In the midst of the dark night William woke up to see John's bed empty, he stepped out with a candle in hand. One step after another he walked upstairs, the wooden door of the roof was wide open, walking through he found John standing all by himself, hands crossed, observing the greens
He walked up to him and spoke saying
"Couldn't sleep?" William asked
"I'm, just lost in thought" replied John
"You haven't been able to move past it yet?" said William
"I try to justify it at night" said John "I say it is all orders, I don't have a choice--" John said
"You don't, none of us do, we are merely complying to orders that we have no hand over" said William
"We do have a choice, but we are to afraid to step into the danger zone, we got used to the comfort of following someone else's footsteps rather than caving our own path" said John
"Wait, you cant possibly be thinking that" said William, lowering his voice while checking the surroundings he whispered "You don't think you can possibly disobey the masked man do you?!, none of us can"
John did not answer him, William understood from his silence that this was what he wished for
"Are you out of your mind?! You cant even talk back to him and you are thinking of such things!" said William
"And the best choice is to give up everything? most of us died already, and more might experience the same fate" said John
"Going against the waves is just going to fasten it up" said Henry, coming from behind them
"You scared me shitless, woh" said William
Patting William on the back as a sign of apology, Henry said "We don't have a choice, right now, all we can do is wait "
"Until what? Waiting is going to hurt us even more" said Henry
"Until we do" replied Henry "A chance must come, sooner or later, all we need to do is grab onto it tight, any rushing act is stupid. Anyways, The guards came to wake us up, it is about time"
The sun started to grow wings of light, recolouring the dark flat grounds, William, John and Henry walked downstairs finding that the others are all ready, Thomas and Isabel were looking out the window with curiosity all over them
"What is there?" asked John walking up to them
"Some carriages are seeking entry" replied Isabel
John looked outside, They had enough goods to be called A merchant carvane
"Anyways" said Thomas "I got to go and see for myself before we depart" , as he went down followed by Isabel
"Change your clothes and follow after us" said Sara walking outside as well
John went down to the light followed by Henry and then William, they witnessed the gates closing, inside the Carriages stood side to side
The biggest and most expensive had and old man holding a crutch step down, he was escorted by a huge guard and two little boys, one who wore a tall white robe, both his hair and eyes were of a dark brown colour, another followed, he had blue eyes, they were sea coloured reflecting the sunlight, he had short light blond hair
The old man's hair was white, his age caught up to him, his face had soft creases shaped by years, his eye sight has gone weak, but his vision was still intact allowing him to distinguish people's faces
The commander of the castle came forward with a smile cutting his face from ear to ear
"Fares, Its been years! How are your fishy legs doing?" he said greeting him
"Good enough to hold me up for a moment or two" said the old man As they handshake, by the side Fares was held up by his guard
The guards of both the caravan and the castle took the carriages to the other side giving them time to rest
"Why don't you set the night, Its been years since we last met, you always tend to avoid this route why take it this time?" said The commander of the castle
"I was advised by my assistant that it is safer" replied Fares as they walked across to the side
"Assistant? well that is new for you, who is it?" said the castle commander
"He is Bairen, that boy over there" said Fares pointing at the blond blue eyed boy
"I never knew you adopted someone" said the commander
"I did not, I just happened to meet him at the market and he seemed a hard worker" said Fares
"And is the other boy another assistant of yours?" said the commander staring at the white rob boy
"Oh Richard? no he is just an aspiring reader, I happened to meet them there as well, he is quite the reader, seeing that he had the same distention I decided to bring him with me, he is entertaining me with his books along the way" said Fares the old merchant
"I guess you found your eyes" said the commander
"Old friend, believe me such things cannot be replicated, it is the small everyday stuff that we miss only when we lose" said Fares
As they walked across the field, the place was a bit noisy, horses moving here and there, carriages were inspected by the castle guards
A little carriage started moving rapidly, a raging sound came from it, heavy breathing as planks flew away here and there, the guards moved back trying to make a safe distant
the door flew away, followed by the breaking sound heavy steps walked outside, a giant bull with tall sharp horns sat foot upon the grounds, it was going mad, salvia fell uncontrollably from his mouth and nose
He started cutting through people like butter, it did not matter how many spears went through his skin, nor did it matter how many blood he spilled out, he continued to stomp them
Suddenly the bull locked eyes with the old man defenceless sitting on a chair by the side, the old man could only see a little but he knew what came towards him
The bull charged towards him, Sara who was walking by the side noticed so, she threw a shield towards him, it did sway his attention, but that came with a price, her being the target, and creating more anger inside him
The bull came charging towards her, pointing her sword upfront using both hand, she supported her body with her left leg behind her, and the right keeping her in place
Her sword went throw the bull's skull, it split following the impact ,she was thrown to the side, her friends were standing above some wooden stairs by the side, some shouted for her, while John rushed down
She couldn't hear them properly, focusing she understood that they said
"Move out!"
looking behind her the bull stood straight, from his head wound, worms fell out one after another
She couldn't move in time, it rushed towards here, as she was about to be hit his legs suddenly flew upwards
The masked man took him from the front catching him by the neck, his legs went through the dirt below making it look like butter, he slammed him down forcing the animal to stay still
He wasted no time taking a short sword out of his black robe's pocket, his hand rose up and fell down straight sip rating head from body in one strike, the legs still moved around in one last struggle
People surrounded the scene, some wooden planks were brought, a fire was light upon the body of this beast, screeching sounds filled the air, the worms fought to live, guards stamped them all
"The bull was sick?!" said Fares coming forward through the crowd
"It seemed to catch the worm plague, and it seems to have been done on purpose" said the commander coming through the crowds from the way of the broken carriage, he held a broken lock in hand
"What do you mean?" said Bairen the blue eyed boy taking it from him
Staring it closely he found it cut by a sharp object" A murder attempt!" he said handing it to Fares
"We need to find out the culprit before departing" said Bairen
"But we cant stand here any longer," said a merchant by the side "Our goods will spoil if not stored in time"
"If we continue like this the culprit might flee, or worse, he might attempt the same in no time" said Bairen
"Bairen, he is right" said Fares
"What?!" replied Bairen
"We cant delay the whole caravan for a single person" said Fares
"Why don't we accompany you" said the masked man "We may be able to defuse any future attempts, and we are heading the same direction anyways"
"And why are we supposed to trust you of all people, with that weird mask you are wearing" said Bairen
"I guess what I just did in front of you all, is proof enough that I don't need such tricks to take any of you out" said the masked man as Bairen shut his mouth not being able to fight that back
Fares looked at the commander as if seeking advice from him, he just nodded in agreement
"I would be honoured to do so" said Fares, Bairen looked at him shocked but did not fight it back
"We will march once your ready" said the masked man leaving the scene
The place was cleaned, burnt worms and corpses were drugged outside, as the bridge lowered allowing them to leave