Dawn had just barely broken, but it was still cold. The weather near the top of the mountain was particularly chilly.
Fraisale and Blocare sat on some tree stumps warming themselves by the fire. They were on lookout duty. It was their job to make sure that no one disturbed the entrance to the caves while the other robbers slept. But at the moment, they were more concerned with their conversation than with their lookout.
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” Fraisale was saying. “Who ever heard of a girl who can control wolves?”
“She’s not a girl,” Blocare answered. “She’s a witch.”
“Is she though?” Fraisale asked. “We know all the witches on this mountain. We’ve seen them. We’ve made agreements with them. We don’t steal from them, and they leave us alone. And we’ve never seen her with the witches.”
“Maybe she’s new.”
“But you heard what Cap said. He said she wasn’t living with the witches. He said she was part of the family that they robbed.”
“Well then maybe--.” Blocare stopped talking abruptly, and cocked his head sideways. “Listen!” he said.
Fraisale listened.
“Did you hear something?” asked Blocare.
“I don’t think so,” said Fraisale.
“I thought I heard something,” Blocare said.
Fraisale looked around. “I don’t see anything,” he said.
“There’s something out there in those trees,” said Blocare.
“Well, have a look then if you want,” said Fraisale. “We are supposed to be keeping watch, after all.”
Blocare stood up and walked into the trees.
Up, near the top of one of the mountain peaks, the robbers kept their main hideaway.
The mountain was filled with caves and crevices. Mountains are a perfect place for a gang of robbers to make their home. But in this particular place, this particular spot on the mountain, there were five different caves with entrances all right next to each other. It was the perfect place for the robbers to make their main base.
The biggest cave was located the furthest up the mountainside. It had a large entrance that was covered in vines, which helped to keep hidden all the treasures that the robbers stored inside it.
To the left, and slightly further down the mountainside, were two smaller cave entrances. And a fourth cave was located to the right. And a fifth cave was slightly further down the mountain, and faced opposite the big cave.
All five of these caves formed a little ring, and in that ring was a rather large clearing area, free from trees and bushes, where the robbers gathered and held meetings.
And in the very center of the ring was the fire pit, which is where Fraisale sat now.
Fraisale kept sitting on the tree trump, and waited for Blocare to re-emerge from the trees. But Blocare did not come back.
“Now what do you suppose is keeping him?” Fraisale muttered to himself.
“Could be any number of things, I suppose,” a voice replied.
Fraisale nearly jumped up in surprise. He turned in the direction of the voice, and saw a raven was now perched on the log next to him. “What are you doing here?” Fraisale demanded.
“I beg your pardon,” the raven replied in an offended tone. “We ravens live on this mountain as well, you know. And you ought to know that birds come and go as they please.”
“Yes, well usually birds keep to themselves, and don’t bother people by talking to them,” Fraisale said.
“Well, if you didn’t want me to talk to you, then you shouldn’t have asked me a question,” the bird replied.
“I wasn’t talking to you!” Fraisale snapped. Fraisale looked up and noticed two other ravens flying in the sky. “Who are they?” he asked.
“They are my brothers, Baldrick and Balsamer. Oh, and my name is Bettina, by the way.”
“And what are they doing?”
“Keeping watch.”
“Keeping watch for what?” said Fraisale, getting more agitated. “This is our camp.”
“Keeping watch for the wolves,” Bettina replied.
And then, from the trees, three large wolves emerged, growling menacingly.
Fraisale jumped to his feet and grabbed his sword. “I doubt that sword will do you much good,” Bettina said. “Your best bet is just to run for it.”
Fraisale looked at the raven in bewilderment. Who was this bird, and why was she giving him advice? But then the snarling from the wolves quickly refocused Fraisale on the threat at hand. Fraisale was momentarily paralyzed as he waited to see what the wolves would do. But then when they started running towards him, he dropped his sword and ran into the trees as fast as he could.
Once he entered into the trees, Fraisale kept running. He didn’t dare turn around to see if the wolves were still behind him. He just ran as fast as he could down the mountain slope. Until he tripped over a rope, which had been tied between two trees. He hit the ground hard, and before he even realized what was happening, six teenagers were on top of him, pinning him to the ground. He tried to yell out, but one of them stuffed his mouth with cloth to muffle his screams. They wrapped him with rope and tied him up so that he couldn’t move. And then, once they had completely immobilized him, they dragged him over and plopped him down beside another tied up figure.
Fraisale looked over and saw Blocare was also tied up next to him.
***********
Alfred ran over to Catherine. “We’ve caught the other one now,” he said.
Just as Alfred was reporting this, Bettina the raven flew down and landed on Catherine’s shoulder. “That’s both of them,” said Bettina. “There’s no one else keeping watch.”
“And their weapons?” asked Catherine.
“They keep their weapons by the cave entrance for the most part,” said Bettina. “A few of them sleep with knives or daggers by their side, but all the big weapons are at the entrance to the cave.”
“Excellent,” Catherine said.
“Right, you know what to do,” Shawn whispered to everyone in the group. “Go out and collect all the weapons. And quietly. Don’t wake up any of the robbers.”
The group left, and went to the cave entrances, where they silently removed all the weapons, and then brought the weapons back into the trees.
“Now it’s time to wake them up,” Catherine said to Carlyle.
Carlyle nodded his agreement.
Catherine turned to Bettina. “You may begin,” she said.
Bettina flew up into the sky, and started circling the caves, cawing. Her brothers, Baldrick and Balsamer, joined her, and there was a chorus of birds cawing in the sky.
Soon enough, voices started coming from the caves.
“What’s that racket!”
“Someone should shut those birds up.”
“Where are my arrows!”
“Hey, where are Fraisale and Blocare? They’re supposed to be on watch.”
The robbers began stumbling out of their caves, still stupid with sleep. Some of them were beginning to realize their weapons were gone.
Catherine then turned to the wolves. “Remember,” she said, “today you are not to kill any of them unless absolutely necessary. You may frighten them, but do not kill them.”
The wolves growled their acknowledgement. Then they bounded up into the clearing and started barking furiously. The robbers started yelling in fear.
Some of the robbers wanted to run away, but the wolves had the clearing surrounded, and would not let any of the robbers out. A few of the robbers, who still had daggers or knives on their bodies, took out their weapons, but it was obvious that a single knife would do little good against a full grown wolf.
Catherine emerged from the trees. “Put down your knives, and you will live,” she said. Most of the robbers immediately obeyed her, and the knives were thrown quickly to the ground.
Carlyle and the rest of the group followed Catherine. The group all carried their weapons. Lucinda held her spear poised. Gabriel had her bow and arrow drawn. The rest had their various swords and clubs.
“Do you surrender?” Catherine asked the robbers.
“What do you want from us?” asked one of them.
“I want your surrender,” said Catherine. “I want you to acknowledge that we have beaten you, and that you have lost. You agree not to fight us anymore, and in return we will show you mercy. Do you surrender?”
The wolves barked threateningly, and there was then a clamor as the robbers quickly agreed to surrender.
“Put your hands on your head,” Carlyle ordered. “Come out of the caves. Sit down here on the ground.”
The robbers complied. At first they moved a bit slowly, but then the wolves growled, and they moved faster.
There were about two-hundred robbers in the caves altogether, and once they were all collected and sitting down, they filled up the whole area. Alfred, Paul and Marcus went through the caves to make sure there were no robbers left lingering. The rest of the group kept their weapons pointed at the robbers the whole time to make sure they didn’t try anything. And the wolves growled. at any robber who made any sudden movement.
“That’s all of them,” Marcus said finally, after emerging from the fifth cave.
“And that’s not all,” Alfred said. “They’ve got a lot of stuff hidden in these caves. Gold, jewelry, food, clothes, wine, and more.”
“It must be nice to live so richly,” said Carlyle bitterly.
“The mountain folk could really use this stuff,” Paul said.
“They shall have it,” Carlyle answered.
“Who is the leader here?” Catherine asked. “Who is the robber king?” A middle-aged man was indicated by the other robbers. “Bring him before us,” Catherine said.
Lucas and Kevin went into the middle of the robbers, and pulled out the man who had been indicated. They brought him before Catherine and Carlyle.
He was about forty. He had brown hair. His face was weather-beaten, and had lots of wrinkles on it, but his body was still big and strong.
“Kneel,” Catherine commanded.
The man looked at Catherine sullenly, and then looked around to remind himself of all the weapons pointed at him, and all the wolves. And then he slowly lowered himself down to his knees.
“Are you the one that they call the robber king?” asked Catherine.
“I am,” he said.
“You are king no more,” Carlyle said. “We are now the leaders of the robbers.”
The robber king sneered. “If they will follow you,” he said.
“They will follow us,” Catherine said.
“What is your name?” asked Carlyle.
“My name is Verus.”
“Why did you rob and kill our father, Verus?” Carlyle asked.
“I did not,” said the robber king. “That was my men. I was not there. The king of the robbers never goes out on the expeditions.”
“Why did your men do it, then?” Catherine asked. “He had almost nothing worth stealing. Just the supplies for the winter that he got from the forest. Usually you robbers leave the mountain folk alone.”
“We used to,” said Verus. “But it’s gotten more difficult lately. We’ve had to pay a lot more out.”
“What do you mean pay a lot more out?” asked Carlyle.
“Do you think the monsters who live on this mountain would leave us in peace?” asked Verus. “The ogres demand gold from us in exchange for agreeing not to attack. The vampires demand diamonds and jewelry. The Minotaur wants food. We have to constantly pay to keep our camp from being attacked. But we have no choice, because we are all wanted men in the forest. We’d be hung if the forest people caught us down there. Recently, all the monsters have been demanding more. So we’ve had to keep paying more. But too many trips down to the forest are dangerous. So my men have started robbing the mountain folk.”
“But why did they have to kill our father,” said Catherine. “Wasn’t it enough to rob him?”
“The forest folk we can rob and then run away from,” said Verus. “But we live on the same mountain with the mountain folk. And most of the mountain folk are crazy. It’s not usually a good idea to leave them alive after you’ve robbed them. They might try to get their revenge, or get their stuff back.”
“What foolish thinking,” said Carlyle. “You’ve found out now that killing the mountain folk only makes their families angrier.”
Carlyle started to draw his sword out, but Catherine held out her hand and stopped him. Then Catherine turned to Verus. “We should punish you,” she said. “But instead, we will reward you. You will find yourself better off under us than you were before. We will protect you from the ogres and the vampires and the minotaur. You will finally have peace and security in these mountains.”
Verus scoffed. “How can you possibly protect us against the monsters?”
“We won’t do it alone,” said Catherine. “You will help us of course.”
“You expect us to fight the ogres? You’re crazy!” Verus exclaimed.
“You can join us, or you can die,” Carlyle said, and he fingered his sword again.
“It strikes me, Verus,” said Catherine, “that you are the crazy one. What does it profit you to spend all your time robbing, if you have to give everything you steal to the ogres and the vampires? The whole point of robbing is that it’s supposed to be profitable. If you’re not going to be any better off than the other mountain folk, then you may as well just join the woodcutters, and make an honest living. But think how rich you will become if you don’t have to share your treasures with the monsters.”
“Of course, you’ll have to share some of your plunder with the mountain folk,” said Carlyle.
“Of course,” said Catherine. “But don’t worry about that. The mountain folk are simple people. They won’t demand your gold or diamonds, like the monsters do. If you simply give them a bit of your food, and maybe some of your warm clothes, they’ll be satisfied. You’ll be able to keep all the really good stuff for yourself. Oh, and I almost forgot. We must make sure that my wolves are well taken care of as well. But that’s even easier. The wolves don’t need clothes, and they generally hunt their own food. But they could use somewhere warm to sleep. These mountains can get so cold and windy at night. I’m sure you could make room for them in your caves.”
“We can,” said Verus. And here, Carlyle thought he could see the robber king smiling slightly. “The caves are very deep. We have room for many more.”
“Excellent,” said Catherine. “Because we also will be staying in the caves with you from now on.”
