The bandits lived in a valley, a rather disadvantageous position. It had exactly one visible entrance, although I highly doubted that they didn’t have a few secret ones. The valley did have an advantage though. It was quite large and a large hill in the middle of it enabled them to survey the whole valley.

Markus and I have both calmed down considerably and were now laying on the top of a cliff, staring down on the bandits in the middle of the night.

“Fourteen patrols, six watchtowers. Not that it matters though.”

Since three days ago, we started sieging down the bandits by blocking anyone from entering or exiting through the main street. For now, we weren’t doing much as we mostly felled trees with the rest of the unit and let them roll down in the valley. In addition, we played drums as close as possible to them and the more experienced archers even fired a few fire arrows into their camp. The bandits laughed at our attempts to siege them out, mostly because we didn’t do anything yet.

“We should be ready in a few hours.” Any yet, I could see how distressed they were. Always listening to these damn drums must have ruined their sleep, just like it did to us with one slight difference. I only needed to sacrifice a hundred soldiers at once to sleepless nights while the two hundred bandits had to hear it all the time. As such, we already had an overwhelming advantage, but I still didn’t order the attack.

Instead, I gave the order to roll a few very special trees down the slope that soon rested near the normal ones. These trees were drenched in flammable oil and didn’t look different from the others. As such, the bandits weren’t exactly worried and relaxed soon afterwards.

Completely calm, I walked strolled towards the bandit camp in black clothing and mud on my face. Whenever a guard looked in my direction, I simply stood still and let the night do the rest for me. The patrols on the other hand were a real danger. If they were too close, they would most definitely spot me considering how little cover there was on the slope of the hill.

Whenever one of these patrols came close, I threw myself in the grass and hoped for the best. Even here did the night cover me excellently and seeing these patrols in the distance made it surprisingly easy to avoid their path. Everything went as expected, until I leaned against the wooden wall that protected the camp from outsiders.

Just as expected, I couldn’t get inside unseen, but that was to be expected. I immediately proceeded to undress the black cloak and wash my face with a wet cloth. Sadly, I had to take the less imposing route of entering the camp by raising my hands high above my head and shouting towards the guards stationed near the gate.

“Ladies and gentlemen, “ exclaimed I with a shaky voice “ I am here in my function as a courier to deliver a message.”

“Since when does the army send little girls for their errands?” Mocked one guard, although he was certainly wary as well. The hand rested on his sword at all times after he noticed me. I wasn’t furious by his mocking words though, I was quite calm in fact as I already anticipated this insult.

“They said … they said you wouldn’t kill me.” Said I with an even shakier voice.

“Alright little girl, come in.” The gate opened and I was led inside. They didn’t even tie me up or questioned me directly as they failed to look past my appearance. Well, they were tired bandits, so they probably didn’t even think about how I could get there without being seen.

Without being searched, they led me to a hut where they finally bound my hands to a table with a rope. The knot was done sloppily and wouldn’t stop me from escaping if I seriously intended to do so. Sadly, these bandits let me rot in their little prison long enough for me to yawn. Only as the big boss, a bulky, tall and bearded man, entered the room, did I start to concentrate again.

“They really did send a little girl.” The man said while barely containing his laughter.

“Yes, it´s me, the little girl. I am here to deliver a message.”

“Alright, tell me and you may survive.”

“I was told to say it to every bandit in camp. I cannot recite the message to you alone.” A dagger flashed in front of my eyes and was neatly placed near my throat. A bit of my precious blood ran down the blade while I shrank back as much as I could. I must have looked like a scared kitten, but in my mind, I was already ripping him to pieces.

“Hey, boss. Let everyone hear it. We are free, unlike these pigs and as such, I believe that every one of us should listen to what she has to say.” Another man said this behind me in a strangely calm, deep voice. I wanted to turn around as I found him quite interesting, but the bandit boss grabbed my chin and forced me to look into his hate-filled eyes. After thinking about the proposal for what felt like an eternity, he stood up and grabbed my hair.

“How did you escape our patrols?” He finally asked. With a pained expression, I told him a rather blatant lie that would definitely make him furious.

“What patrols? I only walked to the front gate.” The red in his eyes started to glow even further as he cut through the rope that bound me to the table and dragged me by my collar out of the room. I struggled and began to cry, but even then I managed to get a nice view of the man who stood behind me. He wore completely black clothing, had raven black hair and was quite atypical for a bandit. He was on the skinny side and I barely saw any muscles on his arms which made this person even more interesting. But the look he gave me was even more interesting. He was nervous as if he knew something drastic was about to happen.