"Couldn't that bitch just have gone straight?" She's not even following a trail now! What the fuck!"

"Stop complaining, Joe! She can't have gone much further."

"Hey guys, do you see that?"

"What now, Kyle, there’s nothing to see here, only leaves, and trees, and bushes, and FUCKING INSECTS!"

"CALM THE FUCK DOWN JOE! Or I'll calm you down with my fist and you'll wake up over an ant's nest. What now, Kyle?"

"Look over there, I think that's a cave!"

"Huh... Let's get there then."

The three men had been walking non-stop since the night. It was now mid-morning; they ate dried meat while walking to avoid losing any more time. After the clearing they kept following her traces through the closed forest. Most of the time they remained close to the mountain face. But from time to time the girl had meandered through the forest and back, forcing them to take massive detours in order to not lose track of her. After hours on end walking around, they found a cave in the mountain. Their navigator, who spotted it, was not so comfortable with his finding.

"Gabe, there's something fishy here, we should call the others."

"What, Kyle? Are you chickening out now?"

"It's not that... I just don't recall ever seeing any mentions to this cave anywhere in the maps..."

"It's fucking mountains Kyle, who the fuck would spend their time mapping out all the fucking caves around." Snickered Joe at his remarks.

"Hey boys, she's here! Look!" Joe ran ahead of them, pointing out to some broken branches and another small piece of cloth. However, the closer he got to the cave, the larger it seemed.

The entrance to it was set in a clearing, under a huge crag, that prevented any large vegetation from growing under its shadow.

Their notion of size was dulled by the time they had spent roaming through the forest, but as they approached the entrance, Kyle's point became more sound.

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The entrance to the cave was gargantuan. It could easily allow 10 or more men, side by side, to enter at once. Heck, maybe even more! The ceiling also towered more than 40 feet above their head, with large stalactites hanging menacingly.

"I told you didn't I! This is not any regular cave... It's too big to not be in the maps... Either it just plopped here out of nowhere or nobody who saw it came back to put it on the maps..."

They stood in front of the cave entrance, talking about whether to enter or not.

"I'm not going in there! If you want you guys, go alone. I'm calling the rest."

As they looked to each other, conversing, only one of them stared straight into the darkness. Gabe was the only one who had experience with adventuring. He had once tried to live as an adventurer, but decided it was too uncertain of a life for him, choosing a life as a mercenary over flirting with death on a daily basis. Of course, this decision had a reason... He lost his whole party in a dungeon and he barely escaped alive due to sheer luck.

"Come on Kyle, stop being a wussy!"

"Joe, shut up, he has an argument." Gabe's hair stood on end. A weird feeling took over him, a feeling he knew very well from the times of war, and from way before... "There's an ambush inside, something's staring at us."

"Huh, you too?"

While Joe asked confused, Kyle exhaled in relief.

"Shut up, Joe. This time you're wrong. Let's go back and come with the others. I don't wanna die today."

As they turned around and left, a single person stood silent, despite having an attractive woman on his lap. He was having a mental conversation with something.

They're coming back with more people, right?

<< Yeah, you better prepare yourself. >>

What a damned timing...

-------------

In a clearing somewhere in the forest, a single man was running while yelling.

"ALL GROUPS ASSEMBLE! I REPEAT, ALL GROUPS ASSEMBLE!" Kyle was trying to gather all the men at Gahan's order.

Most of them had just returned from their own scouting, trying to get a trail that led to the princess. Finding her on their own mean a lot of money they could use to relax after this mission. Maybe even get some time off for a change.

Soon, all the groups were either already there or heading towards the clearing. Only a few seconds after the last group joined them, a thunderous voice caught everyone's attention.

"You all useless fuckers! Again, the one you call the most useless did what you couldn't do."

More than half of the men started whispering to each other, was he actually talking about Gabe? Who else could it be though? He and his group weren't here yet...

"Yes, I am talking about Gabe, now shut the fuck up!"

"We are gonna follow his trail and find were he went before he gets the girl by himself. If he has fun with her before I do because of your incompetence, I guarantee at least one of you won't have a neck by the end of the day!"

"ARE WE CLEAR?"

""YES SIR!"" Exclaimed every man in the clearing. Except for Kyle, he was slowly turning away to get back to his guys.

"KYLE!"

"Yes, Sir?!" He responded, turning around hurriedly.

"Don't fuck, it up. Or the 5 of you are dead. Understand?"

"Yes, Sir!" '

Fuck, why did I get myself into this shithole...' He thought.

As he turned away to leave, he glanced over the formation. No one would deny they were very organized for mere mercenaries. Their group had suffered greatly from the lack of wars, and now only consisted of half a Centuria plus Gahan, a mere third of what they once were. The Bloody Maniple was a mercenary company feared for both their skill as soldiers and the brutality of their leader. They also stood out in wars, since most countries were divided in Syntagmas. They were always fought as such, a heinous enemy, and the military training from Gahan was deeply ingrained in all his men. The only two groups that were not part of the main force were the scout, also disposable, group of Gabe and his two sidekicks, and the Logistics group, led by Kyle himself. Both were seen very poorly by the rest of the mercenary group, despite always having to take the brunt of responsibility whenever they left town and having been with them for almost a decade now.

As the company marched deep into the forest, Kyle returned to his men, to wait for their return and prepare to witness whatever was going to happen to yet another prisoner, once she was captured.