Calubo froze for a moment, and slowly turned his head towards the sound, and with a huge amount of relief, he saw that it was only a rabbit grazing nearby. But it was still making sounds which could wake up the fatso. He tried to shoo away the rabbit, and for a moment the rabbit just paused and looked at him. Then he tried again, with the sword clumsily held between his still-tied hands, and perhaps realizing that it didn't want to become a late night snack for him, the rabbit quickly scurried away.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and clamping the sword between his feet again, he continued cutting the rope. It seemed like a very long time to him - although it was probably only a short while - and suddenly, the rope tying his left hand was cut through completely. Giving a rare smile of victory, he held the sword properly in his left hand, and began to cut the other loop of the rope which was still tied around his right hand. And this time, it barely took any time before his other hand was free as well.

Grinning in victory, he slowly stood up, and holding the sword carefully in his left hand, he began to walk to the other side of the fedarus tree again. The fatso was still snoring, and right now, the bandit was as well defended as a newborn puppy. Calubo could just leave him there, and start running towards the village immediately, but if the fatso woke up and raised an alarm for the other bandits before he had gotten far enough, they'd catch him and kill him before he ever reached the village to warn them. That would mean all his efforts and his suffering for more than two months would be a waste, so he just couldn't leave him alive. Calubo looked around him again, and seeing nobody nearby, he began to move in a position to quickly kill the sleeping bandit in a single strike, but he hesitated.

While he was no stranger to combat, he had only fought against well-armed opponents before, and not someone who was sleeping helplessly... He also hadn't taken a life before today - not for sure anyway, since he didn't know whether the bandit he had fought off a few years ago while traveling to Cinran had survived or not.

But he clenched his jaw when he remembered that the fatso wasn't some honest citizen of the Reslinor Kingdom. He was a bandit. Just like the other bandits sleeping nearby, the fatso was an outlaw, and had likely done much worse things than Calubo was thinking about doing right now.

He didn't think that he could kill someone innocent in cold blood, but this was a bandit - someone who was going to kill people within an hour, and after looting their homes, he was going to take their women and children as slaves. The fatso didn't deserve his mercy.

Steeling himself, he crouched close to the fatso, and quickly clamped his hand above the bandit's mouth so he wouldn't make any sound. Immediately, the fatso's eyes opened up with surprise, but before he could realize what was happening, Calubo cut open the bandit's throat with the sword. The fatso struggled for a few moments while making wheezing sounds, and tried to pry open Calubo hands from his mouth, but it didn't take long for him to slump over, the life leaving his eyes.

Exhaling once, Calubo slowly put down the body of the now-dead bandit on the ground, so he wouldn't fall over loudly, waking up other bandits in the process. Standing up straight, he couldn't help but be satisfied for a moment. This was one bandit down, and he wouldn't be able to kill anyone in Tiranat tonight.

Looking up at the night sky, he thanked the goddess for this opportunity to help the village and redeem himself. He didn't have any possessions with him right now, so he began to move slowly in the direction of the village, not knowing when the other bandit would be back to raise an alarm.

He kept moving slowly towards the village, trying not to make too much sound, but then he remembered the other bandits sleeping nearby. He hesitated about whether he should run away and warn the village, or try to take down more bandits himself. Right now he was armed with a sword, and he would be able to take down one, if not two bandits before they realized what was happening. He might even be able to kill Nokozal if the bastard was asleep! He nearly turned his feet towards them but stopped.

He wasn't the same burly manor guard of a few months ago. While he had been able to kill a bandit who was already sleeping, he was in no condition to fight even one man in a proper sword-fight after nearly two months of barely getting anything to eat. And if he still tried it anyway, there was no doubt that he wouldn't survive the fight with the bandits - who still outnumbered him nine to one - and that would mean the village would still be unwarned and undefended - which would defeat the whole point of escaping.

He shook his head, no matter how much he wanted to take revenge against these bandits for taking him hostage and making him a slave, he had to think about the bigger picture. And that meant giving a warning to Tiranat, not to indulge in his personal revenge fantasies.

His decision made, he turned back towards the village and began walking with faster steps. And soon, he decided that he was far enough from the bandits, and started running full-tilt towards Tiranat. As he reached closer, he began to hear the sounds of a crowd gathered together - probably those in the feast - and he began salivating at the thought of so much food. He hadn't eaten anything for nearly two days now, and his brain was screaming at him to go towards the feast and eat something there. But he realized how it would seem to the guards - someone they had probably taken for dead was running towards them, covered with fresh blood and with a sword in his hands. They might just shoot him down first, and ask questions later.

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Still, he had to go towards the manor anyway, hoping that the new baron would believe his story - assuming there really was a new baron in the village, and it wasn't just his imagination. It was far from certain that the other guards would let him meet the new baron immediately, especially since he had been away from the manor for more than two months without any news about him, and since he was returning without the gold and the horse Sir Duvas had given to him. And he was also bringing the news that there were bandits waiting outside the village... But would they really trust the words coming from someone who might have changed his side to the bandits after all? Would they not think that he was just a distraction sent by the bandits themselves?

He shook his head. He still had to try! Nurobo would vouch for him for sure, and hopefully Sir Duvas would believe his story that the bandits had taken him captive, and it wasn't just him returning back after wasting away their precious money in the brothels of Cinran.

Even so, he didn't know what would happen to him, and if his story would be believed, but he had to try! And he had to trust in the goddess. She had helped him this far, so he had to trust that the people in the manor would believe his story and prepare their defenses, instead of just locking him in a barn as a possible traitor. He had to try!

*******

~ Kivamus ~

~ Baron's Manor, Tiranat ~

Kivamus was sitting with others in the manor hall, listening to what Feroy had found out from the remaining villagers who had worked as laborers in the north, and it wasn't much. There was one more villager who had claimed that he had probably seen someone at nearly the same time, but other than that, there was nothing. Yet, two villagers claiming to see people in the north meant that there might really be something in that news.

Hudan was still out, telling the other guards about the threat of a bandit attack, and giving them horns to blow if they got attacked.

Suddenly, the outer doors of the hall opened, and Kerel walked inside. "Milord, someone who had been missing for over two months has returned. And he says that he somehow managed to run away from the bandits that had captured him.

Kivamus straightened up in his armchair and held its armrests with surprise. "What?"

"You can hear from him yourself if you want," Kerel answered. "A guard is holding him just outside the door."

Kivamus looked at Feroy, who gave him a nod of acceptance, and stood up to stand right next to him with his hand on the hilt of his sword, just in case.

"Bring him in," Kivamus ordered.

Kerel, with his iron gray mane of hair, exited the door, and before long, he came back while holding a gaunt looking young man with threadbare clothes and a mud-spattered appearance. The man's hands seemed to be tied with a rope behind him, with the other end of the rope held by Kerel. On a closer look, his tunic sleeves looked reddish, as if they were covered in blood. Is that really what it was?

Hudan followed them inside as well. Looking at Kerel, the guard captain said, "I'll take it from here, you go and keep an eye outside."

Kerel nodded and after handing over the rope to Hudan, he returned back.

"Where did he come from?" Kivamus asked curiously.

"We found him running towards the manor like this with a sword in his hands," the guard captain replied.

"What?" Gorsazo exclaimed. "Is he a bandit then?"

"I don't think so," Hudan replied. "When the guards at the manor gates stopped him, he gave up his sword without any protest, and since then, he has been urging to see the new baron. I wasn't sure whether to bring him here, but Kerel and a few other guards vouched for him, so..."

"And why would the guards vouch for someone like him?" Feroy interrupted with raised eyebrows. "I can't be completely sure about it, but I don't think I've seen him in the village before."

Before Hudan could say anything in reply, Duvas - who had been squinting at the newcomer - exclaimed with disbelief. "Is that... is that you, Calubo?"

Calubo nodded with a tired smile. "Indeed, Sir Duvas. It is me."

"What happened to you?" the majordomo asked with surprise. "I thought you were dead!"

"You know him, Duvas?" Kivamus asked.

"I do, milord!" the majordomo replied. "He used to be one of our guards. The last time I'd seen him was around a month before you arrived here, when I sent him to Cinran on a horse to buy even a single sack of grain for us, but he never returned after that. I thought bandits had killed him for the gold and the horse."

"Right... I remember you telling me about this." Kivamus looked back at Calubo. "So, where have you been for the past two months?"