Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

The group in the woods hadn’t noticed that someone had abandoned the convoy to head their way. They were fully focused on the firefight that was going on by the riverbank.

The Oxen were still running full out, and though a few had been hit, they had been quickly healed by the Witches, letting them run on, while the escorts had hopped down to fight the charging bandits, and the members with guns on both sides were still firing at each other.

None of them seemed to be all that skilled, though the bandits might be, and it was just impossible to tell as their shots couldn’t hurt the armour spell that Ella had cast over the Convoy Members on Christa’s behalf.

Christa had panicked for a moment and frozen when Wolfe jumped down, and the gunfire started, thinking that he was injured or killed. But Ella knew better. Wolfe used an armour spell to dress himself every day. The only way that he could be injured by a regular gun is if they attacked him while he was in bed.

Wolfe activated [Gentle Steps] plus [Wind Gust], one of the air magic flying spells and [Levitate] to launch himself into the camp as fast as a speeding car.

The first few men didn’t even have time to react before Wolfe’s blade had ended their lives, but the black flames caught the attention of the others almost immediately, and they turned to face the threat.

The next target managed to raise his rifle like a staff, using it to defend against Wolfe’s blade, but the magical fire melted it on impact, and the blade cut cleanly through both the rifle and the man holding it.

That was the signal for the bandits to panic, and everyone began to flee, with a few of them sending out whistles to let their allies in the trees know to retreat.

Wolfe fired [Flame Arrows] into everyone he had a line of sight to, dropping another dozen men and leaving the area in an eerie silence.

With the threat dead or running for their lives, Wolfe checked the area for threats, then began his investigation of the camp. There were all the usual items for an extended camp, food provisions, spare weapons, and tents. But there was also a chest full of coins like the ones that Wolfe had gotten in the last village, mixed with the same sort of coins and paper bills that the Grand Dutchy armies carried last winter.

They were definitely close to their target if the bandits’ targets had been carrying Grand Dutchy currency.

Wolfe checked to make sure there were no hidden prisoners in the camps, given the region’s history of slavers, and then double-checked with [Detect Hidden] at maximum.

In the distance, there was another camp, and it was much larger. They were dressed similarly, and they all carried weapons, but there were a number of tied-up young women and merchants locked in cages as well.

“Dammit,” Wolfe muttered as he realized that the Bandit group was not an isolated party. They would all be returning to their camp by now, and the guards would have heard the whistling and shouting already, alerting them to trouble.

[Ella, I found a whole combined camp full of bandits. I will be a while coming back to the Convoy, so carry on without me.] Wolfe instructed.

[Are you sure? I can come back and give you assistance.] She suggested.

[You know, that’s not a bad idea. Make excuses to the group when they slow down and come back to the spot in the woods where I was fighting. There is a huge amount of cash here in a chest, and we can take that as our own.

The Merchants should be in the clear now, as the bandits will be regrouping. Let them know you’re leaving, but leave the Armour spell active for their peace of mind.]

It was a few seconds before Ella replied again, and she was much more cheerful this time.

[We told them that you won the fight, but your leg is injured. So we’re going to escort you to town. The Convoy Leader is fine with it since we got them past the ambush site, so we will be there in a few minutes.]

Wolfe waited and watched as the bandits came back from three different directions, presumably set up along all the major routes into the city, and began to build defences around their camp.

They brought out stacks of logs lashed together for an improvised spear wall outside of the trenches that they had dug and then brought out a group of magical beasts that Wolfe hadn’t noticed before.

They were small dogs, not much more than shin high, but with bugged-out eyes and a crazed look to them.

They were snapping at everything until one of the handlers gave a command, sending them to patrol the outer perimeter.

The Goblin led the Witches straight to Wolfe with an eager look in his eyes. He had briefly joined the scrum at the convoy, but when it started to get away from the bandits, he had run back to rejoin his Witch.

“I got two evildoers today.” Grok proudly informed Wolfe as they approached.

“Well then, today is your lucky day. The enemy’s main camp has small attack dogs. I want you to handle them while we deal with the camp. Can you do that?” Wolfe asked.

“Most definitely. Just leave it to me, and I will take care of the evil minions. What sort of evil beasts am I preparing myself for?” Grok replied before digging through his backpack for spare weapons.

“Chihuahuas.”

Ella looked like she might laugh, but the seriousness in Wolfe’s voice reminded her that these were unlikely to be regular dogs, and there was a good chance that they could use some level of magic if they had been chosen as attack beasts by a bandit group.