Old Tibs saw the head flying and the fountain of blood and stared at Zhang Wei before all he could utter was: “You… you…”

“Me what? Murderer, psychopath…,” Zhang Wei spat back at him before he kneeled down on one knee and supported himself with the machete. He did not want to face the dead bodies. They were not his enemies and he could go out of their way, but they were bad people and he desperately needed their karma points, to survive in this world he was stuck in.

“What was their business with you?” Zhang Wei asked .

“You only ask that now? Why did you kill them? How am I going to get Barkash back now…” Old Tibs started to cry while yelling and also fell on his knees.

“I don’t know what they told you but I am sure it was not anything good.” Zhang Wei replied in a calm voice.

“Tell me what did they want?” Zhang Wei asked again.

Old Tibs looked at him and with tears in his eyes he replied: “They wanted me to pretend one of theirs is my nephew tomorrow. In exchange my nephew would live and be allowed to return back to me.”

“That does sound simple, but why would they do that? Why would they kidnap him, what happens tomorrow?” Zhang Wei asked Old Tibs.

Old Tibs was quiet for a while before he composed himself.

“We are returning to the town tomorrow,” he finally managed to mumble.

“I guess you sold a lot of goods to the fort?” Zhang Wei asked.

“We brought half a year's worth of supplies of arrows, bolts and non-perishable food this time.” Old Tibs replied.

“I also guess you are paid upon delivery?” Zhang Wei continued.

“How do you know that?” Old Tibs replied.

“You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out…” Zhang Wei replied in a calm voice while frowning.

“A what? What is a scientist?” Old Tibs asked.

“Never mind. I guess they want to rob the convoy on the way back. I guess the convoy guards are pretty good if they went through the trouble of kidnapping your nephew,” said Zhang Wei next.

“What do you mean? How does kidnapping my nephew play a role?” Old Tibs asked.

“If the person impersonating your nephew can somehow get to the merchant and keep him hostage the guards will naturally have no choice to surrender. You and your nephew are just sacrificial pawns. Either you get killed by them or get killed by the merchant after the robbery since it will be obvious who betrayed him.” Zhang Wei replied.

Cold shivers ran down Old Tibs' back as he finally got to terms with the situation he and his nephew found themselves in. First it was fear then it was anger and then he ran towards the stooges head and kicked it.

“You bastards.”

Zhang Wei just looked at him taking the penalty kick with a look of disbelief.

As Old Tibs came back to his senses he asked fearfully:

“Is there any way out for us?”

“Can you contact the merchant?” Zhang Wei asked Old Tibs.

“No. I tried but I guess they have two guards working for them since they stopped me from entering the fortress.” Old Tibs replied and frowned.

“So it was not all about the money.” Wei said.

“I didn’t want to get you involved and I doubt Barkash is in the fortress.”

“You could probably enter since they don’t know you and warn the merchant,” Old Tibs suddenly replied with hope.

“Would the merchant take my word for it?” Zhang Wei asked.

Tibs thought about it for a while with gritted teeth and a frown until he suddenly exclaimed.

“I will give you something he gifted me a long time ago. I am sure if you show it to him he will listen to you, since I have been working for him and his family for most of my life. He knows my character and he knows I would not make such stuff up.” Old Tibs replied.

“His name is Dolan Smith and his family has been running a weapons smithy and fletching business for generations. I have known him since he was a snotty brat. He is around the same age as you are, with brown hair, brown eyes and he wears a sword with a crimson sheath. You should be able to recognize him easily once you are inside. Just go to the pub inside. I am sure he spends most of his day there.” Old Tibs explained.

“OK. Sounds like that is our only option at this point, ” Zhang Wei replied with a sigh, “but we should do something about these dead bodies first.”

“Right. Right. We should bury them before dawn lest they be discovered.” Old Tibs agreed.

“Do you have a shovel at the camp?” Zhang Wei asked.

“I will go get it. I have a small one used for digging the latrines but now when I think about it it will serve the same purpose, ” Old Tibs quipped a joke to break the tension.

As Old Tibs left, Zhan Wei searched the first headless body with disgust. He found a coin purse and fastened the dagger sheath to his waist and stuck the dagger inside. Then he considered dragging the bodies together but that would only make a bloody trail in the sand.

He finally decided to wait for Old Tibs to come back and make three shallow graves.

Old Tibs quickly came back and started digging and when the hole was about the size of the body and about half a meter deep they dragged the headless corpse and dumped it inside. Old Tibs looked wearily at the head he kicked earlier in the distance, as if to say he didn’t want anything to do with it. Zhang Wei just shrugged and walked towards it and picked it up by the hair, before walking back and tossing it by the corpse’s feet. They soon covered it up and took care of the vegetation on top, before scattering the excess dirt on the blood stains.

“When the morning comes no one should be able to tell what happened here at night.” Old Tibs exclaimed.

“Two more to go.” Zhang Wei said with a sigh.

He might have seemed indifferent but it was his first time taking a human life. Being a worker for a loan shark he got to see quite a few shady dealings but other than a broken nose there really was nothing more serious. After all, someone who doesn’t pay his debt on time will have an even harder time paying it back if he has his legs or arms broken, so it was not in the loan shark’s best interest not to hurt his clients too much. Not too soft and not too hard was his motto.

The second corpse was also disposed of in the same way and they walked towards the third. Zhan Wei found some jewelry on the blonde guy’s corpse and a coin purse plus the machete and a holster for it. Pulling out the knife from the skull, dumping the body in the hole and burying him finished the grim business.

Old Tibs was sweating and panting from digging all the holes but he has otherwise regained his usual calm demeanor. As they walked back to camp Zhang Wei remembered a crucial defect in their plan.

“Won’t they notice that three of their guys are missing?” He voiced his doubt to Old Tibs.

“Even if they do notice, there is nothing we can do,” Old Tibs replied in resignation.

“Alright. Let’s get back to camp and I will try to enter the fortress,” Zhang Wei replied.

“You can’t enter the fortress until dawn since it’s closed at night. You should rest in my tent until then.” Old Tibs suggested.

Zhang Wei thought about it and even though he thought that tonight, he would not sleep a wink, he nodded his head and replied: “Alright.”