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After eating the soft stewed meat, he changed into the new clothes Syldis brought him. They were just like the one’s the mercenaries were wearing. The shirt was of a dark green shade and just a little big, not to the point of being uncomfortable.

Dry and fed, it was time to sleep, for tomorrow morning he intended to leave at first light and search for his friend.

The morning came and he woke up to another cloudy weather. Luckily the rain stopped.

Riou got to the ground floor of the tavern, it was empty and very clean. No mugs or dirty plates anywhere to be seen.

Arriving by the counter he could see and smell something cooking on the fire inside the kitchen. Searching for the big woman, he found Syldis sitting down in one of the tables at the front of the shop. She wasn’t alone.

Riou quickly recognized just by the conceited smirk on his face.

The man looked at Riou approaching them, followed by Syldis that called the boy to join them.

Riou pulled a chair from the nearby table to sit as both of them occupied most of the table space already.

“Do we have a deal Viktor?” Syldis was the first to speak.

“Let me recap… you want me to babysit this boy while he searches for his lost father. And for that you will clear my group's debt and also put in a week’s worth of booze on the house. Am I right?” Said the man with an intrinsic mockery tone that was quite displeasing to the ear. His whole attitude was not easy to deal with either.

Syldis just nodded confirming “And?” She said, pausing up expecting the man to continue

The man still holding a conceited smile, almost cynical, leaned in towards her as if inspecting her, searching for a specific reaction.

“And for that, myself and my best crew will go with him” he said in the same tone.

Syldis just nodded once, also holding a smirk of her own. Viktor laid back once more and without taking his eyes of Syldis he raised his hand pointing his finger to the boy.

“What I just don’t understand, is what makes this boy here so damn important to require my personal attention” He said still looking straight to Syldis.

She also laid back on the chair as well that cracked, as if it was about to break under her weight.

“Let’s just say, that there is a chance that his father is involved with very, very dangerous people”

Viktor eyes gleamed for an instant, a spark of interest.

“Is that so? Dangerous you say… my kind of danger?” He asked intrigued

She smiled and pierced him with her eyes before answering.

“No… My kind of danger”

His eyes shined once more, Syldis smiled, he was hooked. But before anything else, he squinted his eyes and looked sideways to her.

“What is this boy and his father to you? Why pay so much for bodyguard work?”

Syldis dropped the act and became serious for a moment.

“The old man is a very dear friend of mine and this boy here is trying to help him”

Viktor for the first time lost his smile and looked seriously at the boy.

“Very well” he said before returning to his normal unpleasant self “You just got yourself a very expensive babysitter, rejoice boy!” He said smacking the table with his fist.

Riou, who was watching silently, looked at Syldis with uncertainty.

“Is this really necessary? I can take care of myself”.

Viktor laughed while Syldis leaned towards the boy and in a motherly condescending tone spoke to him.

“I’m sure you can my dear, but please accept this so my heart can be a little less burdened. I’m not the fighter I used to be so I can’t go with you… and Viktor here is one of the best mercenaries in this whole region, I have known him for a long time and despite the facade he likes to put up, he is a good man, so please, do accept this as a favor to me.” She said patronizing the boy, she clearly saw him as a helpless child.

He knew her intentions were good. ‘Perhaps having someone who knows his way around this land is not a bad idea after all’

“If you insist Syldis… then I can’t really say no”

She smiled back and got up.

“Wait here, I will bring you some food before you go” the big woman left for the kitchen in a better mood.

They were left on the table, Viktor was still laid back in the chair watching Syldis go. When she was away, he addressed the boy.

“Very wise boy… you should never contradict a bear” he said referring to Syldis.

“A bear?” asked Riou, having trouble understanding the reference.

“Yeah, or don’t you know? On her adventuring days, she was so fierce in battle that even the bear clan recognized her as one of their own. And that’s no small feat.” He said confidently.

Riou was impressed, he didn’t know what that meant but sure sounded something great.

Syldis came back bringing some fresh bread and some cheese on one hand and a few slices of cooked meat on the other. She put the plates on the table with a mug and a jug of water.

She addressed Viktor very seriously “Look after the boy… I mean it, treat this as a formal contract.”

“Yeah, yeah, a contract is a contract, don’t worry, I never break them. It’s bad for business. But I must confess that I think you are overreacting on this matter.” He said once again in his displeasing tone. As Riou was finishing his breakfast he looked at him and continued “So where are we going young master?”

Riou Looked to Syldis “We need to check the Landgrave’s house by the east side of the city and there is also Eleanor’s Manor by the source of the Dracar River”

Viktor interjected… “Hey, wait there a second. The source of the Dracar you say? That’s a long trip, there are no roads and it will take us half a day just to get there on foot. If you want to go there we need to move now or we won’t be able to return before dark”

“Why can’t we go to Landgrave‘s house and then move to Eleanor? We can camp during the night or even keep walking, with a few torches we should be fine right?” Said Riou trying to make the both stops as quickly as possible.

Viktor moved around in his chair clearly displeased by the boy’s idea.

“Boy, you really don’t wanna be near the Dracar River at night.” He emphasized.

Syldis nodded agreeing. “The place is so dangerous that even horses fear going into that region, without special magic on them, you can only reach it by foot. You should check it first and if he is not there you could then go to the Landgrave’s house once you are back. I’m sure Viktor here will help you there as well”

“Are you sure Eleanor is the best bet? I don’t want to waste time” said the boy.

Syldis was uncertain, but as serious as she could be, she began to explain her thoughts.

“I didn’t get to know Eleanor very well and Max barely spoke of his last pupil either. So from what I do know, I don’t think Max parted on good terms with either of them.” She paused a sadness could be felt from Syldis expression.

“With Eleanor… Max had a more recent history with her. I mean, they had something in the past. They lived together for a while, but in the end she decided on accepting to marry an Allardian noble. The owner of the lands near the Dracar. So that’s why I think that if something made him drop everything in a hurry, it must have been something related to her.”

“I understand, let’s go to Eleanor then” Confirmed Riou.

Viktor smiled and got up from his chair.

“It’s settled then, let’s move boy, we wasted too much daylight already.”

Outside, the city was waking up as well. Just a few people were on the streets, mostly merchants opening shops and setting up stalls.

As they began to move, Riou noticed 2 shady figures hidden from the general public attention, concealing their presence behind dark corners, but his keen senses were able to detect them lurking about, following them.

Riou picked up his pace to catch on to Viktor that was in front a few steps.

Before he could alert Viktor, the big man spoke first.

“Seems like I didn’t give enough credit to the bear… we already have 2 following us. And not the common kind of spies either”

Riou was impressed.

Viktor and Riou were walking towards the city exit while the 2 shady figures were still following them from afar. Keeping their distance and never showing themselves completely at the streets at any point.

After a while of walking, Viktor said without moving his head.

“Pay attention on the next corner, follow my lead, you will run only after you are completely out of their sight, got it? Only after completely making the turn of the corner.”

Suddenly Viktor took a sharp turn to the right. Once they were out of sight of the main street Riou quickly ran after him.

They rushed forward in a sprint for a good distance until Viktor took another turn to the right into a small and concealed alley between two houses.

He quickly pulled Riou and put him behind.

“Shhh!” Viktor made the sound holding his hand towards Riou. Viktor kept listening to the surroundings, his attention was all focused on the street sounds in front of them.

He suddenly leaned even more toward the wall and lowered his stance pushing Riou to do the same, getting even more into the shadows. The mercenary leader readied his sword, if anything happened, he’d be ready to act.

Didn’t take long for 2 men wearing dark green hooded cloaks to pass by them. Fortunately the stalkers didn’t notice them in the dark alley as they were in a hurry after them.

They moved away and Viktor relaxed, he peeked at the street for a moment and stepped out of the corner.

“Come on, we lost them”

Viktor was clearly having lots of fun with that action early in the morning. He looked at Riou and spoke in joyous tone “I have to hand it to you boy, it seems like you really know how to stir a hornet’s nest, is there someone that wants you dead?”

Riou just shrugged surprised, he had no idea.

“Well, there is certainly someone paying them to kill you, those are not your ordinary thugs either, there is no doubt about it”

They couldn’t be part of the Council but that didn’t make sense to Riou. ‘Unless the prisoner talked about me…’ he thought remembering black the mage that was rescued.

‘No, he couldn’t have realized anything, he was unconscious… Perhaps one of his friends saw me? No, I was very careful at that time, these two stalkers must belong to a third party, but who? And why?’ concluded Riou.

“Are you sure those two weren’t after you? Nobody knew I was on the Drinking Bear” Said Riou to Viktor.

Viktor laughed once more;

“I have a lot of enemies, boy… but none of them have the coin to hire that level of assassins. You are being targeted by someone with resources to spare, maybe they took care of your father and now they want you out of the picture too.” Explained the mercenary.

Riou did not notice anyone following him the day before, even with that rain, he believed he would have noticed it ‘I can’t have missed it... someone must have told them where to find me then. But if they were waiting for me, it means someone does want me dead, but who? didn’t do anything... did I?’

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When they were near the city gates Viktor took a turn and kept walking by the wall through a small alley.

“Where are we going?” Riou was confused about the new route Viktor was taking.

“Calm Down, we will get the others before we leave… the contract remember?” Said Viktor a few steps in front.

Leaving the narrow passage, Riou could see a large open space between the wall and the city houses. In this field there were hundreds of tents.

Viktor was striding between the tents, the place seemed empty because no one was awake at that early hour of the morning. A very different view from the time he spent with the soldiers who were always ready within the first hours of the day.

In the middle of the place Viktor entered one of the tents while Riou waited outside. Peeking in the tent nearby he was able to recognize the 2 brothers from last night.

They were sleeping shirtless one in each improvised dirt bed inside the tent, several empty bottles of liquor could be seen around the tent’s floor.

The tent was a mess, lots of weapons and all sorts of armors lying around, Axes, spears and halberds, swords and daggers… a mess of an arsenal, all over the place.

Viktor moved inside theirn tent and vigorously kicked each of them before shouting.

“Wake up you morons, we have a job to do”

The eyes of the two widened up when they heard the word. They quickly rose up on their feet, wide awake and ready for action.

In a Serious tone Viktor continued.

“Grab your stuff, bodyguard duty, we are going light so do not overdo it” Said Viktor pointing to one of the brothers that was already reaching for a big axe. “We leave immediately.” As he finished, Viktor left their tent and walked towards another about 10 steps away.

In the middle of the way he whistled very loudly and raised his right hand with 2 fingers held tightly together.

Shortly after a woman came out of the tent he was walking to. Wearing a Leather armor that covered her right shoulder and arm and with a sword in the sheath strapped to her waist belt.

A pretty woman with tanned skin and short black hair, she was not very tall, just a bit taller than Riou.

The mercenary leader nodded to the approaching woman. The two red haired brothers came out shortly after, fully equipped. Both were wearing larger leather armor that covered their chest, arms, shoulders and parts of the thigh and legs.

One had a two handed sword tied to his back while the other chose small axes that looked like hatchets and a two handed one to his back. They had the same height and just a bit shorter than Viktor.

The mercenary leader looked to them and with his usual smirk he said to them “I said we would be traveling light”

The man with the axes shrug and in a cynical manner explained “That’s why I’m only bringing 3 weapons”

Another man was approaching the group, wearing a dark green hooded cape, very similar to the one the stalkers were wearing.

He removed the hood as he approached. Blue eyes and a dark shade of long blond hair. Loosened in the front of the head and braided at the back. He was a bit shorter than the brothers.

He had a bow and a quiver to his back, a dagger to his waist and many throwing knives, neatly displayed and ready for use in a leather strap crossing his chest from his left shoulder to the right side of the waist.

The blond man joined the group and Viktor began explaining.

“Listen up, bodyguard contract… We will babysit this boy over here while he looks for his old man” Said Viktor pointing to Riou.

Riou didn’t make a fuss about it, he understood that for them he was just an ordinary teenager, unaware of the dangers of the word. There was no point in arguing as he just intended to use their knowledge to reach his destination.

The woman sighed clearly displeased, the two brothers were not so subtle, they swore and stomped around for a few moments, then suddenly went up to Viktor facing him very close.

“C’mon! Really? We did nothing this time,” said the brother with the axes.

“Yeah, Hugh was the one who picked the fight, send him on this fucking errand!” Said the other one.

The woman approached as well “Yeah Viktor, at least tell us what we did wrong”

Viktor was just smirking as he always was.

“I said, we are going… understand?” He said looking at them with confident eyes.

The atmosphere suddenly changed, they all understood what it meant.

The axe wielding brother said nothing, the one with the axe just removed it from his back and rushed inside his tent once more, he came back with a bigger and sharper looking black battle axe.

“We will depart immediately, we will follow the Dracar upstream on foot until a manor at the source, this will take an extra time but our goal is still the same, we will go in, search the place and then get back to the city before dark to check a second location. The mission is to escort this boy and find his old man” Explained Viktor, pausing waiting for questions.

“Why are we not taking the horses?” Asked the brother with the sword.

“We will be moving through Dracar territory… Also, we don’t want to leave tracks behind” Explained Viktor smiling even more.

The woman nodded “So we are expecting company? What kind?”

Viktor was clearly in a happy mood “Judeau’s kind” He glanced at the quiet blond man. “We already got two on our tail this morning, but you know how it goes, they will catch on to us eventually, and they will come in bigger numbers”

They all looked to the boy in disbelief.

“What did this boy do to have high class assassins after him?” Asked the axe wielder.

“Is he a bastard of the king or something?” asked the other one.

Still in a happy mood Viktor looked at the boy before answering

“I don’t know, but he sure is in some really deep shit”. Viktor signaled to the group with his hand “We lost too much time already, let’s move.”

As the group left the city walls, a shady figure watched them go, hidden from their sights on top of the gates.

-----------------

Judeau was going way ahead as a scout, Viktor and the brothers were a few steps in front of Riou and the woman was walking beside him. They could see the river in the near distance to their right.

The woman introduced herself politely “My name is Levi, what’s yours?”

“Call me Riou” The boy smiled at her as he could see by her tone she was just making conversation as she thought he could be nervous.

“You know Viktor right? The two beside him are Callan and Carrick” She pointed at the swordsman and then to the axe man respectively. “The one in front is Judeau”

Riou nodded.

Callan turned on Viktor and asked, he was curious to who employed them.

“So who is paying to babysit this boy?”

Viktor smiled “The bear herself… we will get our debt forgiven and a week's worth of service on the house!”

Levi, Carrick and Callan widened their eyes in surprise, Levi was the first to comment

“That’s a lot of money for just a bodyguard job!”

“Yeah, we are dealing with very dangerous people” Said Viktor again in a happy mood.

Both brothers became excited as well by hearing it, they shook their heads looking at each other while laughing loudly in anticipation of what they might find.

“Quiet! You crazy fools” Said Viktor calming them down.

The river looked wide and deep. The land consisted mostly of open areas with few big rocks near the river bank. Nobody seemed to have taken any interest in using the land in any way.

It was almost noon, when Riou noticed Judeau standing still on top of a higher ground waiting for them to approach..

The scout looked at Viktor and pointed to a large manor not too far from where they were, it was big, two stories high with many windows, doors and balconies. In front of the house there was a small lake.

A high stone wall surrounded everything around the manor.

They eventually approached the entrance gate. Metal bars were tightly closed and locked by chains.

Around the gate, carved in the walls there were many magical runes.

Viktor approached and touched some of the runes.

“I see, this is how they can live here, protection runes against beasts and wildlife.” He said looking around the stone walls.

Everything was quiet. From the gates the house seemed empty.

But the garden was well taken care of, the lake as well, there was not a single leaf out of place or grass overtaking the sidewalks around the lake. There were no weeds or untrimmed bushes, someone must be living in the manor and tending to all those things.

“We are here, no activity on the house and the gate is clearly closed for visitation” said Viktor “What now boy?” he said looking to Riou.

“Now we enter…” Said Riou, already jumping and climbing the gates.

“See? A talent for trouble” Viktor said to the others. “I like how you think boy!” he added, climbing after him as well.

Everyone followed after tham and trespassed the gate.

They began to walk towards the house with caution following the main paved road in the middle of the garden. They all were looking around and searching for signs of people.

When they were half way through the gardens Judeau calmly and in a low voice spoke to the group, without stopping or making any sudden movement.

“There are 2 in the second floor, 3 on the first. They are watching our movements waiting for us to get closer, definitely not friendly.”

Hearing that Riou finally noticed the figures lurking by the windows/

“How can you tell?” Asked the boy without making any change as well.

“It’s an ambush behavior, they are luring us in, when we are near enough they will strike from above and the front simultaneously.” Explained Viktor

“So what do we do?” Asked Riou.

“The only thing we can do now, we rush in…” Said Viktor readying his sword in the sheath and picking up pace.

Judeau pulled his bow and shot in the direction of one of the figures in a quick movement.

As soon as the arrow went flying, Viktor and the others sprinted towards the entrance, they were just waiting for Judeau to start their assault.

They ran with weapons in hand. Viktor threw himself, shoulder first at the closed door, cracking it open violently. Right after him entered the brothers ready to fight the enemies.

Levi stayed with Riou by the door and held him by the shoulder watching that nobody ambushed them from above.

Riou could see three enemies from the entrance door. They were wearing the same kind of black robes he had seen in the castle.

One of them was already down with an arrow to the shoulder.

Riou wanted to do something, being held down was not something of his liking. So he took a step back to get away from Levi’s grasp. She looked at him, Riou nodded and pointed to the side balcony, as if saying he’d stay put and hidden there. Levi relaxed and returned to watch the fight in front.

Judeau was more concerned with the ones at the top floor and entered the house quickly guarding the stairs case, he would receive them with arrows in case they decided to come down to join the fight.

“Go help Judeau, I will be fine hiding here” said Riou to the woman, Levi nodded and joined the scout in guarding the stairs.

Two of the enemies were being engaged by the 2 brothers. But this time they didn’t seem to be mages. They wore armor beneath the robes and had short swords in each hand.

Once everyone was occupied, Riou used the opportunity to silently climb up the balcony above.

Using his mana he could quickly and effortlessly pull himself up.

Riou was amazed how easy it was, the magical possibilities of that world still amazed him.

Now on top of the balcony and looking inside the second floor, he saw the other 2 enemies watching the stairs, they seemed to know they were expected below and were trying to find a way to join the others in the fight, but before they needed to find a way to get rid of the archer guarding the stairs.

‘Time to try some spell out’ Riou pointed his hand towards them and focused his mind and mana. Like before, he tried to use a spell very common to the RPG games. So he said in a whisper to himself “Hold” targeting both enemies.

The magic assaulted their bodies, a pink aura quickly evolved them rendering their bodies in place, they were unable to move a finger.

Riou smiled at the results and entered the second floor. He did a quick search on the place, the enemies were not able to see him as they were facing the stairs, but the boy moved around through the rooms and corridors looking for Max.

The boy went through a few rooms and bedrooms, but there was nothing there, not a single blood stain or burned mark on the whole house. Chances were that there was no mage fight there either.

As he found no signs of Max or Eleanor and by the sounds below the fight was about to end, he quickly got back to the balcony and down to the front of the house.

----- Viktor Perspective

Callan swung quickly with his two handed sword, but the black hooded man was nimble and able to dodge the strikes with ease.

In the same situation, was Carrick, his axe would only need one good hit to split the enemy in half, but the foe was proving to be a good match, if he did not keep his distance, the faster and more agile short swords would end him very quickly. The enemy skill was extremely high to be able to push back the brothers that were expert fighters.

Viktor was also concerned with the stairs, as more of them could come down at any minute and they would be in disadvantage. Judeau, understanding the boss' concerns, took position guarding the stairs with his bow and allowing Victor to assist the brothers, Levi joined him a few moments later.

The closest one was Callan, who only had the two handed sword, Viktor decided to join him first against the enemy.

Backed up by the mercenary leader, Callan was able to put more strength to the swings.

The dark cloaked man was forced to dodge them by stepping back. Callan, using his strength and momentum from the previous swing, stepped forward bringing the massive sword for an horizontal attack. Viktor used the opportunity to position himself in the enemy’s flank.

Again without a chance for deflecting and unable to take advantage of the long recovery time of the opponent’s sword, the enemy was bound to dodge backwards. Viktor, knowing what the enemy movement would be, quickly thrusted his sword towards the man's side as he moved. But with uncanny reflexes, the man twisted and moved his body in an almost unnatural way to avoid the attack.

Surprised by the enemy’s ability, Viktor once again moved for a better positioning to increase the pressure. He signaled Callan showing 3 fingers up.

Callan noticed it, immediately stepped back and took position beside Viktor.

The mercenary leader smiled and was now the one to attack the foe. With a chain of fast swings he kept the enemy in a defensive position.

But the foe was able to keep up with Viktor and also attacked every time he saw an opportunity, Viktor could not be careless, any wrong move and he’d be dead.

‘This guy is something else, to be able to counter in this cornered position, I must be careful’ thought Viktor while dodging and deflecting the man’s counters.

At this point, the hooded man was not able to see Callan anymore, he had lost sight of him as all his focus was on Viktor as the mercenary leader was truly an exceptional swordfighter

Suddenly the black hooded man ran out of space inside the house, he had reached the corner of the room. At that moment he realized the enemy’s plan.

Viktor brought his sword up for a downward strike, making the man prepare to deflect it as he ran out of space. But as the movement began Viktor made a wide step aside, maintaining his attack pose.

The hooded man could finally see Callan once more. Behind Viktor and already rushing against him violently with it’s big sword in pointed at him, the man desperately tried to avoid the incoming attack. But without room he had no option but to defend it with his swords.

But Viktor was also ready to attack, he couldn’t focus on just one of them. And without a defense properly set against neither of them.

Callan’s sword pierced and crushed the man in the middle of his chest.

With one enemy down, both quickly looked back to the next one. They only noticed Carrick’s war axe on the ground and the brother holding only one of his hatchets in his hand, exhausted. His armor was cut in many places and he was bleeding from his arm. He was kneeling down near something.

They relaxed as they noticed the body on the ground behind some broken furniture. Carrick’s other hatched was stuck, deep into the enemy’s skull.

Carrick removed it and cleaned it on the man’s robe before standing and walking towards Viktor.

The third enemy was on the far side of the room, dead. One arrow to the shoulder and another one to his chest. Judeau had shot another arrow at him while securing the stairs. And thinking about the scout, Viktor could not find him.

“Judeau?” He asked Levi by the stairs, she pointed up.

On the top floor the mercenary leader saw Judeau looking around as if searching for something, or someone.

Near him, the remaining enemies were on the ground, with an arrow to the head each.

------ Back to Riou perspective.

Levi came back outside to get Riou that was waiting inside the balcony there, they both joined the party upstairs.

“What were those guys? Did you see how they moved?!” said Callan pointing to one of the bodies.

Levi nodded approaching Riou “They moved like the beastmen warriors.”

“Not quite like them, these guys were just fast and unusually nimble, if they were anything like the beastmen we would be the ones down to the ground now” added Carrick. “Do we know anything about them?”

They all looked at Viktor. “I don’t know who they were either… I never heard of a group that could do these things in these lands, these colors and runes on their bodies too… it’s all new to me” He used his sword to pull the cloth away, revealing a rune carved on the man’s flesh.

“Who the fuck is that boy Viktor?” asked Callan looking pointing at Riou that was uncovering one of the enemies as well. Like the ones in the castle, they seemed malnourished, bald and had some sort of mana runes on their bodies, these ones had especially on their arms, legs and torso.

Viktor smiled “I told you he was into some deep shit didn’t I? The bear wouldn’t have asked for us otherwise”

Now with the house free of enemies they were certain, there was no sign of Eleanor or Max there.

“Dammit!” Said Riou frustrated. There were no signs of any mage fight either. Chances were that Max was never there.

But a doubt remained on his mind. Why would the enemy be there, waiting?

Riou pondered on the matter ‘If Max was known to be friends with the king and that the king knew about Eleanor… then maybe the enemy expected someone to come looking for him here. But then, why take the effort to even create this trap?’

“There is nothing here” said Viktor after they searched the place thoroughly. Judeau nodded agreeing with the leader. “Let’s head back, we have a lot of ground to cover”

-----------

They were over half of the way back when they saw Judeau once again, Hiding by some trees and watching the path ahead with caution.

Going forward there were big rocks near the river and a small ravine that followed the path for a while.

“We have an armed group hiding ahead, I could count at least 5 with bows, but by their positioning, it could be a group of 15” said Judeau to the party that joined him at his hiding point.

“Can we get by them?” asked Viktor.

“Maybe, we can try to sneak by the ravine and the riverbank… but it’s risky, if they see us we will be pinned”

Viktor looked up at the sky “If we go around they will see us and we can’t go against this many archers.”

“So the ravine it is,” said Callan, not too happy about it.

The group quickly went to the ravine. But as soon as they reached it an arrow flew in their direction, hitting the top of the ravine near Viktor’s head.

“I think they were expecting us to take this route,” Said Riou, pointing at the obvious arrow.

The boy also noticed movement ahead while looking above the ravine “They are flanking us” he added before being pulled back and held down by Levi.

“I’m getting really tired of being pushed around” He complained to her.

“They knew where we were all along” said Carrick getting down after peeking.

“This is bad…” Said Viktor peeking above the Ravine as well, the enemies were on the move And the arrows were ready to fly in their direction.

The enemy this time was wearing the same kind of hooded cape as the ones from the morning.

“No way around it, we will get shot if we run in the open.” said the mercenary leader pointing to the river behind them with his thumb “Best bet is to hold our ground and let them approach, they will try to finish this before it gets dark”

“What happens if it gets dark?” Asked Riou

“You really don’t know boy? Why do you think this river’s name is Dracar?” Said Viktor seriously

Riou shrugged.

The mercenary leader sighed “Because of the Dracars, this is a known hunting and mating ground for them, the reason why these lands aren’t used is because nobody in a sane mind will want to deal with a Dracar.”

“What is a Dracar?” Asked Riou curious.

“Trust me boy, you don’t wanna know” Said Viktor once again in a serious tone as more arrows flew in their direction

“Damn Viktor, you should have asked for a month’s worth of Booze!! These guys aren’t playing around!” Complained Callan.

“Hey Judeau can’t you talk to them? They were your friends after all!” said Carrick

“By the tactics used and formation to attack, they are most likely from Iris’ order, not the same as the one I was,” said the scout seriously.

“I was just kidding,” said Carrick once again.

“Dammit, those guys in black and now assassins? Who did you piss off boy? The king?”

Levi was quiet and very focused on keeping Riou from peeking so he wouldn’t get hit from the arrows.

They were pinned down, and it was taking too long.Tiou began to devise a plan, he would need to act sooner or later to resolve that situation, if he had any hope to get back to the city before night arrived.