'How much did I know about the mossbears?' I saw one quite close up and Mr. Scoresby told me about how the Lord of the Forest once had a disagreement with the Empire and had the forest expanded. It swallowed up the inn he and his father used to go to on his trade trips...

"A bit, yeah. They are crazy huge and powerful." Meeting that one really stuck with me. That obviously male mossbear was at least four hundred sigils strong.

"I know what you're thinking."

'Shit! Did he?' I was under the impression that the ring didn’t project thoughts unless I focused on them.

"Why the fuck going there, right?"

'Oh. That.'

"Yeah." Didn't they need to get across the border as quickly as possible?

"Ward isn't very forthcoming about his plans, as you may have gathered, especially to anyone outside his Shadowbreakers. If you ask me, since his main plan flopped, he’s planning to lie low in there. Wait for things to blow over and then slip away when everyone's looking the other way."

"B-But won't they know he's in Esulmor?"

"Not unless they find out he is actually there."

Took me a minute to get what Harcon was hinting at. He meant the Shadowbreakers doing their best to cover our tracks, even though we were obviously still on the only road around.

"A-and the mind bit... I mean mind mage?"

"Believe it or not, Esulmor is actually a smart place for the handover. Mossbears are sharp to what happens in their forest. They'll let you go as far as you don't make a mess and I reckon that’s what he was betting on. Whether it was mind mages or the empire, no one was crazy enough to storm in there, throwing magic around. BUT that's what I'm betting on."

"That they will, what - make a mess?" That didn't make sense. He said it himself. Ward and his people had chosen this place for a reason.

"No, if they're not stupid, they won't. WE will - or rather me.” Ah, that made sense. A small campfire was as far as Mr. Scoresby dared to go, but with a Master Fire Mage like him unleashing his power…? “That is unless you have a way of drawing mossbears' attention to yourself."

My beast might came to mind right away, but so did that little feud I had with the local squirrels. I used my might back then, and it didn't lead to anything other than an accord with them. No mossbear came running out of the woods pissed off at what I dared to do.

On second thought, I wasn't trying to piss them off. All I wanted at that moment was to stop the squirrels from gnawing on me.

"I might have a way," I admitted after a moment's hesitation.

"Might've? Better than nothing, I guess. Anyway, how confident are you to resist the mind mage getting into your head?"

'The bloody hell?!' That was a question out of the blue. A fair one, though, when I really thought about it. Whatever plan we might have made here could have easily ended up in tatters the moment the mind mage got into my head - or his.

"Captain Rayden... she cleared my mind of whatever 'backdoor' mind mages left in there, but..." It was so weird to think about it, let alone talk about it. "I don't know. I mean, when I was fully shifted into the beast, I was able to keep her off my mind."

Easier said than done. Ever since then, I was unable to fully shift even though I wanted to. Of course I didn't tell him that. He might call the whole thing off.

'Hopefully, my half-assed shift will do.'

"Alright, hand the ring to Elira. We were almost at the fork of the New and Old Esulmor Roads, and I don't know what Ward's planning to do with the wagon."

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"W-What do you mean?"

"That he may intend to send it along the New Road as a diversion, so this may very well be our last chance to talk freely."

'Wait! Did they expect us to walk with them on foot willingly? What if I refuse? Are they going to get rid of me just like they got rid of the illusionist?' I could only hope. Nevertheless, despite having a ton of questions, I handed the ring to Elira as Harcon asked. Of course, it rubbed me the wrong way - listening to him like that when it wasn't just my beast side that wanted to pay him back for the pain he caused me. In a way, it was his fault I was locked in this stupid cage. But all I could do was bite my tongue; he was the only way I could see to get out of this without ending up as a pet of some mind mage - at best.

Anyway, the fire bastard talked to Elira the whole time until we got to the fork.

Turned out, there were six Shadowbreakers waiting for us, all set with the scalehoofs that the illusionist had been dying to see but never laid eyes on.

"Mr. Ward," one of them called out, probably the leader. "Forgive me for saying this, but I was hoping not to see you here."

"That makes two of us, Raldod."

"Things didn’t go as planned in Castiana, I assume?"

"Depends on how you look at it. We're here as planned," Ward threw out there, sounding pretty nonchalant. "So are all of you, and I assume you know what to do next."

"Of course, Mr. Ward."

"Excellent, but before you go, you should know that we have more than one half-Terr in the cage."

"Sir?"

"Two guardswomen were too keen to do their duty."

"I see. Are you saying we should take them with us and load them up with the half-Terr we have?"

When I heard that, I froze - as did Elira and Vara. Not only were these Shadowbreakers waiting here ready with scalehoofs, but a wagon and a cage with some poor woman locked up inside. Once again, I had dragged another innocent into my messes.

'Perhaps it would be better if I just went with the mind mages and let them do their worst.' Of course, I knew that wasn't a solution; a short-sighted one, at best. If they managed to crack the secret to getting a beast core because of me, a lot more folks would end up suffering.

"Probably a slave they bought," Elira said, seeing right through me. Her qualms, however, clearly lay elsewhere.

"El, if they split us..."

"I know."

"Our chances..."

"I know, Vara."

As weird as it sounded, even I could see that they had a better shot at getting out of this mess by sticking with me. Sure, we were about to meet a mind mage, but better than being taken to who knows where quite possibly sold to another slave trader, well aware of what they were buying. For what it was worth, here, meaning staying in this cage with me meant they had Harcon on their side.

'That is, as long as he doesn't change his mind, or he wasn't lying all along.'

"I like your idea," Ward said, making our stomachs drop. "If it was anyone other than Deckard on our tail, I'd go along with it, but no... he's after the girl. So I'd rather have those two with me when he finds her."

"You think this is pointless, sir?"

"Not at all, Raldod. If I did, I wouldn't bother with putting up this decoy. But someone like him? He’d catch on sooner or later. Hopefully, by then, it’ll be too late. Who knows, maybe you'll meet him."

"I'd rather not see his mug, sir."

Ward laughed. "That makes two of us."

"Any orders if we do - see him, Mr. Ward?"

"I like your attitude. You think you have any chance against him? Be honest, Raldod."

"If we set a trap, and he's alone... there are six of us."

"Excellent. Then do as you see fit."

Instead of answering, the man just smirked loudly, almost snorting like a pig.

"Just make sure that two of you sit on the wagon, Raldod."

'Huh? Why?' Oh, because of the weight of Elira and Vara.

"We're not greenhorns, Mr. Ward."

"I know. That's why I gave you this job. Good luck and I'll see you later - hopefully as planned."

After that, no one said much. What did reach my ears was a lot of fabric rustling as people were moving and the grumbling of scalehoofs - the two pulling the wagon were complaining to the others about how they had to travel fast at night.

"Mr. Ward, may I ask a question?" the man asked, the source of his voice much higher now, so by the looks of it sitting on one of the scalehoofs.

"That depends on the nature of the question."

"Do you know anything about the rest of our people?"

"Ah - no more than you do, I'm afraid."

"I see," the Shadowbreaker said with obvious grim understanding, ordering the rest to get moving.

"What are you waiting for, Arlo?" Ward asked, by the sounds of it, swinging up into the saddle of a scalehoof. "Don't tell me you'd rather go with them?"

"I... no, of course not, Mr. Ward," my so-called master lied, blatantly. "It's just... are we really going to Esulmor?"

"What? Surely you don't take everything they say about the forest seriously?" Ward laughed, just to get serious himself. "Though I would advise you to avoid agitating the local fauna."