Luther work up, his feet and arms tied by a thick rope, he tried to move it but the rough texture scraped his wrist as he tried ; so he decided to give up the struggle for now and observed the location, his eyes adjusting to the place. He saw, in front of him, 5 men who sat round a bustling campfire, all of them sat upon flat stone surfaces buried within the mounds of snow seemingly discussing something. There were a few horses aside them who were their ride, they were not tied yet remained at rest near the men, they were obedient it seemed. He himself was laying upon the snow, his one side almost buried within the snow-powder, feeling extremely cold, yet not wanting to gain the attention of the strangers who had likely tied him here, he laid still and listened to them.
On the center there was a man, who had a scared face, a long mark which ran down from his temple towards his chin, instilled deeply down till close to the skull-bone, the scarred eye was completely grey while the other seemed a dull green. His body was roped with muscles, a vein visible on his forehead as he gripped a long knife loosely on his right hand. He appeared the leader of the group as he spoke with a rough—almost hoarse—tone, filled with complete authority,
"Be it so, yet, Wisker, why have you brought this boy there? He seems of least use to us, by what I can tell he is not but a peasant."
"He ain't got a piece of valuable thing in his belonging, just some coins, and an useless book." joined another member as he snuff through Luth's sac carelessly begore tossing it aside.
He said turning Wisker who sat opposite to the leader, and in reply Wisker raised his head with a crooked grin, fixing his good eyes with the leader, the other one which was misaligned twister stray towards another members, as he laughed which resonated more with a hiss,
"Troust, boys like these sell for a fine price—yes, indeed, very fine. We could carry this boy off to Gyra and hand him inside the market. We are short on money this winter anyways."
The leader, Troust's nose scrunched up in annoyance at the words of his companion, yet it did not seem of dislike towards the idea. He looked at the other men,
"Very well, it seems rest is decided then. We shall reach Gyra at afternoon if our horses keep healthy. This boy will be taken care of there."
Troust ran his hand through his dirty, jungled hairs, sometimes trapping in his locks as he proceeded. Luther felt something scratching his face and moved his cheek to pull the snow aside. There was a jagged stone which had been pretty sharp at the edges which stood near his face. With his constricted state there was less he could to at the moment yet he opened his mouth and with his touch pushed the stone inside, the rough and cold texture of it leaving a foul feeling in his mouth. He pushed it at the side of his teeth, where he rested it.
The leader noticed the moment of his face and shouted,
"Seems like the boy is up."
The rest of the members turned towards Luth observing his face, while the leader continued to speak,
"Do us a pleasure and give up your name, though it would hardly matter after you are gone and sold."
There was only a silence from the side of Luth, trying to still conceal what he hid in his mouth. Troust walked up to him, his height dwarfing Luth's by a complete 2 or 3 feet. He picked up Luth from the laying position and pushed him up so that he stood on his knee, while he grabbed his hair and pushed it above to meet his gaze. There was a few moments of silence before everyone—but Luth—erupted laughing and the leader removed his arm and went back to the fire to join the rest. One member spoke, in a amused tone,
"Little timid frog we got, eh?"
All laughed for a while before it died down and they decided to get some rest. They sat near the stone, Troust leaned his back upon the stone surface and covered himself with his good cloak before closing his eyes, giving them a rest. Members followed suit and eventually most were in deep slumber barely disturbed sometimes by only the soft steps of the horses who roamed about closely to them. Wisker walked over to him and dragged him near the fire, pushing his head upon the hard surface.
"Don't want you dying now, do we?"
He soon departed to sleep as well fairly distant from Luth. After there was a stillness established he pretended to sleep; and after half an hour there was enough silent assurance for Luth to open his eyes. He studies the place for a few moments and then seeing none awake, curled himself, his knees turning up and his arm ahead of his mouth. He removed the stone out of his mouth and settled it in between with his teeth, gripping hardly on it. He then turned his tied arms at the level of the stone and began to slowly, slowly cut through it with the stone's edge. His teeth began to ache as he did but he felt paid mind to nothing at the moment in a hint of urgency. Moving his arms left and right excruciatingly chipping away at the rope, there was a ear and he finally broke it with the strength he had. With his right hand he took the stone out of his mouth and cut the rope which clenched his feet as well.
Unfurling his body in relief he rested himself for a few moments. The moon was a bit lower in the night sky, it seemed like it was now very late. He did not bother his mind with it for he straight stood up and covertly walked over to his fallen sac, picking it up and trying it upon his back, it was light and carried less weight so even in his tired condition he could handle it and the walked out of the place, away from the fire.
He walked away, he had known not where he had been. There was only snow in the distance, which spread vastly in all the directions, the only life seemingly were some birds that flew above his head and other small animals like hares. in the distance there was a huge forest, which seemed Impervious from far. It laid with dense trees that were high and with thick trunks. He headed towards the forest the walk taking several minutes. Each step brought more tire to his body, but hope kept him stood on his way, ambulating towards the place.
Extremely tired when he had stepped near the forest he rested his head against the trunk of one of the trees. He swallowed and felt his throat completely dry, his senses felt almost revised by dullness, his breath came out in long intervals with a hint of fatigue.
He shut his eyes and as soon as his eyes caught rest, his whole body collapsed in exhaustion and he went to sleep. He was down for hours, but his ears caught the familiar sound of trotting in the distance and his eyes opened wide, his senses came back in a rush. some distance away he saw the bandits who were walking around, seemingly looking for something, and that was true.
"The footsteps stopped here, he must be inside the forest some where." spoke Troust, there was a bit of anger that pulled itself out in that sentence.
Luth new that they were talking about him. He had to find some place to hide, for there was no possibility of racing their speed in this condition when they were mounted out swift horses.
He crawled behind a bush taking shroud between the tender leaves, it would have sufficed, that was the thought process. Luth took a deep breath, in and out, for several moments, till he felt well prepared. He took a fistful of snow in his hand, which also had small pieces and debris of rocks. He clenched it hard and there was an anticipated sound of steps that approached his general direction. Once the voice was close enough he stepped back and threw the snow straight towards the face of the figure—which was Wisker, and the snow smote his eyes along with the harsh debris. Wisker covered his eyes with his palm, producing a painful hiss which caught the attention of the rest of the bandits.
Luth got to his feet and as quickly as he could ran deeper inside the forest. In his course he heard a voice from behind, a loud one
"He ran south, chase, chase, chase!"
There was a long pacing between the bandits and Luth, who ran for a long range of time even with his shortness for strength.
His feet stared getting sore and the bandits came closer, both knew that Luth was inevitably going to get caught, the only thing that lengthened the gap was the will of the boy.
Will does not hold much well, unfortunately, in situations like these, for when his body gave up the will was still there but there was a refusal from the heart. He laid on the soil, his body weary and his heart drumming intensely. He pushed himself off the ground but could only achieve as much with his weakened body.
Wisker grabbed his hair from behind and gave a wicked laugh, though it sounded more like a cough, he pulled his body up with his grip, causing an inaudible wincing from the boy. Luth coughed, he barely help the power to raise his eyes to match them with those of the bandit.
"You run fast, boy," said Wisker as he tugged his hair harshly. "yet you can't outmatch horses. You should me happy to be alive, right? Or are you just so ungrateful?"
Suddenly, in a flash a large, shard-shaped crystal lodged through Wisker's chest as it plunged him back, he stumbled back till his back was against the cork of the tree.
There came light steps towards the bandits and Luth, there was a silhouette visible after some time, enclosed by the shade of the tree not much visible. It came closer and turned it's cloak around his shoulder.
It was a young man, no older than 25 from his looks, he carried himself with strength and his right hand rested on the hilt of a sheathed sword whose guard was made of a grey metal and it's pommel had a bright blue stone matching the bright glow of his eyes in the darkness of the darkness of the forest. His hair were of a playful dark-blue hue which decorated his fair face with elegance.
Another member of the bandit stepped forth but Troust blocked his way and shook his head, his eyes narrowing as he observed the man's appearance, his pupil wide in attention.
"The boy is not worth that trouble," he said as he went back to his horse and strode on it, and commanded firmly, "draw back."
The men were hesitant to leave after all their trouble but were not willing to deny the words of Troust. After a minute the bandits got their horses and went away in the north.
The man did not bother with chasing the bandits and as soon as they were out of his sight he slumped his shoulders and gave a exaggerated sigh and noticed Luth, he turned his direction and crouched to his level. He pulled his cloak away and noticed his sac, he reached for it but Luth's hand caught the hold of his wrist weakly, the man just shook it aside and reached inside taking out one of the bronze coin. He looked over the features and studied it's minting before he looked back at Luth,
"All the way from the kingdom of Delra?" he said, noticing the boy about to faint, he muttered something which was barely audible to Luth, "You have reached quite far."