They tracked the bandits' path, hurrying to reach the camp before nightfall approached.

Their stalking friend had gotten closer to them now, so close that he occasionally glimpsed him through his shared perception with the birds. It seemed he was hesitating about something. If he had to guess, it was whether to stop them on their suicidal venture or simply observe how things unfolded.

When the sun reached the highest, they set up camp to eat.

"Your right arm..." Jane asked the question that had probably been on her mind for a while. Keagan had noticed her staring.

"This?" Keagan raised his arm as the hare cooked. Lifting his right arm, he took off his gloves, and Jane gasped.

Blackened and thin fingers were revealed. They still showed no signs of healing, not after only two days had passed.

"Poisoned? It's fine. It still moves, just slowly." He waved his right arm, the movement like that of an old man with troubled joints – slow and occasionally shaky.

"Will it..." Russ said a word he didn't understand and it took a moment before Russ said again.

"Will you arm return to before?"

"Yes, in time" Keagan nodded, then he noticed in the corner of his eyes a figure.

He sighed. It seems their stalker wants to be found now. He wondered if the man would say something like, "You didn't even notice me following you this entire time. How do you expect to fight a camp with a few dozen people?" He hoped the man wasn't that predictable at least.

"Alright! You can come out now!" He shouted, grabbing the roasted hare and biting into it despite the heat.

'Hmm, I should have grabbed some spices,' he thought, munching on the food. Both Russ and Jane, alerted by his words, turned to where he had shouted.

Then a figure emerged, a black cloak covering its figure. When he got close enough, the man clicked his tongue.

"I suggest you all turn back now," he said. "It's a terrible idea what you're..."

Even as Russ pulled his bowstring taut and Jane readied her weapons, the man remained unfazed.

Keagan didn't fully understand what he said but he got the idea.

"Oh, why?" Keagan said as he grabbed another bite. The man paused at this. Taking in Keagan's relaxed demeanor.

Then the man pulled back his cloak, revealing a sharp, high cheekbone and short black hair with a stubbled face.

He scoffed at Keagan. "Don't think the bandits you defeated hours… are the same in the camp. Just because you're an Awakened, it won't... much. They have one too and..... Along with a few dozen under his.....do you think you can take them on, with just a village boy and girl?"

Keagan struggled to understand for the man spoke too quickly but he did get the gist of it.

"Who are you?" Russ spoke, asking the man. But he was ignored, the figure only looking at Keagan.

"They can't, I can," Keagan said. The man answered with another scoff.

"You didn't even know I've been....you this entire time, did you? How could you.... to take that camp with such poor.....?"

Despite not understanding a few words, Keagan sighed. 'Called it,' he thought.

"Then come with us."

Whatever the man expected wasn't that. The man's eyebrows shot up.

"I'm not as..... as you are," he answered. Keagan shrugged at that.

Not getting the response he expected, the man rasped his sword free from its waist sheath.

"By the.....of my lord, I will not allow you to do anything.....!" He stood in a defensive position, sword held firmly. It might have looked cool if his target wasn't sitting by the fire, munching on some meat as he waited for another piece to cook.

If Keagan had to guess, the lord he was referring to was probably Lady Sienna, the woman who tried to defend him.

Russ and Jane froze when the word "lord" came out of the newcomer's mouth. They turned toward Keagan, unsure of what to do. Keagan finished munching on the meat and swallowed first before plugging the empty stick into the ground. He then grabbed a pebble by the side of his boots.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Confusion flickered in the audience's eyes before Keagan's left arm blurred as he flicked the pebble. The next thing Russ and Jane heard was a shout of pain, followed by the clatter of steel hitting the ground.

"Argh!" The man clutched his left hand, his ring finger bloodied.

"You!"

"Come with us," Keagan said simply, grabbing another cooked hare and biting into it. His casual attitude stifled whatever the man was about to say.

Silence filled the area for a moment before the man spoke.

"You may be strong, but you can't take an entire camp alone..."

"I can," Keagan said, stilling. Something in the way he said it carried unbridled confidence and strength. The trio inadvertently swallowed hard at this.

"And I'm not alone," Keagan gestured to the two. "And if you join, there be 4 of us."

For the first time, the man's eyes scanned his companions, a look of doubt flashing in them. His face scrunched up, not from pain, but in thought as he considered ways to fulfill his lady's order.

Since force wasn't an option to stop the foreigner, he came up with an idea. "We can recruit..... plan an attack on the camp, then..."

"Well sure, just tell Yuri to give back my items..." Keagan smirked at this, and the man nearly turned furious at his casual mention of a lord.

The man grumbled at this. In the end, with a sigh, he grabbed his sword with his uninjured arm and stood close, like a guard, no longer speaking.

Keagan smirked at this, at the man's stubbornness, and asked, "What's your name, friend?"

"Hughie," the man replied.

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

"What do those pouncy lords in the castle want with us now?" Jorah grumbled, munching on some strips of meat set on a nearby barrel of wine.

A man, sitting at the only table and chair in the room, looked up at him and said threateningly, "If any of your dirt gets inside that wine, I'm cutting your arm off and feeding it to you yourself."

"Tsk." Jorah clicked his tongue as he stood up. "You really have to be so brutal all the time, Rome? Don't you get tired?"

Rome ignored him, focusing on the letter.

"So, what is it?" Jorah asked.

"A barbarian, or foreigner from another land, is coming to us like some delusional hero."

Jorah turned in disbelief at this. "What?"

"Crippled even, right arm useless. The heir of House June asked us not to kill the foreigner but to teach him some 'manners' of this land. And he’s with a village boy…"

Realizing it was a false alarm, Jorah erupted in a cackle of laughter. "Seriously? What does that foreigner think? He can take this camp with just him and a village boy?"

After laughing for a while, Jorah said with a cruel smile, 'So, how much is House June giving us? Can't be cheap, right? After all, we might accidentally kill this foreigner.'"

"10 primals..."

Jorah shook his head at this and click his tongue.."That's not much, I'll send-"

"It's enough" Rome interrupted him. "A ship is coming soon, in the west, we had stayed here long enough..."

"Alright you’re the boss. So what's this foreigner-"

“Boss!" Someone suddenly entered the room, the door almost bursting open.

"You better have a good reason, or you'll lose a finger today," Rome said, his voice almost growling. Jorah smirked at this but didn't say anything.

Sweat trickled down the man's face as he saw the look on his boss's face. "There's... there's someone," he stammered, "a strange man coming towards the main gate."

Surprise flashed in both their eyes. Rome narrowed his eyes and said, "Did the man have orange-streaked hair?"

The man's eyes widened in surprise, and he nodded. Jorah turned to his boss and said with a cruel laugh, "Well, then I'll go personally welcome our idiotic 'guest.' Hahaha!"

Jorah turned toward the door, ready to leave, but his boss stopped him. "Alive, Jorah," he said firmly, "I want him alive."

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

A few minutes earlier....

"So... how are we doing this?" Jane whispered, taking a deep breath.

Hidden behind a large rock on a small hill, they observed what appeared to be a ruined fort in the distance. More than half of its stone walls had crumbled, replaced with makeshift wooden fortifications.

Above the wall, sentries were visible, holding bows and quivers slung across their backs. Despite this, Keagan could see the guards were lax, having no sense of danger at all.

The fort wasn't large, at least from Keagan's vantage point. Unfortunately, it was too far for his birds to scout effectively. He glanced up at the sky; the sun was getting real low.

"Safely," he said, rising to his feet. The others mirrored his action, coming to a near-attention stance.

"You three," he continued, pointing at the trio, "maintain a safe distance. Jane and Hughie, prioritize protecting Russ. He'll be taking down any threats with his arrows. Get it?"

"And what will you do?" Hughie asked. The hours spent as Keagan's traveling companion had made him somewhat familiar with Keagan's attitude, though he still didn't quite know how to act around him.

"Attack the fort, what else?" Keagan shrugged and turned toward the fort as he walked. "Remember what I said."

"Wait!" the trio shouted in unison, before Russ and Jane clamped their hands over their mouths. Glancing nervously toward the fort, they worried they'd been spotted. A sigh of relief escaped them when they saw no reaction.

"You can't take it alone!" Hughie said, hand on his sword again.

"That was the plan, Hughie. You should have realized it," Keagan said, his voice laced with a smiling tone.

Steel rasped as he drew his sword from its sheath. Hughie, resolute, blocked his path. "I will stop you, Keagan, even if it costs me my life. My….lies with my lord's….."

Keagan stared at him for a long moment before taking a single step forward. Russ, sensing the shift in Keagan's demeanor, opened his mouth to speak, but the words died on his lips.

The light of dawn bathed Keagan's hair and eyes, granting them a brilliance and majesty that seemed almost otherworldly.

"Step aside soldier," Keagan commanded, his voice firm.

Hughie swallowed hard, meeting Keagan's gaze. Instinctively, his body obeyed, and he stepped aside.

Keagan strode forward, passing Hughie without another word. Then, he paused and turned slightly. "Five minutes," he said. "After five minutes, you three can enter."

With that, he walked towards the fort alone. Birds circled above him like death incoming.

He had faced many battles in the past, and more awaited him in the future. When the sentries spotted him, laughter erupted along the wall.

He knew, another battle was upon him, and this was just the start of more to come.