise to inform the executioner that these prisoners hold little value anymore.” The bandits all scowled but didn’t say anything as the three of us started walking back the way we came.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  For another several seconds they kept their eyes on the fire bolts floating just outside their cells trained right on them, eventually they slowly dissipated and faded back into mana and the bandits all sighed in relief. Death wouldn’t claim them on this day, but my words still struck a chord and they could only hope my words wouldn't amount to much.

  *********

  Outside the dungeon the sergeant gave his thanks for our contributions.

  “On the behalf of the city guard and the citizens of this good city I thank you for your contributions to the case. This information regarding their leader will be most valuable when we eventually narrow down her location.”

  “Of course sergeant, we are more than happy to help.” I replied just before turning to leave.

  “One more thing before we leave.” Calavia suddenly interrupted me by pulling on my sleeve. “Is there a branch of the mages guild here?”

  “Ah yes, there is. You will find it close to the center of the city. It will be the only building within the entire city with blue shingles on the roof.”

  Calavia smiled at the sergeant. “Thank you sergeant, perhaps we will see you again.”

  With the information we would likely need in the future we walked back to our wagon at the tavern and took a seat for our dinner. Looking up at the night sky as we ate neither of us said anything for quite a while, not until we were done eating.

  “What do you think about these bandits? Sounds a little suspicious to be blaming the former heir to the land without any proof.” Calavia said, breaking the silence.

  “Yes it does. However we don’t really have any way of proving the accusation true or false. If we could find this dangerous woman leading the bandits we could hand her over to the city guard and they could figure out the truth.”

  “That does sound like something we could do.” Calavia replied as she leaned her head on my shoulder. “But you heard what that one bandits said, she could easily beat us. Turn us into a pile of rotting flesh even.” She chuckled slightly as she repeated what the bandit said.

  “Perhaps, but perhaps he is just a fool.” I said as I brought my right hand just a foot from my face. “It is unlikely that any of the bandits that would or have challenged her were very smart. We on the other hand are not just mages, we are accomplished mages with considerable power and cunning to back up our words.” Without even a small gesture I conjured up three earth bolts that began circling around my hand as if they had a mind of their own.

  “All we need to do is find a weakness she has and exploit it. We could very easily start with her support base of bandits, then we can move onto stealing their supplies and force her out of hiding.” Small pieces of tactical knowledge came to and from my mind, what little I could retain I spoke to Calavia as soon as I could.

  “Maybe.” Calavia replied with a deep yawn. “But we should probably wait until tomorrow before we do anything. I am very tired, what about you?”

  “Yes, I am as well.” I answered as I let out a yawn of my own.

  “Do you want to sleep out here in the wagon or in the tavern?”

  “I think we deserve a night in a proper bed.”

  “That tavern it is then.”

  *********

  Like all things the night ended and gave way to morning, and as the sun started to peek over the horizon I and Calavia slowly rose from our sleep.

  The breakfast we had was the first fresh meal we enjoyed for several days at that point as it came from the tavern itself. I chose a soup made from chicken and a small variety of vegetables while Calavia chose to have soup just made from vegetables.

  When we were done we paid for our meal and left a small tip for the waiter before leaving the building and climbing aboard our wagon. We made sure to give the horse a decent amount of hay that we kept in bundles as his own breakfast.

  “So what did you want to do today?” I eventually asked, breaking the rather awkward silence between the two of us. For a moment Calavia remained in a thoughtful silence of her own before turning with a smile.

  “I think we should go for a nice long ride in the wagon along the roads. Perhaps we will come across something interesting to occupy our time.”

  I couldn’t help but smile and take her hand as we started walking towards the wagon. Within just twenty minutes we were already leaving through the very same gate we entered through and we started looking for the most traveled roads. The odds of finding something interesting we decided was more likely on those roads.

  *********

  “Now that we have your attention I think it would be in your best interests to tell us what we want to know.” I said to the five bandits we had restrained and on their knees.

  A group of ten attacked us as we followed a path that cut through a portion of the nearest forest. Since Calavia and myself were both powerful mages we easily killed the first five and kept the second five alive to ask some questions.

  “Go fuck yourself, you and your little mage bitch!” The largest of the bandits shouted at us as he struggled in his earthen bonds. Of the ten he was the second best in terms of clothing and what they considered armor which likely made him the second in command, this also made him the most valuable of the bunch for the time being.

  “I assure you that I am also a mage.” I slowly replied as I stepped closer to the large bandit. “Just so you know that means I am more than capable of most of what she can do.” I slowly extended my hand and conjured up a ball of flame that fit in the palm of my hand. As I walked I kept my hand pointed outwards directly towards his face.

  Slowly I could see in his eyes he understood what I was going to do, or more accurately what I could do if I didn’t like his answers.

  “I suggest you do what he wants you to.” Calavia called over from the wagon as she made sure nothing was damaged. “He is crazy I tell you, all of this was his idea.”

  The large bandit looked towards Calavia and back to myself with a look of growing fear etching itself into his face. He was starting to understand the gravity of the situation, which was why I decided to throw a small curveball.

  “Unless of course someone else here has the information I have been asking for.” I took a momentary step back to take a look at each of the bandits. I could see the fear on their faces slowly dripping down like hot wax off a burning candle. I could see them eyeing each other from the corner of their visions, each wondering if someone else was willing to spill the beans for a chance of survival.

  “I… I know where the boss hides out.” The bandit on the far right eventually muttered just loud enough to catch my attention. The tension in the air turned sharp as the realization of what he just said dawned upon his allies, it was so surprising and yet entirely expected of a bandit to betray at the first opportunity they had.

  “Good, good.” I said gleaming. “Tell me everything and we can see about sharing your contributions with the city guard.”