Onwards Into the Western Kingdoms

Several miles on, they saw the limits of a great forest on the horizon. "That's Arigorn Forest," Ambaric supplied. "It's the main hideout of the bandits. So be on your guard," he added redundantly. Fred had automatically become alert on entering unfamiliar territory. Once they had reached the outskirts of the forest, Fred asked them to stay back while he scouted ahead on foot.

Within a few minutes he had encountered his first bandits. Though encounter was probably the wrong word. Fred heard them rather than saw them as they crashed through the undergrowth. Trained soldiers, especially knights, were not their thing.

Carefully moving forward, he noticed what to him was an odd patch of colour off to one side of the track. Deciding to investigate, he finds the prone form of whom he takes is one of the bandits. This particular fellow seemed to have suffered a double dose of bad luck, not only had he tripped over a tree root, he had also bashed his head against the trunk of the same offending tree. Closer examination shows that the bandit was no more than a youth, certainly not someone normally associated with such criminals, though Fred surmised he might have been roped into against his will.

Bandit or not, Fred does what he can for the lad before returning to his anxiously waiting travel companions. Remounting his horse, he informs them of his findings which seemed to reinforce what Ambaric said, much to his pleasure. Nevertheless, Fred told them it would be a good idea to go at a good pace through the forest just in case there might be some who would try their luck anyway.

1. They travel through the forest with little trouble.
2. They encounter other travellers who are being attacked.
3. They get ambushed by some bandits that aren't deterred by Fred's presence.

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