The Bandit King

“Wake up!” I shouted at the sleeping forms of Lassan and Tark, grabbing my sword and stomping my feet hurriedly into my boots. The others slowly stirred, but when they noticed the firelight, they rolled to their feet and quickly donned their gear, following behind me as I rushed out into the hallway, nearly bumping into Rill and Nora who were on their way to wake us.

Before we could properly greet each other, there was a scream and the sound of wood shattering from downstairs, and we bolted down the stairwell to find a small group of bandits fanning out across the common room, stalking down a very scared young woman who was cowering behind the bar. Rill and Tark leapt into action, subduing the intruders with ease while Lassan and Nora assured the young lady that everything was going to be okay.

“They just…appeared out of nowhere,” she gasped around her tears, “all of our defenses, the reinforcements to the wall…they went straight through all of it!”

Handing the woman to Nora, Lassan yelled, “Come on, we have to figure out what’s going on out there!” I followed as he led the way out into the street, where smoke hung heavily in the air, and everything was illuminated by an eerie red glow. Screams echoed through the night, along with the chilling sounds of weapons as they impacted flesh.

Lassan cursed loudly, scanning the haze in an attempt to determine what to do. “I can’t make anything out through all this smoke! I don’t believe this. How did things manage to get this bad, this quickly? Did our defenses really not do anything to slow them down?”

Then, out of the murky night, a presence swept across the square where we stood, an aura that instantly filled me with a feeling of raw, primal fear. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before, an impression that threatened to overwhelm my sense of reason, and I swallowed heavily as I did my best to push it aside. Behind us came the rhythmic, heavy sound of footsteps approaching unhurriedly, each step sending a jolt of panic up my spine. I slowly turned towards the source, only to see a hulking shadow emerging from the midnight gloom.

“Run,” I breathed, without even realizing the word had left my lips. The others were also frozen in fear, apart from Rill, who glanced around worriedly. She could not sense even this overwhelming aura, but even she could at least tell that something was off. I turned towards Lassan and repeated myself, “Run, Lassan! You guys go and try to save anyone you can! I’ll take care of things here!”

The man looked back and forth between me and the approaching figure, and nodded, a look of resignation on his face. He knew that there was nothing he or the others could do to help against the figure that lurked behind that shadow. As they hurried away, Rill stepped closer to me and brandished her sword. Before I could tell her to run, too, she said, “I’m not leaving your side, Leo! Whatever’s coming, we’ll face it together.”

There was a look of stoic determination upon her face, and although I wanted to argue, to force her to flee, there was no time. In front of us, the smoke parted, and a man appeared, regarding the two of us with a disinterested expression upon his rugged face.

My breath caught in my throat as I beheld this mountain of a man, standing head and shoulders above me, layers of bulging muscles barely contained beneath his sun-tanned skin. He wore no shirt, but across his shoulders rested a red-dyed fur cloak fastened with a leather strap across his unrealistically broad chest. His pants were dark grey, and around his waist was tied a decorative red sash, a loaded steel crossbow hanging from a thick belt he wore overtop. But what drew my gaze was the large, alien skull splattered with crimson that rested atop his shaggy black head like a macabre crown.

There was no doubt in my mind that this was none other than the Bandit King himself, the man named Marik.

My fears were confirmed as the familiar form of Tirel materialized beside him, his eyes going wide as he recognized Rill and I. Pointing at me, he exclaimed, “That’s him, M’lord! The one who drove us out!”

Marik’s expression did not change, and in fact, he made no indication that he had even heard. His black eyes stared at me, as if he was looking through me. There was no malice hidden there, no anger or even bloodlust. It was as if, to him, I was nothing more than an insect that had crossed his path. I am a dragon! I reminded myself, doing my best to push down the urge to flee that was rising up within me. It did little to help.

A bead of sweat dripped from the tip of my nose as I said shakily, “So, we finally meet in person, Bandit King! You really are a monster. You didn’t even think twice about burning this place to the ground, did you? Why go so far? Why can’t you just let these people live in peace?”

When the man spoke, his voice filled the night air like an avalanche, each of the slow and deliberately-enunciated words striking my body like a physical impact. I was a drum, and his voice, the hammer striking it. “Rule requires strength. And strength requires sacrifices to be made. You ask why I go so far? Then let me tell you a tale.”

At his side, Tirel slowly backed away, vanishing back into haze from whence he'd come, as Marik intoned, “I was born during a raid. My mother died giving birth, and my father died fighting. The men who did it found me newly-born, and decided to raise me as one of their own. They were men with no home, living in caves, forced to steal and extort whatever they needed to live, and oftentimes going hungry as a result. From a young age, they instilled within me the importance of being able to rely on my own strength. Instead of milk, they fed me scraps, and forced me to gnaw the meat off of bones before my first teeth had even grown in. When I was older, I fought the weaker members over the scraps until I got strong enough to fend for myself. I taught myself reading, writing, and arithmetic. The only reason that I am here now is because I grew stronger, and I did whatever it took to survive, even after goblins nearly killed them all. They were the only family I had ever known, and I vowed to become strong enough to usher in an age of prosperity for them, so that those who had never had anything, would no longer have to struggle to survive.”

“You make it sound so selfless, as if that justifies any of…this.” I spat, waving a hand around at the fiery landscape surrounding us.

The man grunted indifferently. “You can view it however you like, but it is because of my intervention that those men who had no home before now have a place to sleep at night. Those who went hungry, now lay with their bellies filled. And they no longer raid the towns and villages they now occupy. And the people? They are the sheep upon which my wolves feed. They do the work, and we reap the rewards, for this is the sacrifice they must pay for our strength. My men fight off the beasts of the wild and bring order to an otherwise vicious land. I have brought trade, protection, and stability, where their own king never had. And yet, there are still those who seek to defy me. Those whom do not fall in line serve only to teach others through their folly. Make no mistake, I do not relish the idea of losing two large towns and the resources they have to offer, but such is the price I have made clear.”

He's psychotic, I thought, as I felt the blood drain from my face upon hearing his words. “Two towns?”

“Of course, I will be visiting the other shortly after I’m finished here. Lakeside; a name with which I know you are most familiar.”

He knows that we were involved in that, too? I guess that’s not surprising, it’s been long enough now that the news would have reached him. With as much confidence as I could muster, I told him, “Not if I stop you, here and now!”

I leapt towards him, aiming a blow at his head with all of my strength. Every instinct I had screamed at me to run away, to avoid fighting this man at all costs, but I desperately pushed it out of my mind. I knew that I could not afford to hold back even the tiniest fraction against him.

He did not move to dodge or even block my attack, and my wooden blade slammed directly into the side of his head, the impact reverberating up into my shoulders before there was a sickening snap as the blade shattered into a thousand tiny shards. Time seemed to stand still as Marik stared coldly at me, not even flinching from my full-power strike, his eyes showing absolutely no emotion. It looked as though he was bored, or perhaps even disappointed.

Before I knew it, one of the man’s massive fists connected with my stomach, driving the air from my lungs with a pitiful croak. I had no time to even consider the snapping noises I heard before I was jettisoned backwards, slamming into the stone wall of the inn behind me. I blacked out for an instant as the stones shattered around me, and I slid to the ground. My vision swam as I screamed at my numb body to move, to get back up and fight! I lurched onto all-fours and coughed, a stream of blood painting the ground beneath me.

One hit did this much damage? Just what the hell is he? I need to transform, I need to –

“Oh, you survived that?” He mused from directly above me, and I had no time to do anything before he wrapped one of his hands around my head and squeezed, lifting me up until we were face-to-face. For the first time, he grinned, a sight that sent chills throughout my trembling form. “It’s been a while since I met someone who could take a beating!”

I gasped as he drew back and slammed my face into the side of the inn, dragging me along through the stonework before spiking my limp frame into the cobblestones underfoot. I hit and bounced, rolling lifelessly across the square. Come on, body…move…I thought weakly, struggling in an attempt to raise myself from the ground. Boots appeared before me, and I looked up to see the man once again towering over me, before one of those boots connected squarely with my face.

I spun head over heels through the air, stopping only when I crashed through the wall of a nearby townhouse, the timber breaking my landing a bit more softly than the stone had earlier. My consciousness faded in and out; I needed to transform, but the man was giving me no time to gather my wits! 

As I lay in a pile of broken plaster and wooden splinters, Marik once again loomed over me, the bloodstained crimson skull upon his head silhouetted against the flickering firelight and ruined townhouses, and for the first time in my life, I felt true, absolute, terror. But before the man could deliver another crushing blow, his head suddenly jerked back, an arrow embedding itself into his eye socket.

He paused for a moment, before a low chuckle began to escape his lips, building into manic laughter. He grabbed the shaft sticking out of his bloodied face and tore it free, casting his remaining eye towards the source of the attack. I followed his gaze so see Rill, still holding her bow with a dumbfounded look on her face. Clearly, she had not considered her next move.

No, Rill! Run! I thought, struggling to call out to her. My voice refused to work, nothing but a wet, bloody gurgle escaping my lips. This isn’t someone we can defeat…this isn’t someone anyone can defeat!

I watched as Marik’s free hand gripped the crossbow at his waist, levelling it towards the girl. No! I screamed, futilely clawing at the broken plaster around me. But it was no use. There was a crisp snap of the metal string, and a flash of quicksilver, before the forearm-sized bolt punched straight through Rill’s flank, leaving behind a gaping hole.

Her eyes went wide in surprise, and she turned to me for an instant, before crumpling to the ground.

And then, something deep within me snapped.