As Aida followed the nervous Vincent through the forest, she knew at least several of the Hog’s lookouts had already caught sight of her. She didn’t see them, but she’d bet any amount of gold that Vincent had led her down a route which intersected with these lookouts.

She was proven right when they arrived at a small cave deep in the forest, and the two rough-looking guards posted outside simply let them in without issue. They had to bend a little to enter, and as they descended underground, Vincent glanced back at her at that, her claim of being the Viper probably gaining credence in his mind.

Aida looked around, this place was more a foxhole than a cave, but it went quite deep. The corridor opened up to a large cavern with torches, and the place echoed with hundreds of overlapping voices. Bandits were everywhere here, eating, drinking, working on armour, sorting through pilfered gains—and at their head, sitting on a chair like a lord, was the Hog.

Bandit lords were lords in name only. The original bandit lords had sprung up almost four decades ago; the most notorious criminals then had all gotten together and come to an agreement to divvy up their spheres of activity. In a sense, it was simply a method to keep from stepping on each others’ toes.

People could be strangely perceptive though, and they noticed that each region had its own brand of criminals running around, led by a sort of head, and they began calling these people bandit lords. The bandit lords accepted this appellation, some taking to it better than others. For example, the old Viper thought of it as a real title, something that must be passed down, which was why she took in Aida and made her her heir. On the other hand, you had people like the Hog, someone who simply earned a reputation due to their exceptional banditry, and was thus invited into the fold so as not to clash with the bandit lords by accident somehow.

The bandit lords did not meet often, so Aida had only seen the Hog once, and they had barely spoken. Back then, an offer had come for them from a mysterious source to harass Yareth’s northern border in exchange for payment. Now, that area was known to be troublesome: the people had learned to fight for themselves, and guarded very little of actual value. So, most of the profit would come from these payments.

It had taken a little digging, but the bandit lords soon learned that the offer had come from Wereion, and most of them decided to steer clear of the request. In Yareth, Wereion was known as the Great Dragon of the North, dealing with them was not done lightly. And yet, Aida had not cared and had accepted anyway. She had not cared for much back then, she had simply done what the previous Viper had taught her like an unthinking machine.

In the end, she hadn’t even gotten paid. She’d barely conducted a few raids before the local lord caught her band in an ambush. In the ensuing battle, the lord’s son, a young boy with the eyes of a predator, duelled and defeated her, taking her in after.

That was to say, Aida barely remembered the Hog, but she knew this person was not him. But she did also barely remember seeing this person; he had been one of the Hog’s deputies, just a child back then. He was still quite young, probably only twenty, compared to Aida’s twenty-seven, and his childish features still hadn’t gone away yet.

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His face still had a roundness to it, but his dark eyes were sharp and narrow, like daggers. “Viper,” he greeted, his voice strong and boyish.

“Hog,” Aida greeted back with a curious tilt of her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vincent look at her again with a stunned expression on his face. It had been an outlandish claim, and she hadn’t given much proof, so to have the truth of it confirmed must have come as a surprise.

And then she saw something else in his expression, a great flash of fear. The cavern was large, but the voices here bounced around everywhere. Those who had overheard (and a large portion of them seemed to have indeed overheard) eyed her warily. It was strange, this wasn’t mere caution, they seemed too nervous—even for people witnessing two bandit lords in one place for the first time.

The Hog grinned, and it was wide and savage, “Well this is a surprise, you disappeared off the face of the Earth. We thought you’d been cut down.”

“And I thought the title of the Hog belonged to someone else,” Aida said, “What happened to your captain?”

The Hog shrugged, “You know how it goes, he began slacking, so we went and had ourselves a little mutiny.” He leaned closer in his chair—his throne, “But what about you? Surely you haven’t come to complain about me barging into your territory. You haven’t been active for years now.”

“Why are you here anyway?” Aida asked, “This place has nothing to pillage.”

“I disagree,” the Hog said, “Alain Aubet’s doing pretty well for himself lately, and I can use his territory as a staging ground to take a few scores from further south. Most of the lands under Duke Filangris are called for by the other bandit lords, but they all steer clear of this far north.”

Aida raised an eyebrow, “All the profitable parts of Duke Filangris’ lands were divided up long ago. They all just barely stop short of the northern border,” a realisation struck her, “You steal into the other bandit lords’ territories! Do they know? Is that why you’ve been staying here, despite Lord Aubet having begun an entire campaign to hunt you down?”

The Hog’s smile dimmed slightly, and his sharp eyes narrowed further. His voice seemed to grow several times steelier, “I repeat: why are you here?”

Aida relaxed slightly. This was a dangerous situation, but this much leverage was more than enough for her to work with, “Don’t worry, I’m not here on behalf of the bandit lords. I’m here on behalf of Lord Kenric Wulf. He has an offer for you, if you’ll hear it out.”

Learning of the pressures the Hog was probably facing from both the bandit lords and Alain Aubet alike was an unexpected windfall, but some part of Aida had hoped she would never receive an opportunity like that. Even now, some part of her hoped he would say no to her right now.

It was the boy, Thomas. His face would not leave her mind. All the people the Hog and his men had hurt…

Aida crushed these rebellious thoughts. She had once been the same. She had once caused the same tragedy these people did, she didn’t have any right to judge them for it. Besides, Lord Wulf needed all the allies he could gather, no matter who they were. It was why he had taken in that talking golem, and it was why he had taken in her.

She would do anything to help him, even swallow her own guilt.

The Hog’s grin widened once more, and he said almost excitedly, “Viper… you sold out! We all thought you’d died, but instead you entered the service of a genuine noble!”

Aida nodded without hesitation, “I did.”

The Hog seemed to have been expecting a rebuttal of some kind, so he only gazed at her with that bewildered wonder of his as he thought on what to say next. “All right then,” he decided finally, “Let’s hear this offer of yours.”

Aida smiled coldly to smother her sigh. It was time to get to work.