Hunting Beatrix of the Briar

Maekar grunted, as they had agreed, suppressing a small laugh. His body was loose, but he was prepared to kill should it come to it, though he would follow Vira's lead.

Vira had no intention of revealing themselves as bandit hunters, as that would put the woman on the defensive if she and her husband were friends of Beatrix - unlikely as that seemed, considering the way she had greeted them. One could never be too careful. They needed to be on neutral ground. She spoke in her peasant voice, giving the woman a sisterly smile.

"Not thieves, goodwoman," she said. "Beg your pardon for frightening you. We're survivors from Oldtown, used to chop timber in the forest beside the Honeywine till the dragons burned it up. Need to make a living, but splitting logs and living in the woods is all my husband knows how to do, and he lost an eye, a hand, and his speech after he took a blow to the head. Damn dragons." She spat derisively. "Anyway, we been traveling for months to escape the death in the Reach, thought we could apply to Bronzegate for a license near here. But we heard tell of bandits in these woods. Any chance you can tell us more, mistress? Don't need my husband's other hand chopped off too."

The woman eyed the pair with scrutiny, eyes going to Maekar's sword.

"Not like no woodcutter I've ever seen. Can't fell a tree either way, with one hand." she replied, skeptically. "'Side, it be unwise to speak ill of dragons in these parts."

She did not seem to have any desire to talk to the pair, nor much pity at their sad tale.

"Don't have five minutes to spare." she replied. "Husband and two boys to feed. Supper's a daily strife. Don't know nothing of no bandits."

"Work first, talk later." the old woman replied, closing the door behind her to leave Maekar outside in the cold.

Maekar leaned against a tree outside the house, his arms crossed against his chest. He took in the surroundings carefully, looking for signs of more people having been on the property than just the woman's family. It was unlikely, that if they gave aid to passing bandits, that there would be signs of the bandits making camp, but footprints were easily visible in the muddy ground, and Maekar tried to determine if there were more grown mens' footprints than there ought to be. He scanned the surrounding area every so often, and he had to fight off the urge to pace impatiently; Vira would likely be inside working for several hours, if she truly intended to get useful information out of this woman.

Maekar was chewing on a strip of jerky when they walked up, and he swallowed opened his mouth to reply, and then paused. He pointed at his throat and shook his head, and then pointed at the cabin and tried to mime cooking.

He wasn't sure if the men understood or not, and he pulled three more strips of jerky out of his pack, offering them to the woodsmen.

"Fucking great," Maekar snarled, more than loudly enough to be heard inside the hut, dropping the jerky and pack, and drawing Vigilance in one fluid motion. "Come and take it then, of you think three if you are enough," he said with a sneer, adopting a defensive stance and waiting for the men to attack.

[Apprentice Intimidation]
[Noteworthy Long Blades + Valyrian Steel]

Confident in their numbers, especially considering their opponent was one-handed and one-eyed, the two brothers foolishly rushed Maekar with axes raised high above their heads.

Maekar had positioned his blade in a low roof guard and as the two bandit woodsmen closed upon him, one of the few positions he still felt comfortable in after the loss of his hand. As they bore down upon him, the Inquisitor lashed out with an undercut thrust, slicing the first brother in a vertical arc up the side. Transitioning into an ox guard as the blade rose, the second brother was pierced clean through the shoulder by the point of the Valyrian steel blade. He dislodged the blade and took a defensive step backwards, breathing not even labored as his two would-be attackers bled from their fresh wounds.

"He's a damned knight!" Eustace barked "Use your heads you fools!"

/////

At the sound of the commotion outside, Muriel's hand curled around the handle of a kitchen knife, taking a step towards Vira. The dragonseed, acting quickly, attempted to hurl the cast iron pot of stew in the hag's face. Unfortunately, the heave cast-iron cauldron merely clanged to the floor as the bastard's grip slipped, the stew merely pouring out harmlessly on the floor. The old woman looked down at the steaming stew pooling around her skirts, then back up at the young woman with a sigh that she would have to make a new meal, taking a step forward with the blade raised.

(Tweedledee takes an Average Wound)
(Tweedledum takes an Average Wound)

"Use your heads, you fools," Maekar called tauntingly as he easily drove the two men back. In the back of his mind, he realized that for the first time since the Dragonbane took his hand he was actually fighting for his life instead of training. He felt exhilarated, like he could fight ten such men at a time.

"If you want to reconsider this course, perhaps we will all walk away from this alive," he added, waiting for them to charge him again.

"Right, STOP!" Vira said in exasperation. "I have no wish to destroy your home if you are innocent, Muriel, and I have coin enough to repay you for your ruined cauldron and stew."