***Author's Note - Hey readers, wherever you see a ((dialogue in between)) it means the narrator from whose perspective the story is being told, is talking to himself or herself.***

Chris didn't really understand why he said that he will join the raid, after hearing their story maybe he felt the urge to associate himself with it, but it was very evident that Chris didn't think it through.

Anisa was already upset that Darius was going for the raid, and now on top of that Chris also offered to join. She made her displeasure visible by walking off.

Darius had his reservations and shared with Chris the likely problem that can occur.

"I still do not know why the attack was done on you, there is a high possibility that Ruthan was directly involved in it, which also means he can recognise you, you will be risking exposure."

At this, Chris asked something which he was trying to avoid.

"About the attack that happened to me Darius, there were three men with me, the last I saw them they were trapped between the mob, do you know the whereabouts of them?"

Darius replied, after a pause.

"If those people meant anything to you Philip, I am sorry to say this, none survived, there were a lot of causalities among the beastmen, but in the end, the numbers were to the beastmen's advantage."

He thought of Brenton and Alan, but mostly he thought of Owen and his family, they all died because of him, for reasons he didn't yet know.

((Why did Toor go so far to get to me?))

"It is fine Darius, one way or the other I am coming, maybe I can find more about the attack and what Toor's intentions were, I cannot let all of this just pass. There is a chance that Roger would have already visited the village or might be waiting for me there"

"If you have made up your mind, I won't convince you to stay, but know this, it will be extremely dangerous, I will try my best to put you out of harm's way, but you will need to ensure your own safety."

Chris nodded.

Thus it was decided, that Chris will join the raid. Even with all the uncertainties that were likely to happen, a part of him felt excited.

Before leaving some preparations needed to be made. The first was to color the armor and the second was to find Chris a good disguise, this was Darius's idea, who felt it was best to not reveal his face.

For coloring the armor, the preparations were getting ready before Ruthan had come knocking. Anisa and Chris were busy mixing the yoke from the Laubek egg with water, according to Anisa the mix along with the paint pigment will solidify it on the armor making it permanent. Darius had gone to get two other materials that will give the pigment for the color he wanted.

One was a fungus found near the river and the other was a type of insect that grew inside the cactus plant.

Darius wanted his armor to not stand out, especially considering the worth of it, he was planning to wear it under his clothing, at the same time color it in such a way that when used in the forest it will be well camouflaged. He picked the fungus to get light green pigment and from the insects a dull red pigment.

Anisa refused to help, and it fell upon Darius and Chris to paint it, they mixed the materials and used the bark of a tree to paint in uneven patterns, it needed a day to dry.

As for Chris, it was decided he will change his dressing to a less stand-out one, he will wear a cowl throughout the mission and will paint his face the same green and red, without egg mix so that it can be removed later.

Darius suggested Chris will be introduced as a refugee running from the war who happened to find Darius in the forest and he wears the face paint as part of his tribe's culture.

"Also Philip, can you tell me what your magic affinity is? Ruthan will ask this."

"Earth affinity." Chris lied.

"Ok, I will also tell him that you cannot speak, this will also avoid unwanted attention."

Chris nodded. ((Why did I lie? Why didn't I tell him that I have zero magic?))

Preparations were complete and it was decided that they will travel the next day to the village.

------

They were ready to leave for the village. Anisa hadn't spoken to them yet.

"Anisa we will be leaving now, be a good sister and take care of yourself, me and Philip will be back within three days."

Anisa didn't say anything and continued to avert her gaze.

"You are not going to say goodbye Anisa?"

"Don't speak to me, Philip, I am angry at you." She barked back.

((Finally, she decides to speak, wait why is she angry only at me?))

After an awkward moment of silence, they both turned towards the forest.

"Come back, safe brother....and....you too Philip."

They both stepped into the forest with a smile on their face.

--------

Darius was wearing his armor inside his clothing and Chris was unrecognizable in his new clothing and face paint. They carried their spears and some dried meat. The path was different from the one Chris had ever taken inside the forest. Darius mentioned that the village was a few hours' distance and that they will enter the village at the cover of the night to avoid any attention.

The closer they got the more Chris realised that it was not a good idea for him to come for the raid. On top of Ruthan recognising him, he might encounter the beastmen who were part of the mob, the very beastmen who killed three of his friends. He didn't know what his reaction will be if he came face to face with them. Clearly, the reasoning side of the brain had taken a break while taking the decision. It was too late to back away now.

They walked for what felt like a very long time, by the time they reached it was almost nightfall. They didn't enter immediately and waited at the edge of the forest. When it became completely dark, Darius gave the nod and they both entered the village.

-------

Chris wasn't sure what really to expect from the village. Upon entry, he couldn't believe that such a place could exist within a forest. Darius had told him that the village was called "Guptagauv" which meant the hidden village, clearly, it didn't feel like a place that was trying to hide.

Darius had asked him to prepare himself before entering the village and to walk with a clear intention."Never give the feeling that you are new here," Darius had told him before entering. His only task was to follow Darius without looking at anyone. He tried his best to follow these instructions.

But he couldn't help himself from looking around, the place was buzzing alive with beastmen, mostly muddled together, occupied in loud conversations with each other, it felt like the whole place was involved in a grand chorus, a chorus with the village as its orchestrator, it was a clear contrast to the forest which was covered in darkness and keeping its secrets to itself.

The air felt moist, there was a heavy pungent smell in the air the one that reminded him of the meat that used to go stale in the storage area of the Dreux mansion. He hoped it was from the dead animals he saw hanging and not from the beastmen lying on the ground barely moving. Walking around was also not easy with the pool of mud all around them.

Occasionally he would see some unfortunate beastman or beastwoman gaining the unwanted attention of a group, all Chris could do was to avert his gaze as what unfolded was not for the light-hearted.

As they walked into the deeper parts of the village, the space started to become denser with beastmen and mud huts. The huts were mostly built unevenly without any visible order. He would occasionally glance between the dark alleys of the huts, the more he looked into them the more he felt that there was someone watching them. His heart would skip a beat every time he felt he spotted movement inside them.

After passing countless huts they finally reached their destination, it was a mud hut bigger than the ones around. Guarding it were two large beastmen, their size along with their huge horns made them intimidating.

They both looked down when Darius and Chris came closer.

"I am here to see Ruthan," Darius spoke.

They turned their eyes towards Chris.

"He is with me."

They moved out of the way. While entering Chris thought about the time when he entered the war camp of Aaron. The similarity ended the moment he saw the inside of the hut.

It didn't look spacious on the inside, probably because of the large couch-like furniture taking up most of the space. Out of the three two were occupied with beastmen and beast women, who were actively engaged in activities that Chris would have preferred to be done privately. He tried his best to not look. None of them noticed them entering.

The middle one was empty and standing behind it with their backs facing them, there were two beastmen, one looked like Darius, he guessed that it was Ruthan, while the other one looked different from any he saw in the village, he had scales instead of fur, he stood out due to the dark green armor he was wearing.

Their attention moved from whatever they were watching, to Darius and Chris.

The beastman who looked like Darius spoke, "Darius my dear nephew you are here, just in time." He noticed Chris.

"Who is this? What's with all the cover-up?"

"He is a friend of mine, he is here to help, he will be joining us tomorrow."

Ruthan looked at the beastman standing beside him.

"A friend of yours is a friend of mine, nephew. I am sure he will be useful?"

Ruthan again looked at the beastman beside him.

"So let's not waste any more time, we have someone important here who will help us on our raid tomorrow. Darius, meet Adag of the Eidechs, he directly reports to the Meomari Qo...."

Ruthan froze, "How many times I must say this Ruthan, you do not mention his name, you are not worthy, next time I will remove your tongue if you even mention his title."

Ruthan fell on his knees, panting holding his neck.

((What was that? Magic?)) he had felt something similar when he had met the Commander of the Sicaari order, Malqaf. Chris looked at Adag in a new light, he was not some ordinary beastman.

Ruthan quickly recollected himself, getting back up on his feet.

"I apologise Adag, it won't happen again."

Chris noticed a small smirk on Darius's face.

"Come over here Darius, let's talk over our plan, this time the Eidechs are offering..."

Ruthan looked at Chris, "You need to step out, Darius's covered-up friend."

Darius looked at Chris "It's ok, I will come out shortly."

While waiting outside he realised that all his senses felt abuzz, he was already feeling overwhelmed the moment he entered the village, and meeting Adag shook him even further.

He tried to calm himself and looked around him, the village was much more than what he expected, just by walking through it, he knew, this was not an easy place to survive. Even among the Saugetiers, the definition of weak and strong was clear, even without magic the roles were clearly defined.

He looked around the beastmen who were grouped up together, the ones who killed his friends might likely be in there. There was no way of knowing it, even if he did there was nothing he could do about it. Life was still the same for him from the mansion, still a helpless weak boy.

How are Darius and Anisa finding the strength to live in this world?

-----

Darius explained to him the strategy after he came out, the main attack force would comprise of a very large number of beastmen, they will be divided into groups of six, with each group having at least five hundred beast-men, the six groups will be placed in different locations, their goal was to attack at the same time.

Then there will be the support group which will consist mainly of the strongest among the Saugetiers and Adag along with his Laub lizard cavalry. Chris along with Ruthan and Darius will form part of the second group.

The goal was simple, to overwhelm the soldiers with sheer numbers, and those who remain will be mostly exhausted and taken out by the second group. According to the scouts the carriage was guarded by at least five hundred Inseki troops.

Preparations were done, and in a few hours, the raid will begin. All Chris could do was wait.