Savage Read Online Free PDF Page B

with the eye. The golden desert sands and gray rock outcroppings would blend in with the heat waves, making seeing shapes in the distance challenging. Bazur saw nothing on the horizon, but he could feel something amiss. Something or someone was out there watching the caravan.
    Bazur turned and looked at the caravan. He saw a small but well-protected outfit comprising of the men riding for the independent businessmen from Draisha and a contingent of royal guards. It had surprised Bazur when Angora, a Draisha diamond miner, had hired him. Normally, merchants sending their goods in a caravan with a royal escort didn’t bother to hire extra muscle for the dangerous trip across the badlands. The royal flags of Draisha scared off most bandits and thieves. The royal guards had a reputation for being skilled warriors who fired first and asked questions later. But Angora had insisted on hiring Bazur. He claimed that a royal escort no longer carried the same threatening reputation it once had, and that in the last few months several caravans with royal escorts had been successfully attacked.
    When approached about the job, Bazur had assumed that Angora overly worried, he’d thought the diamond trader was exaggerating, but when Bazur arrived at the edge of Draisha, he was surprised to see double the normal size contingent of royal guards. Bazur couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen the number of royal guards increased for a shipment. Apparently, Angora hadn’t been overstating the matter. Someone had the royal guards worried, not something that happened often.
    Now that the caravan was in the middle of the badlands, Bazur was even more curious as to who would dare attack a royal caravan, and why. The goods the caravan carried were certainly valuable. Angora’s diamonds alone would bring a fair price on the black market or with any diamond trader south of Draisha that didn’t care where the diamonds originated, but the rest of caravan wasn’t that rich. Certainly not rich enough for a normal thief or bandit to consider attacking a large highly trained group of royal guards. Not that it truly mattered. Bazur was only responsible for making sure Angora’s goods were safe. What happened to the rest of the caravan was a royal problem, not his. Of course, anyone attacking the caravan was also likely to be attacking Angora’s mules, so in a way the problem was now his as well. Bazur pondered his dilemma as he watched the caravan from a distance. Bazur preferred to shadow the caravan from afar. It was easier to watch for tracks and enemy sign by scouting ahead.
    A shadow caught Bazur’s eye. It was a rock ahead of the caravan. Bazur frowned and focused his attention on the path. Why had the shadow caught his attention? Then it happened again. The slightest shift in the shadow. The rock wasn’t a rock at all. Bazur lifted his fingers to his mouth and gave a loud piercing whistle. The caravan guards turned and Bazur pointed at the rock.
    One of the royal guards galloped ahead to inspect the rock. As he grew closer to the questionable rock, all hell broke loose. A barrage of arrows was unleashed on the royal guards and all around the caravan men popped up. They had been covered in sand and burlap. Other bandits had been camouflaged and hidden behind several of the large rock outcroppings that filled the badlands. The sudden attack was effective. Even with Bazur’s warning, the royal guards were caught off-guard. Almost half the guards were not carrying their shields properly, either leaving them on their backs or strapped to their saddles. They had believed no one would dare hit such a well-protected caravan when the goods it carried weren’t particularly rich. As the first attack hit, several guards went down and others sustained minor injuries.
    The remaining royal guards quickly regrouped. Weapons and shields up, they attacked. The mounted royal guards rode down bandits along the path before attacking the archers among the