A light came into her eyes. It was so sharp she closed them back.

"You awoke?" A woman said.

Unfamiliar voice startled Mrs Borger. She opened her eyes again and saw a roof over her.

"Where am I?"

"Camp Bora in Donbask. A man dropped you here and told us to take care of you. He said you were sleeping on the road. He even left you some money."

"That man. Do you know who?"

"I believe his name was Ethan. He also asked me to convey a message. He said that he will keep his promise and live the way you ask."

"I see. Thank you Mrs innkeeper. Can I ask one thing? Is there any caravan that will go to Easton here?"

"Of course there is. They will leave first light in tomorrow. I can ask for a spot for you."

"Thank you."

As such tomorrow, she left to Easton where the grave of her lady, Lily laid. Back when Lily passed away, she, Mr Longbart and Leila decided to bury her back in her hometown in Kingdom of Indra which was in the eastern continent. However there was a tension in border between Kingdom of Midland and Indra so they had no choice but to buried her in Easton.

This time Mara (Mrs Borger) determined to take both the urn of Leila and remains of Lily back to Indra and never returned here. She had no one left here anyway. She took a ship back to Indra.

While Mrs Borger returned to Indra, Ethanial took a different journey. He rode to South, the region of Sousa where the dry sand ruled over the land unlike the rest of Midland. Due to less fertile soil, more uninhabitable desert, Sousa was the region where the influence of Temple reached least. The Temple simply did not care. Only the northern part of it were inhabited with town and villages. The rest were free land for bandits and fugitives.

Through east coast road, Ethanial reached to Sousa without much problem. Not many used it for there were no town along it, no ports to trade. Waves in Indrean sea were so rough, ships used northern ocean from Portland in Easton or middle ocean from Southsail in Sousa for the trade with east Continent.

Indran, a village in east coast of Sousa,

Ethanial rode into the village with Rings. As soon as he stopped in front of the inn, people flocked around him. They were brokers. For a neglected village, hosting fugitives and brokers for stolen items was the main economy.

One of the man said to Ethanial after seeing his gold rings, "I have a buyer who will give hundreds of gambers for each of those gold rings. Give me five percent for each."

"No. They are not for sale." Ethanial replied.

Another man touched Rings and realized it was a great steed. He offered a hundred.

"No. He is not for sale too."

"Oh come on. He may be a fine horse but you can't ride it in desert. Exchange with a camel and let the poor horse run on grass. I will let you have my best camel because I like you. I am Signard." The young man insisted.

Ethanial chuckled. How could a man who just saw him immediately like him? It was clearly bullshit.

"Thank you but I will stick with my horse for now." He rejected everyone politely and ordered a boy from the inn to keep watch his horse.

For a shabby village, the inn was not good too. There was very little options to choose for a meal and they were more expensive than the rest in Midland.

Thanks to a caravan guard job from Camp Bora to Portland and Portland to crown city, he got some gambers to spend without selling anything. He left that job before the wanted poster from Rode reached the capital.

"A warm stew," ordered Ethanial to the innkeeper.

"Rats or rabbit. You are lucky that we got a rabbit from the forest yesterday. Five for rat, ten for rabbit."

"Rat."

His answer surprised the keeper. Most would choose rabbit meat over rat. But judging by the amount of customers, Ethanial understood that the rabbit meat had long gone since noon.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Rat. Here is five. Another five for my horse."

"Sure."

Disappointed, the keeper went into kitchen and took out a bowl from the only stew he had. He was giving rat meat to everyone and charging ten by lying. Rat or rabbit, all came from same stew.

While Ethanial was having his first meal for today, he saw Signard eyeing him through the window. As soon as their eyes met, Signard flustered and turned away. Ethanial immediately knew something was off so he hurried to Rings.

There he saw a bunch of men dragging his horse away. At first, they were feeding Rings to befriend and stole quietly. But Ethanial caught on quickly so they decided to take it by force. Rings struggled its hardest so the men could not drag him far yet.

"Stop! You thieves! Is this your ethnic of business?" Ethanial yelled.

"Thieves? Hey, are you not a fugitive? You have no right to call us thieves. You should have accepted my offer when I was giving you a chance. It is your fault. Brothers!"

Signard called his men back to him while one was still trying to drag Rings away. They tried to intimidated Ethanial. Some were relaxing their wrists and waving their weapons. A big man with a mace approached near while his men flanked.

Outnumbered to five to one, Ethanial carefully moved away from the inn so that he would not be surrounded completely. The big man noticed Ethanial intention so he stroke immediately.

"Divination!" Ethanial deflected the heavy mace by reinforcing his blade. Without it, his sword would have been shattered to pieces. The big man never thought his heavy mace would be deflected, unprepared, his balance messed up. And Ethanial grabbed that opportunity and slashed him down.

It frightened everyone, those who were eating inside the inn stood up and watched.

"Templer!" A boy screamed.

Being the haven for fugitives, meeting a Templer was a nightmare. It meant the Temple had finally came for them.

"No. Wait! I am not here to fight. I was just defending." Ethanial explained hurriedly.

But swallowed by fear, they did not hear him anymore. Every men took out their weapons and surrounded Ethanial.

"Fuck." Being pushed into corner, Ethanial only had one option left_ to break through toward his horse and ride away.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Fortunately a woman who was watching the event from the inn, stopped them. As she approached Ethanial, the others stepped back and cleared a way for her. They referred her Madame. She was in her fifty, scary yet charismatic. She blew out her pipe. The man Signard who tried to steal the horse earlier whispered to her.

"Mother, he is dangerous. We should kill him before he called for back-up."

"Shut up. That's why I told you, you are as dumb as your father. You think killing a Templer will stop the Temple." The woman shut his son. Then she looked at Ethanial with smiling eyes.

"Young Templer, I apologize for my son rudeness. Shall be go inside and talk privately?"

Ethanial looked at the others, they seemed to be relying a lot on her so he accepted to talk.

"Don't worry about your horse. You will see it again, fed and hydrated. Come." The woman led him inside a room at the inn.

It was small but well furnished. The keeper brought them tea and left.

"You must be tired coming a long journey. You should rest here tonight."

"Thank for your hospitality. But the others don't seem to welcome me."

"Forget those rock-heads. Here, my words mean law."

Ethanial was impressed by how confident the woman was. It meant she was dangerous too. Any wrong to her and his time here would be hard. He felt like walking on a tight rope.

"So, what business do you have here?" asked the madame.

"I am just passing through. I came for the desert."

"And why should I believe you?"

"Because that's what you want me to do."

She turned quiet and then laughed, "I like you. You are a clever man. Yes. I want you leave without creating any problems."

"What is your offer?"

".. nearly a hundred men of mine are out there. I could make you vanished."

"You don't want me create a problem so why would you make one yourself."

"...tsk* you are too clever. Fine. Two hundred."

"Three." Ethanial raised the deal.

"Two twenty."

"Two eighty."

"Two forty. Final."

"Two. And a guide. I need to go to the desert."

"No. I can't let you go to the desert."

It surprised Ethanial. Why could she not let him go there? She seemed flustered too as if she made a mistake.

"A horse won't make it in the desert. It is for your own good. Since you will alter your report anyway, why bother going there and trouble yourself, right? Stay here a day or two and go back." She corrected herself.

Given the situation, Ethanial decided he definitely should go there. It must be a place where the Temple should not reached, which was better for Ethanial. But he believed he should not insist as he was pretending to be a Templer now.

"Right. Why bother. I will rest here and go west."

"Great decision. I will give you my best room. Name?"

"Ethan." He replied. He decided to use 'Ethan' so that he would always remember Leila.

Like she promised, they gave him the best room with a bathtub. Rings was also taken inside the stable.

As he lied down on a comfy bed, Ethan thought to himself how much his life changed. While he was in the army of Temple, things were simple. He did as they ordered, fought as he encountered. He did not care much for he knew the Temple would back him up or he would die hero and reborn in better realm. Now he had to lie to survive.

He could not just die yet. He promised Mrs Borger that he would suffer to the fullest and living was suffering.

Everyday he saw Leila at night. He ran to her but could never reached. She disappeared into where it was darkest. It was so cold he hated it. He went there but found her not. A dim light came into his corner of eyes. He turned and saw Leila in a small room full of torturing devices, bare, blood covered her whole body. She was dangling in the air.

The horror awoke him every night. He was suffocated by black hands constricting his neck. He pushed the hands away. There was no one. He panted heavily to catch his breath.

He thought about it a lot. Those hands belonged to whom? And why did they do as such? From Rode to Sousa, those hands came along with him but never found who or why? Then those two men who drugged him in the plaza that day; were they same people?

What were their purpose? To kill him? Then they would not leave him in an inn. Was the man Drake? He wanted to kill him. And he hated Leila. But Drake would have taken him to temple rather than an inn.

He got up from bed and drink some water from the water bag. He looked outside. It was quiet except noises from crickets. The moon was up there past midnight. Unable to sleep, he decided to meditate the whole night as usual.

Meditation helped him calmed and better his focus. It improved his spells and swordsmanship. He must survive if he were to live to fullest till the end bearing unbearable guilt.

However the crickets turned so loud suddenly. He kept losing his focus. He heard some voices of people from distance too. But he was not so sure. It could be people swearing the crickets because they were not able to sleep by their noises.

He returned to his meditation till the sun came.

In first light, he prepared to leave the village. He had no reason to stay here any longer. He must go to the desert but the woman would not let him. So he had no choice but enter the desert from the west.

As soon as he got on his horse, the stable boy ran into the village, screaming.

"Madam! Madam! Young master Signard, he ...he.."

The boy ran so much, he was out of breath.

Ethan gave him his water bag. The boy drank like he just came back from desert.

"Oops sorry that I drank it all, sir."

"Hurry and say what happened."

"Right. Master Signard is in trouble, sir. We encountered a beargum in the forest."

Without waiting him finished, Ethan rushed to the forest. "This is the chance." He muttered.

"Halt!" The woman shouted to Ethan. She knew Ethan would use this favour for something and she did not want that. But before she could stop him, Ethan already rode through the gate.

"Damnit. Why did you tell him that, stupid boy?"

"But...but he is the only one who can save master Signard."

"Idiot. Clara came back last night."

"Really!?"

The boy's eyes turned sparkled. Then he saw a figure approaching the madam. It was Clara.

She was covered herself in black cloak.

"The cost for a beargum will be high, madam," said Clara to madam.

"He may be an idiot. But still my son."

"Then I shall believe you will reward me highly." She smiled and pulled up her mask.

"Get to him before that man. I don't want to be in debt to a Templer."

She nodded and rode after Ethan.