4 Arrogance and Greed

"Hahahahahahahahahaha!"

While the fat short man was still revelling in his future success and achievements, the bushes behind him started rustling and brought a small figure to light.

The downcast group of three lying on the ground was still trying to come up with any ideas to solve their predicament but when they saw the newly arrival their eyes widened in shock.

The fat man seemingly aware that something wasn't quite right, turned to his back and looked suspiciously at the small figure that walked towards their location.

When he saw the person coming closer he also noticed his tender white skin and dark blond clean hair. After that he heard the person shout loudly with a melodious sweet voice:

"Sir! Sir! We need help! Please!", he couldn't help but celebrate his luck even more, "Praise Waukeen! I have hit the Jackpot today!".

He had already captured three beautiful young children, and now another one could be added to his list as well!

Hence, his guard was already lowered when that bag of gold walked up to him voluntarily. Still he tried to look more intimidating so as to erase any thoughts of resistance beforehand:

"Stop, girl! Who are you?! And how do you dare trespass on my boss' territory?! You can definitely expect some heavy punishment for this crime!"

Sieg had an indignant expression on his face for a short moment when he heard the man call him a 'girl' but now was not the right time to argue with that retard, so he begged him:

"Please Sir! My friends and I need urgent help! They fell down a steep hill near this place and were injured very badly! I couldn't bring them back so I beg you, please help me save them! You are a very strong looking man, I am sure that with your aid they will be saved in no time!"

The man felt very smug when heard Sieg call him 'strong looking', he inspected his arms and muscles and he indeed couldn't refute his claims. But something in the back of his mind whispered to him that things didn't seem very clear. A little suspicious even. How was it that there were so many children lost in the Maze Forest today? But then again, it was not uncommon to find lost people here who unknowingly strayed off their paths. Maybe a caravan was robbed and the survivors fled into woods here. And the last whispers of doubts disappeared into thin air when he thought about the bags of gold that he had yet to discover!

He looked back to Jean's group and barked at them:

"You know her right?! Don't try to lie to me, I could see it in your shocked expressions earlier, she's definitely one of you! She is also wearing the same clothes as you!"

He didn't even wait for their responses and turned to Sieg and said to him:

"Girl, you should be punished for violating our rules, but I am a merciful and generous man. And I pity your poor friends. Indeed I can help your friends. It would be as easy as flipping my hand and so I will do you this small favour or my name shall not be Gorst the brave! You will lead the way of course and don't try running away or your friends here will bear the consequences! The same goes to you guys!", he told Jean's group,

"Don't try anything stupid or your friend's beautiful face will become a thing of the past! You will follow me three steps behind my back, and no step closer or farther away, understood?!"

Jean, Craig and Sasha didn't know what was really going on at the moment. The appearance of Sieg should have been a happy turn of events. Seeing a familiar face in this horror scenario gave them some peace back if it wasn't for Gorst breaking the mood. The next weird thing was that Sieg didn't even look at them and only paid attention to the man in front of him. And lastly the fact that Gorst thought that Sieg was a girl gave this situation a sense of ridiculousness. However it was fair to say any stranger would have thought the same when hearing him speak, and looking at his smaller physique it wasn't hard to imagine him as a girl rather than a boy. While Craig and Sasha were still perplexed, Jean was the first to recover and he nodded and answered:

"Yes we understand!"

"Good!"

Sieg gnashed his teeth but put up with this situation for the sake of their lives. He also responded quickly:

"Milord, I would never dare disobey you! You are a righteous man who is helping some children survive in the wilderness! I can't ask for more!"

In the end he thought that his bootlicking was a bit to thick but judging from Gorst's stupidly satisfied expression he had done his job well enough.

The group was moving steadily in the direction that Sieg had come from. They neared the border and when they were passing the first trees Sieg stumbled 'accidentally' onto the ground.

Gorst was only some steps behind him. He glanced at Sieg with an annoyed look and yelled at him:

"Hey, you! We don't have the whole day here! Get up already or you can forget about me ..."

Yet when he was about to finish his sentence he saw something broad rapidly nearing his face from the left side. However, contrary to his stupid appearance, he was still a battle hardened warrior. He reacted quicky and shielded his face with his arms raised. He knew he had fallen into a trap but how could someone even cause a scratch on him with his bracers on his arms.

But when the object hit his arms he felt like his soul was sucked out of his body. His face paled very quickly and his consciousness was nearing its limits. The impact on his arms was negligible. Yet, what caught him unprepared was a deep core frightening pain coming from under his waist between his legs.

He fell on his knees while exclaiming with a very weak voice:

"My balls ... my balls ..."

He unconsciously lowered his arms to cover or rather protect his lower half. But before he could recover himself, another smash hit him in his face and his body dropped to ground on his side. His face was a mash of red, mostly because of his nose. He laid there whimpering in agony.

Anastasia and Jafar had hidden themselves behind the dark trees and bushes and were lying in wait for the perfect moment. The first strike from Anastasia was there to distract Gorst from the actual attack, executed by Jafar, on his most vulnerable weak spot ...

While everyone else was still silently taking in the new situation, Jean stormed in from the back and kicked Gorst again onto his head who then fainted almost instantly.

One has to know that Jean is no pacifist and always prefers a brawl over an arduous long argument. He and Jafar were a good team of troublemakers in school. Coupled with the fact that he had to hold in his grudges against Gorst all this time, it felt liberating when he saw the perfect chance to get revenge for his misstreatment.

The others were quite at a loss in the beginning but burst out laughing after some moments passed. Now that the bastard wasn't a source of danger anymore they could sigh in relieve and get a good breath of fresh air.

Sieg was delighted that the plan had succeeded so well. If it wasn't for Gorst lowering his guards earlier the whole thing could have ended against their odds. He wasn't very happy that he was mistaken for a girl but as long as it helped, who cared. The broad sticks of wood weren't hard to find in the forest, but they had to look for some that had the right thickness and hardness and length. They broke them apart from the trees with thick hard stones.

He came up with the trick when he remembered a certain karate technique that used the same principle of distraction and diversion but with fists only.

Of the three of them he was embarrassingly the weakest and so he had to be the goat who lured the wolf in, while the others got to be the strikers. Still, it was very exciting as well as intense trying to scam a dangerous person such as Gorst.

Anastasia and Jafar tried to dissuade him from this plan because of the high risk he put himself in. Who could know if Gorst was even benevolent enough to give them a helping hand.

But Sieg didn't think so. He had seen enough of his actions earlier to know what kind of character Gorst had and was sure of his intuition. What benevolence? What he betted on was Gorst's arrogance over his power and greed for more captives. Another problem could have been the thickness of Gorst's pants and the damage dealt at his 'balls', but they didn't have any other choices than to forget that factor.

High risks meant high rewards and they saved their friends without casualties.

Jeans intervention was unpredicted but at least he knocked Gorst out and guaranteed their safety for now.

Jafar and the rest came up to him, and Jean said to Sieg:

"Wow man, that was some superb acting. You were great. I couldn't have kept up my cool in front of that idiot while talking as much as rubbish as you did. How did you that?"

"A wise man once said that one should pretend to be weak to make the enemy grow arrogant. And when one is near we should make him believe we are actually far way. It was helpful that he was already overconfident about the situation and trusted every word I said. Maybe he couldn't even believe that I would sent him into a trap.", he replied calmly.

But in truth his heart didn't stop beating rapidly till Gorst was really unconscious. Somehow this didn't hinder him from acting all weak and defenseless. At that moment he felt a calmness not in his heart but in his head. Even in the face of clear danger his senses worked full time and stimulated his thought process. He was in a mysterious ideal state earlier but now his body was drained of any energy. He had troubles standing still and staying awake. Fatigue washed over him and the confidence he believed to posses was replaced with the uncertainties and anxiousness he was used to.

"Who was that? That wise man? Are talking you about me? But I am not that old!", asked Jafar jokingly.

"Do you mean Sun Tzu?", responded Sasha who had been quiet all this while. She was overwhelmed by the turn of events and still couldn't believe everything that had happened from the moment she woke up onwards.

"Yes, you are right.", answered Sieg with a slightly weaker voice.

"Who is that?", asked Jafar back.

"One of the most famous writers for strategy in chinese and human history! You should read more books for your own good, as you see!", reprimanded him the class president. The others had to laugh at her remark.

*clap clap clap*

Just as everyone was starting to celebrate in joy, a loud clapping sound came out from the woods in the dark and with it a praising yet mocking louder voice:

"Well done, well done! Who knew that the sissy would save the day and become a hero?"