"Captain Lason, Laker just left Carthage. He left the city from the West road," said the follower.

The Captain nodded his head. It was the most popular road with traders and villagers coming into and leaving the city. He looked towards the other four men who were waiting for his command.

"You two, go towards the mines and then go west. Stay out of trouble and try to go unnoticed. If anyone asks, you are following the command of Drogo," he said pointing to two of the men. "You, go to the main road. Your job is to follow Laker and make sure he's doing as he's told. When he reaches the west most village, stop him as he is returning. Mention our master, and he should listen. Keep him on the road between the villages, and we will meet you there. If anyone asks, you are following our master's orders."

Information on the main road spread very quickly. If someone was going around saying they were under Lord Drogo, it would quickly reach his ear. Men under the Lord could be sent out to investigate, and that could make their mission a lot more difficult.

The man he was speaking to nodded his head.

"And you, you're coming with me. We're heading out of the city through the North road." said the captain, speaking to the person that was left out.

As the captain finished giving orders, he nodded his head. The five men left the room and headed to the stable to bring out their horses. When they were fully prepared on their horses, they split up into three groups, heading towards their respective direction.

The plan to wipe out had been planned out long before Lando had gotten the letter. The noble had never expected the two criminals to get through all of the villages. He had figured that they would get caught and killed somewhere along the way. It was just a small disappointment that they didn't even get past the first village.

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After walking until the sun had set, the small group had finally reached the village at the end of the road. Sam and Xander were both reminded of the previous days where they spent walking from morning to night. It wasn't that long ago, and they could still feel a bit of sourness in their legs.

They took a break a few hours in. They started a small fire and had a meal. After that, they didn't stop until they reached the village. Stratus fell asleep soon after they ate, and Xander was forced to carry it.

They tried to put him on the horse, but the saddle wasn't fit for a dog-shaped rider. As the horse moved forward, the saddle shifted left and right and caused Strauts to almost fall off.

"Let's stay here for now. There probably isn't a place we can stay in the village anyway. We can deal with the horse in the morning and then head off," said Laina, as they watched the village in the near distance.

The village looked the same as the village they had been before, with little only a few differences. The village wasn't located right next to a lake, instead, there was a river to its side. There was an underground river that reached the surface right next to the village.

Sam nodded his head and agreed with Laina. Most of the people in the village had already returned to their houses from their work in the fields. They could not find someone to sell the horse to even if they tried. If these people were as hostile to outsiders as the last village, they would need to talk to a lot of people before they could find a buyer.

Laina started a fire with a flit. They gathered up a few fallen branches and found a spot near the road that was far enough away from a tree. The last thing they needed was to start a forest fire.

As the food was cooking, Xander started to talk.

"What are we going to do when we reach Carthage?" asked Xander. He wanted to know what Laina would do when she reached Carthage. She didn't know anyone there and didn't have anything to do. He did not want anything bad to happen to her when they reached the city.

Laina stared into the fire as she thought about her answer. "I don't know. I have enough money to survive for a while, so I can hopefully find a job before I run out of coins. I am sure there is some job that I can do. It's a big city after all," said Laina. She hadn't really given her future much thought. She had been worried about the journey to the city and the loss of leaving her village behind.

Xander nodded his head. A sudden idea came to his mind. He looked towards Sam to see if he had the same idea, but Sam was staring at the stars, not listening to their conversation. He felt like he should talk to Sam before he said anything to Laina, but he felt like this was a good time to bring it up to Laina.

"How about you join us?" said Xander. He had been looking at Sam if he had any reaction to his words, but Sam kept looking at the stars. Xander thought that Sam didn't hear him.

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"I don't know," Laina was uncertain. She didn't know the two for long, and there was also all of the uncertainty behind them. She did not know why they were here or what they wanted to do. Everything they told her was vague, and they could have easily made them up. It was one thing to travel with someone and another thing to join them. "I don't really know much about you two and what you're going to do."

Xander understood where Laina was coming from, so he wanted to tell her a few things so that she could trust them. But, this was something that he couldn't do without Sam. Even Xander knew what could happen if word got out that they were both from a different world.

"Sam?" said Xander. He wanted to get Sam's attention so that he could ask him how much he could tell Laina.

Sam sighed and got up into a sitting position. He had heard everything and knew what Xander was asking him about. Sam took a few seconds to think everything through. Xander, compared to Sam, only knew what the woman from Origin told him. Even if Xander told Laina everything he knew, it wouldn't be anything that could be detrimental if it got out.

"Tell her as much as you want," Sam finally said. Although there wasn't a big risk in telling Laina, there was always a chance that it could go bad. In the end, the only reason that Sam decided to let Laina know about them was the importance of allies to a warlord. There would always be only two Warlords in this world, and two people couldn't rule a world, no matter how strong they were.

"Really? Okay umm, where do I begin? I guess it all started the day I was born. It was about 8 pm when I entered the world. Not this world, but the other world." Xander started off his explanation. "I think it was raining that day, I don't remember exactly what happened, but I feel like I would be born when it was raining. My parents had -"

Instantly, Sam felt a sigh coming. He sighed and interrupted Xander. "Talk about what happened two weeks ago. We don't need to know the exact details of your entire life."

"Fine, but you did say that I could tell her whatever I wanted. It was a sunny day, two weeks ago. As far as Thursdays went, it was pretty boring. That morning, I sensed something was wrong. It was like there was a storm about to approach. But the skies were clear, and there was no sign of a storm..." Xander went on and on. Sam wanted to tell Xander to get to the main points, but he held himself back.

By the time Xander finally reached the part where he was taken to Origin, Sam and Laina had both fallen asleep. Laina listened to Xander's tale with a lot of attention at first but the father Xander got into his explanation, the most unfamiliar words he used. Laina had never heard some of them that Xander said and doubted if they were in the same language.

As time went on, dinner had finished cooking, and they ate. Xander kept going, pausing only to put a spoon in his mouth.

Sam knew that Xander kept switching to English every so often, and he also knew that Laian had no clue on what Xander was talking about.

With full stomachs and a bedtime story to listen to, Sam and Laina fell asleep in no time at all. When Xander finally noticed that his audience wasn't paying attention, he decided to continue his story in the morning with an awake audience. Soon after he thought that he was asleep.

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Laker realized that he was being followed as he moved through the villages heading West. It wasn't hard to notice as they were following him with a horse, and they weren't trying very hard to be stealthy either. He could sometimes hear the hooves of the horse as they followed him in the distance.

At first, he was worried. There were only a few people in the city that had access to horses, and he couldn't figure out a reason for the employer to send a person to follow him. He thought that somehow Lord Drogo had sent a person to follow him. That thought sent shivers down his spine.

As the noble, his employer had already told him, calling him a Lord was certainly something that could be considered as treason against Lord Drogo. The noble wasn't a lord, yet and there were only two ways for him to become a lord. Either his father, a lord in the Red Nation, and his elder brother died, or he was able to somehow get in control of another Lord's land.

Laker had been doing his jobs because he believed that the noble would eventually become a Lord. His tongue had slipped due to excitement and nervousness, and he hadn't even realized it until the noble pointed it out.

As time passed and Laker reached the first village, he realized that he was only being followed. The distance of the horse never came too close and stayed at a certain distance away. There were times where Laker couldn't hear it, and it was because other people were traveling on the path, and both he and his follower had to slow on as they passed.

As the day ended and the night began, Laker reached the second village. He decided to stop for the night and stay in the village.

"I need a room for the night and some food for the horse," Laker said to the tavern owner. The horse was tied up to the side of the building. No one would dare steal horses as only the powerful had horses. It wasn't worth a few silver to get on the bad side of a noble.

"Ten copper," replied the owner. Laker paid him and the owner told him his room number. Laker headed towards where the rooms were, but he was stopped by a man who stood in his way.

"What are you doing here, young man?" asked the man. He looked to be the same age as Laker, but his eyes, which held the same wisdom as someone old, told the truth.

Laker thought back to when the noble had told him to use the name of Lord Drogo. "I'm just passing through because of the order given to me by Lord Drogo himself." Laker faked confidence and told the man. He wasn't sure if he was believable or not, but the man moved to the side and let him through.

As Laker went to his room in a tavern, he realized that the person following him was most likely from the noble. After Laker came to his assumption, he decided that the person following him was to protect him. He thought that he had shown his loyalty to the noble, and the noble decided that Laker was someone he needed in the future.

Laker slept peacefully, comforted by his own thoughts. He didn't realize that he said something that he should not have said. When the noble had told him to use Drogo's name, he meant to say to use it in the west most village, nowhere else.

The person that stopped him was the village head of this village, and he didn't say anything, neither did the tavern owner. But they weren't the only people in the tavern within listening distance.

A person decided to not sleep that night. Instead, he went towards Carthage with only one purpose in his mind.