Laughing I shook my head. The baron raised an eyebrow. "What is so funny?" he asked. "I beat your younger son in combat this morning. Like I told him, I'm really not a trained knight or soldier, but I know enough about it to kill at least 1 of you before the guards come barging in this room. Let's choose the path of peace and friendship here." I said. The baron looked at Anthony. Anthony looked bashful and avoided his father's gaze. Fabien sighed and said "It is as the man said. I watched them spar this morning. He does not fight fair. He did spar Anthony from injury." The baron sighed before standing up. "Very well. You will come to the castle with us. You will get your due compensation for the jewels. It is better in our hands than those of an avowed thief." he said. It sounded noble and uninterested, but he was still going to take them from me. I nodded and said "My companions are a bit... indisposed at the moment. I can leave with you at any time, but don't feel like you need to hurry along your task for my sake." He just blinked at me. "It never even crossed my mind." he said sharply.
It was clear that none of them like me, but none of them needed to like me. I just needed to keep on my toes and make sure to secure the payout. I gave a deep bow and said "I will look forward to our next meeting. Farewell for now, my lord. Noble sirs." I then left. I was going to have to keep a closer eye on my bag. The last thing I needed was to have it stolen and get stranded here. I was not the best student, but I remember enough to know that being a penniless peasant in the Middle Ages sucked. The baron took a couple of days doing whatever his business was. Jeran had finished his week of heat and Casone went into his own. Jeran took over the role of fisting the pussies of the others. I made sure to visit them each day and check on them. Even then, the bag was on me. So were my knives in case a scuffle were to break out. The chance of that happening was not zero. Especially after I flashed the goods to people. Luckily, no one wanted to deal with the stranger with the lewd centaur companions in the stables. When the baron's men came to get me I was ready for it. Jeran was too.
My concern was Petras. He was still in heat. It was probably going to last another 4 days at least. I had told them about my meeting with the baron the day after, so they were not surprised. I paid for Casone to stay a few more days at the inn and get fed. I also slipped him a few gold bars for the job. He looked thankful, but there were also hints of lust in his eyes. I kept my distance. I was going to be riding on Jeran. He was not too happy about it, but it could not be helped. I would not be able to get too far with Petras. The 3 of us followed the baron's men at a distance. They were in formation around his carriage. It was 2 days away from the town. We left in the morning as no time was like the present. That night was fine as we had bought supplies. I was able to eat well. Several meat pies were in a sack. On the road to the castle they owned, the guards were fully waylaid by a band of brigands. It was on the second day, so we were not that far from the castle. I was not going to allow my meal ticket to go down in flames before I could cash in. "We are rescuing the baron." They nodded.
Now that I was totally rested and ready for a fight, we could kick serious ass. We charged in and the centaurs hacked and slashed with their blades. I jumped off of Jeran and I got some kills myself. I threw my knives with deadly accuracy. Their blades sank in throats and hearts. The problem with this was getting them back of course. They were in those corpses and there was still a big battle. Getting over to them was not advised. It was a good thing that the surprise allowed the baron's men to rally back and route the rest of the bandits. I looked at Petras and Jeran to make sure they were okay. Jeran looked fine. Petras was breathing really hard. That was not a good sign for me. "Are you alright, Petras? Did they get you?" I asked. He shook his head. "I'm... fine. Just.... I just... really want to... breed!" he panted. That made sense now that I was thinking about it. I just pat his flank and said "I know buddy. Let's just get through this together." We moved up to check in with the baron and his men. Anthony was on the protection detail and he was wounded. Sir Fabien was riding with the baron.
