Red was on the run. Her daggers were nowhere to be seen, but she replaced them with two dual welders chasing her down. She seemed to best them in the speed department, but who knew how long that would last.

Viz was only doing modestly better. He was surrounded. The marauders that couldn’t compare with Red’s speed had cycled back to encircle him.

Kaiz leapt into action. He could have immediately slid down to reach them, but that wouldn’t be the most helpful. Instead, he zigzagged down the dune, picking up every javelin he could. As he did, he hurled them at the group trying to surround Viz. His aim wasn’t exactly true, but out of eight throws, he hit three. Two were skewered and down for the count, but the last one shrugged off the javelin. It casually bounced off his chest piece. A seemingly impossible feat considering he wore snake scale armor. To say it was a completely obsolete armor type would be an understatement. It couldn’t withstand a simple sword strike, talkless of a javelin. Unless.

They have enchanted gear as well?! Is this a private army??

He couldn’t see any light from where he was, so it must have been some kind of undergarment. It clearly wasn’t a spell, they weren’t titled.

Runes?

There was no time to ponder. The distraction allowed Viz to back away a safe distance, but they still weren’t safe overall. Between the two of them, they could definitely overwhelm the group in between, but he didn’t know if they’d have enough time. The clock ticked on the poison coursing through him. Plus, they had to just hope Red could continue to outrun her pursuers without completely leaving them behind.

Worried as he was, he never stopped moving. If he only had a certain amount of time, he’d make the most use of it. Best-case scenario, they kill everyone present and they figured out what antidote to use on his unconscious body. Worst-case scenario...he wasn’t going to think about the worse case scenario.

When he got close enough, he yelled, “Viz! No time!”

Viz instantly understood, and they both synchronized their attacks. Unlike Kaiz, who had wasted all the mana in his gear, Viz seemed to have conserved his. Released from his shackles, he launched his favorite attack. His backsword, which only had a thirty-five inch long blade, extended out and punctured one straight through their eye socket. It extended no less than a full forty extra inches. Then, it glowed red. Everyone could see this glow, though. The blade suddenly heated. Super heated. He sliced clean through the first marauder’s skull and into a second. By the third, he hit neck instead of head. Still instantly killing him. Before he could reach a fourth, the blade returned to normal. That was fine. It completed the primary objective. Their numbers were reduced from eight to three.

Two.

While Viz made a flashy show of his move, Kaiz finally got within range. They saw him coming, of course, but shock was a powerful paralyzing agent. At least for one of them.

Now, down to two. Viz and Kaiz just had to be confident in a one-on-one duel. They were.

The final two knew that. So they did the smartest thing. They retreated, bolting in opposite directions. Kaiz didn’t mind them running, but the man with the enchanted gear wasn’t getting away. Viz seemed to have the same idea, joining him in the chase.

“What was the rush?”

Huh? We weren’t exactly winning this.

He put those thoughts to the side though, there was a far more important problem at hand, “I’ve been poisoned.” He pointed to the pouch around his waist, “Got the antidotes, but I don’t know which is for what.”

Viz almost stumbled, “Why are we chasing him then?”

“Well. If you don’t know and it’s lethal, I’m dead. He seems like the leader of this...group. Not sure they’re simple marauders anymore. He’s more likely to know.”

“I...suppose.”

They caught him moments later. Kaiz tripped him and Viz put a sword through his leg.

As he laid on the ground writhing, Kaiz showed him the pouch, “Your archer poisoned me. Tell me which is the antidote and we’ll let you go.”

They spit at him, “You’ll die like the dog you are.”

“Okay.” He crushed a knee, “Then you’ll beg me to let you go.”

He pulled out the knife again, “You should find Red. You don’t want to see this.”

Viz immediately left. Torture made him squeamish.

“I don’t want to do this. I really don’t. Tell me what I want to know and you can avoid this.”

They spat again, “I’ll never talk!”

Kaiz breathed a sorrowful sigh. He truly didn’t want to torture the man. But. It was they who attacked him. This wasn’t for pleasure, he was righting a wrong.

“You did this to yourself.”

It was only half a statement towards the man. The other half was reassurance for himself.

Kaiz looked at his hands, frowning. He was, or at least should be, clear from suddenly bleeding through every orifice ten minutes from now. If the man was lying, he spun great lies. No. It was what he had to do to make the man talk that he didn’t like.

They attacked first.

His efforts to calm himself weren’t producing results, but he continued to try as he headed towards Viz and Red. They stood above a wiggling...boy, by the looks of it. He guessed they’d chosen him as their informant. The younger the target, the easier they were to manipulate after all. That wouldn’t be necessary though, Kaiz knew everything.

“You can let him go. The man talked.”

His assumption ended up being correct. They weren’t marauders.

“They are, or I guess were, the personal troops of Baron Heldermann. The local lord. They thought we were in the employ of a man named Eustace Ernst. According to Ro—their leader, Ernst has a stranglehold on all shipments leaving or entering the area and he’s using it to choke the baron. Did you know about that?”

Viz shook his head, “I do know the name Ernst though. I don’t remember where from, however.”

This far into the boonies, there were neither waterways nor state-sanctioned roads. Goods were carried by enterprising merchants, at their own risk. Struleren, a new and largely desolate region, lacked a strong population to lure in said merchants. The cost of only recently being colonized.

A territory the size of Struleren would normally have a dozen or so nobles running around luring commmoners to their fiefs. They would bring their wealth or their expertise or just plain old high work ethic. The nobles would then make sure they were working, producing goods or providing services, and, most importantly, shopping. Nobles, at least those with a rank less than that of a Duke, made the lion share of their money through taxing purchases and sales. It was the only tax they did not share with the crown. ‘Sharing’ with the crown meaning taking a measly 15%. With enough of them working in consort, the process of jump starting an economy could be completed relatively painlessly. One mere Baron on his own would find that task far more arduous.

Kaiz continued, “Well, you’ll remember why you know soon. Their leader didn’t know why Heldermann is the only noble in the territory, but the reason Heldermann’s here in the first place is metal deposits. Apparently, there are several in his territory. Enough to make a mountain of gold. Merchants should be crawling all over to make purchases. But they aren’t. And they aren’t because of Ernst.”

“And?” Red was getting impatient.

Kaiz didn’t care. He was told a tale. So he’d share it, in its entirety.

He continued, “Ernst ‘acquired’ exclusive trading rights five years ago. Ever since, they’ve seen scant few merchants. He said the baron didn’t know about Ernst’s exclusivity rights at first, he thought something along the path made the merchants too afraid to make the journey. I find that level of naivety hard to believe, but that’s irrelevant. Heldermann found out the truth when he visited Walddaun himself.”

Exclusive trading with an individual or entity was perfectly permissible, but it was illegal to force exclusivity with a region. There were certain ways around the rules, but all of them involved making a deal with the landowner. Since Ernst never made such a deal with Heldermann, those ‘rights’ were illegitimate. The courts almost always sided with the noble over the commoner, and in this case the noble was actually in the right.

“When Heldermann cried foul play, they listened. But when he returned to Struleren with a few merchants in tow, ‘bandits’ had, had their way with it. Raided villages, ruined roads, and a looted town. The expected. The town, of course, was Silberg”

“Of course.”

“The merchants left, obviously. What’s the point of the trip if there are no goods? When Heldermann investigated the ‘bandits’, I’m sure you can guess what he found.”

Red, surprisingly, was the one to answer, “Ernst.”

“The man claimed it was obvious from the beginning that bandits had nothing to do with it. Their destruction was too precise. It’d take a massive, specialised force to cause so much damage. But. Apparently. That didn’t constitute actual evidence. Without some form of direct link between the ‘bandits’ and another force, Heldermann couldn’t do anything. “

Viz chimed in, “All violence that takes place within a territory, that isn’t war, is classified as crime. And the responsibility of protecting one’s holdings from crime falls on the individual.” He shook his head, “If he had compatriots, they could have banded together. That’s why you never move alone.”

“That was four years ago. Now, this place is on the verge of collapsing. Heldermann never found consistent buyers and had to start closing mines down. You can imagine the effects of that in a place like this. What else are people going to do out here?”

Viz replied, “If we can trust this story, which I’m still weighing, that would explain the current bandit situation. That would be why the Doomers exist.”

Aside from mining, there were few jobs available. Heldermann had invested heavily in the mining operations. That left every other sector sorely lacking. Many were unemployed and as it usually went, the unemployed turned into the destitute and the destitute turned into the unlawful.

Viz continued, “It doesn’t explain everything though. If this area is rich in metal deposits, other nobles would pounce even if they weren’t friendly. There are more than a few desperate enough for such a thing. All the baron needs is other nobles.”

Kaiz faintly chuckled, “Well, now we go back to Ernst. Did you know Phoenix Cliffs Trading Company has a branch in Walddaun?”

Red shook her head.

Viz nodded, “They just opened it.”

Red, out of the loop, asked, “Who’re they?”

Viz supplied the answer, “Small fries. Only the third largest trading company in the kingdom.”

“Ohh. Oh.”

Viz continued, “I’ll throw out a guess and say Ernst is a member?”

“He’s more than a member, he’s the head of their Walddaun department.”

“Ohhhhh.”

What was happening in Struleren was clear to anyone who observed the situation for more than a second, but still no one cared to get involved. Eustace Ernst may not have been a big name, but Phoenix Cliffs Trading Company was and as the head of their Walldaun department, his word carried weight. Only fools would poke their noses in his business if they didn’t have to. Fools and Count Emmrich.

“Supposedly, Heldermann and Count Emmrich have been in contact for a few months now. The man believed they agreed to some sort of alliance. The Count was set to come up here someday soon and all the Baron had to do was stop the region from completely crumbling before that date arrived. That’s why these guys were prowling around in search of ‘bandits’. This was..is? his last gasp at saving himself.”

The man’s story ended around there. Kaiz felt a small portion of his guilt melt away as he finished. A very small portion.

“Well. Well. I see why you took so long now.” Viz rubbed his chin, “While that’s a very interesting tale, are you sure you trust that man’s words?”

“He had no reason to lie. Plus, if he was a liar, I wouldn’t be standing in front of you right now.”

“Right. Poison. True.” Viz continued to rub his chin, “Well, if that story is true our job just got a lot more interesting.”

“Interesting? Interesting? That makes it void!” Kaiz was suddenly heated, “We almost just walked into the middle of some political camelshit. I want to be as far away from a conflict between Count Emmrich and Phoenix Cliffs as possible.”

Those were giants compared to them. Titans. They were a tiny street gang. Either could destroy them without lifting a finger.

“Relax. Didn’t I say he knew about us already? This makes things even better.” Viz moved to rubbing his mustache.

Kaiz struggled to contain himself, “Better? Why, oh why, do you love danger? This was supposed to be a test of our—” He pointed at Red—“compatibility. Not a chance to get involved in two titans duking it out.”

“True.” He went back to the chin, “But why let it go by unutilized?”

“Because it could kill us? Because it would kill us? Because deadmen accomplish nothing?”

Viz waved away Kaiz’s concerns, “Timid men never accomplish anything either. Let’s at least get to Silberg first. We’re already so close.”

“One, they at least have the opportunity to. Two, you do realize we just killed the baron’s men, right? We can’t just stroll in.”

“One,” Viz said in a mocking tone, “This is that opportunity. And we will just stroll in. If anyone says anything, we were attacked by some marauders and we defended ourselves. Simple.”

Red pitched in, “The kid?”

Viz thought for a moment, “I’d like to bring him back with us but...that’s too risky.” He untied the kid and tossed him his spare sword, “If you’re gonna’ die, die like a man. On your feet.”

The kid didn’t need a second invitation. He did need years of more practice, though. His swings were predictable and overzealous. He left openings with every movement and never positioned himself for a counterattack. He was quite good at stringing combos together for someone who looked like a child, but it was clear he had no true battle experience. In the end, one carefully placed thrust killed him.

They were silent for a moment as his body flopped in the sand. He was likely no older than fifteen.

“You could have ended that cleaner.”

“You could have done it yourself.”

They didn’t speak further on the matter. Red said nothing either.

Kaiz wasn’t done though, “One of them still got away. They won’t just stay quiet.”

Viz pointed off to the side, Kaiz raised an eyebrow as he followed his finger. In the distance, he saw a lone corpse.

The tips of his mouth descended, “How did you do that?”

“You took a while.”

“Ah.”

Finding their chameleons was a simple matter with Kaiz’s vision. They luckily hadn’t wandered too far. Heldermann’s men had attacked them as they stopped by an oasis to get water. The chameleon’s had sensed them early, but Viz wanted to take the fight. He had no doubt been feeling the effects of constant nothingness. Kaiz didn’t know if he should be glad they took it. They’d gained a great deal of info they wouldn’t have had otherwise, but sometimes ignorance was bliss. Especially when Viz was involved.

He’s going to do something stupid.

Those were problems for the future, the problems of the present had to be solved first. First came the loot. No one could be bothered to count it all, they could barely be bothered to carry any of it. Selling it back to the people felt slimy, but they definitely wouldn’t take it back with them to Walddaun. Leaving it there made the least sense, doubly so if they ‘took it off the marauders that attacked them’. They resolved to dump it in Silberg when they got there. The second problem was a bit tricker. What to do with the bodies?

“Just dump ‘em.” Red offered.

“If they were who we thought they were, we would have. These are good men though, they deserve better than that.”

Kaiz agreed. Agreeing didn’t offer a solution, though. Burying them where they were was only marginally better than just dumping them. They didn’t have the time or the tools to do the job properly. Even if they did, it would be incredibly suspicious if anyone stumbled upon it. They deliberated over the issue for a while until suddenly, Viz clapped.

“Ah! I got it.”

“This should be good enough”

Kaiz looked over Viz’s slightly disheveled form. It was a far cry from his usual overly groomed self. He didn’t often appear anywhere without looking his best, his appearance being something he meticulously crafted. Kaiz was now being equally meticulous in deconstructing it, deliberately making him look worse for wear.

They didn’t want him to look battered, just nicked. It was an odd balance to fake. What was enough? What was too much? More than likely, no one would actually give his appearance more than a quick glance, but Kaiz liked to be extra sure when he could be.

“Wait.”

He splattered a bit more blood on his chameleon. Red looked on with disgust, again, but Kaiz was ignoring her. There was no point in reexplaining the necessity. He fanned the blood for a few seconds, both spreading it in the desired direction and drying it quicker.

“Now you’re good.”

“Finally.”

Viz and Red replied at the same time, clearly in agreement. Kaiz shrugged. He probably went overboard, but he didn’t mind. At worst, he wasted twenty minutes of their time. If Viz would be the risk taker, he’d be the voice of reason and caution.

Given the go ahead, Viz immediately rode towards Silberg, “See you tomorrow!”

They were about thirty minutes away from the town, camping out in an abandoned village. They’d spend the night there while Viz raced off to tell the tale of a dastardly band of bandits and a valiant troop of heroes. Of course, he’d play the role of a naïve adventurer on a quest to see the unseen. In the midst of his noble quest, he was set upon by said bandits, but in his hour of need, saviors arrived.

He’d urge the city to send some form of ‘reinforcements’ or even just scouts. Assuming he was successful, it would solve their logistical and moral dilemmas. Either would discover the goods and the bodies, leaving them free to get to their mission unburdened. It did throw away a day of their time, giving the convoy they were racing extra time to catch up. Kaiz wasn’t thinking about that though. He had more concerning issues. He was spending the night alone with Red.

She had spoken a sparse few words since Viz’s threat a couple days ago. The last half day or so had her becoming more vocal, but it was still only on the occasion. The air was very much still awkward between them. Viz laughed in the face of awkwardness. Kaiz did not. For someone who spent a lot of his time alone it shouldn’t have been a problem, but it was. The silence of solitude was acceptable, the silence of a staring ‘compatriot’ was disconcerting.

I’m starting to see why people found me unsettling when I was in the mask.

Kaiz decided to stay busy until sleep took him. That was the best course of action. He had a lot to do anyway. The village was small by village standards, but quite large by ‘housing for two people’ standards. They definitely didn’t need a dozen buildings to themselves. Having so many structures around them did give them cover from anyone peeking around, but it also blocked their own vision. The chameleon’s abilities weren’t useful while they slept. If something, or someone, snuck up on them, they’d have no way of knowing.

I knew I should have learned some detection runes.

Kaiz sighed as he went about laying old fashioned alarms. He was thankful Viz was at least wise enough to pack some. He trapped every doorway he could with a thin string attached to a bell. That ended up being only eight. Between their two bags, there were only eight bells. It was enough though, they had two boxes of caltrops as well. He spread them around the three houses they were staying in. One for him, one for Red, and one for the two chameleons who were already sound asleep. Satisfied with their location, he moved to boarding windows. Not their windows, but the windows across from him. A simple decoy. If they noticed the traps before running into any, they’d check the boarded houses before theirs.

Hopefully.

Content with his work, he headed to bed. Or rather, sleeping pad. It was a bit uncomfortable. The pad put him maybe an inch and a half off the ground. Being fully geared didn’t help either, but he’d experienced worse. The discomfort would ward away deep sleep anyway, so in a sense it was a plus.

Hope Viz didn’t fuck up somehow. He’ll play up his adventures too much and get caught in a lie or something dumb like that.

Those were Kaiz’s last thoughts before he drifted off to sleep.

…

…

…

Something licked him.

Something licked him again.