I took one look at the pair of impromptu woodcutters and my heart sank. The scuffed but clean leather armour. Blackened knives each of them had tucked into their belts. The one who'd done the cutting held a massive axe. A scar ran down his face and across his neck. Both were relatively clean, considering that they'd been traipsing through a forest, but they'd already admitted there was no good reason for anyone to be here. While it wasn't always a great idea to judge a book by its cover, the overall picture screamed bandits. Not the successful sort, living it up in the lap of luxury, either. Perhaps that was a good thing—it spoke of limited competency—but they were at least competent enough to not yet have been caught, and given what he'd done with the axe, there was no way I could beat them in a fight.

  "What's wrong? Goblin got your tongue?" asked the one with the axe.

  "No," I answered the axe. Answering big axes seemed like a wise life choice.

  "Something got his face, though," sniggered the other one. "Look at that bruise."

  "That was a goblin, ironically enough. Hit me with a slingshot," I responded. The second guy didn't quite have the intimidation factor of the first.

  "Oh? A bit of cheek on this one, ain't there. Think he'll fetch a good price, boss?"

  "Clean him up a bit and do something about that bruise, and sure. Looks like a decently strong lad."

  Definitely bandits, then. Poo.

  "Really? You moving straight onto selling me without even asking what I'm doing in the middle of a forest?"

  "Huh? You're on the run, obviously," said the one with the axe. "Look at you. Dressed in those pathetic rags, you're obviously a serf of some sort. From Baron Cargellen's place, but decided a life of farming wasn't for you, no doubt. You aren't the first. Well, today, luck is in your favour. I can assure you that you'll never need to farm again."

  "How'd you feel about the mines, though?" sniggered the second guy.

  "They'd be a bit of a waste," I answered.

  "Shame that," he sneered. "Now, will you come along like a good little boy, or do we need to give you a few more bruises?"

  "You misunderstand me," I said, operating on pure adrenaline and having no idea whether my plan was a good one. Or even a sane one, for that matter. Nevertheless, I was going to try it anyway, mostly because I didn't fancy being enslaved, but also because this guy apparently had access to combat skill crystals. "Aren't you wondering why [Adept Tracking] didn't work?"

  The one with the axe—obviously the more intelligent of the two—frowned.

  "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" snapped the second one, who obviously wasn't wondering, even after I'd pointed it out.

  "Are you seriously angling for a job offer?" asked the one with the axe. "What's your name, brat?"

  "John," I lied. A rather stupid lie, but I'd needed to answer smoothly and clearly to have any chance of being believed, and it was the first name that popped into my head. Damn the brat.

  "Job offer?" asked the second guy. "What'd I miss?"

  "He's claiming that he has [Expert Stealth]. Only way we could have been so close without your [Adept Tracking] picking up any sign of him."

  The second guy whistled. "Well now, that's a bit of a claim. Baby face like that, you look like you've only just unlocked. How'd you get a rank C skill so soon? I call bullshit."

  "I'm older than I look," I claimed. "That's the problem with serfdom. The food we grow tends to be eaten by other people, and I'm sick of it."

  The guy with the axe peered appraisingly. "An interesting proposition. Come quietly, and I'll consider it."

  "Can I at least get your names?" I asked as a rather eloquent gesture with the axe demanded that I start walking.

  "No."

  The second guy—who was apparently going to remain nameless for now—took the lead, while the axe took up position behind me. As best as I could tell from the early morning sun, we were headed north-ish, which was at least better than heading back east.

  What wasn't better was that I suspected that the bandit wasn't really considering my offer, and had only claimed he was to get me to follow quietly. I made a point of using [Expert Stealth] to its fullest as I moved, just to make a point, but I doubted it would have much impact.

  How was I going to get out of this one? What I'd been hoping was that they'd take me at face value, after which I'd pretend to join them, then stab them all in their sleep. What I'd expected was that they'd keep me under close watch, and not give me the chance to act out until I'd proven my loyalty somehow, and that I'd be able to use that test as an opportunity to escape. But if they kept me locked up and under guard until they found a buyer, I was screwed.

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  The best I could hope for was that some pursuers from the baron—Baron Cargellen, apparently; I'd never heard his name before—turned up and both groups killed each other.

  How many bandits were there? Was axe guy the leader, or were there multiple bandits as powerful as him? The other one had called him 'boss', so hopefully it was the first option.

  "I don't suppose you'll tell me how much further it is, either?" I asked once we'd been walking for ten minutes.

  "No."

  "What about water? I haven't had anything to drink since yesterday."

  "No."

  "Are you going to say anything other than no?"

  "No."

  Drat. Better than hitting me, at least, but if he wasn't even going to give me water, the chances he was taking me seriously dropped even lower.

  What if I bolted? I wasn't bound. Heck, they hadn't even taken my knives and spear off me. I could just dart off sideways and leg it.

  Axe guy would simply yell 'cross chop', my legs would go flying off, and I wouldn't be running anywhere ever again. Besides, the guy in front didn't have anything weighing him down, and I doubted I could outrun him. No, running wouldn't work.

  Nor would fighting.

  Damn it.

  Unable to think of any options, I couldn't do anything other than follow in silence. It took another half an hour to reach the bandit 'base', which was more like a village in the middle of the forest. I boggled as we approached a full-on palisade, complete with gates that swung open as we approached, watched by a half-dozen leather-armoured bandits standing on battlements on the other side. So much for stabbing them in their sleep; there were far too many for that. No wonder they weren't interested in me except as merchandise. They already had all the manpower they could ever need.

  How could a place like this exist unchecked? Everyone said the baron put a lot of effort into maintaining law and order.

  Then again, axe guy had specifically accused me of being 'from Baron Cargellen's place', thus implying I was no longer there.

  We halted just inside the gate, which swung closed behind us.

  A line of bandits quickly formed in front of us.

  "Welcome back, boss!" they said, saluting, except that they were all out of step, which rather spoilt the effect.

  A few of them peered at me with curiosity.

  "Just a runaway we came across on our way back," said axe guy, who was, thankfully, confirmed as the boss, so I hopefully didn't need to worry about anyone else felling a swath of forest with a single invocation of a Skill. "Someone put him with the others."

  I sighed. Not for the first time, I hated being right about something.

  "You didn't seriously think I'd trust someone who I'd encountered only because they'd betrayed their previous master?" he asked, apparently picking up on my sigh.

  "No," I answered, even though I hadn't thought of it in that way. Annoyingly, he was technically correct, too; I had betrayed the baron. "I did hope, though. It's not as if trust is an absolute requirement."

  All bandits in earshot, not just the axe man, glared as if I'd just personally insulted them.

  "Yes, it is," said their leader. "I'd trust anyone here with my life, and I hope they'd trust me in return."

  "Really? Weird bandits."

  One of the bandits spat at me. "Not by choice," he said. "Now get your arse into that hut."

  I was pushed at spear point toward a round hut—one of several similar designs within the palisade. A heavy wooden beam lay across the door, which a bandit lifted, letting them open the door and roughly shove me in, after ripping my spear and knives from my belt. The door slammed behind me, followed by a thump as the bar dropped back into position, locking me in.

  There was no light inside, but the wooden walls of the hut weren't perfectly fitted and so let in stale scraps of sunlight, illuminating a dirt floor and at least a dozen kids of various ages sitting around listlessly. Some were sobbing. Some of them looked young enough that they wouldn't unlock their Systems for years.

  Most of those youngest were girls, for reasons I utterly refused to think about. There wasn't much that could be done with a slave that had no Skills or Stats...

  Screw it. If my life ended here, as long as I took some of these bandits down with me, I'd consider it a life well spent. As well defended as this village was, I couldn't help but notice that everything was made of wood. Palisade, defences, huts, everything. The huts even had thatched roofs. Given that it was positioned in the middle of a forest, that made sense, but it also meant that a well-placed fire would do a lot of damage.

  "Hey, are you okay?" asked an older girl—maybe a couple of years older than me—who'd approached at some point while I was trying not to explode from anger. "What's your name?"

  "John," I replied, repeating my lie. Might as well keep things consistent.

  "Hello John. My name is Sophia. I know things are scary right now, but I wanted to reassure you that the bandits haven't hurt us, and we have food and water. Are you hungry?"

  "I'm thirsty," I admitted, so she led me to a basin that was full of water that looked clean.

  "Help yourself. They refill it as soon as it empties."

  "What inconsistent bandits," I grumbled. They traded human lives, but got offended when I called them out on trust? They took care of their captives, although perhaps that was just to maintain their value. I sure as heck wasn't going to let them off the hook.

  If only I had the power to back up my indignation. I could certainly break out of this hut, but not without making enough noise to alert the entire camp. Even if I managed it silently, then what? I was still in the middle of the camp. Escape seemed unlikely, let alone justice.

  "Do you want to talk?" asked Sophia, and I noticed the other kids hesitatingly gathering around. They probably didn't have much to distract them from their fates in here, and a newcomer was as good a diversion as anything.

  "Not much to say," I answered, deciding to go mostly with the truth. "I was just a serf, and someone further up the social ladder falsely accused me of a crime. I ran away to save my own skin, but ended up bumping into the boss of these bandits. A rather unlucky coincidence, but if I hadn't run, I'd have probably ended up in a slave mine anyway, so I guess not much has changed."

  "You're taking things better than most, then," she said, smiling sadly. "I am... was... the daughter of travelling merchants. The bandits attacked our caravan on the way to Cargellen Canton. Killed everyone other than me, my parents included, despite the entire group surrendering immediately. Dad should have paid more attention when we were warned that Harvent Canton had become too dangerous for travel, but he thought our group was big enough to dissuade any bandit attacks."

  "Oh... I'm sorry..."

  "I appreciate the sentiment, but it wasn't you that did it."

  "No... No, it was not," I agreed.

  These fucking bandits were going to die. That much I swore.