As Anaya was dealing with the main onslaught, Rue had scattered the bandits’ horses by simply riding right at them. They weren’t tied down, so they spread around to avoid her. The two former bowmen were trying to get a hold of them when she made one of them trip with grass, and then simply ran him over with her horse. She didn’t relish combat, only using it as a last resort, but right now she couldn’t afford to be picky. Her magic wasn’t innately combat-oriented either, but with a bit of cleverness could be applied to it. The problem was her weakened state which limited her options severely on that front. Her little trick with the arrows had already been draining, and all she could do from that distance right now. The further whatever she tried to affect, the more it took out of her, and some things were harder to affect; others she couldn’t manipulate at all. As much as she usually enjoyed the wilderness, what she wouldn’t have given for a full meal and a full night’s sleep in a comfortable bed right now.

 She kept her horse moving, her eye on the second bowman who’d seen his compatriot’s fate and was warily keeping a distance, the horses forgotten. He was brandishing a long knife but was unable to do anything with it from a distance. From the corner of her eye, Rue noticed that the leader had caught one of the horses and was climbing on. Anaya was still occupied with the two bandits; one appeared wounded but was still fighting. The leader set off toward the trio.

 Even on the soft ground, the hoofbeats were already audible to Anaya when Rue shouted a warning to her. She’d gotten partially turned around, so she hadn’t had a line of sight on the leader for a few moments. These two bandits were a little craftier than the first two. They kept a fair distance between each other, attempting to attack from more than one direction at once. She’d managed to slash the other one’s leg, which allowed her to maintain distance better. But now the leader being mobile presented a problem. She found herself fervently wishing that she had a shield. Lacking that, she quickly manoeuvred to the body of the dead bandit and picked up the club he’d used in a reverse grip. Angling her wrist, she held the club lined up with her forearm for extra protection.

 As the bandit trio tried to circle around her so that she’d be surrounded, she kept on the move, looking for an opportunity. It finally presented itself as the one with the wounded leg stumbled a little, groaning. She immediately launched forward. The man swung wildly, and as she’d hoped given the man used his sword with his right arm, the swing came toward her left. She caught it with her improvised club shield, which left her sword arm free to stab him in the gut. Avoiding stabbing too deep so as not to get her sword potentially stuck, she took a few quick steps back just as the bandit leader made his move and tried to slice her neck. She parried it, but the leader didn’t stop, so she didn’t have a chance to counter. That did, however, give her a brief window of opportunity to attack the footman without the leader’s interference. This second man was left-handed. She launched an attack that was not aimed at a direct hit, but rather to result in their swords being locked together, but it took another attempt to accomplish that. With another graceful spin, she was suddenly next to the man’s right shoulder, and before he could do anything about it her club smashed against the back of his head, and he crumpled to the ground.

 She immediately turned to face the leader, who had noticed the demise of his remaining swordsman and was eyeing her with an angry expression. With a cry, he started forward, but then there was a low whistling sound and a wet thunk. The man bent forward, with an arrow sticking out from his neck, and fell off the suddenly confused horse. Looking behind it, she saw Rue, holding a bow and with her lips pursed. She’d commandeered one of the bows she’d previously disabled.

 “Nice shot,” Anaya called out as she quickly scanned the area and saw no bandits left standing. The second bowman had similarly become intimately familiar with an arrow. “Didn’t take you for an archer,” she added as the witch came closer.

 “Well, I was aiming for his back,” Rue said with a shrug. Anaya harrumphed. “This is a bit crude,” she continued, brandishing the bow. “I normally make one myself when I need it.” Anaya surmised that she hadn’t due to not feeling well enough. She was curious about the end result. With the way Rue was able to manipulate wood among other things, making a bow and arrows should indeed be fairly easy. But right now, there were more immediate problems to worry about.

 Two of the bandits were still moving; the one Rue had run over, and the one Anaya had stabbed. The one she kicked in the head was likely to be alive too, but he was still unconscious for now. The one she’d hit with the club… she kneeled next to him. He was dead. The back of the head was a vulnerable area, after all. She stood back up and gave the camp another sweeping glance.

 “What are we going to do with the ones that are still alive?” she muttered. The one she’d stabbed was bound to die eventually, but the other two might survive if they were lucky. But that also meant they might live long enough to again be capable of hurting others.

 Rue also took in the camp and sighed.

 “As much as it pains me to say it, it might be best to put them out of their misery, so that they won’t keep spreading it to others.”

 “I didn’t want to be an executioner. We may be fugitives ourselves, so I know taking them somewhere isn’t exactly realistic. But being judge, jury as well as an executioner doesn’t sit well with me, even knowing they are bandits.”

 “I know.” Rue turned to face Anaya, her face earnest. “But you don’t have to do it alone.”

 After their grim task was done, they set about looking for supplies to take with them. They were most likely stolen, but they had no way to know where from, so they didn’t feel too bad about taking them given the original owners would likely never see them regardless. However, it still did feel a little gross to be looting from the dead.

 They’d briefly questioned the overrun bandit, and if he was to be believed there were no more of them. Some of them had died recently in a clash with some convoy guards, and they had been here licking their wounds. Rue seemed to believe him, and Anaya chose to believe in Rue’s intuition. That meant that they didn’t have to fear reprisal, but they figured they shouldn’t linger for long regardless.

 First, they went about gathering anything edible. There was a decent amount. As they continued taking inventory, in the pile soon appeared some blankets, some cooking utensils and other tools, bags, pouches, and more. They figured they might as well keep one of the bows and a bunch of arrows, at least until Rue felt strong enough to comfortably make better ones, or simply improve these. Anaya herself was a decent shot, so she could hunt for game too if the opportunity arose. It could do a lot for their food situation once their second-hand bounty ran out.

 After she finally added a few spare weapons to the pile – she unfortunately hadn’t found a shield – Anaya huffed and looked at Rue.

 “What about the horses? I guess we should take one of them with us, even if it does double the number of tracks we leave behind. Easier to carry all this.” Yet she couldn’t help feeling a mild pang of disappointment at the thought. She shook her head to drive the thought away, but Rue’s smile indicated she had already guessed her thoughts anyway.

 “It would make sense. We can just leave the rest here. They’ll be fine on their own, though likely they’ll end up somewhere with people eventually.”

 “I suppose. I considered taking a few to sell, given that at least I don’t exactly have an overabundance of coin with me, even after taking what these bandits had. But that might raise suspicion and make us stand out.”

 “Yes,” the witch agreed. “Better to keep it simple.” She looked around, observing the horses in turn. In the end, she walked to the one the leader had briefly ridden. “This one,” she announced.

 “I’ll take your word for it,” Anaya muttered as she in turn retrieved her horse. ‘Her horse.’ The thought amused her. More like her first stolen horse, and now they even had another. It was almost like they were bandits themselves. They proceeded to load the horses up with the things they’d picked out and then left the camp behind.