At a great distance from the guard's camp, hundreds of riders were coming from the west following the river as they were en route to the encampment.

But the man in front of the massive group made a hand signal to stop everyone, as five other riders that were close and seemed more important than the rest came to him while questioning him over the abrupt decision to stop.

“What? Do we just stop!”

“What? Do we rest? We are not that far, right?”

“No, we are not. It's about less than an hour to the camp if Joul's information is right. But we'll probably be spotted if we stay here to rest.”

“It matters not, in fact, it is better if they spot us so if they are onto us we'll give them something to stress over. If they run, it will be a disaster for the guards and the villagers, and if they don’t run they just have to deal with the pressure of our numbers, anyway it will be a massacre.”

As the last word came out, the face of the man became a bright smile full of happiness, but the other men did not seem to be moved as they were already aware of the man’s character.

However, one of the five, a man of disinterest and a slight disdain, did not seem to be all that happy with the man's plan.

“What? Do you have a better idea, Zuger?”

“It should be the best moment. To attack when they least expect.”

“So do you think, me leading is a joke and my orders mean nothing, is that what you think, you fucking pet?”

But the man did not answer in a positive way as he began to show aggressiveness at the first comment on Zuger’s part, making him back off into the distance as the others scorned and ridiculed him.

“If you don’t have what it takes to speak back, then don't speak at all.”

But as the bandits were taking off their horses and preparing to take a rest, as tomorrow was the big day of rewards.

Zuger came close to Square as he gave him a knowing look before taking something from his hand and moving away from all the other bandits.

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As he took to the forested hills, while moving quite a long distance from the others, he made a certain route as he circled his way through the forest, assuring himself no one was following him, almost in a paranoid way. Only for anger to make him tremble as he began his torent of venting over his own powerlessness.

“Brain dead idiot, await your fucking head, tomorrow you’ll fucking die and you don’t even try to uncover why. Hmm, at least now you might have a slight chance to escape in the darkness, tomorrow you’ll just be dead.”

As he was cursing, he took a blue flat stone in his hand and took it to the front of his head while his eyes were closed. He was again trying to make contact with his scouts, as he had tried to secretly contact them constantly but to no avail as there had been no response.

[Do you hear me? Are you there? Answer me dammit?]

[---]

But as in the previous attempts, no reply was heard as he was the only one to communicate, but just when he was about to give in from anger a voice answered him.

[Yes!?]

[You finally answ--!? Who are you?]

[Am I speaking with the bandit name Zuger?]

Zuger was forced to stay silent for a second as the unknown speaker stunned him for a brief moment.

[Hmm, Yes! Who are you?]

[Well, you should have an inkling of who you are talking with. And if we can talk that means you are close, but as for your scout there is no need to worry as they are not yet dead.]

[Your voice is young, are you the captain of the guards?]

[Yes, do you want to say anything to me?]

But the confirmation, changed the look on Zuger as he grasped the clothes over his chest as a crazy look took him and with bloodshot eyes began to speak as though he had become insane.

[In that case. Tomorr-row we-w-we’ll attack you in the m-morning s-so hel-help-- I--.]

But before he could finish his sentence for the captain to hear, the conversation went silent as Rowen was bewildered at the strange last phrase.

“What happened? Did the weird fellow try to be mysterious or did we lose the connection of this cheap communication stone? What did he try to say?”

But he was not the only one to hear the conversation, as old Wan was having a finger on the stone while listening to the exchange.

“Unclear, it could be a large variety of reasons, either way, it is better to not play at their game.”

“Indeed. Call Adrian, we’ll put some of the guards in constant rotation and surveillance and have them, alongside the villagers ready to be deployed and the rest of the women, children and the old to be stationed at the center of the camp. We will use the prepared strategies to divide the villagers into five spiked turtles with the biggest one commanded by Adrian to move in all directions for reinforcement. I’ll count on you to take care of as many as you can or else I'll just run head first to every bandit.”

“Ahm, this old man can not take a day of rest, with the young master around.”

But while the two were discussing about the upcoming battle and the conversation with

Zuger. The said bandit was gasping for air as he was clutching his chest with his hand while supporting himself on a tree in great pain evident from his contorted face.

“Fuck, Fuck, Fucking hell--!!!”

But as his hand slid down, his chest could be seen as it was a strange mass of receding darkness deeper than the night he was in under the tree.