At the foot of the hill, people equipped with weapons and armours were gathered in 2 groups. Morgan, Boaz, Kage were present as well.
As soon as Daren appeared along with Arius, people stopped chatting and greeted him with a bow.
"Today's raid is an important one. It carry more risk than any other raid we previously did. Give it your all." Daren said.
"Arius and Morgan will lead you to the designated places. For today mission remember, make sure you let no one escape. Because if you did I'll kill you myself. Letting those men go, can bring calamity upon us so make sure to give your 100 percent. Kill them all!!"
Daren explained and threatened them at the same time. Which seem to be working well on those men .
"Kill!!". Everyone shouted in unison. And then moved out.
Daren moved towards Kage and handed him Nhi. He also gave Nhi instructions to follow Kage's instructions. After that he joined Morgan's group.
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In the woods, few hundred men were hiding.
"When will it appear Morgan." asked Daren in a low voice.
"According to the scouts. They have seen the caravan with the captives coming this way. It should appear in an hour or so my lord." Morgan said softy.
Daren nodded. "Ask our men to take position, use arrows to kill them as soon as they enter our encirclement. Make sure you keep one alive. Also make sure you guys don't let them send signal or call for help. Then quickly dispose their bodies." Daren said.
"Yes we will keep that in mind." Morgan said.
After some time a caravan was visible to the group. The caravan consisted of 4 normal carriages pulled by 2 horse each. 2 were in front and 2 were at the back. In the middle of those carriages were 2 iron boxes pulled by 4 horse each. The boxes were opaque , only few holes can be seen on its upper areas for air.
There were 4 armed men on each side of a carriage. And 2 men were walking in front of the first carriage. So a total of 50 men were guarding the caravan.
Morgan signalled the men to take position.
"Now". As soon as the carriages were in position, arrows were fired. All of them were hit. Some even died. After the arrows were fired, 100 men rushed towards the caravan and surrounded it. In a short period, all of the 50 men were caught or killed.
"Morgan, get information from those that are alive." ordered Daren.
Daren walked towards the huge metal cages. He kept observing it from different angles, untill his observation was interrupted by one of his men.
"Lord!, We found a key hole at the top of the cage. When we searched the men, We found a key form one of them. Shall we open the boxes."
"Hmm.. Just open one of them first."
The men nodded and proceeded to follow Daren's command.
One man climbed the cage and inserted the key.
With a clank, one side of the cage fell down. Daren and the soldiers went forward to have a look.
What they saw was a group of unconscious people. Men and women, old and young, including children, were forced inside of a small cage. They were placed like sacks of grain, one above the other.
Those people had various injuries on their body. Their clothes were ragged. Clear signs of usage of force on them, could be seen.
"Open the other cage as well. Try waking up some of those people. Others get rid of the bodies of the dead people. Leave no trace. "
Daren gave different orders to different people.
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A man was travelling through the woods at a quick speed. The man suddenly stopped. He saw another man in front of him, blocking his way.
" Hey man, I think I am lost. Can you guide me out of these woods. " Said the 2nd man as he moved towards the first man.
"Who are you? What are you doing in these woods?" asked the first man.
"Now now, I could ask you the same question. Now if you would come along and answer my questions, that would be great. Hehe.."
The 2nd man smirked and stood still.
The first man drew his sword. The 2nd man was still smiling.
The first man suddenly felt a sense of danger. He tried to react. But before he could do that, a third man appeared out of nowhere, and he lost consciousness by a chop on the neck.
"Tsk.. You could have taken care of it yourself Boaz." said Kage.
Yes the 2nd man was Boaz and Kage was the 3rd one. Their victim was one of their target. He was returning to his base. Boaz decided to intercept him and gain some information.
"You try gaining information form him. I'll go scout ahead."
Kage said to Boaz and disappeared. Boaz picked up the unconscious men and then disappeared as well.
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Back to Daren's party...
"Lord, the bodies have been taken care of."
"Lord, the people in the cages aren't waking up."
"Lord, a man has spoken."
Daren received one information after another. He walked towards Morgan and then asked.
"What did you get?"
"Lord, these men have abducted people form several villages and have brought them to this camp many times. According to them, this is the last batch, as they weren't paid for any more.
Also, they say that the person who paid them was a Nobel looking man, probably of high status in the kingdom of Astina. "
Daren was shocked at this revelation. Morgan paused for a bit seeing his expressions. Then he continued in a low voice.
"That's not all Lord. He said the person seem to know too much about their origin. They were even threatened to be killed if any mistake were to happen during the process. Also the man said, that he heard some whispers, something like the experiment was complete and the man who paid them, would personally come to retrieve it. "
'Such intelligence network.. such connections to get unnoticed even after mass kidnapping.. Experiments... What is is all about. Truly the person involved is no ordinary person. It may even be someone from the Royal family, or someone connected to them. '
Daren pondered for a while, analysing all the probabilities.
"Morgan, arrange for some men to take the place of guards who were guarding this caravan. Use their clothes and weapons.
Make preparations for some of our people to take place of some of these captives. I'll go with them too. "
"But Lord it's dan ---"
Daren stopped Morgan from speaking with a hand gesture.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Daren smiled and replied.
"Also ask some of our men to escort the replaced people out of here, possibly to some place safe."
"You with the rest of the people surround the base at the right time. Remember, that person is gonna come here in person to retrieve whatever they are planning to create. We need to catch that guy. Only when he reach their base, should you move in action. Do not let yourself be discovered before that. "
"Yes, Lord" Morgan replied.
"Now move into action". Said Daren calmly.