I mean, we really were. I thought Gavin would take charge and set us up in a formation after we grouped together with the hunting party but he turned quiet after we arrived and only took up position with the rest of them. He seemed pretty sharp when we were riding earlier and we only found this hunting party under his command but he doesn’t have any presence on foot. The conversation I had with him from two months ago resurfaces in my head and combined with what he told me yesterday, The Fold might suck at fights. It kind of makes sense considering the majority of their activity around here consists of kidnapping people lost in the woods and not actual combat.

The Fold’s men hesitate when they hear my voice. Regardless of what I’ve been through, what I’ve learned, and what I’ve done, the high pitched voice of a teenage boy doesn’t exactly inspire confidence or command obedience. Gavin seems to scrutinize me for only an instant before shouting, “You heard him! Get to the treeline!”

Our side immediately dissolved the abomination they called their formation and ran towards the treeline behind us. It was a short distance but even then our two slowest were run down and beheaded. When I reached my tree, I quickly launched myself through the air and dove behind its trunk, narrowly avoiding someone swinging their sword at the back of my neck. Looking back, his horse reared up with its forelegs high off the ground, afraid that it was going to run into the tree and threw its rider off its back. Without someone controlling it, the horse ran off in a random direction while its rider writhed on the ground in pain, his back seemingly injured. Not giving him a chance, I crawled over to him on my hands and knees before cutting his throat open, his terrified eyes staring at me as his life drained from his neck.

Copying how I was using the tree to my advantage, the rest of The Fold’s men do the same to varying degrees of success. Gavin was able to dismount his attacker and killed him with a swift stab to his heart. Eldon danced around his tree’s gnarled overgrown roots and took as many shots as he could. The other archer from Gavin’s team peeked out from his tree too early and lost his head to a passing rider. Seeing the momentum of the fight had turned against them and the disadvantageous terrain they’d have to fight in, the Vipers shouted out orders to retreat when they lost a quarter of their men.

Watching their backs slowly fade from view as they rode down the dirt path back to their hideout, I could only feel disappointment. The one who fell from his horse only had a sword on him and I needed a replacement for the shield I lost. Searching his pockets, I only find a handful of copper coins which I transfer over to my pockets. A moment later, I hear cheers breaking out around me as The Fold’s men celebrate their victory. I don’t join them because I don’t really see a reason to celebrate.

We lost the same number of men as the Vipers did and they only left because they didn’t think committing to this fight was worth it. If they decided to wipe us out, ignoring their casualties, none of us would still be breathing. But at least this whole ordeal gave me a glimpse at what I’m dealing with and I think I can work this to my overall advantage. Neither The Fold nor the Vipers seem too competent in this war of theirs. A few dozen more of these even fights and I can reduce both of their numbers by a significant amount before I can finally plunge my blade into their beating hearts.

One of the hunting party’s members makes his way over and reaches his hand out to me. Grabbing his hand, he pulls me to my feet and says, “If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have made it out of this the way we did. Thank you.”

Smiling at him, I reply, “We’re all brothers in the fold fighting for our beliefs in the Savior and his vision, right? There’s no need to thank me for doing my duty.”

His face brightens hearing my words and he says, “Well said, brother! May the Savior keep watching over you during battle because he obviously watched over all of us here today. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to help the others collect the bodies.”

Waving him goodbye, I turn my attention back to the body next to me but before I can begin moving it, Eldon saunters his way over to me with a scowl on his face. Stopping before me, he looks down at me in an imposing manner and says, “Don’t think for a second I’ll be thanking you for anything. Brother Gavin was the one who led our team safely the entire day and found reinforcements for us. Anyone could have given that command.”

Without waiting for my reply, Eldon turned around and walked away. All I did was smile and wave him goodbye. Next it was Gavin who paid me a visit. It’s just one interruption after another, huh?

Gavin stopped in front of me with a conflicted expression. I can understand what he’s feeling right now. He’s still confused by the Savior’s behavior and he wants to be wary of me but at the same time, he thinks he needs me for whenever we come across Vipers. It’s perfect.

Gavin seems to have come to a decision and he huffs a deep breath before saying, “I’ll need you to lead us during fights from now on. I can handle when we’re riding and I have all of our patrol routes memorized but I can’t do a thing when it’s time to fight. The deaths of our brothers from today are on me and my lack of ability. I’m not letting this happen again.”

Afterwards, he stared straight into my eyes in silence. I think this is a great opportunity to try and mend our precarious relationship. Without saying a word, I nod solemnly like I’m accepting a major responsibility. Seeing me, he nods back and walks away. Not bad, not bad at all.

Once the battlefield was cleaned up and the bodies were buried, Gavin decided to call an end to our scouting mission for the day since we did lose a team member. Instead of making me ride with Eldon again, he handed me the reins of the deceased archer’s horse and let me ride by myself. I had to consciously hide my grin when he did that because I didn’t want to sour our relationship again. After bidding goodbye to the hunting party, we stuck on the dirt path we were already on to get back to the citadel.

On our way back, Gavin had us take a break to eat the lunch we didn’t get a chance to have. Looking at Eldon for my share, he only snorted at me before turning away. Instead, Gavin gave me the recovered sack from our fallen team member. I’m not too sure how I feel about eating a dead man’s food but I do seem to recall wearing a dead man’s bloodied top for weeks without a second thought. No reason to be picky now.

When we were back at the citadel, we split up for the rest of the day. It was still sometime in the afternoon when we got back and I had no idea what to do with myself. What even is there to do around here? I also had to keep in mind I needed to maintain a low profile because I didn’t want Gavin’s suspicions to flare up again. For the rest of the day and well into the night, I just practiced with my sword in front of my shack.

I used some of Hawthorne’s teachings and pictured myself fighting Bertrand since he’s the one I’m most familiar with. It was a bit awkward at first because every attack of mine would instantly kill him in my imagination but as I kept moving around and remembering how he’d respond to every one of my moves, I sort of got into the flow and lost track of time. Before I realized it, it was already dark out and I was drenched in sweat. After the initial blunders at the beginning, I couldn’t land a single blow on him at all. I think I overcorrected and imagined him being too perfect, too unassailable, but maybe this is for the better and as I keep practicing with a flawless image of him, I’ll be able to beat him when we see each other again.

I noticed Gavin watching me a few times but he didn’t say anything and only stood there for a few moments each time before walking away. The next morning, Gavin gathered all of us together again for another scouting mission. But from now on, we’re combining our team with another because the Vipers have been ramping up their attacks on our scouting teams and this should give us a better chance at either avoiding fights completely or winning them. Also, Gavin let me swap out my horse for the one they took from me when I first got here, which is also the one I stole from Ocean’s Rest. I was pretty glad to have him back because I went through a lot with him and I eventually decided to name him Genuine in reference to Angelene’s ideal, genuine horseman.

The next two weeks were filled with mini skirmishes with the Vipers. Every time we’d run across them, Gavin would get us to advantageous terrain and I’d get us set up in a shieldwall, giving orders from the bulwark position. I managed to find a decent shield from one of the bodies during these skirmishes and since I can’t trust my frontline to not collapse immediately on contact with the enemy, I had to be there, frontline and center. Once we were set up, the Viper hunting parties would either poke around our defenses for a bit, exchanging blows, or leave us alone entirely, never fully committing to the fight. Their leader is still biding his time, waiting for the perfect time to strike like the viper he is. Our other scouting and hunting parties weren’t doing nearly as well and every day I’d hear about another brother or sister who fell to the bandit savages.

Over 60 members of The Fold have died over the course of two weeks and the citadel’s constantly under a cloud of despair. It’s even gotten to the point where our team has increased to 50 members because we’re the only ones who are achieving victories, no matter how small. There’s even talks of setting up an ambush for the Vipers happening amongst the cult’s higher ups and they want me to direct the fight when it happens. There’s a giant storm brewing and if I can read the winds correctly, I can burn this whole forest to the ground with the right spark.

Knowing things are moving into place at a rapid pace, on the night of the new moon, I snuck out of my shack late into the night. It’s been two weeks and Gavin doesn’t seem to be as suspicious of me as he was before and I need to check something really important. The entire citadel’s dark and quiet as the majority of its inhabitants slumber away peacefully. Torches are burning bright even this late but there’s only exhausted guards around to see the things they’re illuminating and I’m not one of them. Keeping my head low, I dart from shadow to shadow as I make my way to the citadel’s eastern walls.

When I arrive, I look around to make sure the coast is clear before I take out the brightstone in a box from my pocket and shine its light on the wall in front of me. What differentiates the citadel’s walls with other bandit forest encampments is the inner stone wall support. I didn’t realize this when I first got here since I was rushed to The Pit, but on the inside of the citadel’s wood log walls is a section of stone that helps interconnect the logs as well as drastically strengthens the walls’ durability. The stone wall is obviously the work of the Savior and it seems to be the reason why The Fold was able to maintain this whole place for as long as they have.

The wood logs themselves only provide a basic level of protection and a few hours of a dozen brawny men hacking at them with axes will get the job done. To get through the stone sections, however, those same brawny men would need to spend days with pickaxes, smashing the wall into bits before they can get through. The Fold in the meantime can regroup their forces and launch attacks as they please. It can be said this section of stone wall is the crux of the citadel and taking it a step further, it’s the vital essence of The Fold itself. No wall, no fold. Like Torban said, “Lazy walls and bodies will fall,” but mighty walls and an inbred cult stands tall.