Need some assistance with Timmy. Early game spoilers within

TLDR skip to the bolded part

First playthrough here, focused on speech. So I'm at the confrontation at the windmill with...Morcock? I think I made that name up but I digress. Anyway, I don't have high enough speech skills to bluff this guy, and I don't want to give up Timmy's location. There's no possible way for me to win against all four of these guys in a fight. This has lead me to try a few different approaches, none of which have worked.

I've tried bringing my horse into the circle so I can initiate the fight then gallop off. Nope. Horse rears every time after a couple steps.

I've tried running myself. Nope.

I've tried luring them to a narrow space so they can't surround me. Nope. Stats too low for that.

So I tried to get a little more creative. I sold Timmy's location. When the three bandits leave, I'm able to quickly put down the one assigned to watch me.

Now here's my problem: I chase the bandits running to Timmy's location and am able to slow the last one enough to isolate him and initiate combat. I'm able to get quite a few swings on this guy and he doesn't go down. Is it possible to even kill this guy?

A part of me wonders if being accepted in to their camp might be worth it more in the long run but I don't want to condemn poor Tim Tim.

Is there a more clever solution to this that I'm not seeing? Can I buff my speaking skills enough to lie?