Princess Zuina together with seven other Knights of Ramtin traveled light during the star-lit night. They left their horses hidden in a small grove by a stream, leaving behind young Macom, the Pigeon Keeper, to guard them. Two hills away from Paleskin camp yet, there was no any sign of the enemy. But as soon as they made it up the first hill, they could see the light of their campfires, lighting up the dark horizon. They laid in tall grass and whispered. “So bright… must be thousands of campfires,” Mamaran whispered. “Probably more,” One-Hand Captain added in a muffled voice. “That seems to be over a mile away and looks brighter than a city. They’re obviously not worrying about being spotted. “Well, we have to see how many we are to face on a battle tomorrow,” Princes Zuina added. “Revron and Finum, two of you are upfront,” the Captain ordered his best scouts to move ahead. “You, Kollins, stay and watch. You see anything that moves and is not us, you know the signal to give us. Wait till we are on the next hill, and then follow our lead, do you understand?” “Yes, my Captain,” the young man in his late teens answered. “I see anything and I’ll whistle like a Stoneridge owl.” “Arrows ready,” the Captain added as Revron and Finum had quietly slid down the hill, indicating to Mamaran and Princess Zuina to get their bows ready. The next was the most strenuous fifteen minutes of sneaking through the grass, around trees, following Revron and Finum, squeezing their eyes to force them to see in the dark, to see what can't be seen. The only shape the Princess could see was of Revron, or was that Fionum, or Mamaran who slowly moved ahead. Then a hand tapped her on a side and she turned around to see her Captain, telling her to stop. Revron and Finum came back to join them just as owl could be heard, calling to somewhere in the dark. "Up below that tall tree, right under the ridge," Revron whispered, pointing his finger to show the direction. “I counted four shapes," Revron said. "Only one moving." "I didn’t see anyone else," Finum added. "May Spirits bless Paleskins with small brains," Mamaran whispered nervously. "What had made them create all those campfires? If not for them, we would never see those guards." "Maybe they are cold. Out of their caves, the air of the night..." "Enough," the Captain quieted them down. “It’s a tough spot. We can go around them.” “No. They are still far away from the camp." "Can we get them with arrows?” the Princess asked. The Captain nodded. "Arrows go first. The first to go down is the one that's moving. Give us a few minutes to sneak up on top of them. Finum, you be on the one that is standing up. When arrows hit him, you be there to either finish him off-." "He won't need to finish him off," the Princess said with confidence. "Then catch his body so it does not make a sound when it drops down. Now, swords away. Daggers out. Go for the throats, hand on the mouth to silence any noise. Understand?" At first, they all advanced together up the hill, getting closer and closer, the Princess holding her stringed arrow to her chin already, ready to let it go any second. When they were not more than twenty yards away and the Princess could clearly see the Paleskinner yawning presence, leaning against a big spear, the Captain padded her again and told her to stop. "Wait for the signal," he whispered as he leaned into her ear, almost touching her. She patiently waited, just counting her deep breaths. But then a small cricket could be heard to the right, and she exhaled all the air inside of her lungs and let go of the arrow. It flew upward and it seemed that it would miss the target, but then it suddenly shifted down and landed right through the Paleskiners throat. Mamamran's own arrow came a split second later, hitting the beast in his chest. The Princess pulled swiftly another arrow and watched as shades jumped out of the dark, the daggers flashing against the light of stars and campfires. She advanced quickly, not caring for the ruffling noise of the grass. When she got there in less than a minute, it was all over. "Everyone crunch down! You, Finum, take your gear off, and stand up! Use that spear to lean against." “What the hell is going on?" the Princess asked seeing something strange on the ground. There were only two dead bodies. "Two of them are straw-dummies,” the Captain explained. "Finum killed a straw dummy tonight," Revron added, teasing. But it was no time for kidding and the Princess cast him an cold and frowning stare to freeze his kidding mood right there and then. “Why? Why would they put up dummies? What the hell is going on?” Mamaran wanted to know as he pulled his arrow out of the dead Paleskinner “We need to go and look at that camp,” the Captain concluded. “Well, only one way to find out,” Princess Zuina said and had already turned to look at their camp. “And we better do it fast.” The camp stretched wide in the vale below them, hundreds of campfires burning between rude tents pinched up by throwing skins and furs of dead animals on top of tied wooden poles. “So big," Mamaran muttered. “You are looking at it the wrong way,” the Princess said. “Yeah,” the Captain said. “Funny thing is, do you see any more guards? Any more Paleskins around? I’ve been to war camps. Never saw any that looked so big and so quiet. So empty.” “What the hell is going on here then?” Mamamran wanted to know. “Where is everyone?” “We need to go down and check. To the first tent there,” the Princess said. “Anyone see any no guards?” the Captain still asked cautiously. “Maybe they feel that confident, feel they don’t need no guards.” “And where are their horses? Granted, most of them don’t ride, but a few do. And I don’t see any horses around, do you?” “No.” “How many do you estimate?” the Princess asked the Captain. “Knowing how they like to sleep on top of each other, I’d say at least a thousand tents here. So, fifteen thousand, maybe even twenty thousand strong.” “We need to go down and check. No way to know from up here,” the Princess repeated it. "Yeah," the Captain nodded his head. "We did not come here all this way to leave without any answers." They sneaked up to the first tent, weapons drawn, sneaked up to its corner, Revron sliding a woolen blanket that covered its side just a bit, just enough to be able to take a peek inside. “Nobody is there,” he said, then looked inside again. “Maybe a few of them went to raid, look for supplies.” “The campfires had been lighted many hours ago. Look, some of them are already burning out.” They walked deeper inside the camp, sneaking in each tent, finding nothing. “Something is very strange here,” the Captain growled, his face frowning, not liking at all that he could not find an explanation. “Well, they are not here,” the Princess said. “You looking for us?” The words reach them from behind, and in panic, they turned around to face a fully armored Priest, golden armor shining brighter than the campfire, a red cross painted on his chest. Circled around him were six Paleskins, their crude axes and blades drawn in their hands. Princess Zuina’s arrow flew right away but bounced off the Priest’s armor plate. She instantly let go of another one, piercing the throat of the tallest Paleskiner who advanced on them quickly. “If I can’t kill you, at least I can take care of your company!” she told herself and fired two more shafts, taking down two other Paleskiners that ran at them. The Captain jumped in front and with his sword blocked the swing of the ax that should have cut Revron in half, Mamaran putting a shaft in the attacker’s eyesocket before he could raise the ax again. The last of the Paleskinners stopped in his track, suddenly not sure what to do. Both Mamaran and Zuina’s arrows got him in the chest, the impact so powerful that he was thrown backward. “Doesn’t matter,” the Pries said as he looked around to his dead companions. “I can take care of all of you. At least I won’t have to smell those animals no more.” “No sword can pierce his armor!” the Captain yelled. “Slowly, and wide, circle him.” Mamaran let go of an arrow, hoping he would get luckier than Zuina, but the arrow just bounced off the Priest’s chest, breaking in half. “You fucken assholes want to shoot your medieval arrows at me???” the Priest yelled at them. “You fucken medieval SOBs.” “Defensive stance!” the Captain screamed, not listening to the Priest’s words. “Circle around! As if fighting a bear!!” “You ignorant, motherfuckers,” the Priest said and advanced on the Captain who instantly pulled back. “You could not take me down with a bullet!” “Retreat, face him in two-s,” the Captain yelled as the Priest ran on him, swinging wildly with his sword. The Captain jumped to a side, moving out of the blade’s path, while Revron and Mamaran, who flanked the Priest had attacked at the same time. Mamaran’s sword slammed the Priest on the back, producing a dull sound of steel hitting another hard metal. The Priest instantly twitched around, slicing sideways at Revron and Mamaran. Mamaran instinctively decided to jump out of the blades’ path just like his Captain did. But, Revron was not so lucky and the Priest’s blade cracked Revron’s sword, slicing his other hand as it traveled unchallenged. “Not even a scratch,” Mamaran said as he stared dumbfounded at the Priest’s back armor. “Pull back!” the Captain yelled as Filum raced to get Revron away, pulling him with one hand while his other one held the sword in front of him. The Priest charged them and Princess Zuina jumped in front of him to defend them, the sword of the Priest crashing against Zuina’s King’s blade, shattering it as well, and knocking Zuina down on the ground, right in front of Filum’s and Revron’s feet. The Priest raised his sword to land a deadly blow to helpless Zuina, but the Priest’s neck was suddenly whipped by the whip that the Captain swiftly unleashed at him. The Captain pulled with his one good hand, wrapping the whip now around his waist and pulling it backward with all his body. That irritated the Priest even more who turned around and with one quick strike severed the cord of the whip, freeing himself from the Captain's pull. The Princess used that free second to pick an ax of the dead Paleskinner that lay in the mud, jumped off the fallen Paleskinner, threw herself through the air, and brought the dull side of the ax on the top of the Priest's helmet, tolling it almost as if it was a bell. The Priest folded, bowing down, and the Princess swung again her ax with both hands, putting all her body in and hitting him on the side of his helmeted head, knocking him down. The Captain ran and stood with his whole body on top of the sword-holding hand and said to the Princess, "Again!" The Princess, as if chopping wood, brought all her back in the strike that brought the ax on top of the Priest’s helmet. Mamaran took a clue and got an ax of his own, hitting the priest in the helmet as well between Princess strike, and they knocked his head in the mud. Then the Captain raised his hand for them to stop, moved it down to take the helmet of the Priest, and placed a blade at his throat. “What is going on here? Where is everyone?” he asked the priest. The strikes of the axes should have killed anyone using any kind of armor that the Seven Kings could ever produce. Mamaran and others were sure the Priest was dead already, but the Captain held his blade against his throat and asked again. “Where is everyone??” The Priest chuckled, took a deep breath, his face now all muddy. “What do you think?” he asked as the blade went a few centimeters inside his throat. “Answer me, damn Priest.” “You people are so stupid. You think we got Paleskins to come all this way so that they can return back home??” “Which way did they go?” “You can follow the trail, cant’ you?” “Which way?” “Did you stop to think about it that maybe they got upset? Everyone got invited, except them,” the Priest said and chuckled at his own joke, a little stream of blood welling out of the corner of his mouth. “The City of Lan,” said Mamaran with fear. “They won’t expect it,” he said, remembering his whole family was there. “Everyone is going to be there,” the Princess added. “We need to let them know,” the Captain said. “We go back fast.” The Princess sighed and shook her head. “And if there are more of these priests among them, one army won’t be able to stop them.”