Episode Thirteen – Gone With the Wind

Emerging from the dungeon, the crew encounters one last danger. Will they hang onto their treasure?

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Transcript

Chapter 13 – Gone With the Wind 

We emerged from the dungeon. We were triumphant. We were the victors on this day. Our names would be heralded in the taverns this night. I was ecstatic but that was short lived. As we walked out into the field before the dungeon entrance, a dozen riders emerged from their hiding position in the woods. They were waiting for us. Their bows were now drawn tight. Their arrows pointed directly at us. And, I could see they were very sharp arrows at that.

Tarek, the Bandit Overlord emerged from behind his thugs and smiled. The biggest, most offensive smile one could ever make. I knew what he wanted immediately. Our treasure.

Oh no, no, no! I yelled out. 

“Ah, Borkum my old friend”, he said smirkingly, taunting me. “You all have survived the dungeon; this is good, very good. I had my doubts, but, Hawk Tuah, I know she is not a quitter. The rest of you, I was not so sure about.”

“Tarek, we have taken this treasure honestly and we have paid a heavy toll to retrieve it. Please we do not want any trouble,” Hawk Tuah offered up hoping to diffuse an escalating situation. 

“My dearest Hawk Tuah, there is nothing to worry about here. You have retrieved a lost treasure, and now I claim it. We outnumber you two to one. And, your dear friend Borkum here still has a bounty on his head. Now, I aim to collect it.” Tarek smirkingly said.

“There is no bounty on my head Tarek. I do not accept that. And I will not give you our treasure willingly.” I said with all the authority I could muster at the moment.

“I respect you Borkum, you are going to go places here in the Arcane Isles, but, first you need to understand authority. For example, when someone is standing in front of you with superior firepower, as we are, sometimes discretion is the better part of valor,” Tarek said with his moral superiority. And, then he nodded to the bowman next to him who released his arrow.

The arrow flew faster than the blink of an eye. There was nothing I could do as I watched it sail right from the bowman towards me and sink into my right thigh muscle. The shockwave of pain that exploded upward made my eyes water. But I did not yell out in pain. I would not give them that satisfaction on this day. 

“Borkum, are you okay Hawk Tuah yelled out.

I gritted my teeth and quietly with as much dignity as I could muster, replied, “it is in the bone. It is in the bone.”

Waves of pain traveled up from where the arrow was in my thigh bone and poked my brain with thousands of sharp needles. But I stood there like a statue. Determined to show Tarek and his thugs I could take their abuse.

“You will have to take the treasure from us Tarek if its a fight you want, then we will give it too you” Hawk Tuah yelled out standing her ground. She was not intimidated by Tarek and his men. 

Tarek nodded to the second bowman who then released another arrow, which sailed fast and sure and struck me in the left thigh. I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my skull as the sharp pain roiled my body yet again.

“Mother, Mother, Mother,” I whispered under my breath, trying desperately not to yell out. But I was not looking very stoic at the moment. I had two arrows sticking out of my thighs. 

“Think carefully what the next one of you says, are your friend Borkum here will get several arrows in the heart.” Tarek exclaimed indignantly. 

“We will avenge Borkum’s death, and I assure you Tarek, I will use your skull as a cup for my wine.” Hawk Tuah countered with the ferocity of lion. Her fury was aroused and she would fight till she we were all dead. Of that I was quite sure.

“How about a third of the treasure,” I offered up awkwardly.  Hoping to end this before I was  a human pin cushion and the first casualty in a fight we could not win.

“You see Hawk Tuah, I knew Borkum, and I would come to an understanding. I like him, I like him a lot, I think he will be good for you,” Tarek responded to everyone about us. “No, my boy, I will take most of your treasure. But you do deserve something for you labors.  I am not the taxman after all.”

There was nothing I could do. Tarek had us outnumbered. We were going to lose. So, now, the goal was to keep us alive. And, when I say we, I meant mostly me.

“Here is my treasure" I said to Tarek, stepping back from the chest I had just carried out of the dungeon, as I set it on the ground. The others huffed and puffed but then did the same. 

We stepped back twenty feet, when several of Tarek’s men jumped off their horses and retrieved the chests. They held them up to Tarek to show him. Tarek smilingly, grabbed a handful of coins from each chest and stuffed them into a pouch. When they had secured the chests to their horses, the men mounted and turned to ride off. Tarek had some last words as he threw the bag of treasure to Hawk Tuah.

“You all did good. You all did really, really good. Be proud of yourselves. I am sure you all gained a lot of experience through this adventure and as everyone knows, experience is worth far more than gold any day. I will keep my eye on you all. And maybe we can help each other out again someday. Tell the tavern owner tonight, your drinks are on me.”  And, then he turned, and rode off with his bandits. Our hard-fought treasure was now gone with the wind.

My companions stood there dumbfounded at what had just happened. How did it happen? How could this happen? I had a more immediate need at the moment. 

I turned and looked at them, “can someone please get these damn arrows out of me.”

Epilogue 

By late night we made it back to town and found ourselves at the Mermaid’s Tavern. We needed food, drink and a safe place to rest. When we stumbled into the tavern a hush fell over the crowd.  Many never expected to see us again. They could tell by our looks that we had taken on the dungeon. And we paid a heavy price. But we were back. And alive.

As we moved through the crowd, several people got up and let us have the table by the fire. As we went to sit down, the crowd stood and began clapping, cheering and congratulating us. Suddenly, things did not feel so bad. I cracked a smile at the others. They in turned smiled back.

We may have lost the treasure, but we gained the respect of the crowd. The bar maid brought over five tankards of ale without asking. She looked at us and smiled, “your friend Tarek said for us to take care of you and left several coins for your tab. We got you tonight, meat and cheeses will be over shortly.”

We sat at the table, and Hawk Tuah pulled out the pouch Tarek had tossed her. She dumped it onto the table, and we counted out 10 gold pieces, 27 silver pieces and 45 copper pieces. Enough for a month’s worth of lodging and a few other things.

I reached into my pockets and pulled out some of the coins I had squired away. Brindle did the same, as did Hawk Tuah and Elaria.  We had another hundred or so of mixed coinage, some pieces of jewelry and a few other knick knacks. We looked at Lykxnzzl to see if he would pony up. 

“Okay, okay,” Lykxnzzl grudgingly reached into his pants and pulled out the red gem that the statue had when we first entered the dungeon and where we fought the skeletons. In all the excitement, I had forgotten all about it. 

Our eyes all went wide at seeing the red gem. You could see a dozen tavern fires dancing off its smooth surface. The bar maid came over with a platter of roasted meats, and promptly “oohed and ahhhed” as she saw the beautiful stone. I figured it would fetch an easy thousand gold pieces in Port Azures markets.

“When did you lift that beauty,” I asked surprised.

“You know I am a thief, don’t you? Lykxnzzl asked. “When you all were so busy sneaking ahead at one point, I snuck back and grabbed it. No one ever even noticed.”  

“You are a damn good thief Lykxnzzl,” Brindle offered up as he raised his tankard to toast him. We all nodded, raised our tankards and laughed out loud. 

Perhaps it was the free-flowing ale, the roasted meats, the shared experience that we had just endured, but we laughed hard that night. By the third round of ales, things were not that bad after all.  In fact, in an odd way maybe Tarek was right, maybe experience was the best treasure.  

It was Hawk Tuah who finally asked what everyone was thinking, “so are you all up for another adventure?”