Dagi and Yordan had slept inside the inn after apologizing to the owner, strangely he did not give them a hard time, probably scared that their travelling companion would put his threat to execution. Sat in their room in the early morning, the two men were discussing how the rest of their journey would go. Yordan was looking through his map and figuring the better road to go for.

  " I think next we should go through this little place called Grayhaven."

  " ... "

  " And probably have a little break over there between Soropa and Polmnarek."

  " Hmm ... "

  " What's wrong? "

  " What do you mean what's wrong ?! Aren't you a tiny bit worried that we travel with such a dangerous person ?! He burned a whole village and he is awfully violent and rude and and .. "

  " And he protects us, he hasn't harmed us in any way and yesterday I'm pretty sure he showed restraint."

  " He kicked a glass into someone's face..."

  " He could have done worse."

  " The bar is low with you..."

  " You are just putting it too high. We grab a bite and we get out of this village."

  " What about Kyllian ? "

  " Something tells me he will join us later."

  The two men packed their bags and went downstairs to get breakfast, the people in the room were whispering about them, fearing that their "guardian angel" would come back. The big man Kyllian attacked the night before was there, with his face full of cuts that had yet to heal. He seemed to have lost sight in his right eye and his throat was rougly covered in bandages still red of blood. Realising they obviously weren't welcome anymore, they paid for their meals and walked out of the inn as fast as they could. Once they were out they headed towards the northern side of the village and exited this way. Their next big stop was supposed to be at least two day away. The two men walked half of the day and Kyllian was still nowhere to be seen. They decided to take a break and when walking off the path they stumbled on a strange sight. A little stack of green apples was standing just under the shadow of a tree.

  " Yordan ... do you see that ? "

  " I do ... "

  " Should we ? "

  " Of course not ! "

  " Why not ?! We have no food. "

  " This is probably a trap ! Why would apples be stacked just like this ?"

  " Well it's either poison or starvation, I'll take poison. "

  " No Dagi wait ! "

  Not listening, the engineer walked up to the apples, grabbed one and took a bite. Yordan stood there as he was chewing on the apple. " Well if it's a poison it's acting very slow.". His stomach started growling and he felt like there was no point trying to resist, so he decided to sit next to his friend and grab an apple too. Suddenly, coming from above they heard a voice.

  " Took you guys long enough to get there."

  They both looked up and laid eyes on Kyllian sitting on a tree branch. Shocked by the sight, Dagi almost choked on his apple.

  " What "ack" are you " ack ack " doing here " ack ack " ? "

  " Isn't it obvious? I'm still traveling with you, it's not because you can't see me that I'm not there."

  Slowly, Kyllian slipped backward and hung on the branch only with his legs, letting his arms hang completely. While doing so, some of the bandages were getting loose but he quickly wrapped his hands again. Yordan noticed his rags weren't clean like the night before, they were dirty and slightly bloody. " He doesn't seem hurt but he clearly punched something or someone last night after getting out. ". Yordan took a bite of the apple and relaxed against the tree trunk.

  " So how did you know we would get here? "

  " It's the shortest way to our destination, you were bound to use that road."

  " How long have you been waiting for us ? "

  " Hmmmm, around four or five hours. "

  " When did you sleep ? "

  " I slept an hour when I arrived here."

  " At least it was nice of you to get those apples, it must not have been easy to find a good tree to pick them from. "

  " Who said I picked them from a tree? "

  Yordan stared at him and still hanging upside down, Kyllian gave him a malicious smile that he understood instantly.

  " You stole them."

  Kyllian swung forward and then backward, letting go of the branch and landing on his feet, he then took an apple and took a big bite off it.

  " Of course I did, these peasants need to learn some manners. "

  Dagi, who till now was silent, decided to finally intervene.

  " Don't you think it's wrong ? "

  " What's wrong ? "

  " Stealing. "

  " No."

  Silence fell as Kyllian kept on eating his apple.

  " No? Really That's all you have to say ? "

  " Yes."

  " Don't you care about the purity of your soul? When you die you will be judged by the Creator, your soul could be tormented forever for all the bad things you did, all those people that you have hurt in many ways ... "

  " You speak as if killing was something I cared about. You probably would not understand, look at you, you have the luxury of growing older, of having eaten quite a lot by the looks of you. I haven't had that chance, for people like me, morals don't matter when you have to survive, plain and simple. "

  " Surviving to you is committing arson, is that it ?! "

  Yordan punched Dagi in the shoulder.

  " Stop annoying him ! "

  " What ?! We need explanations ! "

  Kyllian was still silent, he let out a sigh of annoyance and turned his back to them.

  " I had nothing to do with that village. "

  " Yeah, like we can trust you. "

  " You don't have to trust me, I'm just telling you that all you need to know is that it was not me. Let's move, pack the apples. "

  After that, Kyllian started walking without giving them a look. Dagi sighed and stood up, quickly followed by Yordan, they placed the apples in their bags and resumed their journey.

  The last two days were the hardest the trio had to go through, the landscape had slowly turned from light snow covered plains to muddy roads. The end of winter was near, the group was heading for the small village of Grayhaven, they were prepared for the fact that since Yordan's maps were from a few years ago, some things on it may be slightly different, and Grayhaven was one of those instances. It was a cloudy and rainy day, the group was advancing through a thick fog, trying to find the village, what was supposed to be a dense forest was actually a swamp. At some point they had to move through it with muddy water at waist height. Finally, after more than two hours roaming the swamp aimlessly, they started seeing torches in the distance and what looked like big wooden walls and a gate. Wary of any possible danger, Kyllian stayed on high alert till they were close enough to see people guarding the gate, bows ready to pierce any invader. Kyllian gave a nod at his two companions and raised his hands above his head.

  " We are not enemies ! We come in peace. "

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  The guards looked at each other, nodded and lowered their weapons. The trio entered the village and the doors closed behind them. Instantly they saw villagers coming out of their homes to greet them, most of them were wearing rags, they all seemed very malnourished. Kyllian was doing his best to stay away from them as they were getting touchy with him. Dagi on the other hand was enjoying all the young ladies parading around him and caressing his body, they were looking at him in admiration.

  " Guys, I think I like this place. "

  Something didn't feel right, Kyllian was feeling tense.

  " I don't. "

  Yordan remained silent as he was observing his surroundings, most houses were made out of cheap materials and were crumbling. " It's like this place has been stuck in time or reverted completely. Also why did all of them come out at once? There are at least forty people here, also none of them speak the common tongue. I can pick up some words but they are like "savages". "

  The small gathering was split as a large man with a big belly covered in dirt and tattoos made his way towards them. By the way others were treating him, he was probably the village chief, he slowly walked in a circle around the newcomers, studying them from all angles. Finally he camped himself in front of them and he let out a scream of joy, quickly answered by the rest of the villagers who were entering a sort of frenzy. Kyllian kept looking around. " This place has only one exit and it's the door that was shut behind us, some of them have weapons out, we need to get out of this place, it's bad news. "

  Before he could signal to his allies he wanted to leave, the chief grabbed his hand and shook it with energy.

  " Guests ! Meet !! "

  " Hmmm .. Yeah ok .."

  The chief then lifted Kyllian's hand in the air and all of the villagers started chanting what the chief said.

  " Guests ! Meet ! Guests Meet ! "

  Dagi and Yordan stood there, taken aback by the sudden hospitality, rapidly, children and women took them to the biggest building in the village, a giant hut where the whole village could fit. Yordan observed the inside as they were being sat down. " Is it like a place for them to eat together ?" The ground was dirty and stained by old food remains, the hut smelled of incense and many elderly villagers were already sitting inside. A spott was designed at the center of the hut for the trio, after they were installed, villagers were taking turns at dropping them entire baskets of fruits and vegetables. Kyllian was still feeling uncomfortable being surrounded like this.

  " Guys, we need to get out of here, something isn't right. "

  Dagi ate a grape and gave Kyllian a slight hit with his elbow.

  " Loosen up boy! First we eat and then we resume our travel. "

  Yordan could not shake the feeling of uneasiness either.

  " I think Kyllian is right, something is strange, they closed the curtains to the outside and guards are at the door. Don't you find it strange that we are at the center of the hut and everyone else is around us ? "

  " They said " guest meet ", maybe their custom is to be super nice to the guests... '' Dagissaro spotted a beautiful young woman in the crowd, waving at him, blushing, he returned the greeting to her as she smiled with all her teeth " .. nice in many ways. "

  The chief finally entered the hut and silence fell, warriors around him had brought instruments to play music, some primitive luth and drums. Soon after their arrival, they started playing, the music was accompanied by graceful dances from the prettiest women of the village. Still focused on his surroundings, Kyllian noticed that the chief was watching him very intensely, he also saw some villagers carrying out bones from the previous meals, and suddenly he realised something. He stood up, urging his companions to do the same.

  " Guys stand up NOW !! "

  Without asking questions they stood up, as they did, the room grew quiet, the drums stopped beating, the women stopped dancing. Yordan whispered to Kyllian.

  " What did you see? "

  " You saw they carried their garbage out right ? "

  " Yeah, there were old meals, vegetables and .. "

  " Bones "

  " Yeah so what ? "

  " Have you seen or heard one animal since we stepped foot into this swamp ? "

  " No .. where are you going with that? "

  Before he could explain, the chief clapped and started chanting.

  " Guest ! Meet ! Guest ! Meet ! "

  Soon after, the whole room followed his lead.

  Kyllian raised his hands, ready for a fight. Dagi, still puzzled by the situation, looked at him.

  " Kyllian, what are you doing ? "

  " We need to run away. "

  " Are you scared of loud noises ? "

  " No ! These people don't have good intentions towards us. "

  " They are greeting us, don't you hear them say " guest meet " ? "

  " They carried bones out of the room, one of them was a human femur..."

  One after the other, villagers started pulling out small weapons, knives, forks, and small wooden spikes.

  " ... they aren't greeting us, they dropped only fruits and vegetables down, and we are the meat. The guest meat. "

  The trio stood back to back, trying to cover all angles, a few of the men of the villages were already foaming at the mouth at the thought of savouring fresh meat. Kyllian kept looking around for an eventual escape. " They are covering the door heavily, I need time to think.". Dagi tapped on his shoulder to get his attention.

  " Hmm ? "

  " Kyllian, can you clear a way for us to that one wall over there?"

  Dagi pointed towards the point opposite from the entrance.

  " Yeah I can try, why? "

  " It's the wall closest to the main entrance of the village, I can try to find the weakest spot in it and make it blow up, I just need you and Yor' to cover me while I do it."

  " Yor' can you fight ? "

  Yordan pulled a small metal tube from Dagi's bag, he then tapped it on his thigh and the tube extended into a baton.

  " I can hit people accurately if that's what you are asking. "

  " Ok then, Follow me, I take the front, You cover my sides. "

  Kyllian took a deep breath and charged towards the back of the hut, instantly, some of the villagers lunged at him, all of them were met with a flurry of kicks and punches putting them out of comission. Seeing him take down a few of them, the other villagers panicked and moved out of his way, some of them trying to get him in the back were stopped by Yordan and his baton, behind them Dagi was trying his best to not step on the unconscious bodies and also evading the projectiles they were throwing at them. The trio reached the back and quickly Dagi started digging into his bag for items required to get rid of the wall, behind him, Yordan and Kyllian were still repelling assaillant coming from all sides. Kyllian had way more experience in being outnumbered and maneuvering between enemies, Yordan on the other end rarely had a need to defend himself in such a way. His adrenaline was pumping through his veins like never before, he was surprised by his own instinct and reflexes as he was parrying spikes and evading projectiles, the fight had been going on for less than five minutes and quickly the villagers that were previously afraid to step in were getting more courageous as they realised the fighters were getting tired. Kyllian ducked under a spear and punched a middle aged man in the stomach, he turned around to look at the engineer.

  " How long ?! "

  " Just a second, I'm almost done ! "

  While his companions were fighting, Dagi had been inspecting the structure of the wall, luckily the center of it seemed more brittle and easy to break, he had taken a small metal pipe from his bag and had been hitting the wall to create cracks in it. For minutes he had been hitting it until he could feel that what he had in mind would work, his breath was short and his arms were heavy as if they were about to fall off but he could not stop, he knew that if he stopped hitting that spot, it was the end for all of them. " I know I'm not that strong, I know I can't fight like them, but if I can just do this we will be fine.". He took out a brown paste from a clay pot in his bag and applied it on the crack, he then smeared some dark powder on it. He then turned around and screamed at his friends.

  " IT'S READY ! MOVE AWAY ! "

  Instantly, they both took a few steps away from the wall, Dagi used his metal pipe to scrap the wall and create sparks. Instantly, the sparks ignited the paste and he dove to the side to evade the pieces of the wall that were launched by the explosion. Following the explosion, villagers started running out of the hut, scared by the sound and debris. Luckily for the trio, the explosion had also created a smoke screen which helped them escape outside of the hut. Kyllian gave a tap on Dagi's shoulder as they were just walking outside.

  " Good work ! What was that ? "

  " It's a special mix I made, I used the paste to stick the powder and once it meets any flame or sparks it can explode. "

  " Clever."

  " Course I am."

  Yordan had just jumped over the hole in the wall and looked around.

  " How do we get out of here ?! "

  Kyllian turned to him and smiled.

  " I got a plan. "

  " What is it then? "

  " We burst through the front door fast and hard. "

  " Really ?! That's your plan ?! "

  " You got a better one? "

  " No ... "

  " Then quit bitchin 'and start running ! "

  The group applied the same tactic as in the hut, Kyllian and Yordan in the front taking out opponents and Dagissaro in the back doing his best to avoid all harm. They were a few meters away from the front gate when Kyllian heard Dagi scream for help, he turned around and saw him struggling on the ground against a man and a woman, pinning him on the ground. Kyllian started running towards him to help as Dagi's screams were turning from fear to pain, as the woman began stabbing his right leg multiple times with a sharp stone knife. The man on the other hand was trying to bite him in the neck, Dagi was struggling with all his might to keep the man's teeth from reaching him. All of a sudden the weight on his chest was gone as the man flew back in the air, kicked in the jaw by Kyllian, the woman screamed in anger as she lunged at him with the knife, without a second of hesitation, he blocked her wrist and twisted it so she would drop the knife, before he could hit her Dagi pointed at something behind Kyllian.

  " Careful ! "

  Trusting the man, he pivoted on himself still holding the woman and pushed her right into another villagers spear, a few seconds later Yordan ran back to help Dagi stand on his hurt leg. More and more people were now swarming the trio. They had managed to clear the gate of all the guards but they literally had their back to the wall. Kyllian looked around for a way to escape. " I might need to use it but I can't let the guys see it. ". He turned to Yordan and decided to expose his plan.

  " Listen to me, I have something I can use but I can't have you guys around, I'm going to lift the gate just enough so you can squeeze under. "

  " And how do you get out ?! "

  " I'll manage, don't question it !!! Once you get through you run away as far and as fast as you can ! "

  Before Yordan could object, Kyllian squatted and began lifting the gate, Dagi was sat on the ground, trying to fight the pain of his heavily bleeding leg, Yordan was now the only one able to defend them, realising what they were up to, the villagers rushed towards the group, all roaring and salivating like wild beasts. Yordan moved away from an incoming knife badly thrown at him and was almost tackled by an old man. The man missed him and fell in the mud, he looked at Yordan, with his grey beard and hair stained by the dirt. Yordan was ready to hit him while he was down but he hesitated, in his eyes he could see madness, desperation, hunger and pain, this man was just trying to survive the best way he could in his situation. Yordan started lowering his baton and instantly the man lunged at him, luckily Yordan had not relaxed enough so he struck the man on the top of the head, knocking him out instantly. While this was going on, Kyllian had lifted the gate enough so that Dagi could crawl under it. Kyllian's legs were shaking and so were his arms.

  " Yordan ! Come on !! "

  Without a second thought, Yordan dove under the gate which instantly shut behind him once he was trought, on the other side he could hear Kyllian battling against the villagers. Carrying Dagi away, he believed in Kyllian's words that he would manage to get out of this. Doing his best to drag his friend, he kept advancing through the thick fog of the swamp. Finally far enough he tore off a piece of his jacket to help bandage Dagi's leg. Trying to hold in his groans of pains, the engineer looked into the distance towards where the village was.

  " We.. we need to go back. "

  " He said he was gonna be fine."

  " Come on, there are like forty or more of them ! "

  " What do you want me to do?! "

  " I don't know but we have to try someth- "

  Dagi had no time to finish his sentence as they both heard a scream of rage coming from the village rapidly followed by the loudest explosion they ever heard. The two men stood there, stuck in the moment, realising the scream was from Kyllian as a giant tower of flame was now rising from the burning village.