The first few days of the caravan was, of course, more about getting into routine than actually defending from a threat. The next group about five wagons up and a few yards to either side, and Maleki began to coordinate a check in routine with the two men with him, just in case something was to happen subtly, the next up would know and be able to raise the alarm. Maleki even began to get to know the younger man who was driving, who was doing so in order to save up enough to buy a ring for a girl a couple towns over. If the driver was comfortable with the men guarding him, then things went easier. At least, that’s what Maleki thought. One more thing remained consistent throughout the days of travel: the only time that he went anywhere remotely near Aleksandra was when he needed to meet with Branstorm. Since the first night, when the route was discussed, Maleki has been making a point to minimize his nightly interact with the man as well. Not enough to hurt the task at hand, but he was not staying around him if Alek was visible.<br/><br/>What alerted Maleki in time to the ambush in time was the sound of one of their bows. It had to be an older one, because it was creaking too much for its own good as the archer pulled back on the string. “Down!” Maleki shouted, drawing his blade. But his alert came a bit too late. In the shock of his announcement, his comrades stood still for but a moment. It was long enough for one of them to take an arrow through the throat. A couple of footfalls forward and he collapsed. Another arrow came from one of the raised portions of the canyon wall, piercing through the driver’s shoulder and positively pinning him to the wagon itself. The archer on the ridge was someone he could not deal with, so his eyes followed the direction that the arrow that slew one of his fellow guards. The other guard was already drawing, releasing an arrow towards a smaller man crouching in the road a ways back who released one himself. And then the brutes showed themselves. The brutes burst out of an alcove that they had hidden with bits of brush. The first brought down a heavy hammer towards the remaining guard archer but, since he was now prepared, was able to narrowly dodge out of the way. Maleki flicked his short blade upwards just in time to shield his throat from the arrow, his eyes barely seeing over the glare on his blade to see the limp arm dangling next to the road archer. Two more brutes charged for Maleki, while the final one stayed to help squash the pesky guard archer.<br/><br/>Maleki’s mind was racing as his body began to instinctually take over. The first few blows told him he didn’t need to worry about defending from these two alone. If another came, maybe he would. And if he tried to attack, he certainly would. So, his thoughts were priority. It had been about two hours since they’d reached out for the team ahead of them, but they also had set up a means to make sure something like this did not happen the night that they all found out the caravan was moving through the canyon. So at best, he’d have to wait for them to notice the lack of the final wagon in the next couple of minutes and sound the alarm. At worst… it’d be a bit of a slog until the headcount was passed down. The upside was that it looked like the bandits weren’t smart enough to single out a threat or to notice that they had only one archer giving them support. They could theoretically outlast them, but if they decided to just book it into the cart, then things would certainly get messy.<br/><br/>Maleki had ended up positioning himself next to the back of the cart, at just the right angle that only potshots from the canyon wall would be able to be fired at him. He was leaving nicks and cuts at best, but nothing that was really a serious wound. Off to the side, he would see the occasional arrow splinter or sword spark fly as the other guard tried his best to fight against the brutes. He was the one that Maleki did not know previously, and he was certainly built to be at range. Squirrelly and small. He was going to run out of ways to dodge eventually. Maleki was promptly drawn out of his thoughts at the sound of a new challenger approaching. The archer from down the road had abandoned his bow to draw his sword and -probably through adrenaline and annoyance fueled anger alone- make his way to the fray.<br/><br/>The way Maleki fought was based off of Royal Swordsmanship. Taught to young men of the royal family and close families. For Maleki, his father taught him. It was a loose fencing style, allowing the wielder to adapt appropriate to the opponent with slight movements and very tight parries and irregular guarding. So when a battlecry of rage was given from his side, Maleki adjusted properly. He half stepped to the side and pivoted to partially face his new attacker as his blade went up above his head and caught the overhead sword strike. However, Maleki chose to go on the offensive this time. Instead of allowing the moment to carry the blade to the ground behind him, Maleki diverted the momentum against the slope of his dagger, towards the curved crossguard and Maleki’s general front instead, by actively pushing against the blade. From there, a punishing strike to the arm would be most appropriate for the Royal School. But Maleki’s style was only based off of it. He had made some modifications. Where in the Royal version, Maleki’s free arm would be behind his back. In Maleki’s version, it was covered in a subtly armored by metal leather glove and kept ready. This free hand grabbed the bandit’s sword arm by the wrist as Maleki stepped forward, across his field of view before sliding to his side, essentially putting the former archer in between Maleki and a brute while twisting the archer’s arm. And then came the elbow. From his own sword arm, Maleki continued the movement, bringing a vicious elbow to the archer’s base of the skull while further pulling the sword arm, making sure not to pinch the nerve that would cause him to drop it just yet. The strike sent the archer into the chest of the brute, interrupting the brute’s swing.<br/><br/>Then came the nerve to pinch. Maleki flicked the archer’s wrist and pinched at the same time, causing him to release his sword -which had been generally positioned to be pointing towards the archer instead of away- upward instead of downward. Maleki’s free hand released the wrist and grabbed the hilt as gravity began to re-take hold over it. And without a word, Maleki finished the maneuver that he had started by forcing the archer’s blade forward instead of back. The archer’s blade pierced into him high on his chest and slide further, going through and clipping into the top of the Brute’s stomach due to the height difference between the two. With both of them impaled, Maleki released the archer’s sword and simply kicked the trapped together pair away from him, turning his attention to the last brute.