When Eben decides to rob the isolated town nestled deep in the woods, he could never have predicted that he would be forced to atone by serving Adder, the powerful and terrifying gorgon charged with protecting the town of Nǣdre Tor.
However, as Eben...
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This is the part Eben loves.
He's gliding through the forest on the back of his horse, Fairy, without anything to hold him back. He's free, unchained, untethered. The humid forest air whips through his bangs, red hair tangling into wild knots.
It's fine though. What does a bandit need vanity for? The rougher looking, the better. He remembers distinctly how difficult it had been to intimidate his victims when he was still soft-faced and doe-eyed. Now at 25, all he needed was some unkempt hair and wild eyes to subdue anyone unlucky enough to cross his path.
"Got your head in the clouds, Ebby??" Claudia jeers. The petite woman is just as skillful as him on horseback, and she darts ahead agilely to prove it.
Eben turns his head to her at the silly teasing, the scar in the corner of his mouth raising with a lopsided smirk.. He hasn't known her for long, but he already likes the dark-haired woman a lot. He even has hope that maybe she'll stick around and not stab him in the back, like every other accomplice he's ever had.
"Will you idiots slow down?! I'm on a damn mule while you two fools have god-forsaken thoroughbreds," a rough voice calls out.
Boris, on the other hand, is free to leave at any time. Eben knows the bastard has been eyeing up Fairy, no doubt looking to take off in the night with her. Usually, Eben would ditch an untrustworthy creep like that in the first backwater village he could find, but he still has use for the oaf.
Specifically, the bandit had a sneaking suspicion he'd be in need of man's freaky strength during the next job. The village of Nǣdre Tor was secluded deep in the woods, and nobody in his circle of criminals had ever heard of anyone ever returning successfully from the place. He'd even heard rumors that traders went as far as refusing to enter the village, favoring doing business at the gate.
However, Eben knew that most bandits, in fact, were idiots. To be a bandit you were either too stupid to accept your lot in life as a farm hand, or there was something about you that kept you from entering 'polite' society. So the redhead didn't have a hard time imagining a bunch of smooth-brains storming a paranoid podunk with nothing but flimsy daggers and overzealous confidence.
Either way, he wasn't afraid. Worst case scenario? He dies. That was something every bandit had to be prepared for. Couldn't be much worse than this.
The woods became denser as the trio traversed deeper into the forest, tall evergreen pines looming high above them. It made sense most would avoid going this deep, usually folk avoided places like this where the monsters roamed.
Some beasts weren't anything to fear, Eben knows. He recalls his first interaction with a monster; It was a selkie on the beach with her pup. He'd been a teen then, new to a life of crime with nothing to show for it but ragged clothes and an empty stomach. He'd watched the seal-like woman cracking open oysters for the little one, who slurped them down happily.
