"Look through the chests and barrels and everything else. Gather the important things, food and drinks first. When the people are secured with food and drinks, we will return for the gold. Only take a little chest of coins or jewellery back with you.", Morvran said, as he and the men arrived at the camp. "Make sure that nobody but us will try to take anything. This is no mans property. We found the things first, so it's ours to keep."

Eagerly nodding, the men spread across the camp. With broad grins on their faces they started to dip through the mountains of treasures.

A good amount of the things had burned down in the fire. But it was still a lot left, more than enough to ensure a new life for the people and to fix the necessities. To Morvran's luck, most of the food was untouched and still useable. Looking at a barrel filled with apples, he reached out and grabbed one to bury his teeth in it.

The juice of the apple was sweet and the flesh still solid. It wasn't too soft not too hard and had just the right amount of flavour. It was in that moment that he realised how hungry he was. His stomach was growling, driving him to take another apple before helping some of the men to carry the barrel halfway up the hill.

Together, they formed a chain. Only a hand full of men was tending to the chests at camp and handpicked what was needed and what could wait a little longer. The other third carried the picked supplies halfway up the hill and  passed it onto the next group of men who carried the things into the village where their wives had already begun to hand everything out equally.

To Morvran's surprise, there was a lot of things that seemed to be unnecessary to steal. There were expensive carpets, silver candle holders and plates. Even a few shoes had been stolen. Most of the things had no real value. Selling them would have earned a few coins but would not been able to build a fortune. The thieves really had taken what they had gotten their hands on.

With curiosity, Morvran opened another chest. It was a small one, almost not noticeable as it was hidden under a stack of bigger chests. The lock wasn't sealed, so it was easy to open. As he pulled back the lid, his eyes widened and a impressed whistle left his lips.

"Fuck me.", he mumbled, enchanted by the view.

Carefully, he looked around, testing if he was being watched, pressed the chest to his skin and rushed away from the crowd, to seek a slave where no eyes would disturb him. Turning around a corner, he settled on a stone bench and opened the chest again, just to make sure that his eyes were working properly.

The small inside was filled with golden jewellery. Not any jewellery, but the kind that would have been worthy of a queen. The stacked gold shimmered into his face like a thousand diamonds.

Letting his eyes jump over the surface, he was able to recognise rubies and sapphires. Even aquamarines were hiding underneath the first layer.

Carefully, he let his hand dive into the sea of gold and pulled the many pieces apart to have a better view of the individual work. His finger got tangled in the back of a necklace, pulled it out and held it tight while the artwork was dancing before his eyes.

It was a nice necklace, gold with sapphires and white stones. Diamonds, probably. As the light of day got caught inside the stones, they began to shimmer and painted little rainbows onto his face. Enchanted by the beauty of craftsmanship, he put it back and began to dip for even better treasures.

The next time he pulled out a piece of jewellery, it was a ring. A very extravagant ring, to be exact. The white stones were shaped like little flowers, hinting that the person who had forged this ring must have been a master. The flowers were attached to flower ranks that had little leaves of gold and thorns, as if they belonged to roses. As he turned the ring in his hand, he noticed a differently shaped ruby in the middle of the decoration. It wasn't clearly visible, but Morvran believed that it was supposed to be a heart, enveloped by the flowers and thrones as form of protection.

As he noticed, it spread a smile across his face. The ring seemed important, placed by destiny even. With a satisfied smile he let the ring disappeared in his inner pocket before closing the chest again and returning to the rest of the men.

"Bring this to the old man. He shall take a look at the things and set a price for them.", Morvran said, handing a young boy the box and send him off.

With new energy, he returned to help the other men out. All of a sudden his chest felt a lot lighter. The ring in his pocket felt heavy but warm, like a promise. He wished that it would serve a greater propose.

The entire rest of the day he was busy picking out barrels and chests that were supposed to be stored in an empty house of the village. He was so busy with helping, he almost forgot about your critical state of being. But as night fell and wrapped the forest and the fields into a soft blue dress, he rushed back to the house of the old man, as if his life depended on it.

With a hopeful look on his face, he burst through the door and eyed the old man.

He was resting at his table, a woman was sitting next to him, hands folded in front of her chest. The tip of her fingers was covered in blood. With a deep sigh, she looked at the general with sad eyes and shook her head slowly.

"It looks bad, sir.", she mumbled. "I've never seen anybody awake from a coma. Never."