Somewhere in the forest a twig cracks
"sir," the pathetic guard trie to get his commander's attention,"sir the scout part has returned."
"well did they find anything?"
" No sir"
" We've been stuck in this bloody forest for over three bloody weeks, and we have no sign of the bloody enemy"
"sir?"
"Bloody as race they are. Disgusting"
"The King has a plan to destroy them ,sir, honor it is to destroy yo-"
"'you'll fing them soon' bloody ass honor this is"
"sir we'll find them soon and when we do we can draw all their armies to one battle, and King Richet can conquer their city."
"Learn your place soldier! I know that. We are just pieces on the chess bloody chess board, but what piece ar we?" the commander said thinking alloud.
" Yes sir, it’s a honor to be the attacking rook on the board"
" A ROOK?" We are the diversion-"
" no sir I am the rook"
"excuse me? You should be under arrest if we had a blood well actually platoon here. Get out of my site"
" There are the pawns who get played and the ones who play. I am the Eagle under the tree."
The branch on the tree moves.
"Gua-"
"Its too late to be the player you are the pawn," the soldier says as the commander drops to the ground.
Men jump down from trees and from behind bushes and start the attack on the camp. They shoot flmaing arrows at their enemies and the buildings. Cries of terror erupt from the camp. Fire starts out amoung the rows and rows of tents. Arrows fly and hit the targets of the King's Defense while they prepare for the oncoming attack; however there is no army to meet them. The camp is in total distress; the inhabitants of the King's Defence fall in a steady rate. Soon none are left.
"Captain Gauren"
"Yes?" says the Garuen as he walks away from his ormer commander's body.
"They are all dead, sir"
"How many have we lost?"
"None, everything went as planned"
" Send a runner to the House of the Eagle, they will want to know of our victory. Soon we will be able to pay a visit to our "long forgotten friends.
"yes sir," he says as he hurries away.
Easy, thinks Garuen, soon they will all be dead. He shakes with silent laughter. "SOON THEY WILL ALL DIE HAHAHAHAHAH." They're all staring at me haha. "WELL I DON’T BLOODY WELL CARE"
* * *
"Something must be done," says Bolore, " that lunitic must be stopped."
"Well do you have any ideas, you are in charge of the King's Defense," snapped Koro.
"We must attack him." Bolore says as he looks around the King's advisors for support.
"Oh, and do you know where he lives? Did you go over there for dinner? "
"Fool, we don't need to attack any where specific, but its obivious he lives in the Forest Khara. We move our forces near the forest." It was well known amoung the nobles that Bolore and Koro often disagreed with each other.
" And you expect him just to come right out do you?He could hide forever in the blasted forest."
"Well there are numerous ways to draw him into battle."
"How, ask him out on a date?"
"If you thought about it you would realize that we could block his exists, keep him trapped inside. Then we have a few options one my personal favorite would be to burn the forest."
Idioits, thinks the King, they never think. No one ever thinks. That’s why I am in charge. You don't stay King if you don't make plans.But you needed to know when to interfere. In the country of Dohara, "kings" were more or less the person standing over the previous' King's body. "We can't meet him in open battle because it seems he has no real army. We must use his method. We must hire someone to find there camp and lead our men to his camp. Then we can attack him."
Nerbo strolled up the street you would probably call "Main Street" if they named the streets in Dero. Nerbo received a message to meet him in the Red Haron taveron. There was no name on it, which was not all that unusaul, but he decided to snesak in the back way anyway. Honor was for the fool who gets killed. If it gets you money do it, when your life is in danger screw it. That was the motto Nerbo lived by, and its worked for all these years. Nerbo was the kind of person who didn't waste time "honorably" challenging his apponent, he just stabbed him in the back. Saves time and lives, in a way he is helping saving trouble for Death and Time.
Nerbo turned into an alley near the Red Heron. There was a house on one side and a brick wall on the other. He climbed over the wall and jumped into an emty yard at the back of the tavern.
"Looks like I'm not the only one who doesn't trust this meesage."
Nerbo didn't jump. Bounty Hunters like him don't "jump". He turned around and found himself facing Dimar. Dimar was a friend of Nerbo's, well a "friend" meaning they didn't bother trying to kill each other. Dimar was dreesed in a long green cloak. He had a quiver of arrows and a bow slung over his back. Nerbo knew that a rapier and a knife was hidden in his cloak. Dimar was an Elven sourcerer/archer/ swordsmen. He had long blond hair like most elves and was tall and skinny. If he wasn't so skinny he probably would've passed for a woman. Unlike most elves Dimar agreed with Nerbo's views on honor. That’s why hes alive, thought Nerbo."Shall we go inside?"
They want throught the back and found a waiter who told them where the people were waiting. They looked through a hole in the wall that Dimar conveinientally made. There were three men sitting around a table. Two were dressed in black roabs and black cloaks and covered there heads with there hood so there faces were not visible. The third was a short grubby man holding a bottle of ale. He had a half shaven beard and a dirty, drunk look about him. "That guy is head of the theif's gang."
"The short one?" asked Dimar
"Do you see anyone else on different tables?bodygaurds?"
"No, looks alright lets go in."
They went in and sat at the table trying to draw as less attention to themselves as possible. Nerbo noticed not many people noticed them. It was a known fact that when you were "negoitating" terms there are usually a few "ambassadors".
"About time,"said one of the hooded men
" Now were waiting for one more" said the second hooded man
"Why are we here?" asked Nerbo. Nerbo had considered the risk of asking this. Some cilents get very angry when you try to take control, but on the other hand if you acted tough then you can save yourself the troble of fighting.
"You will find out soon enough," said the second hooded figure
"That’s 'bout oll the'll say," said the theif, "by o way 'm Poltor"
"Dimar"
"Nerbo" Saying this was probably unnessary, because theives always had to be on the look out for Hunters.
At that moment a man dressed in chain mail armour walked in. He was armed with a long sword, bow and quiver. He had a very odd apperance in the tavern, for he was the only one there without some concealment of weapons or anything else. When he started walking toward the table Nerbo new at once he would cause trouble. This was the kind of person who walks around with appearance"Hey I will do justice to all wrong-doers" and then gets a knife in the back. That’s what bloody honor is.
"Did you give me this message?" he asked
"yes, you are Hurange?"
"yes and you people are?"he asked the whole table in general.
"Nerbo"
"Dimar"
"Poltor"
"Well know that we are all here lets begin," said one
"We will tell you what we want you to do, you will do it, you will get paid a lot of money, you don't ask questions, we will tell you only what you need to know, got it?"said the second one.
"How much?" asked Nerbo, this was basically all that was he "needed to know"
"10,000"
"Who do I kill?" asked Nerbo, who thought he was doing a splendid job of this no extra questions thing. He has had a lot of experience. Most clients like to keep names out of it.
"This is a job for all of you." Said the first figure.
"10,000 each then?"
"yes," said the second man.
"What o' yo wan us to do already?" asked Poltor
"Your job is to find and kill a person."
"He was last sen in the forest Khara" said the first figure
"He is a tricky person with a band of forest dwellers" said the second
"We want you to find his camp and then lead us there." Said the first
"There are many things that live in the forest Khara and not many of them are good," said Dimar who had a lot of knowledge of the forest.
"Plus the forest is a maze of trees and tons of other plants," said Hurange
"That is why we have hired two hunters, Nerbo and the elf Dimar, and the head theif Poltor, and the ranger Hurange," said the second figure
"I refuse to work in the presence of such incompentents," snarled Hurange.
"I take that as a personal insult," growled Poltor as he shifted his weight in his seat. It was obvious to Nerbo that he was pulling out a daggar. One of the hooded figures put a hand on his shoulder telling him to calm down.
"Anyone who doesn't want the job can leave now." The thought of working with someone like Hurange was not very helpful, but the idea of 10,000 tipped the balance.
"I'm in" Nebo said
"Same" said Dimar
"yep" said Poltor
"Alright," Hurange said reluctantly. It seems money is wanted everywhere, with the honored and he shady.