Chapter 5.3 The Sniper

Amon, already 12 years old, walked along with Reek, 14, and one or two other children, ranging from 13 to 15 years old, all with serious and somber faces, and eyes as cold as ice. No, in Reek's eyes more than coldness there was a malevolent sneer.

They had all gone through Wolfgang's treatment, so they had a deep fear of him branded deep in their bones. Their heads, already twisted before they were tortured, had turned more and more, and they were basically beasts.

"Can't we have a little fun?" muttered Reek looking to the right, where, on the outskirts of town, two girls, about 8 years old, were playing with dolls on the prairie.

"Are you an idiot?" retorted Amon. "The Lord gave us clear orders not to do anything to his people, if he were to discover your thoughts..." a shudder crossed the body of everyone present, and Reek instantly retracted his thoughts.

"I guess I can wait" muttered the lunatic.

The group continued on down the road, crossing a newly constructed bridge that allowed them to cross the river east of Barrowton, and then crossing a second one that spanned the second flow of the river, and then proceeded to head north to Torrhen Square, the seat of Tallhart House.

Part of the rocky Barrowlands was also part of House Tallhart's territories, so, upon the discovery of gold, Helman Tallhart began to survey his own territory, looking for resources, but the population of his manor was very small.

House Tallhart had about 50,000 people, but with the recent migrations to Barrowton it was now only 10,000 people, and, for obvious reasons, with only about 2,500 young men able to work, his search was rather slow.

Amon and his party were going to see how their progress was going, and, as far as possible, to slow it down. They didn't want competition in the market if they could avoid it, so the best thing to do was to burn the food stores of Tallhart House. That, in addition to increasing the migration to the Dustin lands, would mean that Hellman could not afford to take up so many men on a quest that, for the moment, was not generating any income for him. He would have to send those men back into the woods, to cut down trees to buy more food with the income from it.

The group was not too far from their destination, but... a surprise met them on the way, when an arrow flew towards one of the members of the group of young men; piercing the eye of the largest of them, whom the enemy probably saw as a threat.

"Take cover!" shouted Amon quickly, and went to hide behind a rock to their right; the uneven terrain gave them all hiding places.

"The arrow came from the front," commented Reek. "But... I couldn't see the archer, it came from too far away."

"You couldn't see him? An arrow can't come from that far away, it would be impossible to pierce an eye from that far" commented Amon with a frown.

"Cleo" commented Reek, and the second oldest of the group, 14 years old, looked at him with a dead face. "Take your leather helmet and peek over the top of your stone. I want to get a better look at the direction of the attacker."

Cleo nodded, and did as he was asked, but the moment a piece of the helmet poked out an arrow pierced it with extreme precision.

"This... is a skilled archer," Reek commented.

"No, it's more than that. An expert archer can't react that fast, it's more than just expertize."

"But what can we do? We're locked behind these stones, and we have no shields."

"Shields wouldn't make a difference, Reek. This guy could attack through the gaps we leave."

"But what's someone so skilled doing in this place aiming at us?"

"I... I think I heard something," Cleo commented in a timid tone, gaining the attention of the rest.

"Speak."

"Several Tallhart soldiers were found with arrows in their eye, and their bodies looted. A new bandit gang apparently."

"And you didn't think to mention it before?"

"This... I thought it was just a rumor."

"Never mind, I have an idea. Give me that helmet" said Amon, but when he saw that Cleo was going to throw it, he stopped it with his hand. "No, wait" added the young man, and started to crawl towards the rock where Cleo was, unseen by the archer.

When he reached Cleo, he took the helmet pulled a small dagger from his waist, cutting the part of the arrow inside the helmet, leaving only the ends at the sides, which went through it. He then took the knife to his hand, and sprinkled a little blood on the tip of the arrow that had pierced the helmet, and in the holes it had made; currently covered by the arrow shaft.

Thereupon he put on the helmet, and looked at Reek.

"You guys head back towards the second bridge, using the stones as cover. I'll stay here and take care of the archer" ordered Amon, and everyone obeyed. It was not the time to question the orders.

Amon positioned himself correctly, playing dead, and stayed there. Minutes passed, and even hours passed, but there was no movement. The rest of his party should have been on the bridge by now, or close to it, and hearing nothing in their retreat, he assumed that the archer had failed to continue firing. Luckily the terrain offered plenty of natural cover.

After what the young man estimated to be five hours, a figure approached his body; a figure whose face Amon could not see, but he did hear his footsteps. Cautiously, the person began to search him, however, upon feeling his small hands, Amon quickly turned around and put a blade to his throat.

In front of him was a masked person, who from his size appeared to be a child, even smaller than Amon. In addition to his mask, which appeared to be made of fur, he wore a white coat, and a crossbow almost the size of his arm hung on his back.

The young man's eyes showed fear, seeing the dagger at his throat, so he stood still as stone, his muscles tense.

"So you're the bastard. A mere child."

"Please... don't kill me."

"You had no such mercy on my subordinate before. An arrow pierced his eye."

"That..."

"There's nothing to discuss, but... I won't kill you. After all, you did leave an available vacancy."

"Vacancy available?" the young man asked doubtfully, and Amon stood up, pulling off his helmet with his free hand. He quickly took the crossbow from the young man, and then began to pull off his mask, however, when his hand approached the young man's head, he recoiled in absolute terror.

"No! Not the mask!" the young man shouted in fright, but Amon didn't care, and pinned him down mienta revealed his face, and it was... quite deformed.

His face, especially the part of his mouth was turned to one side, forming almost a crescent, with its center a little above the lip.

The young man began to scream and moan, while trying to cover his face with his hands, but Amon didn't give him too much importance. He used his same leather mask, cutting it with his dagger, to bind the boy's hands.

"How old are you?" asked Amon, but the young man did not answer, he was too focused on hiding his face. At the inaction, Amon kneed him in the stomach, which knocked him out of breath and made him have to lower his hands. "Answer me."

"I... I'm nine years old."

"And what is your name?"

"My name is... Simo."

"Well Simo, don't worry so much about your face, my Lord won't mind. In fact, he likes strange things, all of us in this group I lead are quite... particular. So feel... fearful, I will take you to meet my Lord, he will appreciate your talents better."

"But weren't you angry that I killed your partner?".

"Oh, normally I would be, he was a valuable resource, but you seem even more valuable. It was a fair deal, not to you of course. Loyalty to my lord, to that..." said Amon, but then he stopped. "Loyalty to him is formed in blood."