The spires of Yamato rose gloriously over the rest of the city, the signature landmark that all could see. They were home to the royal family, whereas the rest of the inner city housed nobility and the rich. The outer city was home to the average citizen of Yamato, still encompassed by the great wall that surrounded the capital. However, the capital city of Terra Deorum was a popular location. Terra Deorum shared dangerous borders with two neighbouring countries, and people wanted to live in Yamato for safety. Past the wall of Yamato the city still stretched on: the outskirts. Less impressive houses made of wood with straw roofs. The walls weren’t big enough to house everyone inside, so those without the money to live within them lived just outside them.

In one of these wooden houses a boy with long white hair opened his eyes that had strange white irises and pulled himself out of his bed. He looked over to the other bed in the room, of his friend that he shared his house with. It was empty. He prepared for the day ahead of him.

The boy made his way outside, clothed in a basic loose tunic, with basic leggings and boots. It was a warm day, so he was dressed lightly. He carried a sword sheathed over his shoulder. It looked slightly too large for someone of his thin frame, but he knew how to use it and he never let it out of his sight. He locked the door to his house and made his way through the outskirts.

He drew a few strange looks, as he always did, with his white hair and white eyes, but he reached his destination without incident: a large tavern with a wooden sign over the entrance that read “Anima”. He opened the large double doors and entered, seeing some familiar faces and some unfamiliar. The main room of the tavern was huge. It even had a second-floor balcony overlooking the ground floor, although the staircase leading up had a sign that read “Members Only.” He walked up the stairs.

Along the walls on the second floor were many, many posters. Some were bounty posters with sketches of criminals and prices for their head. Others were job requests; some local to the city and some from the other end of the country. The boy looked through them, until he found the one he was looking for. He unpinned it from the wall, then took it to a counter. Behind the counter was an elderly man wearing glasses, with grey hair and an accompanying grey beard, leisurely reading a book. Kail put the poster on the counter and the man looked up at him.

“Kail.” he said. “I take it you want this job?”

“Good morning, Quinn” Kail responded with a polite smile. “Yes. I need coin, and they need help.”

The man looked at the poster, then back to Kail. He coughed uncomfortably. “You sure? They’re not paying much.” he asked, seeming confused. The poster was from a village requesting help against bandit attacks. They were offering pay for anyone that went to help them, but they weren’t offering a lot.

“Something about it spoke out to me. A poor village being targeted by bandits. I guess I feel bad for them.” Kail admitted.

“Fair enough” Quinn said with a shrug. “Well, Yiannis has also gone there, a couple of days ago, surprisingly. He only goes after high price jobs. Maybe something ‘spoke out’ to him too. Don’t expect any one else to turn up though, with the low amount they’re paying.” he warned.

Kail nodded in understanding. “Anything else I should know about the job?”

“You’ll want to talk to the mayor once you get there.” Quinn said, standing up from his comfortable seat and moving to look through a shelf full of paperwork. He found what he was looking for; a single sheet with all the information they had been given. He took it and started reading from it. “Thorpe…. Ah. The village is called Eastthorpe, and the mayor’s family name is Thorpe. I guess it’s named after him. Merek Thorpe. He’s the one that sent the request. Tell him you’re from Anima. It’s a small village. Hell, there can’t be more than a hundred people living there. They’ve got a blacksmith at least, so you should be able to get any equipment repaired. Don’t let them charge you for it though. Says here they don’t follow the Order of the Eight. They worship the ‘One God’ it says. Strange… Don’t get caught up in that." He handed the sheet to Kail.  "You don’t own a horse, right?” he asked.

“No… unfortunately not.” Kail answered.

“Your best way to travel there, then, will be to get a merchant caravan or some travelling troupe going to Francorum, which is the closest major city, then hope you can find someone going to the eastern outskirts of the kingdom. Eastthorpe is a small place, so I can't imagine they're that busy.” Quinn explained.

“Alright then. Thanks Quinn. I’ll get on my way.” Kail responded. He left the inn and went back home to collect his belongings and change into more protective clothing, then went to buy supplies for the journey ahead of him.

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It took three days to travel to Eastthorpe. There were a lot of different groups traveling from Yamato to Francorum. Francorum to Eastthorpe, however, was tricky. He had asked around to no avail, but managed to spot a group of wagons leaving the city heading to Eastthorpe, carrying mostly food goods, and he'd convinced the people taking them to let him ride on one for a small price. He arrived in the village in the evening, and the person in charge of the wagons headed to the local inn, as some of the provisions was for the owner, so Kail joined him. Upon entering the inn and looking around he spotted a familiar face, looking relatively shady, just as he had when Kail had seen him in Anima before. The man was wearing a hat that cast a shadow over his face, and a coat with a colour buttoned to cover his mouth and chin.

“Yiannis?” he greeted awkwardly, walking over to him and setting his bag of supplies on the floor.

“Oh…. You're...” Yiannis responded, unsure of Kail’s name.

“It’s Kail.” he responded. “You’re here for the bandit attacks job, right?”

“You could say that.” Yiannis responded. He motioned to a bag he was sitting with. “Turns out the leader of the bandits was a wanted criminal. His head will be fetching me a much higher price than the mayor of this place was willing to pay for my help. I took his head during the night, and I’ll be heading back tomorrow to get my money.”

He killed their leader alone? Kail was shocked. “How?....Did you kill all of them?” Kail asked incredulously.

“No. Just their leader, Would've been more risky taking my time to kill all of them. Even that would be too much for me.... Probably. It didn’t take long to find their camp, and then I snuck in took out their leader. He’s the only one with a bounty on his head. Ulric… he’s committed a fair few illegal deeds around the country.”

“But…” Kail objected, “do you really think they’ll actually stop their attacks?”

“Maybe they will, maybe they won't. If they're just a ragtag group of bandits they'll at least be at odds with each other for a while until they decide who the new leader is. Maybe more help will arrive by then.... Like yourself” he answered, motioning to Kail.

That didn’t fill Kail with confidence. Yiannis was a lot more cutthroat than he had thought. Perhaps that is what a mercenary should be like.

Then a thought came to him. He has their leader's head with him... “What if I can find out if and when they're going to attack this place again?” he asked, not wanting Yiannis to leave this poor village with the risk the bandit group still posed.

Yiannis laughed. “Sure” he said. “If you somehow find proof that they'll come back, and can tell me exactly when, I’ll stick around and help. Money is money, after all. You have until I leave tomorrow." He obviously meant it as a joke. As far as he knew, there wouldn't be any way for Kail to come by this information other than finding the bandit camp and going in and asking them.

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“Wait here. I’ll be back in a bit” Kail said, and he moved to leave the inn, then realised he’d left his bag. Yiannis watched with amusement as Kail returned to his table, took his bag to the bar and asked the innkeeper for a room, paying him and going upstairs, then coming back downstairs without his bag, and leaving the inn. Yiannis had a few more drinks before going upstairs to his room to go to bed.

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The next morning Yiannis came downstairs to find Kail sitting at the bar asking the innkeeper questions. Yiannis walked up to him, catching his attention. Kail looked excited to see him, although he also had dark circles under his eyes as if from a lack of sleep.

“It’s going to happen today.” He said quietly, seeming like he didn’t want to alert anybody else.

“Alright,” Yiannis said, sighing, “and how do you know?”

“I can’t tell you…” Kail said.

Yiannis sighed again.

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.” Kail explained. “Look, it’ll only be in a couple of hours. The people here go to their chapel today for a religious service. Everyone in the village will be there. The bandits know this and they’ll be sending a very small group in to attack the village. They might kill a couple of people, but they mainly want to intimidate the people here. This was their plan before you killed their leader, and they’re going to stick to it. But, now that we know this, me and you should wait for them and take them out one by one as they make their way to the chapel. Just a couple of hours. Wait with me to see. Afterwards I’ll tell you how I know.”

Yiannis’ heart fell. He wanted to leave and get his money, yet the expectation in Kail’s eyes was difficult to say no to. After thinking for a moment and realising that the person who tended to the stables where his horse was being kept would also be busy at the chapel anyway, he realised it’d be easier to stay. “Fine. But afterwards, when no one turns up, I'm going to get my horse and leave.”

Soon afterwards, the people of the village started to make their way to the chapel. The innkeeper informed them he’d be closing the inn for a few hours, and invited them to join him at the chapel. They politely declined and made their way to the edge of the village where the previous attacks had come from. The village did, to its credit, have stone walls, but at that time there was no one defending them or manning the gate. Yiannis and Kail waited upon the stone wall and kept watch.

Yiannis couldn’t believe his eyes. Just as Kail said, some people appeared in the distance, riding their horses toward the village. Yiannis had been to their bandit camp, he had snuck in and murdered their leader, so he knew they were coming from the direction right directions to be the very same group of bandits. They quietly made their way to the village. Yiannis looked over to Kail, who signalled to him to move down the stairs that led inside the wall and wait in hiding. Yiannis did so and waited below when he heard the sound of something clanging onto the wall above. He heard voices above him. Then he heard the thud of feet landing on the ground inside the village, and he chanced moving back up and looking. He peered over to the outside of the village to see their horses that had been left, waiting. Ten? Only ten? They have more than this at their camp… And this village’s security is nothing. Why haven’t they come in force and taken everything already? He looked over to see that Kail had surfaced as well. Kail pointed inwards to the village. Yiannis looked them into two groups, six moving leftwards and four moving to the right, all making their way inwards. Yiannis and Kail exchanged a nod, and they made their way down from the wall to stop them.

They were indeed making their way to the chapel. As Yiannis followed the group of six they split up even more. One of them went into a home to look around for valuable goods. This was where Yiannis excelled – The bandit didn't notice at all as Yiannis silently followed him inside and made his way to stand right behind him. He put one hand around the man’s mouth to stop him from shouting out while with his other hand he swiftly slid a knife into the man’s throat and pulled it out. He then pulled the man tightly to him. The man panicked, trying resist Yiannis’ hold, but Yiannis was too practiced. As blood swiftly torrented down the man’s throat, he quietly weakened and died in Yiannis’ arms. Yiannis silently lay the man on the floor and moved onto the next one.

Yiannis found the other five. One of them was lagging behind, and as the group moved around the corner of a house Yiannis ambushed him: moving with such soft and precise movements that no sound announced the arrival of his knife into the bandit’s throat. The other four split up as well as each became distracted by different things.

One gave into her greed and moved towards a house, presumably to loot it, so Yiannis quietly killed her in similar fashion as she reached for the door handle. Another one actually looked back, although Yiannis wasn’t in sight. The bandit realised his companions weren’t behind him so he went back to look for them. Yiannis decided to test the man’s initiative and coughed. The bandit looked to him and nodded at him, then comedically frowned in confusion as he realised that Yiannis wasn’t one of his companions. Before he could shout out in warning, Yiannis had thrown his knife, taking the opportunity to test his aim. The man looked confused and scared as his voice refused to come out. He grabbed at his neck and pulled out the knife that had been blocking his throat. Yiannis was there, a hand over the man’s mouth as he tripped him to the ground and held him in place until the life fled his eyes.

Two more.

The fifth target had gone a different route to the sixth, and he stopped to have a drink as Yiannis followed him. He wondered about how he should take this one out. His put his knife away after wiping it clean on his coat and brought forth a short sword.

The sword effortlessly sunk into the man’s head, immediately killing him as the waterskin fell to the ground and causing Yiannis to congratulate himself on the effort he had taken to sharpen it. He wasn’t a fan of long, drawn out battles. He preferred to kill his enemies as quickly and efficiently as possible.  

He hid behind one of the houses and glanced at the church. The last bandit was there, leisurely waiting for her friends. If Kail has taken care of his four, then this will be easy. Yiannis came out from hiding with his sword at the ready, then ran at the woman, who looked shocked but to her credit drew a crude axe from her hip, ready to fight. Yiannis threw a knife at her face, causing her to shield herself with her arm. She cried out in pain as the knife stabbed deeply into her flesh. The woman angrily swung her axe as Yiannis closed in, yelling profanities at him, but Yiannis came to a sudden halt just out of her reach. He then let his lethally sharp blade do its work. As the axe swung past him he cut at her hand, his blade slicing through her fingers satisfyingly.

Yiannis stepped back as the bandit tried to bring her axe around to defend herself. The axe, however, fell to the floor, embedding itself neatly into the dirt as the fingers that were meant to be holding it rained down around it.

“What…?” she asked with confused frown. Then she looked at her hand and recoiled in shock and horror at the bloody mess that was left. She never had the chance to recover, though, as Yiannis immediately stabbed his sword deep into her chest without any hesitation, aiming for the heart.

He then swept the feet out from under her and crudely slammed her into the ground as she gargled blood in her death throes.

His work finished, he opened the door of the chapel to see that the procession had stopped as the people inside had heard the commotion. They all looked towards him fearfully.

“You’ve been attacked.” Yiannis informed them. “While you were all here…. worshipping…. A group of them invaded the village. They were coming here. Perhaps to kill you all. But…. I…. and Kail, hopefully, have made short work of them.”

He heard someone walking towards him from behind and spun around, calming when he saw that it was Kail, looking flushed and out of breath. Yiannis closed the door on the hapless villagers and walked over him.

“I took my four out. Disarmed them and tied them up.” Kail said proudly.

“Tied them up?” Yiannis asked incredulously. “We’re not prison guards, Kail. Didn’t you kill them?”

“No.” Kail answered, as if the answer was obvious. He looked at the blood covering Yiannis’ clothes and to the woman on the floor that Yiannis had killed, unable to hide his shock and horror. “Did you kill all of yours?” he asked.

“Of course. I don’t take any risks. What if the bandits you tied up manage to break free and ambush us? Well, there’s only four of them I guess… but if they had broke free and ambushed you when you were alone, or me… Well, better not to take that risk.”

“Well…” Kail said, looking down nervously. “I knocked them out.” He offered.

“They’ll wake up. The ones I’ve killed won’t.” Yiannis answered.

An awkward silence followed.

“Anyway. Time for you to explain. How did you know?” Yiannis asked. “How did you know they’d attack now? You even said it’d be a small group…” Yiannis couldn’t figure it out. It’s not like there was a possibility that Kail, from the same mercenary guild as him, who lived in Yamato, could have any contacts in the group of bandits. He had also only just arrived in the village.

The door behind them opened. The mayor walked through, with two burly looking men by his side. They could be guards, but it was hard to tell when they were unarmed. Yiannis shook his head in disappointment.

“What happened?” the mayor asked, looking flustered. “And who is this?” he motioned to Kail.

Kail leaned in towards Yiannis so that no one else could hear him.

“I knew because I asked the bandit leader that you killed. I spoke to his spirit.” he said. Then he turned to the mayor and offered a polite bow. “I’ve come for the job you posted. I’m from the mercenary guild Anima. My name is Kail. Nice to meet you.”