William sprinting towards the camp he was met by an injured horse running from it, bolts and arrows implanted his back as blood dripped, he fell soon after passing William who rushed even faster after seeing such a sight
Some tents were of fire, others had off with tracks of it still intact, William walked by his eyes wavered from one side to the other, corpses laid flat on the grounds between the flames, blood changed the ground's colour red
He walked up to his friend's tent, just to see them searching around checking the corpses
Once Isabel saw him, she threw an axe in his direction, he managed to dodge that slipping into a pit of blood that covered him whole
"We thought you died, or worse, kidnapped "Isabel said
"That would've made one of those theories come to life" replied William
"Where were you at the whole time?" asked John
"Tell me what happened here first" said William staring the muddy and bloody grounds
"What happened?" said Thomas "You mean didn't happen!"
"A battle broke out, bandits attacked us without warning from all direction," said Isabel
"It was as if they were targeting us, as if they knew our location," said Henry
"I am telling you this is one of those weirds tests made by the masked man," said Thomas
"Where is he anyways?" said John
"I don't think he is the one who made this," said William
"You need to take a seat for this" he continued with
Inside the tent he went on telling them everything
"So that, blind man, must be the reason behind all of this," said Isabel
"That is what I understood from their conversation," said William
"It is weird for him to show such a soft part," said Thomas
"Soft? He tortured him before cutting his stomach open!" said Sara
"Whatever it is, staying here will bring out suspensions" said John going towards the tent's entrance to open it "We need to walk out—" a dark figure covered him, looking up it was the masked man
"What are you doing inside, did you not join the fight?" he said
"No— no we did, we just, came inside to clean up" replied John
The masked looked around, all of them were covered in mud, blood, and sweat, he looked towards William who seemed to be the same
"You, fought as well?" said the masked man
"I—" William wanted to speak up but Isabel cut him saying
"He slipped in a pool by tent's side" pointing behind the masked man
"His tracks must be their" she continued with as the masked man looked at it, indeed a track was left
He looked back at them and said "Clean up, we are moving", before leaving them and going away, on the side of his shoes blood got hard revealing whatever William said was true
They stared each other for a bit before deciding to leave it at that
All carriage were ready to move. One of the merchants said to the old man, Faris
"This is an attempt from on of your enemies to dispose of you, but how did they know of your location?"
"I did theorise who it could be, but that last part, that is what strikes me with fear, I have no idea" said Faris
They marched forward leaving the past behind, for time being
By sunset, they reached the outdoors of the capital, huge gates with even bigger sturdy walls, a line made them stop in place
"I guess we shall be waiting here for a while—" said the old merchant, Faris, looking out of the window and towards the masked man's carriage
But he it wasn't there, the children's carriage disappeared as well, and so did the guards and knights of theirs, it looked weird and shocking, but what can Faris possibly do, he closed the window going back inside
Their turn came when night fell atop of their heads covering them in robes of shadow
The inspection took a long time before they were allowed in
"Was it always like this back when you used to come in and out of the capital?" asked Bairen Faris's assistant and the blue-eyed boy
"No, This, I never saw this happen, I heard the past did so when chaos started erupting, but I never experienced it firsthand" said Faris
Their carriage was allowed through, they stopped after moving a bit, from the carriage the robe boy, Richard stepped out
"Are you sure this is enough for you? We can escort somewhere where you could rent" said Faris to Richard
"This is good enough, I want to check the capital for myself for a bit, and you gave me enough help already anymore and I will die of embarrassment" said Richard showing the pouch of gold he was given by them
"Just, be careful, it is not always fun to walk the night here" said Faris
From the carriage rushing legs came forward, it was Bairen who hugged Richard tightly surprising him
"Oh, well, I never thought you, of all people would feel this sad," said Richard
Bairen moved back with his hands on Richard's shoulders and said "Have fun" with a smile before going back to the carriage
Richard left alone in the crowded cold street; torches of light led the way as he walked towards the unknown
In the dark, a couple of carriage stopped from behind the castle of the Varish king, the gates opened allowing two of them inside, they were escorted to a wall right behind it and stopped
From them stepped down the masked man and the children, he stood by the wall of the castle ad knocked a break, the children watched in shock as it opened from the inside, it was a secret door
They walked inside to find a butler wearing a mask that covered his face and head, although his eyes were visible, that shade of reflecting the torch light
They went inside as he led the way, the old cold and dark walls slowly turned bright, they reached a door, pushing it the Butler revealed a room with a table, it looked as if made for a king
Candles of silver and gold, portraits covered the flashy walls, they themselves stepped from behind one
"You will be staying here until further notice" said the masked man as he followed the butler outside a real door
The children left alone standing with their dirt clothes over the red carpet, mud covered it but their eyes were swayed by the place they sat foot in, hypnotized you could say.