The Lufian Family 8

The bandits begin their raid of the Lufian manor. As they scale the walls an archer has already killed one soldier still remaining. Dagobert Lufian has draped his cloak over himself and the soldier. The four archers in their small group of the raiding party fire arrows on him. Though they do nothing, he is kept pinned down. Everyone else, weapons in hand, pass by into the manor itself.

The bandits move quickly. Although they know the soldiers will return, likely within the day, their first order of business is stamping out any resistance. Only then will they allow themselves to steal all the valuables and leave, only once nobody can stop them. In carrying out that plan, they have been ordered by their boss Leofwine to find any non-combatants in the manor and take them hostage. In addition to their light armor and weapons, they have each been given a sizable number of ropes.

The bandits burst into rooms, kicking in the doors they pass. Each time the people inside are shocked. With none able to get away, there’s nobody able to inform the rest of the manor of the danger. The bandits walk through the halls of the manor, a growing procession of captives trailing behind them, bound by rope and dragged along. As they walk, they pass by the other small groups that had raided the manor. A powerful voice calls out to them.

“Hold it! I have new orders for you!” The man wears large, thick metal armor, unlike the padded leather of the others, and carries a halberd on his back. His face is still exposed without any helmet to protect himself, displaying his large beard and the dark eyes that reveal nothing within him.

“Boss! What do we need to do?”

“Take everyone you’ve captured and round them up in some courtyard somewhere. I’ll capture the margrave’s family myself. Then we’ll use them all to take down the margrave himself.”

“We’re on it, boss!”

Leofwine lets the other bandits go and spread the word. He quite enjoyed the look of fear on their prisoners’ faces when he said his plan aloud. He leaves himself to go find the margrave’s family, his wife, son, and daughter, as he’s heard it. As he walks through the halls he looks upon everything that will soon become him. He evaluates them all, already fantasizing about the money he’ll soon make. He sighs when he thinks of the wealth he’ll come into when he finishes this. He doesn’t dislike any of the bandits who serve beneath him, but he’s sure they’ll greedily want cuts of their own, and so he expects he’ll need to slaughter them right after.

As he walks he comes across two more bandits discussing something in the middle of the hall. One of them is giant, even larger than Leofwine himself. He carries with him an ornamented mace. He’s the second strongest after Leofwine, and he was a dangerous bandit leader in his own right before he bent the knee to Leofwine. Though Leofwine puts quite a bit of trust in him he secretly wishes for this man to die on his own so he doesn’t need to bother with it. The other bandit is a young man, the youngest of all the bandits. He has tawny skin and a fake smile on his face, a shortsword on his hip. He was the first of Leofwine’s followers, his most loyal man and his second-in-command. Leofwine believes that he alone could be spared at the end of all this.

“Eadwig, go gather up some archers. Bada, follow me.” The two men nod and pursue the tasks given to them. The large man leaves and the young one stays.

Leofwine and Bada begin roaming the halls of the Lufian manor in search of the margrave’s family. They go through several doors to no avail, each room already empty, perhaps by the other bandits or perhaps before they even arrived. It’s a boring process, the only entertaining moment for the two of them the strange room they discover fully covered in claw-like scars. There weren’t even treasures around for Leofwine to enjoy. Eventually they force open a locked door to find a woman and a young girl clinging to her.

“You must be the lord’s wife and his daughter.” The woman acts unfazed, moving with an unparalleled grace.

“Indeed we are. I am Sigiland Lufian.” She curtsies as though Leofwine were a respected guest. Leofwine bursts out laughing, Bada still fake smiling beside him.

“What? Do you really think it’s smart to resist?”

“I have no intention of doing so. Do as you please with me, but please let my daughter go unharmed.” Odila looks up at her mother confused, unequipped to understand the situation at hand.

“Have you confused me for somebody else? I’m a business man, you see. I can’t let that girl go because it’s bad business, as simple as that. I hope you can understand. I mean, it’s not every day you see a noble lady and her daughter together like this!” Even at this Sigiland shows no fear. Bada looks at Leofwine.

“Boss, should I guard the place while you have your fun?” Leofwine considers the prospect for a moment.

“No. In a case like this, it might hurt profits in the end. If I do it at all it could only be a bit, you know. And it’ll have to wait until we’ve dealt with that damn margrave. Tie them up, we’ll take them to the courtyard.”

Bada does so. While Sigiland resigns herself, Odila, still not understanding, resists. Bada claps once, right in front of her face. Odila goes silent, then begins to sway and fall. Bada drags them along as he follows after Leofwine. Leofwine stays silent as he prepares his mind for the upcoming confrontation. All he’s done is simply precaution. The true demeanor of the margrave is unknown to him. Leofwine resolves himself to die if the margrave decides to attack regardless, but he’s nearly certain the hostages will sway him. Leofwine and Bada walk out into the courtyard. They join the rest of the bandits and the rest of the hostages. Leofwine and Bada step onto the wide stone terrace. They stand there with their hostages and wait for the margrave, the star of the show, Dagobert Lufian, to arrive.