Soon they reached a camp near a stream. It was already evening so Ethanial decided to rest there. The camp was made up of several makeshift tents and huts around an inn. The inn was right after the small wooden bridge over the stream that flow across the forest from the mountain.

"There is a camp here?" Leila asked in surprise.

"Of course. You don't know?"

"No. I use this road once a year. But I never knew. I mostly stayed inside the carriage and my escorts never rested here in the past."

"They were right not to rest. This camp is dangerous."

"Really? Then why did you decide to rest here?"

"The sun is down. It is more dangerous to go. Lots of thieves and bandits roam around here."

"What kind of camp is this anyway? I don't see any houses."

"Most people here are gold-finders and a few adventurers. They search the gold in the stream and sell them back to merchants."

"There are golds in the stream?"

"There is a gold mine upstream. They use the stream water to wash the ores and from time to time pieces broken from the ores flow down and deposit in the most shallow part of the stream."

"I see. So this is the shallow part."

They passed the bridge and there they saw a phrase written on a broken wooden board at the bank of the stream. 'finder keeper'.

Ethanial rode the horse up to the door and tied it to a wood pillar of the inn.

"It seems men here don't see a woman often. All of them are staring at me."

"No, they don't. Wear your cloak and in here we are a married couple. Understand? Give me your hand."

Ethanial took out a yellow thread and tied it around her ring finger to make it a ring. With a small knot on top, he finished. It did look like a shabby gold ring.

"Oh you are making me blush. ... Now probably is the time I say 'I do'."

She teased him. She found her own joke funny. She giggled like a kid. From time to time her wit and gut amused him. If he were in her shoes, his whole body would be hot and tense in this situation.

It was not a real 'tying a knot' but the thought itself made him smile dearly. Leila then tied back the same knot on his finger.

"I do." He whispered back into her ears.

"Welcome to 'Gold dream' inn, mister and hmm... mysterious guest."

"A room for two. And give two of what you have for dinner."

"Sure sir. 30 gambers for the room and 8 for each dinner."

"Here is 50. Four for my horse. I want it fed and definitely see it again right where it is in the next morning."

"Absolutely. In fact, we are famous for such service."

The man showed Ethanial a sign above the counter. A phrase was written grandiosely on a wooden board 'Snatch and say bye to your hand'.

Both Ethanial and Leila chuckled at the sign. The cloak attracted some attention but it was better than they knew Leila was a girl. Things went smoothly. Then Leila made a mistake.

"Say where can I get a decent bath, owner?"

Her voice attracted the entire inn. All eyes fell on Leila. Even those at the corner gulping down their booze were stunned by her words, especially the word 'bath'. She immediately regretted it.

"On second thought, I don't need one. Haha."

She chuckled awkwardly and tucked herself in behind Ethanial. The owner thought for a while and gave them two keys.

"I think separate rooms may be the best for you."

"We are married."

"Where is your ring then?"

One of the men from a table at the front of the counter yelled. Ethanial knew this would happen. Which was why he made makeshift rings in the first place.

"Lost our precious in a game. Tough luck. Here. See this? It may be a knot but this is the proof we belong to each other. My love, I promise I shall buy a new one when we reach the town. A gold one."

He made up a story but it did not fully convince them. One might gamble a house or a land but a wedding ring, that was next level douche bag move. Especially when he lost the one even his wife was wearing. It did not make sense.

"We may not look like it but our inn strictly follow the teaching of lord Mordu', the holy messenger of God. We abide by the Temple codes."

"It seems you people do not notice yet. See? I am with the Temple."

Ethanial pulled a little bit of his sword out and showed them the blade. The Temple is a religious order that enforced the codes of the temple taught by the lord Mordu'. It was the most powerful and influential in the entire continent. The king, duke and count are all devotees to the Temple and the common laws followed the teaching of lord Mordu'. The Temple even had their own armies that enforced the codes of the temple. The unit Ethanial served was one of them. The Temple provided their armies with weapons which were different from the king's. The blades were sharper and of better quality and the hilt bore the symbol of the Temple the 'roof'.

"Sorry sir. I didn't know you were with the Temple. Your room is the left one at the end of the corridor. I hope you don't mind with separate beds. We rarely house a married couple so..."

"It is enough. Just send the dinner to the room."

"Absolutely."

As soon as they got the key, they quickly entered the room before suspicion arose again. They ate dinner inside and rested until the house brought a bucket of water as the bath.

"Women rarely visit us so we don't have the barrel. I hope this bucket of water is enough to cleanse at least."

"Thank you. But I don't need it anymore."

"This is on the house. I apologize for my rudeness earlier."

"Thank you then. I shall gladly accept."

Ethanial looked at the water. It was cleaner than he thought. The stream water was cloudy because of the gold mine. They must have given her drinking water. When he looked at Leila, the clean freak was already in the middle stripping off her clothes. He decided to walk outside for a while as she washed herself.

The moon was already up but the inn was still lively with the men drinking, gambling and arguing. He went outside and looked for his horse. It was still there. A young lad was sitting on the floor near the horse, playing with some stones. The young boy was hired to watch on horses by the inn.

The moon wasn't as bright as he thought it would be. Compared to the inn, the camp was a little bit quiet. He heard some drunken men squabbling and some noise from a well-lighted hut but the rest was quiet. Most were already asleep from tiredness.

Ethanial had nothing to do so he decided to pet his horse 'Rings' to waste some time before going back in. Suddenly an old man approached him. The old man looked horrible. He was all skin and bone. He also seemed unwell as he coughed a lot. His swollen face showed he was recently in a fight too with that shabby body.

"Young man, I heard you are with the Temple."

"Yes, I am."

"Then could this old man be taking some of your time? I have something to talk to you."

"Sure. I need to waste some time anyway."

"Thank you. I assure you it won't be a waste. But..", the old man stopped and checked the surrounding with worrying eyes before he continued again, "erm ...we can't talk here. Can we go where others can't hear us?"

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Ethanial checked the old man. He looked suspicious but he did not seem to be dangerous. Rather desperate. Although desperate men are the most dangerous ones, Ethanial believed he could beat a sick old man easily so he decided to go along with him.

They walked to the forest where no one could hear them. At that hour, no one would go near the forest except to pee so they pretended to be leaking, not to raise suspicion.

"I heard men from the temple are righteous and benevolent."

"Just spill the beans, old man. I don't need to waste that much time to hear your flutter."

"Please save this poor man's family sir. My daughter and her newborn baby are sick by an unknown disease. The village healer said I need to take them to the Temple healer."

"Then you are talking to the wrong person. I am not a healer."

"I know sir. But you may be the one who can help me and save my family."

"I can't ask the temple healer to treat your family for free either."

"I know sir. I am not asking for free either. I can give you gold. The day before yesterday there was heavy rain and water flowed hard in the stream. The rain brought a lot of big ones. Many of us, finders, found them and this poor man also found one, the gold the size of a fist. But yesterday all of them were robbed by a group of men. See those men in that well-lighted hut. There are five of them."

"I thought it was an unwritten rule and collective agreement that no one shall steal or rob from others in this camp. If you all gang up on five of them, it doesn't matter even if they have weapons, I am sure you people can win against them. Have some gut old man."

"They are the Duke's men. We can't possibly fight them and not be branded as rebels. They said the big ones are Duke's property and took them all."

"I see. Then I can't help you."

"But the big ones are also permitted by the Duke. Others said big ones are found from time to time and there was never an incident like this in the past. Everyone suspects that those men lied and wanted to take all those big ones for themselves."

"You all should complain to the administration then."

"Who would side with poor commoners like us over their own men? They would only beat us and share the gold between them."

"If the administration won't help, I can't either."

Ethanial firmly declined to help. But the old man insisted since he was desperate.

"Yesterday when they took our gold, I asked them to spare me at least because I need that gold to save my family. But they beat me instead. Others already gave it up."

"They are wise. You should do the same old man."

"I can't sir. That gold is the only hope to save my family. With it, I can afford all the travelling expenses and the cost of healing both the baby and his mother, my daughter. And you sir my only hope to get it back. With your connection to the Temple, can you at least try to get it back? I only need one. If you persuade them, they may give at least mine back. That's all I am asking sir. Only one. I can donate you and the temple some gold for your trouble, sir. Here. They may be small but surely worth some."

"You should use these small golds for your family instead. Why cling onto the big one?"

"Because these are not enough sir."

"Then find more."

"I have been here for a week and this is all I found sir. If I stay here any longer, it will be too late to save my family. God had mercy upon me and sent that big gold to save my family. But those heathens robbed that blessing away from me. Then suddenly here you are, the man from Temple. I believe that God sent you to help me, sir. Please save this poor old man and his family."

The words the old man told were cringed even for a man from the Temple. But Ethanial believed helping him would surely raise his standing in the Temple so he accepted to help him. But the problem lay with how he should approach the matter. He could walk up to the Duke's men and tell them to take pity on the old man and his family. The old man tried this and it didn't work well for the old man. But he is different. He is with the Temple so the Duke's men might not assault him like the old man. But that didn't mean they would hand over the gold back. They might attack the old man again after he left the camp.

Another way was threatening them. Surely the Duke himself permitted commoners to search for gold here and allowed ownership of that gold, small or big. He was sure those men came down here on their own and robbed that gold for themselves. Not by the Duke's order. He could use that to strike a deal. They might give one gold chunk to him. But the catch here was if those men insisted on keeping it for themselves and the case went over to administration, then he would be the one in trouble. As the old man said, the administration would take their side.

The last way was probably riskier. It was stealing. They were drunk and surely would fall flat on the floor soon. Unless caught by them, it was an easy job. Those drunkards would not even notice a chunk missing.

After contemplating much on the matter, Ethanial decided to do the good ol' way, sneaking and snatching. He could feel his heart beating fast as excitement arose for his new adventure.

After accepting to help the old man, Ethanial decided to do the good ol' way. Stealing from a bunch of drunkards was the easiest job for sure. The problem was those drunkards were not sleeping or choking on their own vomit yet.

Ethanial looked at the moon. It was nearly right above him. The inn was also starting to get quiet. "Any time soon it will be closed. Surely the innkeeper would notice me and suspect something if I came back late." Ethanial thought of the plan. He did not have much time.

He scanned the area around the hut. It was still well-lighted. Two men were sitting in the front and drinking by themselves. The rest of the outside was quiet. From time to time, a man or two got out of their tents to take a leak. But they were too drunk to suspect or remember anything. The problem was the rest three of the group. They were inside which he knew nothing about.

Ethanial shook his head. It could be harder than he thought. He no longer had time to wait for them to sleep. He needed to get back before the inn was closed.

He decided it was now or never. He approached the hut from the side avoiding the front. He did not want them to see his face, not for a glance. If by a very slim chance, those fuck-up noticed a chunk of gold was missing, he did not want to be the first to be suspected.

Ethanial sneaked to the hut. There was a group of tall reeds below the window. They were tall as far up to his waist and a lantern was placed overhead the window. He looked through the window and found a man sleeping on his belly. Some rags were prepared like a bed too. "This must be their sleeping room," noted Etanial. He saw a wooden crate covered by a cloth beside the man. Ethanial believed it must be where the gold was.

He put his hands on the ledge to climb over. Suddenly he heard voices coming toward him.

"Oi, I am taking a leak. You coming?"

"No. I have steel for my bladder. You go alone. Hey, don't try to piss near the reeds like yesterday. It smelled. Go in the stream."

Reeds, Ethanial heard. He looked around him and the tall grass he was in were all reeds. The guard meant here he concluded. He looked around to find a spot to hide. Behind the hut, he rushed but saw a group of people drinking near the stream bank. If those men saw him near the hut at night, they would suspect of him a thief and would tip-off to the duke's men in the morning.

"Oh come on. My bladder is about to burst. I can't walk down to the stream. Let me go this one time."

"It is just five more steps to the stream!"

"Nah. I am leaking to the reeds."

As the voice got nearer, Ethanial knew he messed up. He had nowhere to hide except in the reeds and that man going there to take a piss.