For Nevermore Season 1

last second, then took off into the woods screaming.
    Three down, three to go.
    Finn’s arrow found another of the bandits.
    Two left.
    The remaining bandit ducked between the wagons, about 30 yards away.
    Dante screamed at Finn, “One went north into the woods! Get him!”
    Seconds later, Dante heard Finn galloping after the man, leaving Dante with just one bandit breathing. “Give up and we’ll let you live!” Dante yelled as he raised his bow and began to step closer.
    “Never!” the man yelled, peeking from the corner the farthest wagon.
    Dante took aim, but was too late. The man had retreated and was momentarily safe between the wagons. Dante held the arrow tight, keeping it notched as he inched forward.
    The man laughed. “I suggest you leave while you can!”
    Dante ignored the man’s bluff. The bandit had either overestimated his hand, or underestimated his enemy. He should be off in the woods, pumping his legs without looking back.
    “I’m not leaving without the shipment!”
    “That’s too bad,” the bandit said, still laughing.
    It wasn’t the laughter of swagger; it was something else — the laughter of a madman. Of all the problems Dante had to deal with in his untitled role at King’s Point, tracking bandits was the least appealing. They were a nasty bunch, living on the fringes, neither accepted in the Outer Territories nor in the Queen’s Realm, forced to live off the land, or raiding weaker villages, couriers, and traders. Desperate people were less predictable than many of the other evils Dante normally dealt with. Many were crazy savages, capable of nearly anything. Because they were savages and often diseased, Dante rarely absorbed them. The dangers were too great and could push him past the brink of sanity, which is why he was forced to fight bandits with standard weapons.
    Dante felt a chill as he inched closer, cautious of every slight sound of his boots as they slapped the forest floor. He was through talking and didn’t want to give his location away as he drew closer, now just 20 yards from the wagons and the bandit.
    The man wasn’t saying anything, but he wasn’t silent. Dante could hear him breathing heavily, or maybe laughing.
    As Dante circled the schooner, the man came into view, huddled between the wagons, on his knees, with his back to Dante. He giggled, staring at something Dante couldn’t see.
    Dante’s hairs were standing on end. He was nervous though not sure why. He raised his bow to take aim, then lowered it. Until he knew for certain if Finn were able to catch the other bandit without killing him, Dante would have to leave this one alive. They needed to question at least one of the men to find the location of their hideout. This group of bandits was more organized and a bigger threat than the others. The elders wanted the group found, then plucked at the root.
    Dante waited, watching the man as he sat hunched over, as if he didn’t know or care about the threat behind him. No, he was busy staring at something out of Dante’s line of sight.
    What is he looking at?
    Dante’s curiosity pushed him closer toward the man. He kept his drawn bow on the bandit the entire time, his ears pricked for Finn, hoping to hear him return with the runaway bandit.
    Dante took another step closer and his boot cracked a branch.
    The bandit stopped laughing and lifted his head.
    Dante fixed his aim, ready. He’d have to take care to aim to incapacitate, not kill.
    The man slowly turned his head, one eye dark and beady, the other blind and milky white. He smiled, revealing two patchy rows of rotting teeth as he slowly raised his hands in surrender. In his right hand, Dante noticed a small dark pouch.
    “Put down the pouch!” Dante said.
    “Gladly,” the man said, then dropped it.
    Dante realized what the pouch was only after it fell and exploded in a thunderous flash of brightness which blinded him and left his ears ringing in a high-pitch whistle.
    The flash pouch was an old wizard’s trick to temporarily stun someone, the effects lasting a minute or two at most. Dante moved as quickly as he could while blinded, to get away from his last known spot, wondering whether the bandit would use his momentary advantage to escape or to attack.
    Dante dropped his bow and slowly backed up, searching for a tree to push himself against to protect at least one side of him from surprise attack.
    He felt the pain a second before the whistling in his ears subsided and he heard the man