The sun was a flaming disk set high in the sky, it's warmth radiating off the desert floor and reflecting off the black stone hills that jutted with immensity on either side of the valley. Magnus was grumpy, though no one could Ssee his face -for he was wearing his helmet- a persistent scowl smeared itself over his face, the smell of dirty camels and equally dirty travelers -and a dirty himself- combined with the unrelenting heat permeating his armor produced an irritability so obvious that his posture alone made the travelers avoid him.
"shouldn't have left Bethlehem." he grumbled to himself under his breath,  Magnus reached down into his knap sack and produced a firm, gleaming red apple, he brought it to his mouth took a bite. But the bite was short lived, an arrow plucked the fruit from his lips and imbedded itself in a person adjacent to Magnus, everyone broke into panic. People were running in every direction, camels ripping loose from their masters and dispersing, through it all a steady volley of arrows from the hills above picked people off.
"f***", swore Magnus as he sprinted forward and executed a slide, rubbing against the blazing, hardened clay to halt behind the carcass of a camel, he reached for his sword when his hand came into contact with air where it's hilt should have been, "F**K!" he barked as he realized he had sold it to gain enough money to get with the caravan, cursing further internally he looked around to find something to do. He spotted a horse galloping from the rear, a brown mare with a darker brown mane, a look of sheer fright in it's eyes, an arrow embedded in it's flank rising and following with each step. Magnus ran towards it leaping and vaulting over bodies and dead camels, shredding his trousers on protruding arrows as he went, then he was close to the mare. In an instant time seemed to slow down, he reached forward and grabbed the rein and incredibly swung on it, pulling himself into the air to ark over the steed and land on the saddle, his feet getting into the stirrups lightening quick so he could urge the horse forward but before he could a pain lanced up his leg, the arrow that had lodged itself in the mares flank was protruding from his leg, the bloody fletching waving in the air as blood poured around it, pinning him to the mount.
"YAH!" he yelled in pain as he snapped the reins sending the horse barreling down the valley, haphazardly swerving around bodies, the sounds of arrows hitting the floor following them as they raced out of the valley, almost the same expression of fear and pain on their faces.
They had been riding flat out away from the valley for what must have seemed like an eternity but was only several minutes, they had put a decant amount of distance between them and the raiders before Magnus pulled at the reins and slowed the horse to a stop. He was pale, his leg and the horses flank drenched in his blood, he slowly pulled his leg from the arrow, the fletching disappearing inch by inch into his leg until it popped out the other side with a small gush of crimson blood. Magnus toppings off the horse and onto the hard desert ground, wracking his frame, he reached into his knapsack, his hands trembling and clutched his night shirt, he tore the sleeve off it and wrapped it around his leg. He lay there for a few moments with his eyes closed, recovering from the event when he heard the horse make a sound of agitation, he opened his eyes to see the arrow sticking out of the mares side, slowly he got up, his leg wobbling horribly, 'probably a broken bone' he thought to himself as he reached forward and clutched the saddle for support, he reached forward and gripped the bloody arrow shaft and started to pull it out slowly, the horse neighing and whinnying in pain as the arrow crept out, it suddenly gave way and the entire thing slipped out of it's flank. It almost seemed to sigh in relief at that point, as Magnus ripped more cloth off his night shirt and applied it to the horses wound. He leaned heavily on the horse and pulled his second and last apple from his bag and was about to take a bite when he noticed, she was very thin compared to other horses. His guilt set in as his stomach ached for the apple but his guilt was stronger. He came around to face the mare and brought the apple to it's muzzle and watched as it wolfed it down. He was hoping for there to be a peice left but there was none, he frowned and was about to mount the horse when it nuzzled his cheek. Instead of mounting he held onto the reins and walked, side by side bloodied and tired they walked into the desert towards Damascus.