The shadows danced around the fire, Cornelius was entranced by the flickering of the flame as if trapped in an eternal dance he was mesmerized by its beauty. Like this, a few hours passed his arse began feeling numb from the long hours he had sat on an uneven boulder, he stood up to stretch his legs and let the blood flow in his legs return to normal.

A rustling of leaves broke him out of his reverie, he turned his head in the direction of the noise his hand hovering over the hilt of his blade, this time it was the crunching of dried twigs that he heard. He let his mana flow to his eyes, he felt the fire in his veins spread from his diaphragm all the way to his eyes, they glowed an eery muddied golden color.

As soon as the mana reached his eyes his vision shifted to the dark of the night replaced with the dimness of twilight, that is when he saw his would-be aggressor, a woman in dirty furs she was crouched with a simple stone dagger clutched between her fingers. He knew if he had not been aware that very dagger would have slit his throat, even with his mana-enhanced vision it was difficult to make out the details of her face.

‘A Kalethi barbarian what are they doing this far south,’ he thought before drawing his dagger he had already retreated to the darkness away from the light of the fire, so it was not hard to sneak up on his would-be aggressor. Although Cornelius was a swordsman he had been trained in many different forms of combat so as he snuck up to his enemy not a single noise could be heard, only the rustle of the leaves in the wind could be heard in the silence of the night.

He channeled more mana into his muscles the fire in his veins growing more violent, but with the pain came strength, as he got into position behind the Kalethi woman his free hand grabbed her by the mouth while his dagger went to her throat. She did not get any chance to react before she was captured, she tried to resist but his man-enhanced muscles made his vice-like grip impossible for a mere human to break.

“Move and you die, resist and you die, nod your head if you understand,” he whispered in her ear, in his mana-enhanced state his senses had improved twofold he could almost smell her fear, and this brought a wry grin to appear on his face. She nodded her head in understanding “Good, are you alone, nod your head once if yes and twice if no,” she nodded twice, but he could hear her heart rate increasing he knew it was a lie.

He put more pressure on her neck, the blade biting into her flesh a trickle of blood running down her neck “Do not lie to me barbarian, now drop your dagger or this night will be your last,” his voice was devoid of emotion, he felt the shiver running down her body before she dropped her flint dagger. “Good,” he said simply, he moved the mana within his body once more the fire in his veins growing in intensity once more, the darkness of the night was broken by a blinding light as his magic made itself tangible forming a rope made of light restricting his prisoner.

He got up from his crouching position a trickle of blood flowing from his lips, such was the price of magic his body was far from adapting to the magic humans were never meant to wield, only after constant use would his body become adapted to his power. The whispers of madness could be heard as his mana traveled through his veins, he looked at his prisoner as she was struggling against his magic bonds “Resistance is futile barbarian,” his disdain was clear in his voice.

He moved back to the fire where his travel bag lay next to the boulder he had sat on, once he reached the bag he took out a length of rope and tied his prisoner's hands and feet before dragging her toward the fire. He unceremoniously dropped her next to the boulder and sat once again, the twilight of dawn was already approaching so he awoke his soldiers to prepare for the day's journey.

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Once they were awake he threw dirt on the fire and fastened the sheath of his blade to his hip, his soldiers approached him they threw a questioning glance at the barbarian, she had already accepted her fate the resistance having left her green eyes, her hair an unruly mess of red.

“What happened?” Thompson asked he was clearly confused by the prisoner sitting at Cornelius’s feet.

“She tried to slit your throats while you were sleeping, so I handled it,” Cornelius said not bothering to elaborate.

“That still does not explain why she still draws breath,” this time it was Leonidas who spoke up.

“When have you heard of a Kalethi that was captured alive?” Cornelius asked “They would rather die than be captured, yet today one is bound at your feet, think just for a second the wealth of knowledge that she holds, these lands have not been conquered in all this time because we know not the dangers of the land, the harshness of the climate but now we have someone who grew up on these lands that knows its ins and outs,” he said his statement left his soldiers flabbergasted.

“If what you say is true then we stumbled on a goldmine,” Halva said understanding dawning on the faces of his soldiers.

“We have wasted enough time on this conversation, it is time we move on we are burning daylight,” Cornelius said as he started moving in the direction of the Frozen Hand his soldiers following closely behind, he had cut the rope binding his prisoner's feet so she could walk the rope binding her hands was put in Strom’s hands as he dragged her along.

At noon on the second day they had reached the foot of the mountain, their journey so far had been somewhat safe as they hadn’t encountered any more monsters besides the one on the first day, but they knew that safety was about to end as the mountain was wrought with danger.

“We continue to move in wedge formation, everyone to your positions and stay alert,” Cornelius ordered his soldiers. “Strom give the rope to Halva she will be responsible for the prisoner from now on,”.

The soldiers followed his orders without hesitation once they were ready they started to ascend the mountain path, the black marble of the mountain covered in snow a sign of the approaching winter a cold breeze blew down from the mountain making the soldiers wrap their cloaks tighter around their freezing bodies.

They climbed for another two hours before they found a small indent in the mountain “We make camp here Leonidas prepare the fire Strom Make a wall around the perimeter to protect from the cold everyone else start making camp I will start interrogating our prisoner,” Cornelius said a cold look flashing in his eyes.

He took the rope from Halva and dragged his prisoner to the back of the indent, and dropped her on the rough uneven stone she winced in pain after hitting her elbow on the stone “Dro hak no stra vola,” she spat in a venomous tone (May the hunt take you, you honorless dog) she spoke in the Kalethi tongue.

“The hunt will not come for me this day outcast of the Kalethi,” he spoke in her people’s tongue surprise appeared in her eyes as she heard this.

“You speak our tongue yet you are not Kalethi,” she asked her confusion evident in her tone.

“How do you know of my dishonor man from beyond the mountain?” suspicion appeared in her green eyes.

“I know your tongue because I was once trained by a Kalethi man, I know of your dishonor for the Kalethi never hunt alone yet you did which tells me you are an outcast, a true Kalethi hunter would have never accepted defeat nor capture they would have rather accepted death,” Cornelius spoke in an even tone.

Anger appeared in her eyes “You claim to be trained by a Kalethi, but as you said they would rather die than accept such dishonor so speak truth man from beyond the mountain,”.

“Whether you believe me or not it matters little you are my prisoner so you are in no position to make demands, so tell me from which tribe do you hail?” he asked his tone making it clear he was in no mood for unnecessary words.

“And why would I tell you?” She said in a defiant tone.

“Because if you do not you will experience pain beyond your imagination because what will await you is a dishonorable death so your ancestors will not welcome you in the eternal hunt and only the void will embrace you,” the Kalethi believed that if they died in an honorable manner their ancestors would welcome them to the eternal hunt something all Kalethi strived for was an honorable death what Cornelius had said the fate he promised her was the worst thing that could happen to a Kalethi warrior to die without honor like a dog in the mud.