30 The Cosmos region

The Cosmos region was a no man's land, a place situated geographically between the Waltham province and the Calabar province.

Neither province wished to pump money into this rural region, devoid of natural resources, and rife with random fierce-beast attacks all year round.

The cost in money and man-power to make the area safe for people to live, was too great and the returns too little to be worth the investment.

Because of this, it has become a haven for criminals. People wanted for serious crimes in either province will most likely be found here, and over time this place developed into a small town in its own right.

There was a well built two storey wooden inn, stood proudly among a variety of small shops and bars randomly scattered around, crude huts or tents that served as improvised living quarters could be seen off in the distance.

The main road used by citizen and merchants to travel between the Calabar province and the Waltham province was only 5 or 6 miles away, so this place became the unofficial headquarters for bandit activity in the region over time.

Bandits would usually rob small timers or innocent travelers, leaving the big merchants, or people who looked like they might have some kind of esteemed background unprovoked.

The knew the backlash if they overstepped their mark with these people would certainly be heavy handed.

Bandits operating in the region knew that if either province dispatched experts to suppress them, it would cause lengthy disruptions to their operations, or even loss of lives to their comrades.

So there was an unannounced and unofficial understanding between officials from both provinces and the undesirables in the cosmos region.... as long as they didn't go overboard, they would be left to wallow in their criminal lifestyle outside of society, and everything was going fine.....until now.

Recently merchants traveling on the main road have been attacked and killed, or have gone missing along with their goods worth thousands of gold. After a spate of incidences like these the Baron of the province had ordered missions with hefty rewards for the eradication, and dismantling of the bandit operation.

It was spiraling into a big issue because the people being robbed and killed were big contributors to the economy of the Waltham province, merchants had to be confident that the people they are paying taxes to can safeguard their lives and their investments, or they would abandon the Waltham province and start new business ventures in other parts of the region where they felt safer.

The Baron knew that if the merchants stopped doing business or relocated to somewhere else, it would leave a economic hole to be refilled by other merchants.

But convincing new merchants to start businesses would be nigh on impossible, if the old ones were killed at will by lawless bandits en-route to delivering their goods and services.

Merchants were greedy people by nature but even greedy people needed their lives more than money, that would lead to them finding new places to conduct business, somewhere they could keep both their lives and their money.

***

There was a black haired youth about 1.8 meters tall making his way towards the Cosmos regions, his hair was tied back with a simple piece of string, he wore grey loose robes looking neither haughty nor thrifty.

On the trail flattened by regular foot traffic, with the trees on both sides swimming in dense foliage that could hide a possible ambush, the youth was mounted on a black horse as it cantered at a moderate pace moving northwards.

The sun had just dipped behind the horizon bringing a hint of darkness to the already gloomy region, but he was almost at his destination so he kept going without concern.

Hartley had dealt with several small fries trying to rob him of his possessions on his journey, but they had been dispatched easily enough.

Hartley finally pulled up to the make-shift town which was very lively. Even at this early hour drunken men staggered through the street ranting at passing people, shady characters were trying to fence merchandise that were obviously stolen, and random fights broke out between several people, making the ambient sounds of the make-shift town a chaotic mix of screaming and arguing happening everywhere at once.

This was a lawless town and the law of the fittest was in full effect. In this part of the world only the bones of a civilized community existed.

Trash heaps and human waste were left out in the open, resulting in a foul odor dancing and wafting on the air through the entire town, dirtied women stood in alley ways offering their services to one and all, seeming to not notice the stench.

Hartley brought his horse around the back of the inn to a shed camouflaging itself as a stable, he paid a couple copper coins for the animal to be brushed and fed.

He then made his way into the inn that had a bar serving drinks and food on the first floor, it was only half full but the boisterous atmosphere would put plenty of full bars to shame, men were laughing and drinking with women sitting on their laps, the smell of the liquor would hit the senses like a hammer when one walked fully in.

Hartley made his way over to a table and before he could sit someone shouted,

"boy come over here and sit on my lap, such a good looking youth. Are you lost? well just come over here and tell uncle all about it. I haven't seen you around here before, I have to sample the tender boys who enter this town. One way or another!"

A burly middle aged man sat about ten meters away with a sinister grin on his face, accompanied by three companions, he eyed Hartley up and down while licking his lips as if he was about to devour a delicacy. The group around him giggled lewdly, groping themselves and inviting Hartley over with hooked index fingers.

Everyone in the bar continued their conversations, drank their drinks, and minded their own business, there was no pity for the weak or good Samaritans at a place like this.

These men smiling at Hartley really were the deviants of society, the fact that they could behave like this in a public place, and say such shameless things and no one would bat an eyelid, was truly an eye opener.

Hartley flashed over in front of the burly middle age man, who in fright let go of the mug he was drinking from, before the mug could crash to pieces against the floor, the top half of his head was separated and sailed away with a line of blood pursuing it, a silver flash had sliced from just below his eyes cleanly through to the back of his head.

Remnants of the man's brain splashed across the table, onto the man's companions and in their cups. The inn suddenly went quiet as all eyes turned to stare at the handsome youth.

Hartley stood there with a long silver sword in his right hand pointed to the floor with a line of bright red blood running down to the tip then fell to the floor drip by drip.

The three men at the table scrambled backwards out of their chairs, eyes bulging with their fear-filled faces full of blood and brain fluid, before they could make their hasty escape, they were interrupted by a shout from Hartley.

"You two" he said as he pointed at the men, "clean this mess up" and then pointed at the third man he said "you get rid of his body."

One man struggled away with the decapitated body while the other two scrambled to get rid of the blood.

Hartley flashed the excess blood from his sword and placed it in his space ring then went and sat down in a chair at a table like nothing had happened, the lively atmosphere returned to the inn immediately, these scenes were nothing new to the people who resided here.