"Always stay vigilant". That is what Ardon had been told his whole life. A man of extraordinary abilities often called mutated or evolved, Ardon had been training his whole life. And his training always led to this: STAY VIGILANT.
Under the hot summer sun however, remaining vigilant was the last of the hunter's concerns. His horse, though more durable than any other, wasn't going to last for much longer carrying his weapons, armor and food for the both of them. This trip had indeed taken much more time than he initially thought. But it was too late to stop now. He was so close.
If he had known where it would lead him from the start, he would have never accepted this job. Ardon, though young was already experienced and knew what jobs would be easy and pay well. However, this time it was different. The target was a half-dragon, the one who murdered the mayor of Aftopos. The hunter thought it would be easy. Yet the monster had already left the country when he took the job. Now all he could do was follow its trail to SunCity and ask around.
Under his horse's heavy breathing, Ardon ascended the last hill before he could finally glance at SunCity from afar. From the hill's top, one could see the whole tiger valley with the city in the middle. Ardon was expecting to see golden fields and crops ready to be harvested. His eyes desperately searched for the hundreds of people that usually passed through the main road. Nothing however was as he had expected.
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The only thing he could see was blood and dead bodies. There were weapons scattered all around the valley and dark smoke was rising from where the farms and the fields used to be. Smoke he would have noticed had he remained vigilant. Ardon could not believe his bad luck. Weeks of traveling and yet not a single sign of this damn war. He wasn't going to give up though. If there was one thing life had taught him, it was to always complete the mission. War or not he would enter the city and get what he wanted. Easy to say, hard to do. Focusing his eagle vision, he managed to make out the attacker's camp that was closing the main road. There were also smaller camps around the city. He would have to pass through them.
After inspecting the whole situation, Ardon realized the signs of battle were old, maybe more than a week ago, probably an attempt to catch the city's army off guard. Now however the attackers seemed calm, waiting for the city's defenses to be weakened by the lack of food and sleep. That was good. Ardon had a chance to catch them off guard.