Mirko rushed to the King's office, almost running at times. He knew that the news he had to deliver to Gorsep was not good and that he would probably have to take the first attack of his ruler's anger upon himself. He found Gorsep, as every morning, in his office, absorbed in reading the documents. Iridius stood next to him and pointed to some fragment with his finger. Mirko's intrusion interrupted their conversation.
"Forgive me, sir, - Mirko bowed his head - I have important news."
"Speak." Gorsep allowed.
"The entire transport of food supplies from Prenian has disappeared. The soldiers from the escort were almost wiped out, two in serious condition dragged themselves to the castle."
"What about them?"
"They are under the care of the elders. - Mirko reported - From what they said, an armed group without markings attacked them. They knew the route, so they prepared an ambush. Our men had no chance."
"Where did this happen?" Gorsep asked with apparent calm.
"On the forest road, - the adjutant replied without hesitation, - about half a day's journey from here."
Gorsep nodded, stood up and turned to Iridius.
"Who else knew about the trip to Prenian for supplies?"
"Me, the commander of the unit, also the administrator who was ordered to prepare the granaries. - he listed one by one - Domir could have known, because his lands border Prenian, as well as Lords Oren and Rentor, because the convoy was traveling through their lands."
"Mirko, prepare a hundred soldiers, " He added after a moment. "Take this young scout from Gemor, we leave in an hour."
Without wasting another word, Gorsep went straight to his chambers to put on light armor. He was furious. Whenever he felt that he had finally mastered the situation, the matter got out of control. This attack on the food convoy was an open rebellion against the government. He could cross out Iridius, he was at his disposal all the time. Besides, the legist received a payment in gold, so high that it was not worth it for him to look for other sources of income. Fagolor became the administrator. He was the local younger son of the chief councilor of the City Council; his daughter served at court. Fagolor felt honored by this choice and the function he held. He willingly reported everything to him. All those aristocrats remained to him. He would find out the truth, he would do it as his grandfathers had done once. The Equerds had a reputation for being cruel when it came to punishing treason. Death for treason, that was their motto, which was later adopted by others.
Gorsep, accompanied by a hundred light cavalry soldiers, set off straight towards the forest path; he intended to take a closer look at the tracks. He hadn't left Kanror for a long time, so he had almost forgotten how much he missed open space. It was cold, but Gorsep hardly felt the temperature. Dressed in a fur-lined coat and thick leather gloves, he could have gone to conquer the north of Orchad. In addition, the emotions gave him such a dose of adrenaline that he could barely control himself. The entire armed hundred moved very quickly. They reached their destination in the early afternoon.
"Bring me that scout from Gemor." Shouted Gorsep. A young man, not yet twenty, rode out at the head of the column. He had unusually green eyes and cheeks and nose red from the frost.
"My king, I'm at your order." He said quietly.
"I heard you are great at reading tracks." Gorsep began, " if you find the missing wagons, you will be a rich man. What is your name?"
"Halot, my King." The young man's eyes sparkled with excitement. " And if I may ask, do not move for a moment, because you will trample the tracks. The ground is frozen and there is no snow, which will make the search difficult."
Halot jumped off his horse and calmly began to examine the edge of the road and the road itself, he entered the forest, returned and disappeared from their field of vision again. Gorsep felt himself getting cold. The horses were nervously shuffling their feet. The wait dragged on cruelly. Halot saw the dead. The forest path turned into a bloody battlefield. The Equerdas were lying in the snow surrounded by their own blood. Their bodies were scattered over a distance of three hundred meters.
After a long moment of absence, which seemed like an eternity to those waiting, the scout returned.
"Sir, there were about fifty attackers, they came from the south-west. The wagons returned exactly the same way they came, we will have to look for traces along the way. I will go first."
"Lead."Gorsep agreed.
The entire column slowly followed the scout. On the forest path they involuntarily stopped.
"Ten men will stay here and gather the bodies to the side, they have to burn them." Gorsep ordered. Without a word, the commander designated ten men. They set off and followed Halot again.
"The wagons are returning on their own tracks, someone tried to cover up the traces in this way, but here you can see. " He pointed to the blades of grass broken by the frost . "You can clearly see the horseshoe of the horse and the direction of travel."
When they entered the forest again after a section of a dozen or so meters, the scout stopped, pointing to a dry tree lying on the right side.
"They turned here - he dismounted his horse, followed by several other soldiers and together they threw away the fallen tree. It turned out that the bushes behind him had been cut off and driven into the ground to cover the road the wagons were taking. It was starting to get dark when they reached the buildings. It was a larger village surrounded by a wooden palisade. At full gallop Gorsep and his soldiers entered through the still open gate. They stopped in the square, near a large tree. People came out of their houses.
"Who is in charge of this village?" shouted Gorsep.