• "Hey slow down!"

Harek shouted after Agnes as he was catching up to her in a light jog before getting next to her.

• "Oh my god, why are you here?"

Agnes asked with an embarrassed voice and pulled the hood tighter. Harek wished for a moment, that he wouldn’t have listened to Erick, but usually, he was right with these things, and he already came this far so he gathered his courage and continued.

• "Did I say something wrong?" – He asked with genuine confusion in his voice.
• "No, you didn’t just…just don’t say embarrassing stuff like that in front of the others."

She blurted out still blushing.

• "That I’m proud of you? We all are, you-"

Agnes cut in.

• "Thank you, okay?" –She said with a half-smile.- "You didn’t do anything wrong, just stop, please."
• "Okay, okay."

Harek said, not any less confused, but more than happy to drop the matter if Agnes was fine. He was very comfortable in silence usually, yet now he felt the need to break it.

• "Where are we heading first?"
• "To the girl's tent. I figured we should find out what happened first."

The man grunted in agreement, and they continued in silence. Their small camp was situated on the hillside slightly higher than the rest of the war camp, from which they could overlook the progress of the siege, while still being separate enough to have options in case something happened to the main force. This was how they usually positioned themselves when accompanying a large retinue, caravan, or in this case, an army.
As they descended on the muddy trail from camp, they entered the endless forest of tents, campfires, and improvised grazing clearings. They walked past pig sties, goat herds butcheries, and latrines. The smells, odors, and stenches created an invisible painting of life and civilization in all its unpleasantries. In only a few weeks a whole second town migrated around the first and by now it truly felt like the inklings of a new mobile city. Agnes has been accompanying Harek on caravan escorts plenty of times before, but the enormous size of this “caravan” of sorts truly amazed her.
Compared to the relaxed and jovial mood of the last weeks, today the air was filled with tension and hurry, as men in ornate clothes barked orders at the common soldiers donning their metal chest plates in a hurry while others were getting in neat rows to get their orders for the day. Some of the men jolted their heads back in surprise at Agnes’s face as their eyes wandered over her, both in surprise and curiosity as to what a young girl must be doing among them, but seeing the large man following close behind her made them avert their gaze just as quickly, only to look in their direction once again as they passed over them. Talking and murmuring followed them along like the singing of birds in the woods. Their appearance hadn’t been that different from that of the soldiers or the other mercenaries, but they were strangers, which was more than enough for the bored men to spin colorful stories about them. As they approached the “Whore village” as it came to be called among the soldiers, the tents were thinning out considerably, and the rhythmic destruction of the trebuchets was reduced to that of a distant thunder.

“Pleasure town” had been the less blunt name of it, and although Agnes liked to name things as they were, she had found that name to be much more fitting once she laid eyes upon it. Its tents were made of vibrant fabric, mainly reds, yellows, greens, and blues in convoluted embroidering which when compared to rest of the dull variations of linen grey that the rest of the camp was made out of, made this place feel almost dreamlike. The largest tent was a round one in the middle around which many small tents were arranged around their own, by now, barely smoking campfires. There was complete silence at the camp, likely everyone was resting after yesterday evening's debauchery she thought. She looked around where to go next when Harek overtook her and walked with purpose towards the tents. Without much thought she decided to follow him, assuming he must know more about these places than she does. Although when thinking about it she wasn’t sure if she’d ever seen Harek in a place like this. Then again why would he tell her about it if he did, she thought. The man walked among the smaller tents and Agnes noted to herself that this truly was a village in its own right, the many colorful patterns of tents with their round formations around their campfires made her almost dizzy as they were walking left and right between them. As they got to the other side of this maze they found around a dozen colorful wagons covered in painted flowers, with their own door and windows as if they were mobile houses. Agnes quickly realized that’s exactly what they were.

• "That’s amazing!" –She exclaimed.– "Why don’t we have any of those?"
• "Because-"
• "Can we get one? I’m a grown woman, I really should have my own–"

She stopped mid-sentence two thoughts were clearly fighting for dominance in her head. The one wanting their own room, and the other...Harek couldn’t even guess at it, but eventually, it must have won as she continued.

• "I mean, yeah they uhh…not as used to the road as we are I guess."

Harek didn’t understand what this was about, but it amused him, nonetheless. Nowadays he more and more often failed to figure out what she was thinking. She must have only been about 5 years younger than him, neither of them was sure but that felt correct when he found her all those years ago, yet it was as though that gap only widened as time went on, and Harek thought back fondly on the days when they could understand each other from a glance. Strangely, she still could, only he did not. He pondered for a moment whether that meant she was growing up, or he didn’t. These thoughts must have translated to an expression because they were interrupted by Agnes.

• "Hey, uhh, are you okay?"

She asked while bending her upper body to the side.

• "Yeah, it’s nothing." -Harek snapped back to reality.– "Nice huh?"

He pointed at the painted wagon houses.

• "It must be nice, I guess…"
• "We could get you one once we’re done here you know."
• "No, no it’s fine really."

She was flailing one of her hands dismissively.

• "These are just quite heavy and don’t take to rough terrain very well so-"
• "Yes, of course, I understand it’s fine."

She was flailing both hands now. Harek shrugged, made a mental note to buy her a cart like this one day, then turned to knock on the door.
Three heavy knocks...no answer. Three more.

• "We’re closed!"

A weak hoarse voice of a woman rang from the inside.

• "Come back in the evening!"
• "We’re looking for our friend." –Harek answered in a raised voice.

No answer.

• "We’ll pay for your time!" –Agnes butt in.

Harek looked at her, and she shrugged. Then some shuffling came from inside and an older woman opened the door wrapped in an expensive-looking fluffy white fur. She looked exhausted which exaggerated the lines on her face, her makeup and greying hair were messy, yet Harek could still tell she must have been beautiful in her younger days, or even today when she was in her best shape.
She gave a glance to Harek but her eyes lit up when she saw Agnes.

• "Aren’t you a looker! Looking for employment by any chance?" –She asked slyly.

Before Agnes could open her mouth Harek stepped in between them.

• "No, she isn’t."

Agnes felt a bit offended, she had no say. Not that she’d consider her offer for even a moment. She thought for a second whether it annoyed her enough to say something about it, but decided his protectiveness was more endearing than irking so she decided against it.
The woman in the wagon continued.

• "Bah! Men and their possessiveness. You could really let her have some fun you know, if you’re worth a damn she won’t leave you anyway."

Harek decided, with effort, to ignore her comment and took out a few silver coins.

• "I'm Harek, this is Agnes. We’re looking for a youngish man, medium height, dark blonde, long hair. gray eyes. As strange as this is going to sound he … has no hair on his body, and I mean not at all."

The woman's eyebrows perked up in amusement, her fatigue momentarily forgotten. She leaned against the door frame, crossing her arms as a sly grin played on her lips.

• "Ah, Adrian right? Yes, he was a regular here, the girls loved him. I’m not sure there is much to find love. A shame too, he was a lively one in this sorry place."

Agnes shuffled her feet, looking slightly uncomfortable at the turn of the conversation. Harek kept his gaze fixed on the woman, trying to read between the lines.

• "He tends to make trouble. That we know. What happened?"
• "Well, he came here almost every night. I didn’t mind it of course but I suppose his money did run out eventually as he wanted to…use our services on credit if you can believe it."

Harek and Agnes exchanged a quick, knowing look.

• "Oh we can." –He replied with a half-smile.
• "Now, that would be out of the question usually, but I was even going to make an exception for him for being such a generous patron, but the boys wouldn’t have any of it."

Agnes raised an eyebrow curiously.

• "The boys?"

The woman gestured theatrically with her hands, her voice taking on a mocking tone.

• "Yes, you see we girls need the protection of big, strong men." –She said her voice dripping with sarcasm.– "Or so they say."

Harek's gaze followed her hand movements, his expression a mix of skepticism and curiosity.

• "So, they are your bodyguards?"
• "Bodyguards, keepers, bandits, call them whatever you like. We have a whole army defending us here."

She waved a hand dismissively in the general direction of the war camp. There was palpable tension in the air as the woman’s voice lowered, her eyes briefly glancing around as if ensuring no one was eavesdropping as she noticed herself.

• "But no, we need them for protection."
• "What did they do with him?" -He asked.
• "I don’t know, they don’t tell me everything you know."

She shrugged nonchalantly, then pointed to the back of the tent village.

• But you can ask them yourself, their tents are that way.

She pointed to the back of the tent village. The valley opened and flattened in this direction, but the morning's low clouds and mist transformed the smoother, smaller hills into what appeared to be cloud-covered peaks as well. The madame looked Harek up and down, her eyes calculating, then began with a wry smile.

• "Say…You look like a capable fellow; would you mind getting rid of that burden for us? Would be happy to help you unload your burden as well."

The woman let her coat slightly part, putting emphasis on her offer. Agnes's cheeks turned red, and her eyes widened at the boldness of the woman. She glanced at Harek, expecting an immediate refusal. A second passed, then two. Frustration boiled over, and she punched his arm, beginning to shout.

• "You can’t seriously be considering this?!"
• "I’m thinking."

The man said emotionless and unmoving.

• "I can’t believe you!"

Agnes turned around in a huff, pulling her hood over her face in exasperation. The madame regarded her with an amused smile and a soft chuckle. Harek finally broke the silence.

• "How many are there?"
• "Four, but they are rarely here, let alone all of them."
• "And how much does Adrian owe you?"

Harek asked, his tone shifting to business-like. The woman closed up her coat again as a cold breeze swept through, satisfied that they had moved on to negotiation.

• "Nothing at all actually. He was quite open about not having enough money to pay upfront, so he has no debt to me."

Harek raised an eyebrow, puzzled.

• "So how come they didn’t just throw him out?"
• "Damned if I know. Will have to ask them yourself." –She shrugged.
• "50 silver per man." - Harek stated firmly.
• "You wound me Harek. I was starting to look forward to your company."

The madame replied, a playful tone creeping into her voice Harek remained silent, just gazing at her expectantly.

• "Bah! Fine, 50 it is."
• "No bargaining? Seems unnecessarily risky and expensive to hire someone to kill your bodyguards."
• "They are not my bodyguards, and they are cruel to my girls and rude to me. That won’t stand."

The madame's voice was firm, her stance resolute.

• "As you wish, see you soon Madame…" -Harek paused.- "You’ve never told us your name."
• "Ilona, Madame Ilona. Adiue."

With a final nod, she closed the door, leaving Harek and Agnes to contemplate their next move. As they walked away from her wagon, Agnes kept her hood pulled over her face, her steps brisk. Harek, maintaining a steady pace beside her, felt an unexplainable need to clear the air.

• "You know, I wasn’t actually going to—"
•  “I know.”

Agnes cut in, her voice softening as she pushed back her hood to glance at him. Harek looked at her thoughtfully.

• “Would it have bothered you? If I…had?"

Agnes’s stride faltered slightly, and she shot him a quick, surprised look. Then, recovering, she responded with a light, teasing tone.

• "Absolutely! I’d have to lecture you about the birds and the bees, Harek, and honestly, I’m just not sure you’re ready for that conversation yet." –She quipped.

Harek gave a genuine laughter in response to her wit, then a few seconds later he replied:

• "Oh there is more to learn?" –He asked in a playful tone.– "Well then life’s great mysteries will have to wait just a little longer I suppose."

They both smiled to themselves as the atmosphere lightened before Agnes’s expression sobered again and asked with a hint of worry:

• "Are you really going to try and take on those people?"

Harek stopped and then looked around to make sure no one was around.

• "Four? No, too risky. We’ll have a look and see how many are around. Also might need to interrogate one of them if Adrian is not with them."
• "Is he okay?"

Harek stayed silent for a moment before answering, his gaze wandering.

• "If it was about money, I’d have no doubt. Can’t shake off a dead man. But they want something else…"

He sighed then looked back at Agnes. - He might have run his mouth too much again. Agnes looked aside with worry when Harek put a hand on her shoulder and said with a reassuring tone and smile:

• "We’ll get him."