Chapter 70: Chapter 70: The King’s Band

Praxis still couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. One minute, he was listening to Zenais’ personal history and in the next, he was hearing a proposition from the blonde, buxom warrior directly to Lysandra.

“I find you ravishing, intelligent, and utterly sexy,” said Zenais, staring at Lysandra. “And I’d love to be the one to show you a good time. What do I need to do to get you to lay with me?”

“I beg your pardon?” asked Lysandra, sputtering in surprise.

“It’s okay if you’ve never been with a woman before,” continued Zenais. “Everyone has to start somewhere. I can be very tender and affectionate. You won’t even miss laying with men afterwards.”

Lysandra actually started laughing but took the smile right off of Zenais’ face.

“I don’t see what’s so funny,” grumbled Zenais after she lost her confidence.

“I hate to burst your bubble but the only person I’m going to be sleeping with is Praxis,” she said, touching his thigh in the process to reaffirm the bond between them. “I don’t like girls like that.”

Zenais’ eyes flickered to Praxis for a moment until they centered on Lysandra again.

“You shouldn’t knock it until you try it. I was apprehensive about women at first until I met my first lover, and she showed me how beautiful it could be.”

“I’m sure you’re right but what I have with Praxis is beautiful in its own way,” said Lysandra, stroking his thigh. “I love him so that means no. As gorgeous as you are, I’d never do anything without him being involved.”

“You think I’m gorgeous?” asked Zenais, suddenly finding some wind in her sails. It all came crashing down a moment later when she realized the true extent of what Lysandra was saying. “Wait, you’re saying you wouldn’t do anything without him being involved? Like sexually?”

“We’re kind of like a two-for-one deal,” joked Praxis. “We come as a pair.”

“In more ways than one,” teased Lysandra.

Zenais looked like she was thinking about it for a moment before her disgust boiled over.

“I’d never sleep with a man. Not after . . . what happened to me.”

“What happened to you?” asked Lysandra. “Were you hurt before?”

Zenais nodded. “The first man I ever laid with hit me. He struck me many times. Ever since then, I vowed to never let it happen again. I wasn’t ever going to let a man have that much power over me.” She turned her eyes toward Praxis. “So I guess my answer to your counterproposal is no.”

“I guess everyone is out of luck tonight,” joked Praxis, making Zenais glare at him again.

At that moment, Praxis thought they just might have to leave. Zenais didn’t seem like the kind of woman to take rejection easily, and he figured that any crush she might have on Lysandra would be outweighed by her embarrassment.

That wasn’t the case though. Far from it.

To his surprise, Zenais actually smiled after a few moments and then blew a strand of hair out of her face.

“Good things might come to those that wait,” said Zenais, shrugging her shoulders which had the added benefit of making her tits bounce in the process. “Maybe I just need to wait out your relationship.”

Lysandra snorted. “You’ll be waiting a very long time.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. And I seem to have all the time in the world.”

By that point, Praxis was seriously thinking about telling her off when something changed. Quite suddenly, Zenais stuck her head up just a little higher as if listening for a noise that was still far off. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to decipher what she was hearing. Once she had it though, she moved quickly.

“The water!” she hissed at them. “Douse the fire! Quickly!”

“What’s wrong?” asked Praxis, putting his fingers around the handle of his sword. “Are we in danger?”

“Yes, stupid!” growled Zenais. “Do what I say. Now!”

With the aid of a small cup of water and their feet to burn off what was left, Zenais set about making it look like the campsite had been abandoned hours earlier. That was an exceedingly difficult task, especially on short notice but she managed to disperse the evidence of the fire and carry away what little meat they’d taken from the deer.

“To the forest over there,” she urged. “Run!”

Not yet knowing what was going on, Praxis and Lysandra followed her lead. Thankfully for them, the forest that sat a short distance from the campsite was thick and lush, affording them easy cover.

“Get on the ground and don’t make a sound,” whispered Zenais.

“What are we waiting for?” asked Lysandra. “Are you in trouble in some way?”

“Not me,” replied Zenais. “Us.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Will you shut up? All will be revealed in time.”

Praxis and Lysandra could only stare at each other while they laid on their stomachs in the thick underbrush. They both stared at the campsite for several minutes, not even as much as moving a muscle in the process.

Finally, Praxis understood why Zenais had acted so quickly. He could hear the telltale signs of activity from just a short distance away. It was a group of men—many of them—and they were almost upon them.

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Zenais grabbed her sword and held it at the ready just in case it was necessary. She nodded her head to Praxis who soon did the same, especially as ten men stumbled upon their former campsite.

“I could have sworn I saw smoke from here,” said one of the men, his feet kicking at the remains of the fire.

“You did see smoke, you big doofus,” said another. “This fire isn’t that old. Someone was here up until just a little bit ago.”

“How long is that supposed to be? A little bit ago could be a whole lot of time depending on who you ask!”

“By the spear of Ares, will you shut the fuck up? Your mouth never quits, much to our annoyance!”

“How about both you idiots shut up,” said another man, one that seemed to be in charge at least to Praxis’ eyes. He had a nicer cuirass than the others and they seemed to show him deference when he spoke.

“They were here but they probably moved on,” said the leader. “Who knows why but they’re gone now.”

“One less group to loot,” replied one of the men sullenly. “And here I was hoping we’d get to have a good payout tonight.”

“The night’s still young, we might still get one yet. Let’s go back toward the main road. I’m sure there’s a fat caravan somewhere that we can raid.”

“The road is over two miles away! Let’s just bed down here for the night. This is as good a place as any.”

“What do you know, shit-for-brains? I’m not ending the night without getting some loot!”

The two men started to scuffle which had the effect of drawing the attention of the rest of the group toward their fight. Even with all the attention, no one rushed to stop it. Instead, they all seemed quite entertained by it.

“Who are those men?” whispered Praxis to Zenais. “Do you know them?”

Zenais nodded her head. “It’s a group of thieves and bandits that are prevalent in this part of Arcadia. Nasty people all around and totally ruthless. They’ve been around for years and they call themselves the King’s Band.”

“The King’s Band?” asked Praxis. “Why did they choose that name?”

“The lead thief is supposedly the king of thieves,” replied Zenais. “Hence the name.”

“Is the king out there with them? Is he the leader that I see right now?”

Zenais shook his head. “No. From what I’ve heard the king doesn’t do simple raiding anymore. He rarely leaves his hideout, choosing to let his bands do his dirty work. This is just one of the bands.”

“How many men in total does he have?”

“Probably thirty,” replied Zenais. “Enough for three bands. At least, that’s been the rumor in these parts. I happened upon two young boys that were barely teenagers three days ago. Their parents had been killed by the Band and all their possessions stolen from them. They had nowhere to go. I made sure they got to the nearest village so someone could take care of them but that’s the kind of people we’re dealing with. They only care about what they can take from you.”

“Have you ever had to deal with them personally before?” asked Praxis.

Zenais shook her head and turned to look at him. “I might be a warrior but even I have more common sense than to pick a fight with thirty men. I don’t have a death wish, Praxis.”

Praxis grunted quietly and turned his attention back to the Band. The scuffle had ended with one of the men getting a nasty cut across the face with the other’s knife. The man who received the cut stopped all complaints, which seemed to indicate that the Band was going to move back closer to the road in an effort to locate another target.

“I still think we ought to search these woods,” said one man, pointing to a spot very close to where they were hiding. Praxis caught his breath as he heard that and gripped his sword tighter.

“Anyone could be hiding in there,” continued the bandit. “I say we search it just for good measure.”

Thankfully, the leader shot that one down quickly. “It would be a waste of time,” he replied. “We’re better off heading toward the road before we lose all daylight.”

The original bandit grunted. “I’m just saying, there could be people in there.”

The leader ignored him and gestured for them to start moving again. “Let’s get going. If we show up to see the king tomorrow empty-handed, it’s going to mean our lives. We’ve barely come up with anything on this little jaunt and I don’t intend to forfeit my life just because you all can’t find any victims!”

That seemed to spur the rest of the men into action and they soon vacated the campsite, moving further away. Praxis waited until he felt it safe to come out again, and he and Zenais crawled out of the underbrush slowly.

“That was almost too close,” said Zenais, putting her sword away. “We need to be more careful about fire in this part of Arcadia. The Band is only growing more powerful and we don’t need any enemies.”

Praxis was still trying to figure out what she meant by “we.” How long was this association with Zenais going to last? Was she serious about her intentions to keep pursuing Lysandra, never taking no for an answer?’

Speaking of Lysandra, where was she? Praxis looked back at their hiding spot and called out for her.

“Lysandra, come out of there. The bandits are gone,” he said.

That was when he heard something that chilled him to the core.

“I think Lysandra is a little occupied right now.”

Praxis’ eyes went wide as he saw one of the bandits standing right over their former hiding spot. Lysandra was at his feet, and there was a sword positioned directly between her shoulder blades.

“Drop your weapons,” barked the bandit. “Right fucking now!”

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