Otto rolled his eyes but faintly smiled when Leonid called him a serf and clerk.  He gripped the dagger on his side, but did not draw it because of what Leonid was saying.

The bandits were still for a moment.  Finally they shoved Otto forward.  "Fine!  But you're gonna do what we say, got it?"  The bandit motioned for Otto and Leonid to walk further back into the cave.  One of the bandits lit a torch from the fire and took the lead in front.  Otto urged Leonid on to follow the bandits.

They were taken through an earthen network, obviously dug out by someone.  It was very dark, cold, and dank.  Some places were collapsed and new paths had to be made.  Skeletons were sprawled across the ground and rusted loot littered the floor.  After almost an hour of walking they started to see some light ahead and they paused.

"Wait here," the leader said, forcing the group to stop.  He exited the cave and after a few minutes he yelled inside: "Bring'em up!"  The bandits urged the men onward and brought them into the light.  They were in a small tribal village, full of angry tribals who looked at them with hate.  "This one threatened us with the Livonian Order," the bandit said, fingering Leonid.

A man with noble clothes and a crown glared at Leonid.  He spoke, "A swordbrother?  He doesn't look like one.  Must be a traitor to the Prussians or something."  They then looked over Otto, and when the bandits said he was Leonid's serf and clerk, the nobleman laughed.  "Fools... this man wears the armor of a Teuton!  He's a Knight, for crying out loud!"  He came closer and looked into Otto's eyes.  "You might be happy to know your allies defeated the Poles at Chojnice."

The nobleman walked away and simply said "bind them up in seperate cages.  I will deal with them tonight."

---

Otto and Leonid would be chained up to iron poles, and locked inside an iron cage somewhere in the village.  They were fed scraps, and were victim to dung being slung at them for about an hour.  Eventually, however, an Estonian warrior came and unlocked Leonid's cage, forcing him to the nobleman's hut.  Inside it was warm and spelled of good food.  The nobleman was looking at a map of the surrounding lands.  He was obviously Estonian, and this village was obviously a temporary one.

"Tell me why I should not kill you," the nobleman said plainly without looking away from his map.  The Estonian spearmen standing on guard watched him with keen eyes.