Norben Fletcher 7/7

"Please sir, have mercy sir.  You're a man of the faith, sir, how could you..."

Darkness had settled over the landscape; what little could be seen was illuminated by the stars above, or the few hearthfires burning at the farms in the valley below these foothills, with Tresco a bright orange dot in the distance.  The bandit couldn't see the inky blood slowly dripping off Norben's macehead, or the two bodies that lay further down the slope, but he knew they were there.

"Bloodhound.  You ever own a bloodhound, child?  Good huntin' dog, loyal.  They look lazy, but you get'em out in the field, they'll track anything.  You give'em the scent, they'll run it down.  Surprisin' speed.  Agility.  Endurance.  Fine animal, bloodhound.  Don't ever stop until the prey's caught."

The bandit was trying to crawl away backwards, ankle twisted and probably broken after stumbling over a tree root during the uphill chase.  "Have mercy...angel of mercy, please, sir.  I beg you, I'll stop, I'll quit, I'll..."

"You hush boy.  Angel o' Mercy.  Pshaw.  Boy I walk in the Light of the Lord, may his radiance warm my soul for eternity.  Don't speak at me about angels.  There's only one path, boy, and that's to walk in the glorious Light.  To shun it is to invite the darkness into your heart.  Bet you got some demon in you right now, son."

"B-but you can't do violence under the Light!  Man of faith!  Please!"  He crested the top of this particular hill, treeless and with a good view of the valley.  Good lookout territory for bandits.  "Boy, you turn your head up, you look up.  You look at the sky.  You squint and you look real good n' hard."  Norben could vaguely make out the silhouette of the bandit performing as instructed.

"You see any light right now, son?"  By the time the bandit peered back down, he caught a glimmer of starlight off the head of Norben's mace, held high, charging forward.