At dawn, we disassembled the camp as well as the traps and alarms I had set-up. Out of the 31 traps I have strategically placed around the camp, 13 were triggered mostly by rabbits, foxes, and skeilfeind (shielded beast).  Although alarming, no one has been injured except for Arte, since he accidentally triggered a rope trap last night which sprained his ankle.

 

While riding back to Fyritol, I told Kylisor to head to the citizen town of Yeryl to get the bounty of the illegal weapons dealer we found since he’s the only one with a citizenry ring. Although I am worried that he will travel alone for 2 weeks, the silver would help greatly in improving the defenses of Fyritol.

 

Despite the order given (forced) upon us to hurriedly report back to the [Baron], I need to report to the chief first in order to prepare Fyritol for an upcoming siege.

 

“Are you sure this is wise, Casuro?” Arte asks as he trots his horse by my side.

 

“Think as you will, I care more about my father and the people at home than some lord” I responded with a snicker.

 

He looks at me with worry, “I know you’re young and at that phase of your life, but have some care with your words, Casuro”

 

I chuckled at his remark, “Before, you had enough anger to kill a man regardless” I sighed, ”but it seems your heart has changed, Arte”

 

His brows frown hearing my subtle insult, “I guarantee you that my anger hasn’t left” he pauses for a moment to control his horse, “I’m… damned horse… I’m just worried that you will get yourself in trouble”

 

“Trouble? Me? Since when have I ever had trouble with the lords?” I look at him with a grin.

 

“I’m serious” He looks at me with a stern look, “I heard what happened to your cousin a few years ago. I don’t want that to happen to you”

 

I chuckled, “If that ever happens… I’ll make sure I won’t go down without a fight”

 

His mouth fell open slightly as he looked at me with shock, “That… are you planning to rebel… Casuro?”

 

Rebellion, huh. I did think of that, but with what I have currently it will just fail. Although… If I did have the means, then what’s stopping me?

 

I gave a reassuring smile to Arte, “Relax. I won’t go to that extreme. After all, I still have my father to take care off, as well as Alina, the chief, and Mr. Hexto”

 

“Mr. Hexto? The [Priest]?”

 

I shrugged, “He’s a good man. He taught me a lot too. Without him, I don’t think I could learn how to read and write”

 

He also taught me about the world, my magic, and the current politics of the day. I owe him a lot for the knowledge he gave me.

 

Despite looking cynical, Arte let out a sigh before speaking, “Fine. I’ll trust you, Casuro. Anyways, back to the question earlier, are you sure this is wise?”

 

“Well, since the enemy is looking at Fyritol, it’s only obvious to warn the chief beforehand in order to prepare early. I don’t trust the lord to put us in his interest” I clicked my tongue, “To him, we’re nothing more than convenience. Convenient source of tax. Convenient source of soldiers. Convenient source of slaves”

 

He sighs deeply, staring at the purple sky, “You really hate them that much, huh”

 

“Yep, anyhow, we report to the chief first so he can set the necessary preparations. Besides, we need to resupply and drop off our cargo before heading to the [Baron]. We wouldn’t want to be overloaded when we reach the hills, do we?”

 

“Yeah… I suppose…” then, as he was pondering, his horse jerked up suddenly, “Damned horse! Casuro, how in [Tero's] good world do you control your horse?”

 

“Hmm…” I turned my head and smiled at him,  “you just find a good one”

 

“A good one!?” Then, his horse once more jerked, “Damn it!”

 

The trip to Fyritol took 7 days. On the way, we occasionally would find scouts from both Kingdoms. Sometimes we would skirmish the invading scouts, but in some cases the scouts from our Kingdom would mistake us as enemies and would try to either kill or capture us.

 

Although we would win in our skirmishes, it leaves a bad taste to be fighting our own soldiers. Regardless, throughout our journey we would end up killing more than 15 scouts (I lost count after the 4th skirmish).

 

We made camp for the night between two hills. There, we bandaged our wounds from our day's skirmish.

 

“Well… at least we wouldn’t worry about being poor anymore” Foryl jokingly said as he fixed his bandaged arm.

 

Usylle chuckled while Arte stared with hollow eyes at the fire as I stitched his shoulder.

 

Arte hasn’t talked since the 5th skirmish against our own scouts. His spirit has broken after going through this much skirmishes.

 

“How do you do it?” Arte mumbled while still staring at the fire.

 

Despite being surprised by him talking, I responded, “I told you. I’m used to it” then, I finished stitching his wound and began to wrap it with a sterilized bandage.

 

His only response is a low hum.

 

His morale is gone. I hope this doesn’t affect him for long. I’ve known many men like him that have gone mad. I hope he doesn’t end up like them. 

 

Then, the silence is broken by Usylle, “Hopefully, Kylisor hasn’t died on the way. He went ahead of us, I hope he managed to reach Yeryl safely”

 

“Yeah… I-… we still need that silver after all” says Foryl, laying down.

 

By daybreak, we rode for Fyritol and reached the town by noon.

 

After hailing the gates and given entrance, I split off from the group and walked to the chief’s holding with my horse roped in my hand. Once there, I gave the rope of my horse to a stableman and walked to the entrance of his manor.

 

The chief’s manor is the largest in the town, but nowhere as lavish as the keeps of nobility nor the mansions of wealthy merchants. It’s more of a larger version of the circular housing common in town, with extensions to accommodate more room for his slaves, guards, family, and other things.

 

“What do you want, Casuro?” asks a stationed guard.

 

I grinned at him with my arms crossed, “What else? I want to talk to the chief”

 

“He’s busy,” he grumbled.

 

I raised a brow, “Busy? Is it more important than what I have to say?”

 

He heaved a deep sigh, “He’s talking to a knight sent by the [Baron]. I don’t know what they talk about, but it’s certainly more important than you”

 

A knight? I see… so that’s who he’s talking to. I thought it was some of his own guards.

 

“I see… you don’t mind me sitting around here right, Talyr?’ I say as I sit down, pressing my back against the wall of the manor’s adult height wall.

 

He scoffs, “Do what you want. Just don’t annoy me”

 

I looked at him with surprise and spoke in a lively manner, “Me? Annoy you? How could I?! The great Talyr, slayer of women, would be annoyed by me?” 

 

His face blushed despite his efforts to look as stoic as possible, “Shut up. It was one day” he mumbled.

“Ah… yes. One day. The day you chased so many dresses that it would make [Folyki] blush!”

 

“S-Shut it you! Quiet down or else I’ll put a spear in your arse!”

 

I gasped, “I didn’t know you also liked men! By [Folyki’s] name! Don’t worry friend, your secret is safe with me” I then winked at him.

 

By this point, his composure has broken and his face is as red as a beet, “SHUT UP! OR ELSE I WILL NEVER LET YOU IN!”

 

“Alright, alright. I’m just joking” I let out a small laugh.

 

As the moments of silence passed, I decided to replace the bow string of my bow while waiting. 

 

Halfway done, Talyr began to talk to me, “So… how did the trip go?”

 

“Oh?” I looked at him with a raised brow, “Now you want to talk?”

 

“The silence is boring me. Besides… I’m curious” he says as he rubs his nose.

 

With a half smile and a small chuckle, I began to entertain his curiosity as I worked on my bow, “The town was razed to cinder. There were no survivors”

 

Hearing this, his face frowned and he bit his lower lip, “I see… are you sure?”

 

I heaved a deep sigh, “I checked every cellar, every corner, and every rubble. There were no survivors. The others also didn’t find anyone else either. If there were survivors, they were either taken as slaves, fled, or they died before we arrived”

 

His face frowned more, to calm himself he took a deep breath and sighed, “I see… thanks for telling me”

 

Despite my initial hesitation to ask, I asked anyway, “Did… did you have relatives there?”

 

He chuckled, “I had relatives there… my sister and brother-in-law lived there… the last I heard from them, they visited with their newborn last season along with their sons and daughter”

 

My heart felt heavy and I found it difficult to work on my bow, “I… I see… quite a large family, huh” realizing my error, I bit my lip.

 

Damn… why did I say that?

 

He, again, chuckled as he looked up to the sky, “Yeah… I wish they enjoy the paradise above”

 

“Aye…”

 

Then, the door to the manor opened, and what came through it were 4 men. They all wore chainmail, but one of them wore a surcoat that showcased two crests, the crest of the [Baron] and the crest of the [King], with brigandine above his chainmail hauberk and held by his side is a flat top great helmet with gold edges on top. His hands are covered by plated mittens, his feet wear leather boots, and his shoulders are armored by lamellar pauldrons. Belted to his side is a sword in its sheath.

 

As he was escorted by his guards, Talyr gave way to him and bowed his head low. Talyr looks at me, eyeing me to do the same as he bows.

 

“Do it, fool” he whispered to me.

 

Sighing, I hesitantly stood up and bowed my head.

 

As he passed, I slightly looked upwards glancing at his face.

 

The knight seems to be of middle age with a deep scar on his right cheek, his short curly auburn hair flows freely, and he has an auburn goatee.

 

As if sensing me, he stops and slightly turns his head to me.

 

“Something wrong, lord?” asks one of his escorts.

 

He looks at me briefly, “No… just a feeling”

 

“A feeling?”

 

He chuckled, “Yes… a feeling like fire. A burning flame” as he says that, I couldn’t help but glance at him. 

 

My eyes locked with his grey eyes, his eyes felt like it was piercing my soul, “Hmm… interesting” he mumbled before looking away.

 

“Let’s go” he says as he marches away, following him are his escorts.

 

Once they were a distance away from us, Talyr stopped his bow, walked to me, and smacked the back of my head.

 

“You fool! Why did you look?!” he yelled at me.

 

Rubbing the back of my head, I chuckled, “Sorry. Couldn’t help myself”

 

“Couldn’t help yourself?!” he yelled then heaved a deep breath, “Never do that again… I thought he was going to kill us!”

 

Don’t overreact Talyr. He wouldn’t do anything like that, after all, it would be improper of a knight to lose patience.

 

“Anyways, can you tell the chief I need to talk to him? I spent enough time here after all”

 

Grumbling, and still in a sour mood, he spoke in annoyance, “Fine. Wait right here” he then walked into the manor.

 

Moments later, he came out, “You can go in, go say whatever then leave as soon as possible”

 

“Did the chief say that?” I ask as I shouldered my bow.

 

“No. It’s for me”

 

I gave him a half smile then made my way inside the manor.