Wolfe Pack by Gerard Bond Page B

meanwhile informed the two women of what was about to happen and they prepared themselves for battle, they each had a crossbow and got them loaded in preparation.
    Kane led the way slowly closing in on the rear of the column and when they were about one hundred and fifty yards away he chose to descend the hill to fall in behind the bandits, he kept a wary eye out nonetheless all the way down. They could not afford to tip the enemy off to their presence until Wollfen was in position. He turned to the other two,
    “When we hear a shout, let's shoot off a flight of bolts and take down as many bandits as we can, then drop the crossbows immediately, we aren't going to be able to reload them in time anyway, I will try to get us to within fifty yards before we let loose. I want them to see us swords drawn and shouting as we come in.”
    Keera veering right as they hit the track  and Solynne veered left, Kane rode straight down the middle. None of the bandits were looking back at all. At about eighty yards they heard a shout,
    “Damn! We aren't close enough! Fire!”
    There was nothing for it but to act and pray, Kane fired at the rearmost bandit and the other two women took aim at their own respective targets, even at eighty yards it was hard to miss. Three bandits went down in a cloud of dust as they hit the ground and a few of those startled by what happened looked behind them. They saw three people screaming with swords waving and bearing down on them but no signs of any crossbowmen, so how many were there? It was enough for two of the bandits to took off up the hill to try and make their escape, another two turned and faced off drawing their swords readying to clash with the incoming attackers. Many of the other bandits were milling around in the center looking back and forth and calling out, the state of confusion was giving the six attackers vital seconds to get the upper hand.
    Kane reached the first bandit on horseback and he swung hard, hoping to unhorse the man with the hefty blow. Their swords clashed with a loud clang but the man remained seated, Kane pushed on riding past him taking another swing as he went by. Solynne meanwhile angled in from the left with the tip of her sword pointed at the mans abdomen and it skewered him through. Unfortunately she lost her sword as it was wrenched from her grasp, she still had a short sword available and now drew that riding into the middle to meet more of the bandits.
    Keera had been doing her bit too, she had closed on the right flank of the rear and was fighting a bandit in heavy sword play, but she was tiring, her arm was getting weak. The man was powerfully built and every blow he directed against her blade shook and vibrated up her arm. Time to change tactics, as she continued to defend against the heavy blows Keera drew her dagger and flung it at the mans face, it gave her a moment when he recoiled in defense to swing her own blade at his extended arm cutting him deep along the forearm. He screamed in pain and immediately drew back on his reigns pulling out of the fight and turning to race off down the path clutching his arm.
    Meanwhile Wollfen had been doing his own thing and had waded in from the front occupying the lead bandits in a clash of blades on his left and right, he worked frantically deflecting blows from either side as he continued to push further towards the center of the group.  One bandit was cut down and another was delivered a flesh wound making him retreat. Then Wollfen was stopped by two bandits working together and he couldn't get past them. It was to no avail though, Kane had fought through to the Lord tied up on horseback and the young man had grabbed his reigns leading the Lord out to the rear without stopping.
    Having seen the Lord rescued Wollfen shouted out 'Victory!' causing the remaining bandits to look around and see the Lord was gone. As soon as that happened they all turned and galloped off in a number of directions. Wollfen didn't hesitate