"Ack! Cowards! The lot of you!" Gadgeran berated the tall, heavily armored individual who held onto Gaderan's hair, forcing him to look towards him. "You would rob a caravan protected by Duke Kastor? The nerve of some people!" The man in the armor laughed while his armored lackeys looked head on.

"You'd think that the duke's son, with that infamous wit of his, can come up with a better lie than the ol' merchant charade," the armored man remarked with an astute smile as he plowed Gadgeran's face into the dirt. The young man, not nearly as strong, could do nothing since he was kneeling while tied with his hands behind him. The blue lenses that he wore to hide his amber-colored eyes were extracted from his sockets by the force of the blow while blood began dripping from his nose.

"Agh!" Gadgeran cried in pain as he slowly looked back toward the armored man looming over him. "Then... you know... that my father... will pay... ow..." he paused for a moment to groan in pain, "he would pay... at least double what I... guess you're getting... for me to get home... safe." The armored one smiled and closed his eyes, shaking his head as if he knew that Gadgeran would try to make an attempt such as this to extricate himself from this situation. He looked over to one of his lackeys who also bore the crest that symbolized the Gold Swords, one of the most powerful mercenary guilds in Ludien.

"What time is it, Lon?' he asked.

"Quarter 'till Lightset, Viker Sir!" Lon, the youngest in the group, responded with utmost professionalism.

"And we're technically in the Darkened Forest," Viker said with his fingers pinched at his mouth in thought. Lon understood what he was getting at, though. The Darkened Forest, the woodland mostly separating the two great continents of Ludien and Seribris was teeming with cursed creatures all throughout. He knew that while it was mostly safe to walk around the forest during the day, these monsters usually come out after the setting of the sun, for dark is their calling, their motivation, and their guiding light.

"Meaning we want to get out of here soon!" Lon exclaimed. "Ah! Sorry sir! Didn't mean to interrupt..."

"I know. I understand. I also don't want wraiths or lockmares on our tails if we can help it," Viker agreed as he continued to ponder the situation. "It's a very, well, unique request we have here, and I'm sure the boss doesn't want the Gold Swords and the Kastor boy to be acquainted in public."

"They wouldn't miss the scumbag," one of the other mercenaries scoffed.

"And you would do well to keep your opinions to yourself unless asked for," Viker angrily retorted.

"S... sorry sir," the mercenary quietly responded as he looked down in the shame of having disappointed his commander.

Viker looked back to Gadgeran, who was still recovering from the clout, moved his head to his ear, whispering, "Although if you want my opinion... ha, you're getting my opinion whether you want it or not. Anyways, I honestly don't see anything wrong with your... um... business, we'll say. Your client is in charge of making sure he's not being fucked by some swindler with daddy to back him up should things go sour. But... as you seem to understand, business is business, I'm afraid."

Gadgeran, in a fit of anger and desperation to get out of this mess, quickly jerked his head up, despite the blistering pain, exclaiming, "How much are they paying you?! Father will definitely double it! Hell, I can convince him to triple it!"

Viker laughed, ignoring the question. He stood up and kicked Gadgeran straight in the gut.

"Gaaah!" Gadgeran screamed as the metal in Viker's boot shook the boy's entire body. The boy lay on the ground, writhing in pain like a snake burning in extreme heat. Viker stood over the boy, as one with a clear and utter display of dominion over another would, if given the opportunity.

"It'd be best if we left him and the rest of his 'caravan' a bit deeper in the forest to be devoured by monsters," explained Viker with a cold-hearted demeanor. "We'll come back tomorrow and have the dogs track the bodies before we make our way back to Eutaan."

"Yes sir!" The mercenaries exclaimed in unison.

Gadgeran and the other members of his caravan were tied to the light-colored horses that the Gold Swords rode upon. He noticed that the horses only had basic saddles and other riding equipment, nothing flashy, like what he was used to seeing on horses around his home in the province of Kastor. He thought of the gorgeous horses that he rode around the fields, and how he wouldn't be able to decorate another steed with overtly expensive equipment that may or may not have been a bit too heavy for some of the horses to bear. As he was dragged further into the forest, he began to think of more practical matters, such as the identity of the one who hired the Gold Sword Mercenaries to intercept and murder him. "That one merchant from last month?" he thought to himself, "Picho... Pichi... was it Pache? Whatever, it doesn't matter, there's no way he could set a price higher than what Father would set for ransom... Maybe one of the other nobles? The Duchess of Zall probably wants to expand her influence over Ludien. Everybody always says that she works with the Gold Swords, but it doesn't make sense since Chael is next in line to be Duke of Kastor, not me."

Gadgeran continued to make guesses at the possible culprit to himself while completely ignoring the two confused and bewildered guards that he had hired for the journey.

"We've got nuthin to do with this!" one of them yelled, "Tell 'em, Yeri!" The mercenary whose horse the outspoken caravan guard was tied to was spurred forward, causing the unfortunate guard to be launched forward and dragged on the ground for a short time. The horse was stopped before he received more grave wounds from the outlying branches in the broken and decayed forest. Gadgeran looked downwards, seemingly unconcerned with the affairs of those whose services he had employed.

"I've been able to pull myself out of every situation I've been in before," he carefully thought to himself, "yet I haven't been able to figure out what makes these people tick." Lost in in his own mind for a second, he was instantly jolted forward by the horse that he was tied to, nearly knocking him straight to the ground, had he not caught his footing with perfect timing.

"Keep them legs moving!" the mercenary atop the horse yelled, "we've only got so long 'till Lightset!"

Several minutes later, Viker raised his hand with utmost authority. All of the trained horses that the mercenaries commanded immediately ceased their movement at the signal imparted by their commander. The mercenaries seemed to be calm, but the horses stood bewildered and seemingly afraid of forces that were clearly not within vision. Viker slid himself off of his horse to examine the area, taking note of the more rotten and decayed trees that brought to his attention that his team was quite a bit closer to the center of the forest. After examining several of them, he began marking three quite separate trees with a knife, making swift strokes, using a symbol that Gadgeran could only guess relates to the Gold Swords. The professional mercenaries instantly understood the markings, of course, removing the binds that connected the prisoners to the horses and hauling each of them to one of the marked trees. Each of them were bound tightly and securely to their individual trees while the sorrowful souls remained silent out of fear of being struck once again.

"Sanerian swords," Viker solemnly spoke as he held a silver colored blade within Gadgeran's view, "Those are the swords that you promised Lyzle's merchant guild." With a wild grin, he held the sword close to Gadgeran's face as if threatening to slice through it. "You know," Viker continued while still examining the blade, "Sanerian swords are mighty sharp, and hell are they expensive. Among the highest quality blades you can buy in the world, if I'm not mistaken." Viker gave a cold laugh, put on his helmet and swiftly swung the blade he held into one of the nearby rotting trees, shattering the metal to pieces. A couple of tiny shards scratched the side of Gadgeran's head as he turned it, as if he knew that that would be the outcome of such an act.

"Hah!" Viker cried as he removed his helmet and stared at the leftover hilt, "You really went out of your way to get these fakes made to look exactly like the real things! I mean Lyzle's merchants are probably stupid enough, let's be honest, but still, you had hundreds of these in your wagon." Gadgeran gave a groan of discomfort and pain. This wasn't the first time that one of his schemes had been exposed, but this time he had no way of wiping his own slate clean.

"My... my father," Gadgeran began to say, but paused out of fear of being hurt again. "My father will make you a rich man," he finished explaining without looking towards Viker.

Viker brought his palm to his face with a heavy sigh as he knew that this was Gadgeran's only method of saving his own life at this point. He gave another laugh. "Gadgeran, pal," he said in a somewhat friendlier tone, "I'd love to get a shitload of money from some old timer, for myself, and for my boss, but there's a slight problem. Duke Kastor is dead."

"What!" Gadgeran exclaimed in shock, "That's... that's impossible! Then that means... "

"Yeah. Your brother, Chael, is duke now."

"I see." A look of complete understanding befell him. "I really am a dead man."

"So, you know who hired us, then."

"Yeah, Chael always hated my guts." Gadgeran gave a painful laugh. "He thinks he's so noble... never stops to look in a mirror. Constantly says that the world needs less people like me. He'd screw himself if he could, I bet." The boy looked down again towards the ground, his soon to be resting place in this cold, despicable forest. "Well I guess he wins." He coughed in agony. "Probably had something to do with Father's death, I bet."

"None of my business, I'm afraid," Viker seemed to be already aware that such a thing may have been the case from the start, "Anyways, Lightset is already on us, so I need to get my men out of here. You... well, just don't struggle too much and there will be more of you available to be recovered, I'm certain."

Viker returned his helmet to his head, stood up, and raised his hand, spinning it in a small circle as a signal to his crew. The other mercenaries quickly hopped up and scrambled to their horses.

"Finally," Lon said with a sigh of relief. He, along with the other mercenaries, clearly did not want to be this deep in the Darkened Forest for much longer.

"Heh," Gadgeran said to himself. That was the last sound that he mouthed as he seemed to accept that his own fate was sealed, now that he had learned the identity of his soon-to-be murderer. Piles of decayed dust blew into the air as the Gold Swords rode away. As soon as they were gone though, Gadgeran began to hear his personal caravan bodyguards yelling at him from their own respective trees. He could make out a few of the words such as "bastard," "idiot," and "killed us," so he was very aware that they were blaming him for their own misfortune, and rightfully so. Gadgeran continued to say nothing as he waited for a cursed creature to arrive and devour his flesh. The wind, cold, but soft, swept into his face as he sat there, hardly able to move. Shriveled trees around him rocked back and forth, shaking bits of dust from their empty branches. He had seen the Darkened Forest several times during his own personal travels, but he had never been this far into it. He began to imagine how the forest would have looked in its prime, two hundred years before his own time. That was before the Dark Sun Invasion... before the Dir'krennian people of Seribris doomed the continent of Ludien to over two hundred years of chaos, destruction, and uncertainty at the hands of the Shadow Curses unleashed upon the world.

Maybe Lady Cometarias will save me, too," Gadgeran thought to himself, like how she saved the world all those years ago. Bah. The legends say that she's open to giving even the unforgivable a second chance, but I lost that about four chances ago...

The strength of the wind picked up slightly, and Gadgeran made a quiet yawn.

I wonder how that dandy is doing at home, though. Probably sitting in a cozy chair, wrapped up in a comforting wool blanket, drinking, in moderation, a fine bottle of wine imported from Tsugaria. He's probably also got an advisor or two with him, and they're discussing how the recent one-point four percent increase in cheese production would affect jobs within Kastor's markets and farms. Gadgeran laughed. He remembered that the one time that he walked in on a conversation between his father and one of the Duke's advisors was when they were in a conversation about that very subject. He remembered the look that his father and the advisor both gave him when he made a quick and subtle, yet quite audible laugh in response to the cheesy subject. Another yawn made its way across the air.

I never understood why anyone would want to have the position of duke, anyways. Always having to have pointless conversations such as those... always being neat and proper to everyone and everything... what a bore.

A thought then beat against his mind soon after. He began thinking on an argument that he and his brother had within the last month back within his home in Kastor.

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