Chapter 17 - The Manor

After eating the soft stewed meat Syldis brought, he changed clothes, very similar to the clothes mercenaries were wearing. The shirt was of a dark green shade and just a little too big, not to the point to be uncomfortable or even a bother.

In the morning he woke up to another cloudy weather, but way brighter than the day before.

The streets were still humid as the sun was just raising up. It would take a couple of hours to completely dry the streets.

Riou got to the ground floor of the tavern, it was empty and very well cleaned, no mugs or dirty plates anywhere to be seen. Arriving By the counter he could see something cooking in the kitchen while Syldis was sat down in one of the tables at the front of the shop, someone was with her. It was a man dressed in yellow, laid back in the chair holding a conceited smirk in his face.

As he looked at Riou, Syldis also turned imagining it was the boy. She called him to join them and take a seat.

Riou followed her indication, pulling a chair from the nearby table to seat, as both of them occupied most side of the table.

- "Do we have a deal Viktor?" Syldis was the first to speak

- "Let me recap… you want me to babysit this boy while he searches for his lost 'father' around town… and for that you will forgive my groups debt and also put in a week of booze's worth, on the house… just for us am I right?" Said the man with a displeasing attitude

Syldis just nodded confirming… before completing – "And…." She said, pausing up expecting the man to continue

The man still holding a conceited smile, almost cynical, leaned in towards the woman, inspecting her

- "And for that, my best crew and I myself will have to go with him… isn't that right?" he said in the same tone.

Syldis just nodded once, also holding a smirk of her own. Viktor laid back once more and without taking his eyes of Syldis he raised his hand, pointing with his index finger to the boy continuing in his unpleasant behavior.

- "What I just don't understand, is what makes this little boy here, so damn important that require my personal attention…" He said still looking straight to Syldis, trying to grasp any hint from her expression.

She laid back as well on her chair

- "Let's just say, that there is a small chance that his father is involved with very, very dangerous people…"

Viktor eyes gleamed for an instant

- "Hoo, dangerous you say… my kind of danger?" He asked intrigued

She smiled and pierced him with her eyes before answering slowly

- "No… My kind of danger…"

His eyes shined once more, she knew he was hooked. But before anything else, he squinted his eyes and looked sideways to her. He was on to something.

- "What is this boy and his father to you, that you would pay so much for bodyguard duty?"

Syldis dropped the act, and became serious for a moment

- "The old man is a very dear friend of mine, and this boy here is trying to help him…"

Viktor for the first time lost his smile and looked seriously at the boy.

- "Very well…" he said before returning to his normal self – "You just got yourself a very expensive babysitter… Rejoice boy!" Finished smacking the table with his fist which gave out a loud bump sound.

Riou who was watching silently so far, looked at Syldis with uncertainty in his face

- "Is this really necessary?" He asked – "I can take care of myself…" he concluded very seriously.

Viktor laughed heartedly while Syldis leaned towards the boy and in a motherly condescending tone said

- "I'm sure you can my dear, but please accept this so my heart can be a little less burdened. I'm not the fighter I used to be… and Viktor here is one of the best mercenaries, I know him for a long time, so please, do me this favor." She said patronizing the boy as a little child.

He knew her intentions were good, but he was not sure. "Perhaps having someone who knows his way around this land is not a bad idea…" he concluded after pondering for a moment.

- "If you insist Syldis… then I can't really argue" Said him smiling to her.

She also smiled back and in a satisfied mood got up

- "Wait here, I will bring you some food so you can go right away…" said happily the big woman leaving for the kitchen.

In the table now was Viktor and Riou… Viktor was still laid back in the chair watching Syldis leave, and when she was out of reach he said.

- "Very wise boy… you should never contradict a bear…" he said referring to Syldis

- "A bear?" asked Riou having trouble to understand the reference.

- "Yeah, or don't you know? When she was younger she was so fierce in battle that even the bear beast man recognized her as one of theirs, and that is no small feat." He said confidently

Syldis got back bringing some fresh bread and what seemed to be some sort of cheese, with few slices of cooked meat by its side, she put it on the table with a mug and a jug of water. While Riou ate she sat down again and looked to Viktor. She seriously said once again

- "Look after the boy… I mean it" She concluded

He nodded with a bit of indifference

- "Yeah, yeah, a contract is a contract, don't worry… I must confess I think you are overdoing it… but oh well, who am I to deny easy money?" He said once again in his displeasing tone – "So where are we going young master?" he questioned.

Riou Looked to Syldis… - "We need to check Landgrave house, which is inside the city by the east wall if he is not there then Eleanor place by the Dracar River source"

Viktor interjected… - "Oi oi, wait a moment, by the Dracar you say? That's a long trip to go in one day… as there are no roads, and if you intend to get back in town before dark we need to move now to the Dracar" He concluded…

- "Why can't we go to Landgrave's house and then move to Eleanor? Can't we camp during the night? We bring a few torches it should be fine right?" Said Riou trying to make the both stops as quickly as possible.

Viktor moved around in his chair… clearly displeased by the boy's idea.

- "Boy, you 'really' don't want to be near the Dracar at night." He emphasized

Syldis nodded

- "Eleanor place is far from here, it will take a lot of time to get there and come back… it is not safe near the Dracar at night." She agreed. – "Also if he is not at Eleanor's, you can go to the Landgrave once you get back, you should be back before dark and since his house is inside the city you would still be able to go there."

Riou looked once more towards Syldis

- "Are you sure Eleanor is the best bet?" Asked Riou afraid to lose lots of time in a fruitless endeavor

Syldis was uncertain, but as serious as she could be, she began to explain her thoughts.

- "I only got to know Eleanor" She paused for a moment "Max barely spoke of his last pupil, and from what I heard, I don't think they parted in good terms… also he was his pupil a long time ago…" She paused once more, a sadness could be felt from Syldis expression

- "Eleanor… Max has a more recent history with her… I mean, they had something in the past… but she ended up marrying a noble, lord of the lands near the Dracar… So that's why I think if something made him drop everything in a hurry… it must have been because of her."

Riou pondered for a moment, it made sense, if he had such connection with her, they could have lured him easily… also her house was far away, he'd take a lot of time just to get there.

- "I understand, let's go to Eleanor…" Confirmed Riou…

Viktor smiled and got up from his chair…

- "It's settled then, let's move boy, we are wasting daylight already."

Going outside, the city was almost empty, few people walking around and most merchants were still just opening up shop.

Riou noticed 2 shady figures as they left the tavern. Hidden from the general public attention, trying to conceal their presence, but his keen sense was able to detect them lurking nearby.

Viktor was already on the move when Riou looked back to him, forcing him to pick up his pace to catch on to him. Before he could alert Viktor, the strange man spoke first

- "Seems like I didn't give enough credit to the bear… we have 2 friends of yours following us already, and they are not the common kind either, they are good at concealing their presence" He said without looking around…

Riou was impressed, Viktor seemed very aware of the situation.

Viktor and Riou were walking towards the city exit while the 2 shady figures were following them, keeping their distance and never showing themselves completely at any point, Riou understood why Viktor complimented them.

After a while of walking, Viktor said without moving his head

- "Pay attention boy, follow my lead, and run only after you completely out of their sight…"

Suddenly Viktor took a sharp turn to the right, he signaled to Riou do the same. Once they were out of sight of the main street he called the boy to quickly run after him… they rushed forward in a sprint… in the half of this street Viktor took another turn to the right into a small and concealed alley between two houses, it was dark enough to conceal them. He quickly pulled Riou and put him behind him.

- "Shhh!" Viktor made the sound holding his hand up towards Riou, requesting him to keep silent. Viktor kept listening to the surroundings, his attention was all focused on the street sounds.

He suddenly leaned even more toward the wall and lowered his stance, and pushed Riou to do the same… Viktor was expecting the two shady figures to pass by them soon, as he readied his sword.

Didn't take long for 2 men wearing dark green hooded cloaks, covering their heads and faces, to pass by them in a hurry. Fortunately the stalkers didn't noticed them hidden in the dark alley as they were rushing forward in a hurry.

After a few moments Viktor relaxed, and moved closer to the street to look around… As he noticed they were gone he stepped out and called the boy… they started to move once again towards the city entrance in a fast pace.

Viktor was clearly having lots of fun with that action early in the morning, and looking to Riou he said in joyous tone – "I have to hand it to you boy, seems like you really know how to stir the hornet's nest…"

While they moved towards the city entrance, Riou thought who those two might be working for… "They couldn't be part of the Council"… as no one knew him there yeat… "Unless the prisoner talked…" he thought remembering black the mage that was rescued. "No, impossible, he couldn't have realized anything, he was unconscious… perhaps one of his friends watched us? No, I was very careful at that time… the two stalkers must belong to another party" concluded Riou…

- "Are you sure those two weren't after you? Nobody knew I was on the Drinking Bear…" Said Riou to Viktor.

Viktor laughed once more

- "I have a lot of enemies, boy… but none of them have the coin to hire this level of assassins. They could have been following you since yesterday… and probably preferred to wait until you left the tavern to attack, you know, because of Syldis reputation, then you left the tavern with me… they probably decided to take their time, and attack at a better opportunity" Explained the mercenary.

Riou did not notice anyone following him the day before, with that rain, he surely should have noticed something… "No, someone told them where to find me… they were clearly waiting for me to show up in the morning… but who… and why?" Riou was having a hard time putting the puzzle together, he clearly needed a few more pieces to make sense of the picture.

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When they were about to leave the city gates Viktor made another turn, and kept walking by some small alley, between the city houses and walls, the ground was dirt and grass.

- "Where are we going?" Asked Riou confused to the new route Viktor was taking.

- "Calm Down, we will get some help and then we will leave…" Said Viktor a few steps from the alley exit.

Riou could see an empty space near the city walls, it was wide enough to fit a few houses, but instead it was filled with tents. Hundreds of them, many more than he had saw when traveling with the first army.

Probably this space was reserved for big companies like the mercenaries here to be able to stay in the city for a few days, inside the protection of the walls.

Viktor was striding between the tents, no one was awake at that hour, Riou thought it to be very different from the army soldiers who always ready within the first hours of the day.

Reaching about the middle of the tents Viktor entered one of them, Riou waited outside, and looking towards the entrance he was able to recognize, it were the 2 brothers that were sit down with Viktor the last night.

They were sleeping shirtless one in each bed inside the tent, empty bottles of liquor could be seen around the tent's floor. They were almost twins, red hair and ponytail, snorting in deep sleep. Riou estimated they were about their 30 years.

The tent was a mess, lots of weapons and all sorts of armors lying around, Axes, spears and halberds, swords, daggers hanging around the table and on the dirt floor.

Viktor vigorously kicked each of them before shouting

- "Wake up you morons, we have a job to do…"

The two sleeping man eyes widened up when they heard the word job. They quickly rose up on their feet, clearly wide awake and ready for action. In a Serious tone Viktor continued

- "Grab your stuff, bodyguard duty, we are going light so do not overdo with the weapons…" Said Viktor pointing to one of the man who was already reaching for a big axe. – "Be ready, we leave immediately." As he finished, he left the tent and began to walk towards the one in front of it about 10 steps distance.

In the middle of the way he whistled very loudly and raised his right hand with 2 fingers up, the index and middle finger held tightly together.

Shortly after a woman comes out of the tent in front, fully equipped in leather armor covering her right shoulder and arm. She held a sword in the sheath to her waist level on the left side. A pretty woman, near her 25 years with a tanned skin and short black hair, she was not very tall, just a bit taller than Riou was. She came to meet Viktor.

Viktor nods to the approaching woman, while from behind the two red haired man also approached fully equipped. Both were wearing Leather armor on the chest, from the arms to the shoulder, with some pieces even covering parts of the thigh and legs. One was wearing a two handed sword tied to his back while the other had axes that resembled hatchets to both his sides and a bigger two handed one to the back. They had the same height and were shorter than Viktor and taller than Riou.

Viktor Looked to him and wearing his usual smiling said

- "I said we would be traveling light…"

The man with the axes shrug and in a cynical manner explained – "And so I'm only bringing 3 weapons"

Another man was approaching the group, wearing a dark shaded green hooded cape, very similar to the one the stalkers were wearing. But his went on until his ankles and seemed to be made of better and lighter material.

He removed the hood as he approached, he had blue eyes and a darker shade of long blond hair, shorter and loosened in the front, braided at the back. He was shorter than Viktor about the same height of the brothers. He had a long bow and a quiver to his back, a dagger to his waist and many throwing knives held by a belt, neatly displayed and ready for use, making an arch from the left shoulder to the right side of the waist.

The blond man joined the group and Viktor began explaining.

- "Listen up, bodyguard contract… We will babysit this boy over here while he looks for his old man" Said Viktor pointing to Riou who was near them.

Riou didn't make a fuss about it, he understood that for them he was just an ordinary teenager, probably unaware of the dangers of the world, no point in arguing, he intended to use their knowledge to reach his destination.

The blond man remained calm while the woman sighed clearly displeased, the two brothers where not so subtle, they swore and stomped around for a few moments, then suddenly went up to Viktor clearly invading his personal space.

- "C'mon! Really? We did nothing this time…" Said the brother with the axes.

- "Yeah, Hugh was the one who picked a fight, send him on this fucking errand!" Said the other one.

The woman approached as well – "Yeah Viktor, at least tell us why you are putting us to this task."

Viktor was using his usual smirk and began on explaining

- "I meant WE are going… understand?" He said looking at them with confident eyes.

The atmosphere suddenly changed, they understood what meant Viktor going together, and even more with that particular group, as he only agrees to go personally to the most dangerous contracts.

The axe wielding brother said nothing, he just removed the two handed axe from his back as he rushed inside his tent once more, in a moment he was coming back holding a black battle axe, with a biger blade on one side and a small elongated blade to the other designed for piercing, at the top has a smaller round piercing blade in the format of a spearhead. This one was clearer better crafted than the other one.

- "We will depart immediately, we will follow the Dracar upstream on foot, this will take an extra time but our goal is still the same, to go and get back before dark" Explained Viktor, pausing waiting for questions.

- "Why we are not taking the horses?" Asked seriously the brother with the sword.

- "The Horse tracks in that terrain would be too easy to follow, we will not want that…" Explained Viktor

The woman asked as well

- "What kind of company are we expecting?"

Viktor smiled and widened his eyes, clearly happy for what he was about to say

- "Judeau's kind…" He said pointing to capped man. – "We got lucky and were able to outwit two of them in the way here, but you know how it goes, they will catch on to us eventually and in bigger numbers now they know we are on to them."

They all looked to the boy in disbelief… Riou just smiled uncomfortably to the stares.

- "What this boy did to have high class assassins after him?" Asked the axe wielder

Still in a happy mood Viktor looked at the boy before answering

- "I don't know, but he sure have a talent for it, I'm tempted to extend the contract just for the fun of it". Viktor signaled to the group with his hand – "We lost too much time already, let's move."

As the group left the city walls, a shady figure watched them going towards the Dracar, hidden from their sight.

The bowman was going way ahead as a scout, Viktor and the brothers were a few steps in front of Riou and the woman was walking beside him. They could see the river in the distance already.

The woman introduced herself politely – "My name is Levi, what's yours?" she asked

- "Call me Riou" Said the boy smiling to the woman.

- "You know Viktor right? The two beside him are Callan and Carrick" She pointed at the swordsman and then to the axe man respectively. – "The one in front is Judeau" she complemented.

Riou nodded in acknowledgement.

Callan turned on to Viktor and asked, he was curious to who employed them

- "So who is paying to babysit this boy?"

Viktor smiled and looked at him

- "The bear herself… we will get our debt forgiven and a weeks' worth of service on the house!"

Levi, Carrick and Callan widened their eyes in surprise… Levi was the first to comment

- "That's a lot of money for a bodyguard job"

- "Yeah, there is chance we will find some dangerous people, her kind of dangerous, can you believe it?" Said Viktor again in a happy mood.

Listening to that both brothers became clearly excited as well, they shook their heads looking to each other while screamed in anticipation of they might find.

- "HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

- "Quiet! You crazy fools, we still have a job to do" Said Viktor calming them down.

The river was big and deep, its flow was fast and would prove very difficult to traverse swimming. The lands near it were all wild, lots of bushes and trees, it was mostly consisted of open areas with few rocks near the river, but still nobody used the land for farming for some reason.

It was almost noon, Riou thought they must have arrived as he seen Judeau standing still on top of a higher ground. They joined him.

He looked at Viktor and pointed to a large manor not too far from where they were, it was big, two stories high with many windows, doors and balconies, in front of the house there was a small lake, and surrounding everything, a high stone wall.

They approached the entrance, a gate made of metal bars, tightly closed by chains. It have many markings and runes that followed along the stone walls.

Viktor approached and touched some of the runes.

- "I see, this is how they can live here, protection runes against beasts." He said looking around

Everything was quiet, the house seemed empty, but the garden and lake were recently treated, no weeds or bushed could be seen anywhere inside, indicating someone was living in the manor not so long ago.

- "We are here, no activity on the house and the gate is clearly closed" said Viktor – "What now boy?" he said looking to Riou

- "Now we enter…" Said Riou climbing the gates

- "I like how you think!" Said Viktor climbing as well

Everyone followed after Riou and trespassed the gate.

They began to walk towards the house looking around searching for anyone. When they were half way through Judeau calmly and in a low voice spoke to the group without stopping or making any movement.

- "There are 2 people in the second floor, and 3 on the first, they are watching our movements, they are definitely not friendly"

Hearing that Riou saw the figures lurking by the windows, they were hard to spot.

- "How can you tell?" Asked the boy without making any movement as well.

- "It's an ambush behavior, they are luring us in to strike from above and the front, simultaneously, as they hold the higher ground they have the advantage" Explained Viktor

- "Good thinking, so what do we do?" Asked Riou.

- "The only thing we can do now, we rush in…" Said Viktor readying his sword in the sheath picking up pace.

When they were near enough the house, Judeau in a quick movement pulled his bow and shot in the direction of one of the figures in the lower ground, in the far right of the house, no one could clearly see what the arrow hit, but as soon it went flying Viktor and the others began to sprint towards the entrance, they were clearly waiting for Judeau to start the fight to start their assault.

They run with weapons in hand towards the door, Viktor threw himself with shoulder first at the closed door that cracked open violently, right after him both brothers were coming inside running towards the enemies. One to each side of Viktor.

Levi hold Riou by the shoulder by the door, and was watching the fight. The house had a big hall in the front, and they clearly could see all three enemies from the entrance door. They were wearing black robes and their heads were covered, one of them had an arrow to the shoulder and was trying to remove it.

Riou was beginning to get sick of being held down, he took a step back to get away from Levi grasp, at that moment she looked at him to see what he was up to, he just nodded, as if affirming he would stay put. She then turned her attention back to the fight inside, almost entering the house, he waited her to get engaged with the action to act on his own.

The other two were being engaged by the 2 brothers, both of them were using two short swords one in each hand to defend against them.

Riou watched Levi getting inside the house, completely unaware of his presence, he used his knowledge to silently climb a window and jump to one of the balconies above, he hold himself by the fingers and with the strength of his arms he quickly pulled himself up. He felt confused, as he did not remember being this easy to pull himself up with his arm strength alone, perhaps this magical world had more effect on him than he anticipated.

On top of the balcony he saw the other 2 enemies rushing to the stairs to join down the others in the fight. Riou pointed his hand towards, focusing his mind and mana he tried for the first time a useful spell… he said in a whisper to himself – "Hold" Both enemies stopped as the boy's mana assaulted their body, holding them in place, unable to move a finger. They were already at the stairs, about to get down.

Riou entered the second floor and began a quick search, the enemies were not able to see him as they were facing the stairs, and their backs were turned to the rest of the floor, precisely where Riou was looking. The boy went through a few rooms and bedrooms, but there were nothing there, not a single blood stain or burn mark, he was unable to find anything and as time was passing the fight below could end at any minute now, he quickly got back to the balcony, jumped back down to the front of the house where Levi were. As he dropped silently, she clearly didn't notice his vanishing act. Levi was too worried on the fight in front of her.

----- Viktor Perspective

Callan could swing quickly with his two handed swords, but still the black hooded man was nimble enough to dodge or deflect expertly the strikes putting him in better position to strike Callan back, who was having difficult time keeping the distance from the man to avoid the counter strikes.

In the same situation was Carrick, his axe needed to hit one good strike to split the enemy in two, but the foe was proving to be a good match, if he did not keep his distance, the faster short swords would end him very quickly, given the enemy skill.

Viktor was concerned with the stairs, as 2 more could come down at any minute… Judeau understanding the boss concerns approached and took position guarding the stairs with his bow, allowing Victor to assist the brothers.

The closest one was Callan, who only had the two handed sword to fight, Viktor decided to join him first against the enemy.

Now Callan was able to put more strength to the swing as Viktor was there to cover if the opponent tried a quick counter… Callan brought his sword up and brought it straight down in a diagonal cut, from right to left, the man would not be able to deflect a swing made from that big sword with that much strength behind it, he was forced to dodge stepping back. Callan using the last sword position, stepped forward bringing it up now for a horizontal swing from left to right, while Viktor positioned himself in the enemy's flank. Again without chance for deflecting and unable to take advantage of the long recovery such swings would take, once again he was bound to dodge backwards. Viktor knowing what his movement would be, quickly thrusted his sword towards the man side, who in reflex, writhe his body avoiding the attack.

"This are no ordinary man… to be able to avoid that surprise attack… he is good" thought Viktor taking a better positioning to continue the attack. He signaled Callan with 3 fingers up, the index and middle were close together and the thumb was hidden behind them.

Callan noticing it, immediately took position near Viktor.

The mercenary leader smiled and took the initiative against the foe, with a chain of fast attacks, he aimed to keep the enemy in a defensive position as the enemy had to concentrate to avoid damage.

The enemy was able to keep up with Viktor and also attack every time Viktor gave a chance for a counter. "This guy is something else, to be able to counter in this position, I must be careful" thought Viktor while dodging and deflecting the man's counter. Despite being held on the defensive he was still able to counter viciously.

At this point, the hooded man was not able to see Callan anymore, he had lost sight of him as all his focus was on the fight with Viktor, the mercenary leader was truly an exceptional swordfighter, and was taking everything the hooded man had to keep up with him, he knew they had a plan, but was unable to think rationally or to look around without fear of being struck by the flurry of attacks the mercenary leader was throwing at him.

Suddenly the black hooded man ran out of space as he reached the corners of the wall. At that moment he realized the enemy's plan, Viktor brought his sword up starting a downward strike, making the man prepare to deflect it once more as he ran out of space to dodge back… but as the movement began Viktor made a wide step aside, maintaining his attack pose.

The hooded man could finally see Callan once more, he was behind Viktor and already swinging violently his big sword in his direction, a powerful downward strike, the man desperately tried to avoid the incoming swing going after Viktor to make way, but before he could do anything, Callan swing finished its path and crushed the man from his shoulder to his chest.

With the enemy down, both quickly looked back to the next enemy, they saw Carrick's war axe at the ground and the brother holding only to one of his hatchets in his hand, his armor was cut in many places and he was bleeding in his arm, but they relaxed as they saw where the other hatchet was, Carrick approached it and removed it from the skull of the dead enemy on the ground.

Viktor also noticed the dead enemy on the far side of the room, he now had an arrow to the shoulder and one to the chest, and he was lying down on the floor with a sword in hand.

- "Judeau…" He said noticing Judeau was not around anymore, and quickly rushed upstairs.

There he saw Judeau by the second floor, with his bow down and looking around as if searching something, or someone.

As he reached the second floor he saw the two other enemies down to the ground, with an arrow to the head.

- "We are clear!" Shouted Viktor.

------ Back to Riou perspective.

Levi listening to the shout, rushed in followed by Riou

The boy rushed inside and began searching every room of the house on the first floor.

He noticed that everything was in order, as if the house owners were not long gone. No sign of Eleanor or Max anywhere, no bodies were found hidden in the cellar or any room as well.

- "Damnit!" Said Riou frustrated – "There were no signs of fighting, or magic being used, the chances that Max had went there were slim… He could have been captured or blackmailed into surrender if they had Eleanor… but still he still had to verify the Landgrave's house to be sure.

Riou came back to the entrance where the Mercenaries were gathered.

- "Nobody, and no signs of struggle, I can't be sure if Max came here." Said Riou to the Mercenaries

Judeau nodded agreeing with the boy's remark.

- "No point in hanging around then, we need to get moving back" Said Viktor walking outside the house.

Riou agreed, still one more place to search, and he intended to get there the same day.

The travel back to the city began as it was already past noon, if they hurried they would be able to reach the city before dark.

All was going smoothly, until they walked over half of the way, there were trees about 20 steps from the river and Judeau was hiding by them. There were big rocks near the river and a small ravine between the higher ground where the trees were and the lower ground where the river and the stones were. As they was approaching, Judeau signaled to Viktor to take cover.

They quickly went for cover in the ravine as Judeau crouched and came to their direction.

He whispered to Viktor.

- "We have an armed group hiding ahead, I could count at least 5 with bows, and by their positioning, it could be a group of 15"

Suddenly an arrow flies in their direction hitting the top of the ravine.

- "I think they know we are here" Said Riou pointing the obvious arrow, and also noticing movement ahead - "They are surrounding us" completed the boy before being pulled back and held down the ravine to avoid being hit by another arrow.

- "I'm getting real tired of being pushed around…" Complained the boy. "We fell right into their plan… they knew we would get cover here and now they could safely surround us…" Realized Riou.

- "This is bad…" Said Viktor looking above the Ravine, he saw some of the moving figures, they were wearing the same kind of hooded cape as the ones from the morning, they were in higher numbers and had the terrain advantage.

- "No way around it, we will get shot if we run… or swim…" said the mercenary leader pointing to the river behind them with his thumb - "Best bet is to hold our ground and let them approach…" Said Viktor.

- "We have a couple hours left of day time… what happens if gets dark?" Asked Riou curious to why they didn't want to stay at night there.

"Do you know why this river's name is Dracar?" Said Viktor seriously – "Because Dracars like to hunt near rivers at night, specially this one."

-"What is a Dracar?" Asked Riou curious…

-"Trust me boy, you don't wanna know…" Said Viktor once again in a serious tone as more arrows flew in their direction

-"Damn Bear, I should have asked for a month's worth of free service! These guys aren't playing around." Complained the mercenary.

Riou began to devise a plan, he would need to act soon and resolve this situation if he expects to get back to the city during this day… as there was still one place he needed to investigate.