As much as Sten wanted to stay and help his brothers in arms fight the wave of bandits he knew he had more important task set before him. Keeping up with the carriage was easy for his mount, but keeping the bandits off the carriage seemed to be the difficult part.<br/><br/>As they barreled down the path several more men on horseback quickly met their pace. The majority of the men headed for the carriage itself, but a couple broke off from the group to handle the knight that followed closely behind. Sten drew a small crossbow from underneath a saddle bag, already loaded, and fired the bolt into the chest of one man who quickly toppled off his mount and into the cloud of dust behind them. The next attacker Sten had to deal with in a bit closer combat but managed to cut the man's saddle enough that he slipped from his mount as they galloped.<br/><br/>By the time Sten staved off his own attackers three men had left their mounts to climb up on the carriage. One of them was fighting with the driver while the other two worked to get the doors open and inside to the Princess.<br/><br/>Sten dug his heels into his mount's flanks and pulled up next to one of the men trying to get inside and reached over to grab the collar of his shirt and pulled him back and off the carriage sending him rolling with more than likely a few broken bones. Then Sten sheathed his sword and freed his feet from the stirups to jump onto the carriage himself.<br/><br/>The man he had just removed had managed to get the door open just as Sten pulled him away so it was easy for Sten to jump inside the carriage. Stepping over the cowering Princess he kicked the opposing door and sent it flying wide and the second man left to dangle from the edge of the carriage. As Sten reached out to release the man's precarious hold he was met with a swinging blade that caught him across the forearm. Sten grunted and hissed but managed to reach out and plant his fist in the man's face which caused him to let go of the carriage and send him rolling.<br/><br/>The carriage driver also managed to throw his attacker overboard so that the three of them were left alone as they continued down the dirt road towards the town that lay just a short distance travel ahead.<br/><br/>Seeing that they were temporarily safe Sten leaned back into the carriage. "Are you alright Your Highness?" He asked in a concerned voice.