As he approached the campsite, all he could see were two silhouettes illuminated by the embers. The children should have been sleeping in the wagons. Still, they were missing one person. Judging by the size of the silhouettes, Samder was missing.
Looking around a little more, he could see Samder up there, clinging to the tree. He was sleeping at the top of the tree, hugging the trunk.
He might have needed to sleep somewhere away from the fire.
Ragul was trying to revive the dying embers with his axe in his hand.
"You still haven't slept."
"I decided to keep an eye on it until you came back."
"You know I didn't go that far."
After a slight pause, he continued.
"I can understand that you and your wife are worried, but if you don't let me do my job, this trip will be more tiring for all of us."
"Maybe... But can you really blame me?"
"For what?"
"Come on. You know what we were shouting about three feet away."
Chester approached Ragul. He was staring at him through his axe, reflected in the ember fire.
"Speak plainly. Is it that I'm human or that you don't feel safe?"
"It's both. You humans are liars and weak."
"The others you've met may be, but you know that's not who I am."
"All I know is that you are a human with an expensive sword. And that's enough for me to know what to think of you."
Chester replied in his stone cold voice.
"I don't care what you think. Now go sleep with your family."
He fixed his eyes on Chester, red with anger, and stood up, axe in hand.
"Watch your mouth, human."
"In case you haven't noticed, I work for you and I'm the one who's going to worry about your safety."
"It won't be for long. We're heading back to the city tomorrow morning."
Chester didn't expect this.
"You're being ridiculous."
"I won't jeopardize my family. I can wait a winter if I have to."
He turned around and went to the wagon. He put down his axe, wanting to pick up some of the wood he had chopped and throw it into the fire.
It was a ridiculous situation for Chester. He didn't want to be delayed for such a reason.
He picked up a thick branch lying on the ground beside him.
"Then I'll have to show myself to you."
Ragul was looking at the twig in Chester's hand.
"You don't want to do that."
"Don't worry, I won't push you too hard. After all, you'll be driving the wagon all the way."
Ragul put the wood down. He was breathing heavily through his nose, and he could see the prominent vein on his forehead caused by his anger.
"A human cannot defeat me."
"And I will show you that I can, and this nonsense will end."
"What do you want to prove?"
"You misunderstand me. I don't have to prove anything to you. But I have to show you how to realize something."
Ragul picked up one of the boards he had left on the floor.
"When this is over, you won't make trouble tomorrow."
"That won't happen. Instead we will pretend it never happened and move on."
"You're overconfident."
"And you continue to underestimate me despite what you've seen."
Chester moved off into the darkness, Ragul following behind him. They were in an open field nearby. When they were at a distance that would not wake the sleepers, they stopped. The only thing visible in the darkness was Mag's dim mechanical eye.
"I might accidentally kill you, Chester. Change your mind for your life."
"You don't have to hold back. But don't worry, I won't kill you."
Mag was whispering in his mind at the time.
"Be careful, his fists could easily knock you several meters into the air."
" I won't let him go that far."
After a long silence, Chester rushed forward.
Ragul swung his board powerfully and Chester easily avoided the cumbersome attacks. He could hear the wind of the swing passing all around him.
After dodging his attacks for a while, Chester struck Ragul's right arm with the branch in his hand. The attack had no effect as the branch shattered. Ragul was getting a little more angry.
It was impossible for him to hit Chester in the pitch darkness and with his haphazard swings. There was no point in prolonging this fight.
He tossed aside the broken branch in his hand and, with a quick dash, moved in closer, throwing an uppercut under his chin. If not for his armor, he would have broken his hand with that punch. He threw a hand over the stunned Ragul's shoulder, grabbed his horn with the other hand and was on his back in an instant. With his hands he started a hard neck lock. His arms were too short to hold the neck lock. He immediately changed his grip, pushing his elbow into his windpipe. Ragul was trying to separate Chester's arm with his hands. He could feel the crushing pressure on his arms, even though they wouldn't budge. Ragul's hoarse voice screamed with rage as he tried to shake Chester off his back, but he wouldn't. The endless neck lock eventually weakened Ragul and he fell to his knees.
"Give up Ragul, don't be stupid."
As his movements slowed to a crawl, with one last effort he got back to his feet and started running at full speed towards the tree. It was clear that he had thought to turn his back before he hit it. He had to finish this show of strength before he was seriously injured.
As much as Chester wanted to squeeze his hands, he couldn't go any further. He quickly let go of the lock and grabbed his by the horns and pulled himself up over his head, his legs were longer for the job. He put his neck back in the lock. At the same time he was using his horns to force his head up. For a moment he increased the pressure of the lock so much that he was about to snap Ragul's neck. Soon Ragul was on the ground. He got off his back.
"-mmm that's it, you finally killed an innocent villager-"
"Shut up if he had given up, there would have been no need for that. Besides, I didn't hold the lock that long."
He approached Ragul lying on the ground and examined his condition. There was no visible bleeding, he was breathing and had a pulse. Nothing serious seemed to be wrong.
"In any case, he is lying unconscious on the ground."
Aside from beating and knocking out his client, it would have been unethical to leave him unconscious in the dark. He dragged Ragul, who was lying on the ground in the middle of the darkness, back to the camp by one arm. After placing him on a mattress on the ground, he picked up the fallen woods and threw it into the embers. With a little effort he got the fire going again. Before sitting down, he moved to look around.
He went to look at the Yarpans. These creatures, their necks tied to a tree, were curled up on the ground, sleeping close together, making a strange growling noise. They had nothing in front of them except some food and water. After making sure there were no loose leash, he went back to check his surroundings. He decided there was no problem. He sat on the log by the fire.
He did not know what Ragul's decision would be tomorrow. Wasn't sure it would work with threats, if he didn't get stubborn they would continue the journey tomorrow, but he had no way of knowing before Ragul woke up.
As the hours passed, as the vigil grew tedious, he had a strange feeling.
Suddenly his senses were alarmed. Someone or something was watching him. There was no sound except the soft breeze that accompanied the crackling of the fire.
Slowly he looked around him.
"We are being watched."
"According to my sensors, there's no one else around but us."
He rose from his place and drew his gun. He pointed it towards the top of the trees. It was out of sight, only place he didnt checked with his eyes. He had just checked the forest when he went to renew his traps.
"Samder is behind you, closing in."
After Mag's statement, he couldn't understand his intention. He suddenly turned around and pointed his gun at Samder's head.
Samder was pointing at his neck. He remembered he couldn't speak without his necklace. But that didn't explain why he had gotten up in the middle of the night and approached him.
He put on his necklace and spoke.
"Ha! What keen senses you have, my friend, I knew you were amazing."
Chester heard nothing. His breathing, his footsteps, even his heartbeat. He didn't even know it existed, except by instinct.
"What are you doing Samder?"
"Eh, man, I just woke up and wondered, no big deal."
He took his hand off the trigger and holstered his gun.
"Is Ragul asleep? He said he was keeping watch."
Chester looked at Ragul.
"Sort of."
Samder leaned closer to Chester and began to whisper.
"Well, while everyone's asleep, I have some bad news."
"If it's about me, I know about it, Samder."
"Ha! Really? I mean- sorry, I didn't mean it like that, it's sad."
"We left that for the morning."
"So that's why Ragul agreed to sleep, I knew he couldn't take it."
"Anyway, why are you awake?"
"My friend, we Sesmirs don't sleep much. Even this much is too much for me, don't worry."
Chester looked at his watch, it was just after three. He had barely slept six hours.
"What are you going to do?"
"If I were back in my village I'd go hunting now, but it's no good going out in the middle of nowhere."
"I'll go check on the Yarpans. But I need some water. Look at me! I'm all dry."
He needed to stay moist, he thought. It also explained why he didn't sleep by the fire.
"Do what you want, but don't go too far, the forest is full of traps."
"Okay, my friend, whatever you say. After all, you're our guardian and I'll listen."
Chester also stood up and went to look at the road.
They were quite close to the road, so he could see it through the trees without going too far.
It was an empty road in pitch darkness. What could he expect? At this hour all he would see on the road would be bandits and smugglers. Maybe a messenger trying to deliver urgent news.
He went back to the camp. Samder had brought some food to the yarpans, made small talk with him, then said he was hungry and ate the insects he found around him. He ate with appetite, but it was not a pleasant sight.
It was no different for Chester. The slop he ate was not very filling, they had a full wagon full of food and they would surely have something to eat in the morning.
Perhaps he should have gone hunting to ease the situation. Samder was awake anyway. If he could catch something to eat by dawn, he might have a better chance of persuasion.
"Samder."
"Yes?"
"You're awake anyway. I'm thinking of catching something to eat in the breakfast."
"But it's hard to hunt in an unfamiliar place, my friend. Besides, I heard humans can't see in the dark. Isn't that true?"
"Don't worry about that. Can you keep an eye on the camp while I hunt?"
"Oh yes! You can count on me, man, if you catch some rozalos and bring them back, maybe we can make a nice soup."
"Rozalos?"
"You know, little brown fluffy things that jump around. They taste great."
Mag interjected.
"It describes a rabbit with brown fur. I can't wait to -tear it open- examine it."
"We'll know when we find it."
Needed a way to get in touch with them in case of an emergency. In pitch darkness a bright distress flare would work, but in the thick vegetation there was a chance the flare would get caught in the trees.
He reached to his focuser and built a radio.
It was a complex full-directional dual-channel radio. He didn't want to teach them how to use it, so he had chosen such a radio. It works like a telephone. He didn't have to worry about battery life, he planned to be back in four hours.
"Oooh! What the hell is this, man? This is the first time I've ever seen anything like this. Is it enchanted?"
After a few quick adjustments, Chester turned on the radio and connected the channel with the same Mag frequencies.
"Something like that. If something urgent happens, bring closer to you and talk to me. I'll be hearing you, I'll come running back to camp."
Samder took the walkie-talkie from Chester and began to examine the device.
Samder looked uncomfortable.
"Wow, man... This thing feels weird in my hands. I mean, there's no bad energy, is there? I'm a little uneasy."
"It must be the ability to detect infrasonic sounds."
He took the radio from his hand and put it on a stone neaby.
"You don't need to carry it around with you. Use it when you need it."
Chester moved quickly through the forest.
He carefully avoided his traps and made his way deeper into the forest, but not too far. In such dense forest cover, he thought, his range should be less than three kilometers.
"Mag, are you getting an acoustic response?"
"Nothing so far."
Chester moved through the forest, trying to look carefully around him. He couldn't even see a moving insect.
"Give me a thermal imaging camera for my right eye."
Mag did as he asked. He had thermal lenses in one eye and night vision lenses in the other. It was quite a headache for someone not used to it. Even for Chester, who had used optics in this way for a long time, it didn't change that fact. His experience was not improving his eyesight. But unlike the equipment he had used before, with the Mag there was no delay in his vision, it was less distracting.
Chester could now easily see living things in the depths of the forest. But he still couldn't see the 'fluffy' things. It was possible that they had nests under the ground.
After looking everywhere that looked like a nest, he finally managed to find one. Expecting something cute and fluffy, what he saw looked more like a badger with a killer face.
"Aren't they ugly, Chester?"
"Shut up, you'll wake it up."
Despite Mag's ridiculous comment, the creature was still asleep in its burrow. He probed deeper into the burrow, he could see that there was more than one inside, but it was impossible to reach the others without waking them. He quickly grabbed the throat of the one he could reach and pulled it out of the nest. He broke its neck with a single blow. But not fast enough. The others were awakened by the sound of the creature's voice and started running left and right, bursting out of other holes in the nest.
He quickly pulled out his gun with his left hand and managed to shoot and kill two of them.
The other animals were now harder to find because of the shooting. He looked at his watch again. It was twenty past five. He decided he didn't need to look any further. Three of them were good enough, he thought. He took the ones he had shot and started to examine them. The creatures didn't fit Samder's description, their fur was a harsh red, more like dried bloodstains. Their cheeks looked as if they had been torn apart, but decided that it looked natural when compared to the others.
He was returning to the campsite while Mag was telling him something about research methods about this new findings. Meanwhile, he heard on the radio that Tersan had woken up and said something about sleeping well. Samder didn't know what he was doing, but based on what Tersan had said, he thought he was carving a piece of wood.
After a slight disorientation and a short headache from Mag, he found his way again, carefully avoided the traps and arrived at the campsite. The darkness of the sky was merging with a bright sun, it was the time of dawn.