In a dark room, within a bed of hay, Boris was sleeping.

He was turning, and twisting. His face scrunched and twisted.

"Ahhh!" he screams as he awakens from yet another nightmare.

'Where...- right, my new home. And by the fact that I woke up screaming, I probably had another bad dream, but I can't even remember what it was about. Maybe I should just take a day off.'

*knock-knock*

"Uhh...."

Begrudgingly, Boris makes his way to the door.

"What's the matter?"

"Sir Boris, there's been a terrible incident at the Pit the other night."

"The Pit? What happened to the prisoner?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out. Nobody has seen her today, so we believe that she has escaped."

"Escaped? But the runes should've made it impossible to move. Unless..."

"That is correct sir. We believe that someone freed her." said the guard, a serious look manifesting onto his face. "And as the last person to have come in contact with her, we have strong suspicion that you had something to do with it. So, please make your way to the council room, sir."

"Me!? Why would I free her for?"

"Nobody is certain about that, sir. But please come with us to the council quietly, or else we would be forced to assume you to be a traitor."

'Us? Does that mean he's got backup? Do these people really think I would do that, or that I would be able to fight my way out of this? Ever since I became the shaman of the tribe, people seem to think I somehow became powerful. I would usually appreciate the thought, but not in this situation.'

"Alright, alright. Let's go already."

"You lead the way sir. I shall be behind you the whole way."

"Sure... you do that."

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There was chaos at the council. People knew there was a traitor, there had to be. Otherwise, how would the enemy have gotten in? If the Todtec people could have just walked up and grabbed her, why didn't they do it until now? No, someone here most definitely betrayed the tribe. And it could be anyone. Especially that guy you don't like. Yes, it must be him.

And so, every elder present accused every other elder, present or not, of treason.

"Silence!"

Yet they all shut their traps as soon as the council head walked in.

"I want to know who was responsible for keeping an eye on her, and why they failed." she asked.

"Well, esteemed Grand Sorceress, I'm sure that the traitor must have knocked the guard unconscious. We mustn't be too harsh on him."

"Oh, shut it Garry! We all know your son can't be trusted to stay awake on the job."

"If my son was so untrustworthy, then why did you let him take guard duty? Wouldn't the blame be on the one who selected an incompetent guard? And weren't you the one who suggested I convince my son to volunteer?"

"You have no proof old timer!"

"Silence!" she commanded once more. "Bring the guard here. Let him testify his account of the incident."

"Yes, council head. I shall bring him over here quickly." said Garry, as he stood up and sprinted towards the door.

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"Hi Haxen."

"Good morning Boris. What's with the guard?"

'Strange, he usually doesn't talk this much.' though Boris upon hearing Haxen.

"They think I had something to do with the escaped princess. I didn't even get to have breakfast."

At the mention of breakfast, the guard looked down, seemingly saddened by the mention of the word.

"Well, you were the last person who officially met her. Don't worry, I got your back."

'Got my back? What happened to you? What did you do? Or maybe I'm overthinking. Goddess, so much stress in the morning is not good for the brain.'

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Shall we head in?" asks Boris, a mask of calmness on his face.

"Let us."

*Bang*

The doors slam open, and an old man, by the name of Garry, rushes past them.

Haxen walks in, head held high. The gathered elders all look at him.

"Alright everyone, the prisoner has escaped. That is a fact. Even if we deal with the traitor, it wouldn't help us get what we need. The ambush plan is officially cancelled. So I propose that we go destroy their cave troops."

"Wait a minute Haxen." quickly intruders Boris. "There's a plan B. We can still do the ambush."

"Plan B? How long would that take us?"

"A few weeks." mumbles Boris.

"What was that?"

"A few weeks."

"We'll starve by then. We barely have enough people for the farm, and with the dwindling number of hunters, we will barely be meeting the Feeding quota. By the time your plan B comes to fruition, we'll be on our last legs." Haxon takes a deep breath, then turns towards the council room, still standing in the doorway. "So, let's attack now, while we still can! Who's with me?"

*Cheers*

"We'll hold a vote, but we must deal with the traitor first, else they might leak our plans to Vadir." commanded the Sorceress.

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"This is my son. I brought him to testify, as I was instructed. Please hear him out." says Gerry, while pointing to the lanky man besides himself.

"Hello, I uhh.... I am Jerry. And I was standing guard at the Pit." nervously replies the son.

"Did you see her leaving the cage?" asks Haxen.

"N-no sir, I d-did not."

"And who was the last person who you saw in the Pit?

"Th-that would be sir Boris, sir!"

"Does anyone here believe Boris to be responsible for the escaped prisoner?" asks the Grand Sorceress.

No hands go up.

"So, you didn't see her leave the cage, yet this morning you reported her as no longer being in the cage. Can you tell us what happened?" questioned Haxen.

"W-well sir, I do-don't know what happened. One moment I was watching the prisoner, the other moment I woke up on the floor, with the cage empty."

"So you just happened to fall asleep when she was escaping? How convenient."

"Please, sir Haxen, have mercy. My son was knocked unconscious by the traitor. It wasn't his fault." quickly pleaded Garry.

"Does he have any wounds that would indicate being knocked out?" shop Haxen back.

"Well, I do not have any such wounds, s-sir. But I can assur-" Jerry tried to defend himself, before he was quickly shut down by Haxen raising his hand.

"I think we've heard enough. If you were knocked unconscious, then you would've had a wound of some sort. I believe that you either purposefully, or unprofessionally, fell asleep guarding the most piece of intel we had. Council head, I would like to suggest exile."

She shakes her head.

"If he were a traitor, then the Todtec tribe might bring him to their home. We cannot risk any more intel leaking. Let us throw him in prison until further notice." the Sorceress takes a quick pause, eyeing those seated in the room, before continuing. "All in favour of imprisonment, raise your hand."

Half the elders raised their hands instantly, though Garry was much faster than any of them.

"Anyone wants to break the tie, now is the time." said Haxen, a hint of threat hidden behind his calm demeanour.

Boris is then taken out of his thoughts by Haxen's comment, realising that he hasn't raised his hand. And so without much thought, he raised his hand, for he believed Jerry innocent.

"Imprisonment it is." proclaims the council head. "Garry, take your son away. Everyone else, let us talk about the ambush plan."

Garry quickly sees himself out, together with his son. A look of barely restrained joy on his face.

"I suggest that we go, as many as possible, and attack the Todtec tribe's caving troops." quickly said Haxen.

"Isn't that a bit risky? What if they decide to attack our village while we're away?" asks Boris.

"As I told you earlier, we don't have the luxury of waiting. We either attack now, or never."

"He is right Boris. All in favour, raise your hands."

The hands of the council members went up one by one. Boris, after seeing the almost unanimous decision, raised his hand. If he couldn't beat them, then he might as well join them.

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Back in the Todtec tribe, within the throne room.

"Vadir, we have finally found the Dycom metal. We are going to mine it tomorrow morning, and then we can collapse the mine."

"Finally some good fucking *hick* news."

"Will you be joining us in the excavation?"

"What... why? Just bring me the ore."

"I believe that bringing our own reserves of Dycom ore will allow us to finalise the weapon. And it will also allow us to destroy the Omoshiro settlement within the day. Bringing it back will delay our plans by a few days."

"Yeah *hick*, I guess we should do that."

"And who better to wield such a powerful weapon than you, Vadir?"

"Yeah, who else? Alright! Bring every able warrior for tomorrow's expedition, and then-"

"Sir, that would be a bit overkill."

"Well, bring as many as we can get. Now go. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, my liege."

Sifiso then leaves the throne room., leaving Vadir to drink the night away.

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"Sir Sifiso, he asked for 200 man." a hooded man appears next to Sifiso.

"200? That's a smaller sacrifice than expected." he then raises his head, looking at the figure hiding in the shadows. "Bring 200 warriors that won't be missed. That should smoothen the transition."

"Yes sir."