Brenorn looked up to the sky from the roadside. Midnight. There he stood, Tylan and Nehani by each side of him. Thorgom and Shadow were probably already at their designated spot, waiting for the signal. He let out a tired, eager sigh.
- "She should be here soon", he commented.
Had he barely just said this, the sixth member showed up on the main road, walking towards them with her face covered and her trusty bow at her back. Khardis. Nehani seemed uncomfortable, if one would know her enough to notice, as the four greeted each other silently. Brenorn took a moment to unfold his map again, having his two good friends and companions help him explain the plan and situation to the just arrived.
- "Thorgom and Shadow will start a diversion at our signal", Tylan explained, "Brenorn, Nehani and I will charge forward and hold the line for you."
- "You'll keep arrows raining on them, keep them scattered while we make those getting close enough wish they didn't. We'll take position, then press on their divided forces until we meet with our other two companions here.", Brenorn added as he tapped a certain point of the map with his finger. "All clear?"
The three nodded to him. He nodded back, then put his hands on his mouth, imitating an owl's hoot, two times. They all got moving, clad in black, and keeping close to the shadows as they slipped past a crack on the outer walls and started making their way through the streets, silently.
Nehani took point, raising a hand as she arrived at the corner of the street, using it then to reach for her spear. Tylan and Brenorn readied their blades while Khardis climbed up to one of the lower building's roofs. Around the corner, a small group of bandits roamed around the streets.
- "By the sounds of it, there's more up ahead. Brenorn's calculation seems correct.", Nehani said in a low voice. The four then looked up to the dark night's sky, waiting for their opening to appear.
Few minutes later, it happened. A thick cloud of smoke began rising from a few streets away, then another in the opposite direction. It didn't take long for the streets to become flooded with the unpleasant smell, and the already loud bandits began to get louder as they started running around, chaotically. It was now or never.
A group of three bandits ran past the corner the company was hiding at. The last of the three tripped on Nehani's spear, just to then be quickly impaled on his throat by the same weapon and pulled inside. Both his companions turned around at the faint noise, approaching the alley carefully, only to be suddenly jumped at by Brenorn and Tylan. The first started a blade dance on his opponent, armed with a sword and board, his swords clashing against his three times before the bandit then tried to slam him with his buckler, to which Brenorn dodged leaving a foot behind, enough to make him trip over, and finish him off by a clean stab on his nape. Tylan confronted his hatchet-wielding opponent, deflecting it with his trusty shield up to three times before hitting him with its edge, then disarming him in a flourish before slitting his throat wide open.
As the bandit gagged, drowning in his own blood, the sound of battle had become more evident. A larger group of them came running down the street. Tylan, Brenorn and Nehani quickly charged, taking point on the narrow street to force their opponents to approach in groups of two or three if they didn't want to get in one another's ways. Nehani and Tylan kept their shields up, and Brenorn stood in between, his blades whirling and dancing in his hands to create a sharp wall in front of himself. While the bandits tried to come up with a way to approach, Khardis' arrows began raining from the nearby roof. Neck, eye, heart, gut... bandits began falling one by one, not yet seeming to have even located the shooter, while the three warriors slowly walked back, forcing their opponents to further expose themselves to Khardis.
The pressure seemed to translate into bravery, or perhaps desesperation, at last. The back lines started to rush forward, forcing those in front to press on. They were greeted by the harsh shields hitting their faces, the blades and spearhead serving as a reminder they should keep their distances from the human wall as well. Panic and chaos took over their files, as some tried to charge on the Covenant warriors, and others tried to flee the streets at the same time. Nehani looked up at her sister, then to the opposite side of the roof she was standing on. Two brigands had climbed up, and were now making their way towards her.
Nehani elbowed Brenorn, next to her, to which he quickly reacted opening up to her side and widening his blade flurry, hacking and slashing like a frenzied dervish. She pulled off one of her javelins, and sent it flying up, impaling one of the bandit's chest through. Before she could grab another, a short figure appeared on the rooftop. Thorgom sundered the remaining bandit's skull with a single swing of his beloved axe, then kicked his chest to pull it off. Rage burned in the eyes of the dwarf, as he ran to the edge and jumped right into the fray, behind the bandits' forces, as Shadow joined him from the opposite roof, throwing several daggers at the unfortunate bandits while he jumped down.
The tables had already turned, and the formerly large number of bandits dwelling in the streets was down to roughly ten of them, the rest either dead, or already leagues away from the village. Tylan, Brenorn and Nehani stopped their slow, baiting retreat to start charging forward instead, Thorgom and Shadow doing the same from the back line to lock up their opponents. Brenorn's blades found a poor sod's throat and gut almost simultaneously, as Tylan knocked a claymore off another's hands and pierced his heart with his blade. Nehani jumped forward, her shield lowered and her spear held over it, to literally pulverize another bandit's neck bone while running it through. Khardis kept her bow busy as death kept raining on the lost souls down there, the grin on her face showing both pride and amusement. Shadow and Thorgom pressed against the other's side, getting themselves further in and avoiding being completely surrounded, an unlucky bandit's leg flying off while Shadow's dagger, Justice, found another one's lung after a skillful parry.
Minutes later, the raging battle had turned into silence. Only the cracking of the flames and the natural sounds of the night were heard, as Shadow took care of ending the two surviving brigands. The six gathered around the fountain in the town's square, tired and heavily breathing, bearing minor wounds on their bodies, as the villagers began coming out of their homes to greet them as heroes.
The Covenant warriors smiled. It was done.
