The only way I was going to escape The Sleeping Bog with my life was to follow my plan and hope it doesn't unravel. I knew it was a gamble but I didn’t have time to worry about things going wrong, I was racing against the clock and every second counted. I was lucky to find the spot I encountered the misty guy from before and follow the horse tracks, but eventually the land I was walking on got swallowed by water and foliage. Before I knew it I was in waist high water, for real this time. The water slowed me down significantly, I didn’t have any signs to guide me to Soteria and at this pace the cloud spirit was going to return and finish me off. My luck ran out just as fast as I got it.

In moments of desperation, moments like this, I do what mother taught me long ago. I pray to the gods for guidance.

“The seas are dangerous, for us to navigate them we make maps using the stars. Atlas gave us the stars to help us when we’re lost.” She would tell me.

It was getting darker by the minute. My eyesight has been enhanced ever since the ritual happened, I can see decently well in the dark but that wouldn’t be enough to find the thieves in time. The night was coming fast, and my chances of getting there in time were dwindling. I looked up at the sky, blocked by tree branches, but I could still see the stars. There was still hope.

“Atlas; carver of mountain and river, help me find the white stallion.” I prayed under my breath.

Wisdom came to me, maybe it was Atlas or maybe the thoughts of my family and the sea and boats gave me the idea. It was an obvious one in hindsight but a good one nonetheless. I lowered myself fully into the water and swam, I could move faster now and it made me harder to find. I wasn’t defeated just yet.

It didn’t take long for night to come and cover everything in shadows. When it did, the path forward was clear to me. I could see the light of torches in the distance, they stood out like a beacon from a lighthouse guiding me forward. I smiled, things were turning around in my favor.

The water got more shallow the closer I got to the torches, soon I was back on solid -albeit muddy- ground. The torches were coming from an old ruin, it was small, covered in moss but seemed sturdy and defendable. I got beside a tree and took my bandelier off, resting it and my sword securely in a place not easily visible. I was taking another calculated risk, my plan was to enter this ruin unarmed hoping it would help me get to their leader before a fight broke out. There was another reason I wanted to put my sword and crossbow away, I didn’t want to kill anyone. That night when I attacked the Night Hunters was a mistake, I don’t regret saving Helena but killing those men - it only brought me problems. I didn’t want to repeat that mistake, so I had to try another route. Nobody had to die today.

In the dead of the night I crept towards the ruin, it seemed like an old military fort long forgotten and found by the wilderness and the bandits who lived here. I pressed my back against the wall and bent down to keep out of eyesight. Peering in from a hole probably caused by a catapult, there were about half a dozen men with weapons drawn keeping an eye out for danger. It seemed the cloud spirit warned them about me ahead of time. Inside I could see the Soteria hitched in a stablehouse. I considered sneaking through the fort and making a mad dash with Soteria, hoping the cloud spirit wouldn’t be able to catch us. I decided against it though; for one a few of these men had crossbows. One lucky shot could kill her or myself. Second, it was night time in a rugged wetland. I was a decent jockey but this wasn’t my horse. One wrong move and we’d go tumbling down and break some bones. I decided to stick with my original plan.

I made my way to the front of the ruin, where most of the men were guarding, and slowly emerged from the shadows with my hands raised to the sky. Crossbow bolts were immediately aimed at me.

“I’m unarmed! I just want to talk!” I shouted at them.

“You alone?!” A bandit on the wall shouted back.

“Yes! I’m not here to fight!” I responded. “Can you let me in?! All this shouting, a bear might hear us!”

There was another pause, like they weren’t sure what to do. I had to reassure them.

“You can have someone check me! I’m unarmed!”

The bandit on the wall turned away, the rest kept their weapons drawn on me. I figured the one on the wall was talking to someone behind him. He turned to his men and ordered;

“Open the gates!”

Two large wooden doors opened slowly, ripping apart the ground as they did. I slowly walked forward, careful not to raise any suspicion. As I got to the entrance a couple of stocky looking thugs padded me down for weapons. They made sure to shake me around, as if to show me their strength. I didn’t resist. They even went as far as to take my boots off to check for daggers, I’ll give them credit, most aren't so thorough.

“He’s telling the truth. Nothing on him.” The thug told his leader.

In the center of the ruin, surrounded by a collection of expensive looking trinkets, was a man who stepped forward. He looked younger than me, he was taller and lankier than me, and he had peach fuzz growing on his chin. I wasn’t exactly threatened by him, he didn’t strike me as a gang leader. On him was a bright red set of brigandine armor with a leather jacket over it. He wore an obnoxious hat with a long brim as well, the kind that a hunter might use to block the sun from his eyes. He walked over to me with a confident stride, holding the pommel of a sheathed rapier.

“You came an awful long way just to see us.” His voice was low and snarky, “And I know you ain’t lost. The Trapped King told us about you.”

The Trapped King huh?

“So I ask you, whatever your name is, why are you here? Did we do something to grieve you?” He kept going, almost monologuing.

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I glanced around my surroundings. I could easily drop the leader and his thugs, but I was concerned about the crossbow wielding guards on the ruin walls behind me. There was also a bigger man in half plate, a foot taller than me and holding a hammer. One hit from him could take me out. I looked back at the leader.

“Call me The Drifter. You?”

“I’m just James.” He answered.

“I’m just here for the horse James.” I pointed my head towards Soteria. “The man you robbed yesterday sent me. I’m just asking politely for you to return what isn’t yours.”

James looked to the horse and back at me. He chuckled.

“You don’t look like you come from money, I don’t either. Yes we took the man’s horse, but I’m fond of expensive things. I take from people who can replace what is lost.” He explained. “You gonna punish me for a victimless crime?”

He waved his arms at the stockpile of trinkets behind him; goblets, jewel encrusted swords, a fine leather saddle, even a painting of a war general standing proud,

“You came here to do a job. How about you take something from our collection that fancies your eye? And we call it even. It’ll cover whatever he’s paying you.” He proposed.

I took a deep breath, glanced around one more time, and looked James in the eyes.

“It’s a nice offer, but I didn’t come here to negotiate.” I leered at him.

Before anyone could react, I drove my elbow into the thug on the left, it struck him in the nose. He flew back limply, I was confident he wouldn’t get up from that. I crouched low, avoiding a punch from the thug on my right and returned an uppercut to his chin. He was still standing, albeit in a daze. I grabbed his arm and flipped him over me, he landed on his back and didn’t seem to have any fight left in him. I was careful not to hit them too much, punches and kicks from me were enough to kill a person.

Two enemies down, I sprinted towards James to tackle him but the big man got to me first. He shoved me with one hand, I wasn’t ready for it and he was as strong as he looked. I fell on my side, and he proceeded to raise his hammer to the sky ready to end me. I went for a kick to the knee, it landed so hard that his leg bent backwards. Instinctively he dropped the hammer down on me, I rolled out of the way with seconds to spare as he howled from the pain of a broken leg.

I got to my feet fast, behind me I heard the whistle of crossbow bolts cutting air. If I got up any slower they would’ve pinned me to the ground, instead they shot into the dirt I was laying in a second ago. James stood in a defensive stance, rapier drawn and pointed at me. Just my luck, he's a trained fencer. Getting close enough to land a hit on him wouldn’t be easy, his rapier was long enough to keep me at a distance - if he didn’t stab me I’d be wide open to get shot by another round of bolts. With no time to think of a plan I ran to a nearby crate and slid over it, narrowly avoiding the crossbow fire again. I got behind it for cover and hid. I listened carefully for footsteps, I hoped he would go in for an attack and I could close the gap by surprising him.

James was crafty though, he didn’t fall for it. I just barely heard something catch fire and dove out of the way. As I did, a bottle with a burning rag was tossed behind the crate where I was hiding. It exploded, lighting the ground on fire. I could feel the heat at my back. At that moment a crossbow bolt drove into my shoulder. It didn’t hurt yet, my adrenaline was pumping. I got up with as much vigor as I could muster and decided ‘fuck it’. I sprinted full speed at James, and when he went to stab me I went low and slid on the ground. It was just enough to dodge his strike, and in that instance I grabbed him and body slammed him into the ground. He reached for a dagger in his hilt but my attack must’ve rocked him, his hand slipped and I beat him to the punch. I took the weapon myself, rolled on my back, put him on top of me and pressed the sharp end of the dagger to his throat.

“Call off your men! Tell them to drop their weapons!” I commanded him.

He wasted no time. “Drop the crossbows!” He ordered.

I stood him up, making sure to keep him facing the still conscious men. I kept the dagger pressed against his throat, and didn’t move. My shoulder was starting to throb from pain, but I waited.

The misty figure known as ‘The Trapped King’ appeared in front of us.

“You vile filth!” It jeered at me. “I warned you not to come here! Yet you still attack my men? All for a fucking horse!”

“Some things are personal.” I muttered. “But your ‘subjects’ aren’t dead, if you attack me I’ll put a nice hole in James’ neck. Let me go with the horse and James can keep his Adam's apple.”

The Trapped King didn’t say a word.

“Given your little nickname, I’m guessing you can’t leave this place huh? If you try and kill me, I’ll make sure everyone here dies before you finish me off. Won’t be a ‘king’ then huh?”

The Trapped King was quiet, it had no facial expressions to read, but I knew it was calculating its next move carefully.

“Fine, have it your way. Let my men live and you can go with the horse.” It finally relented.

“Good.” I responded.

Blade still on James’ throat, I marched him to the horse. I placed my last tonic bottle in his hand.

“Make the horse drink this.” I instructed him.

“W-Why?”

“Don’t ask why. Just do it.”

His body was shaking from fear, he struggled to uncork the bottle but finally managed. With one hand he pressed the bottle into the horse’s mouth and with his other hand he stroked her cheek comforting her.

“There there, e-easy girl.” James assured her, his voice was rattled.

“It’s a good thing you know about horses. Now get on.”

“What?” James sounded confused and afraid.

“Get on the horse. I ain’t gonna ask you again.”

He followed my directions and got on the saddle. I grabbed the crossbow bolt in my left shoulder and snapped it. It hurt like hell but I couldn't pull the bolt out without bleeding to death, I didn’t need a whole arrow sticking out of me though. I got on Soteria’s saddle, sat behind him and pressed the dagger against his neck again.

“Now, you take the reins and ride us out of here. You do as I say and I let you live. You can walk back to your friends, and you can even have the knife back.”

James didn’t need to be told twice. He took control of Soteria and she trotted out of the ruins. I looked at The Trapped King as we left.

“Ride past that tree.” I told James as we left the gates. He followed my order, and as we rode past I grabbed my weapons and put them beside me.

Ten minutes passed without a word said between the two of us. Once I was confident we reached beyond The Sleeping Bog I threw James off the saddle and tossed him the dagger.

“Pleasure doing business with you James.”