First it was ten weapons knocked away, then twenty...but as time went on and the battle raged, the bandits continued to pile on the pressure, and not a single man showed any sign of stopping. The penalty for breaking into a border station was execution, so few would have so much as blinked if Klaus had simply slaughtered the bandits where they stood. No doubt it would have been the easiest route for the captain of the eastern border station.
For every action Klaus took, however, there was always the question of “What would Dias do?” and he had known the man long enough to know the answer: He would spare the bandits their lives. Dias was always harsh on criminals, and he did not hesitate to mete out punishment as it was necessary, but his punishments were always, and inevitably...somewhat generous.
There was a brief moment in which Klaus wondered, Should we hang them...? Should we take their lives...? But as he thought back to the battles he’d fought since Dias had become the lord of Baarbadal, the movements of his spear dulled just a touch. The bandits must have sensed this, because it only spurred on their attack.
But it was not just the bandits who noticed Klaus’s mercy...
“We’ve got more than enough light from the fires!” shouted a voice from above. “Just say the word and we’ll send arrows through their throats!”
“We’ll have them dead in no time at all!” shouted another.
The voices belonged to two of the onikin women who had taken up work at the border station, but Klaus did not immediately answer. As he swung his spear valiantly, he struggled with how best to handle the situation, and it was then that a black shadow leaped towards him.
Even with the light from the fires it was still very dark, but the shadowy figure was able to target the openings in Klaus’s armor. Klaus parried the attacks and launched counters of his own, but the figure dodged each strike as gracefully as a dancer. Klaus knew then that his attacker was no human.
“A beastkin?!” he cried, unable to hide his surprise.
His attacker had moved swiftly and accurately in the darkness, and Klaus had spent more than enough time training with the dogkin to understand exactly what he was up against. He gritted his teeth and readied himself.
So even beastkin will stoop to banditry!
The shadowy figure moved with the ferocity and speed of one who did not need to rely on their eyes to find their target, and Klaus found himself on the defensive against their claws. As he struggled to stay in the fight, however, yet more shadowy figures appeared around him.
Just how many of them are there?!
Klaus had grown especially deep ties with the beastkin, and he felt himself scrambling for an answer to his problems...but it was then that a number of deep, booming voices echoed from above.
“Rejoice, sinners!” shouted one, unable to hide his thunderous laughter. “For you meet today with the teachings of the gods!”
It was Patrick, complete with big mouth, big nose, and ever-impressive beard.
“But know salvation, my friends!” declared the tanned, eyebrowless Paul. “For while our scepters teach painful lessons, they do not kill!”
“The future is bright, my misled brothers!” cried Pierre, who looked the most intellectual with his glasses but was in fact the most violent paladin of them all. “For at the end of your excruciating punishments comes the glory of wondrous sermons!”
“Woo!” yelled Primo, whose beard and eyebrows were always immaculate. “Let us crush these bandit bodies into dust in the name of Lord Dias!”
And finally, there was Klaus.
“Wh-What in the world are you doing here?!”
The paladins dropped down from the border station ramparts and straight into an attack on the shadowy bandits. Not once did their scepters betray any hesitation. The paladins swung with all the power they had, and with enough force that Klaus worried they might kill someone, scepter or not.
Bandit screams quickly filled the air.
“You foolish louts!” boomed Patrick, still laughing joyously. “To think you would choose to attack on the day we celebrate the construction of our temple! You will know the deepest of regrets for your choice, and you will learn the error of your ways!”
He seemed to light a fire in his brethren, and the paladins’ scepters became blurs in the dark. Klaus shook his head in disbelief, but he readied his spear and launched it at a nearby bandit.
The paladins fought with a “might makes right” attitude and used all the power they had at their disposal. They trapped the bandit weapons on the hooks of their scepters, and after they swept their opponents’ legs out from under them or had them on the ropes, they showed surprising dexterity...in launching their scepters with extreme prejudice yet somehow managing to avoid inflicting any critical injuries.
It became obvious in moments that the paladins were truly not out to kill any of the bandits but rather...to beat the teachings of the gods into them, whether they liked it or not. To Klaus, it was clear that the paladins had developed special methods with which to see their goals met.
But the paladins were capable of much more than violent lessons. They excelled when it came to protection in battle, and it was said that they made for exceptional guards at temples and locations of political importance. Watching the paladins in action, Klaus saw no reason to doubt this. The four men all worked like a single unit, defending each other and attacking in equal measure, in such a way that it was near impossible for the bandits to find an opening.
It was not unlike the way Klaus and Dias fought side by side, except that the coordination of the paladins was more refined... Each and every movement was made in perfect harmony.
While there was a huge gap between Dias and Klaus in terms of strength and ability, no such noticeable gap existed between the paladins. They were roughly even. They all wielded the same weapons, were all of roughly the same build, and because they matched each other physically, they were able to find an exquisitely high level of teamwork that was unique to them.
Truth be told, Klaus knew he could easily take each of the paladins down in a one-on-one duel. Even two against one, the odds were in his favor. However, if a third paladin were added to the mix, the path to victory became much more difficult, and against all four paladins at once? Klaus did not think he had much of a chance at all.