The shadows of the forest were a heavy black, but Felian Northdale had seen plenty of dark forests in Borna. Rather than fear, all he felt was boredom, that and soreness from the uncomfortable wagon. He really couldn't believe his bad luck. Back when they had been sent to this rich, exotic country to establish a trade route to the far-off lands of Chutwa, the knight had thought he would have an easier time of things.

After all, they hadn't brought an army, but just barely enough men to protect their fleet docked at Porcero's harbor. Before their arrival, he thought they would just stay in some trade port along the coast line. While he would enjoy the foreign wine, sun and women, he would get up from time to time to protect their merchants as they sailed from Arcavia to Medala and back. Meanwhile, Duke Herak and the merchants would be the ones to do all the hard work in long negotiations with the local nobility.

However, once their ships arrived in Porcero, they soon realized that the situation in Medala was much more complicated than any of them had imagined. The distant land had lost its emperor not long ago, but by now they had expected a new emperor to be elected, and one who would either have the support of Bornish merchants, or the support of Cahlian ones.

Yet neither of the two successors had climbed the throne. Instead, the empire was split into three kingdoms, with three different kings. While two of them were still not hostile towards Bornish interests, the last one was an old acquaintance. Suffice it to say, the King of the South had no good thoughts to spare for Felian's master, Duke Herak of Balit. The great seer Corcopaca Fastgrade, wealthy and powerful head of the Fastgrade Merchant Company, had somehow become the King of the South after he had left for Medala less than a year earlier. Worse yet, he seemed hellbent on making their mission more difficult.

In order to secure a land route through Medala, Duke Herak had left further inland, together with a good portion of their already meager troops, to participate in a war against Corco's southern kingdom. At the same time, Margrave Hakon had taken most of their ships and sailors to the south. After a deal with one of the kings, they had received legitimacy to secure a land passage through the continent they could control themselves, without the interference of any heathen kings. All they had to do was take it, and so the eager Margrave Hakon had set off with their chief negotiator.

All of these plans were potential ways to fulfill their missions, but they had left them spread paper thin. By now, only Felian and a handful of soldiers were left to guard their first exploratory trade caravan through the strange lands of Medala. Although he had been against the hasty trip from the start, the merchants had insisted on making their gold, and not even a knight would stand in their way. While the first part of their journey had been uneventful, they had now come up to an undeveloped, primal forest. Not only was the forest said to contain demons and other inhuman beasts summoned by the people of this land, they may also house some dangerous bandits.

As if he had conjured up the trouble himself, he heard the familiar call of problems from the front.

“What was that!?” he shouted to the handful of soldiers around him as he jumped off his wagon. “Follow me. We will get to the caravan's front and make sure no one tries anything fresh with our people. We want our expedition to be a success, do we not?”

While he walked past wagon after wagon and looked into the worried faces of merchants and local hires, he once again realized just how large their caravan was. All the goods they had brought with them on their ships had to be transported by land, which created a juicy target far larger than Felian was comfortable protecting.

It appeared as if he wasn't the only one who considered them an easy target. Once he had arrived at the front, he saw himself confronted with a single man who blocked their path by just standing there in a broad stance.

Although the strange man asked a question, Felian didn't understand a word. A look behind and he found his local translator who just about caught up and was still out of breath.

“Come on,” he said impatiently towards the Medala local from Porcero. “What does this one say?”

“Master, he asks if you are leader of this group.”

“Tell him that I am.” Felian challenged the stranger's provocative look with his own. “But Sire, we are just guards and have no proper command authority within the caravan. It's the merchants who have the say. By all right, you cannot be considered the leader.” One of his soldiers seemed hell-bent on making things difficult for him, but Felian still wouldn't look away from his obstacle.

“Who cares about that now?” he asked. “We might not have any authority in the city, but right now we're in the wilderness, in front of an enemy. Who will fight me for authority in this place, even more so when I am in charge of what little military force this caravan has? Do you think any of the merchants will stretch out their necks to negotiate with the bandit?”

His men silenced, the bandit started to speak instead.

“Master, he says his name is Latrus di Saliena. He is great and honored master of the forest. He says... he is here to make the forest safe from bandits.”

“That's nice, but what does he want?” Felian wrinkled his brows.

“Master please, he is still talking!”

All this time, Latrus the stranger had continued to ramble on like a waterfall.

“He says... since he keeps the forest clean of threat, he has to ask for contribution from everyone who crosses his woods.”

“So he is a bandit then,” Felian nodded. “Tell him that the forest belongs to no one. He is no noble, so he can't tax our caravan. Tell him to make way or we will use force.”

“He says... that animals of the forest have elected him leader, so his rule is true.”

For the first time in the conversation, Felian looked over to his translator.

“Are you convinced those were his words?”

Although he looked confused as well, the translator nodded and continued to relay the bandit's words.

“He says... that he requires only one or two of our wagons. Since we have many of them, we should not miss a few.”

“That won't be possible.” Felian narrowed his eyes and stepped forward with force. “Now, I'll say it nicely one more time. Make way, or you will die a miserable death.” As he spoke, the knight drew his sword.

Although the heathen did not understand the Bornish language, he could still read the sight of a sharp blade. As soon as steel was drawn, the stranger showed a cocky grin, left a few cryptic words and ran into the bushes to the side. Before Felian could order anyone to stop him, he had already been swallowed by the primal woods.

“What was that?” Felian asked in consternation.

“Master, he says that we are free to move on. He has already collected the fee he wanted.”

“Sire, terrible news!”

Felian had only left two men in the center of the convoy to calm down the merchants, and one of them was running towards him with panic in his voice and his eyes.

“What's going on? More bandits?” the knight had a terrible feeling.

“We just heard word from the local hires at the back of the convoy. While you were distracted up here, more bandits showed up around our tail and took away our two rearmost wagons. The merchants are furious.”

Felian looked at the panicked soldier, before he stared back into the deep forest. No wonder the lone bandit was so calm and boisterous. This Latrus of the forest had never expected to fight them in frontal battle. All he wanted was to stall for time so the bandits could exploit the caravan's weakness elsewhere.

Still, Felian didn't care much about the two wagons. In the end, they were not the property of the Kingdom of Borna or Duke Herak, but instead the private possessions of some merchants, nothing more. While he would try to protect them in accordance with his mission, losing a few wasn't a big deal, and almost expected when he considered their lack of numbers.

As for the ire of the merchants? No matter how much they hollered, they still wouldn't be able to harm him much. After several years under the Duke, Felian knew Herak quite well. Even though some called him greedy, the martial lord would never side with some petty merchants over his own people.

Still, even though he hadn't lost anything yet, the journey hadn't started in the best way. They had only just come across the first obstacle and had already run into problems. Although there was still a long way to go, Felian had a sinking feeling that their trip wouldn't get any easier from here on out.

“Don't let them inside! Protect the animals!” As Felian's powerful voice reminded his soldiers of their duties, the knight pointed his sword towards the far corner of their improvised fortress.

When they had seen the enemies show up in the far distance, Felian had ordered all the wagons of their caravan to be put into a circular formation and bound together with rope. Although the fort was improvised, it would be more than enough to deal with a few barbarians. To his great dismay however, the numbers before them were more than just a few.

Since the merchants had been slow to react in the far corner and had thus not managed to properly secure their vehicles before the attack began, it was the weakest point of their formation.

With axes and spears in hand, the sheer physical strength of these barbarians wrenched apart the wagons to create an opening. As soon as they were to slip inside, the enemies could use their superior numbers to pressure even the experienced Bornish knight. Already, many projectiles flew over their inadequate defenses and had cause a few injuries among their local helpers.

At least for now, the merchants, and most importantly the donkeys and the cargo, were protected, safe in the center of the formation. Felian wouldn't mind if a few of the merchants died since it would lessen his burden in the future and teach them a lesson, but every dead pack animal would reduce the transport capacity of their caravan and force them to abandon more of their cargo once they found the breathing room to escape. No doubt, this was the goal of these greedy hyenas, to harm them enough so they would leave behind some flesh to devour.

Somehow, Felian felt as if the land itself had begun to reject them, or as if there was some unspeakable curse cast over their entire expedition.

After they had left the bandit's forest without suffering from any additional bandit attacks, they were forced to cross through the ridiculous mountain range that ran through the center of Medala. All along the way, Felian barely had the time to be awed by the beauty around him. Instead, he had been forced to deal with one problem after another as they braved the the precarious mountain pass.

As soon as they had left the freezing cold and jagged cliffs behind them, the landscape had opened up into the northern plains, a warm and inviting region filled with rivers and streams, much more pleasant and much more developed than the barren east. Even during winter, their path was free from snow, so their progress had been good. Yet only one day after they had left the mountains, they had received this sort of attack.

Long before they even left Porcero, there had already been rumors of bandits from the north breaking through the defenses of Medala. With their insatiable greed, they raided villages and traders to create confusion in King Amautu's hinterland. It appeared the northern king wasn't doing a very good job of taking care of these pests.

Again, Felian turned to his soldiers and the helpers with their improvised pikes. Somehow, they had used a combination of determination, strength, and gunfire to scare back the bold attackers and close up the gap in their defenses. Just as the situation behind him was about to calm down, more noise erupted in his front as the barbarians tried to hack apart the ropes on the remaining wagons.

With a curse under his breath, the knight captain took the rest of his soldiers to take care of the new threat by himself. With any luck, they would still be able to defend their cargo, but Felian could only pray that they wouldn't lose too many men in the process. Considering their journey so far, they would need all the military force they could get on their way to Chutwa.