She must have thought that he had been checking out her weaponry instead of her body. “I may be alone, but I still have the upper hand, traveler,” she taunted, bowstring held taut. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll throw down your gold and I might spare your life.”

Since he was in such a cheerful mood, Osgood was willing to make her a deal. Once upon a time, he too had been a petty criminal, holding up passerbys.

“I’ll tell you what,” he explained calmly, lowering his hands and bringing them to his belt pouch. “I’m feeling generous.” He hefted a heavy pouch, stuffed with the reward from his most recent adventure, and slowly counted out a very small portion of the coins. “I’ll give you five gold coins if you let me pass by unharmed.” He held the coins in one hand but purposefully kept the large purse in his other. He smiled to himself. This was a test.

The bandit hesitated at the offer. Osgood could see the indecision on her face as her eyes took in the contents of each hand.

“And why not simply kill you and take all of your coins?” she asked, the fierceness in her voice now fading.

“Why not, indeed,” Osgood replied cryptically.

Their standoff persisted.

Greed eventually won over reason and the bandit let loose her arrow, aimed squarely at the traveller’s chest.

It was a well-aimed shot, Osgood admitted, as he dropped the handful of coins and snatched the arrow from the air, mere inches from his chest. Tossing the arrow to the ground, he began to slowly advance upon the bandit.

Panic filled her mind. She let loose another arrow, which the traveller grabbed as easily as the first. Now, completely shaken, her third arrow was shot wide and missed completely. At this point she turned and broke into a run through the forest.

She made a course toward a nearby river that ran parallel to the dirt path. Even from a distance, she had noticed that the traveler looked tall and she doubted that she could outrun him. She hoped that, in the river, his heavy robes would weigh him down, allowing her to outswim him.

She crashed through the underbrush, scratching herself in the parts of her body not covered by clothing. She didn’t dare look behind her but could hear the noises of pursuit. Despite his robes, the traveler was deftly navigating the wilderness and gaining on her.

She finally cleared the forest and, with a burst of speed, made a mad dash for the riverbank. Her feet had just begun to touch water when she felt a force slam into her back. She collapsed into the shallows, the wind knocked completely out of her. The traveler had tackled her and was now pinning her to the ground, face down.

“You should have taken my offer,” he growled at her.

She started to reply but her assailant slammed her head into the riverbank, sending up a splash of water. As she was reeling from this, he grabbed one of her arms and wrenched it behind her back. She wanted to cry out with pain but all she could manage was a whimper. She tried to stand but he was sitting on her lower back and his body weight made this impossible. Her legs kicked fruitlessly in the shallows.