A Tale of Three Chapter 1: Carnwen and the Captive

“Get this food to the prisoners, and if I catch you eating it yourself I’ll break your fingers boy!”
The shouts followed Carnwen as he descended into the dungeon, and contrary to the bandit’s beliefs, he wasn’t a child, but the halfling wouldn’t let a chance to stay free of chains slip by. Carnwen and his husband, Horrin, were going to Keralon to build a new life, but now he’s in some ruined guard barracks in the middle of nowhere with no idea where Keralon even is. And his husband was taken from him by the bandits that now held him captive, the image of Horrin being slain will haunt him for the rest of his life. His thoughts did wander to escape from time to time, his best plan was to make his attempt when the bandits would go off selling their captives and their belongings. Vague plans and thoughts plagued Carnwen as he made it to the dungeon and passed the bandit who was supposed to guard the prisoners but was very much asleep, keys and sword dangling on his belt. It’d be so easy, Carnwen thought, passing by the first few people and handing them food, but the dozen or so fatigued frames made it clear as day: They wouldn’t even get to the top of the stairs. He was just grateful his fellow prisoners didn’t blow his cover.
 
Eventually he made it to the last cell and caught a glimpse of the bandits’ latest victim, this one wasn’t part of the caravan Carnwen was on that they attacked, but was ambushed last night. “Bastard got Jim and Aldrin before we knocked him out” is what Cornelius, the gang leader, said, seems like the guy got unlucky. When he entered the cell, he finally got a good view of the new captive chained against the wall: this one could be scarcely 18 but looked tall for a human, his dark hair hiding his gaze as Carnwen approached with his platter. Suddenly the captive’s face jumped up and his gaze met Carnwen’s, as he found something he did not expect to see: friendly eyes filled almost with excitement, not the fear and desperation he saw in the others.
“Finally some food”, the captive whispered, “care to feed me for a second? I’m kind of…”, and he shaked the shackles attached to the wall, “indisposed”.
“So…”, the captive said between chewing as Carnwen gingerly put a piece of bread in his mouth, “are these the Cornelius Capers?”.
Carnwen wasn’t sure if he should answer, what if the guard heard, but still whispered as softly as he could “I guess? The boss is called Cornelius” and the captive’s eyes glistened “Yes, The Long Table will love this, shame they got the jump on me though… Hey, you can get me out right?” Carnwen took a hurried step back at the words, dropping the bread he was feeding the captive, the sleeping guard stirred a bit but didn’t wake.
“You could do it right? Clearly they underestimate you, leaving you free to move. And I can take it from there, if you unshackle me”.
“T-take it from there? You think you can take them, after they got you?”, the captive chuckled, “Four of them got the jump on me and I still took out half of them, in a fair fight I’ll get them. There can’t be more than 6 of them, 5 with sleepyhead over there”
“Five in total.”
“So… You get the key, and I’ll take care of the rest. And we’ll be having a good dinner at my place in Keralon by sundown.”
“You’re from Keralon?”
“Well, I live there. You’re not from there?”
“We were on our way there before the bandits…” Carnwen’s thoughts flash to Cornelius slashing down Horrin and for all his willpower one tear manages to escape.
“... I see”, the captive says, his gaze filled with understanding, “Got too caught up in my own quest that I forgot you must’ve gone through a lot. What’s your name?”
“Carnwen”
“Carnwen… I’m Alistan. And I can’t give you back the people they took from you, but what do you say we beat the crap out of these bandits?”
 
As Carnwen grabbed the key from the guard and was unlocking the chains, Alistan couldn’t help but think this would make for a great story for Lil when she came back, minus the getting ambushed and captured part. And how lucky he was that Carnwen was in a position to help. The thought of his sister, off in the feywild, did give him some pause, but also made him think of her last gift.
“Do you know where they keep our stuff, I had a sword with me” he asked
“Cornelius has a chest in his room, guess it’s over there. But shouldn’t we get the rest and sne… Oh fuck”
“What’s… oh” Alistan’s question at what Carnwen saw was answered when he saw the silhouette of two bandits standing in the opening of the cell, guess someone came down and woke the sleeping guard.
“You pushed your luck boy” one of the bandits grimaced, holding up a sword. And looking at Alistan he said “And you, guess we get to take revenge for Jim and Aldrin after …”
Alistan saw his only opening and took it, closing the distance he struck at the arm loosely holding the sword, forcing him to drop it. Alistan caught it mid-air and immediately struck the bandit in the head with the pommel. The hall outside the cell was cramped and the limp body of his comrade between him and Alistan made the second bandit panic and resort to flinging his sword mindlessly towards Alistan, who blocked it and with a strike knocked him out as well. Alistan almost pitied their lack of training with a sword, almost, as he grabbed the second sword and handed it to Carnwen “Just in case” and he started taking off the armor and shield, it’s not as strong as his usual armor but there were still people to fight upstairs and he’ll take any protection. Of course he had a look at the sword he now held, the sword had seen better days, its former wielder clearly didn’t care much for sword maintenance, and the balance was off. But it’ll do.
 
Maybe he can actually pull this off, Carnwen thought as he saw Alistan stand over the two unconscious bodies of the bandits. But now, as Alistan was on the backfoot against Cornelius, fear came back to his heart. The remaining henchmen fell quite easily as Alistan’s skill far outweighed theirs but Cornelius was different, and Alistan showed the wear of the night and battles before. “You’re gonna die for this lad” Cornelius roared when he unleashed a series of blows, Alistan blocked one but the second one struck him in the shoulder, forcing him to drop his shield.
“I’m gonna peel the skin off your bones, boy!”
“Can you stop shouting and just fight?” Alistan yelled back, getting back up and preparing for the next round. Cornelius cackled and jumped at Alistan, their swords crossing but Cornelius had the upper hand as Alistan’s knee gave out and his shoulder still stung from the earlier blow. Carnwen was never more aware of the sword in his hand as Alistan’s gaze met his, pleading for help. With a shout Carnwen charged and plunged his sword in Cornelius’s back, delivering whatever justice he could for the death of his husband as Cornelius’s body went limp and fell to the side.
 
“Thanks,” Alistan said with a heavy breath falling back on the floor, “that looked really bad for a second.” He then paused for a second.
“Do you have a place to go in Keralon?”
Carnwen was startled out of the shock of what just transpired.
“Uhm… no. Horrin and I were by ourselves”
“You wanna stay at my house until you get back on your feet? I can use the help around the house. And I’ll teach you to use that sword,” Alistan seemed to consider the sword Carnwen held, drenched in blood, “Maybe a different sword, that one looks like it’s seen better days.”
“Yeah, I’d like that”
Alistan smiled, getting up with a swift boost. “Great, now let's free the others and find my sister’s sword. I’ll never hear the end of it if I don’t have it on me when she comes back”