The two groups headed west and north from the camp, going on their first ever mission in the army. As Kane made his way through the woods with his group, he tried to memorize the area so he would know how to get back while listening to the conversations of Lores, Blake and the tutor.
"So basically all we have to do is approach the village, take a look around to see what the situation is like, and we are going back?"
"Yes, but remember that this is the battlefront, soldiers of the empire can be anywhere, be careful and don't do anything stupid. Do you remember what I told you?"
"Yes, yes... fight as a last resort."
"If you already had to fight, remember not to extend it and that you are weaker, whenever there is an opportunity to escape, take it."
The tutor was still instructing his group when they continually heard the cracking of charred twigs from the trees beneath the boys' feet, though Kane was more interested in sharpening his senses to see and hear more than being instructed.
He looked around and listened to the deafening and endless emptiness of the moonlit forest trying to hear anything in it.
"We are not very welcome here, even though we are fighting on the same side."
Finally Kane broke the silence, speaking snidely to the tutor hoping for interesting information.
"In a normal situation they would welcome you more pleasantly, because, however, people of higher rank understand and appreciate the training of young soldiers, but we hit a bad time.
The fighting at the front is not going their way, too many unknowns and unexpected situations, the deaths of tens of thousands of knights.
Quite a number of them have been at the front for four years, they haven't seen their families including children. Frustration and stress is overwhelming them."
The tutor tried to explain the situation of the average soldier at the front to the young Lower Knights.
"Aside from experience, anything will we get out of here for these two months?"
Kane asked.
"Hmm... there is a chance that you will be rewarded for your merits despite your young age, normal soldiers can't hope for that, so you can call it an incentive, not a reward because of your age, to stay in the army.
First contacts and connections in the army also help you in life, maybe you'll get fencing training under conditions that will give you an advantage over the rest of your peers, because, however, real combat and dummy training are two different things."
As they talked and tried to move through the forest as quietly and cautiously as possible, Kane's group looked around for the village, civilians and enemies.
It was only after an hour of traversing the area that Kane heard some sounds in the distance of the forest.
"Stop."
He said, stopping motionless in place.
"What happened?"
Asked the tutor, crouching slightly to be less visible, which was repeated by the rest of the Lower Knight watching and learning from the experienced tutor.
"I heard something, quiet everyone."
Silenced his companions Kane, closing his eyes and trying to listen to the unknown source of the sound and determine where it was coming from.
The rest merely looked around, not knowing what the boy was talking about.
"I don't hear anything".
"Shhh!"
Kane silenced Blake.
With his eyes closed to sharpen his senses, Kane listened to the sound in the distance. After a moment of silence, he was able to tell where the noise was coming from.
"There."
He pointed Kane's finger to the northwest, confident in his decision.
"Are you sure you didn't hear anything? Neither of us heard anything all this time"
Lores inquired.
"Surely, I'm not sure what it was, but it wasn't the sound of some animals or the forest just people, let's go."
He made the decision for the whole group without asking the tutor, who decided to let the boy go this time.
"But still, it's hard to remain unnoticed when the whole forest is charred, no grasses or leaves on the trees, only some single shrubs remain."
"It doesn't look like this everywhere, although the fact here is that you have to be careful, because even from a distance you will be seen, nothing obscures us, and now quiet, we don't know how far away was the sound that Kane heard."
Silenced his charges the tutor, still looking into the distance, in search of any people with his eyes.
After more than half an hour of silent walking through the forest, to everyone's surprise but Kane's, they came across a road passing through the middle of the forest.
Kane and his group hid at the top of the hill under which the road stretched, and lying on the ground, looked at the situation.
"We are by the road, which means there should be a village not far away, since you heard some sounds, that means something was happening on this road"
"I don't see anyone here."
"First of all, from now on you are to keep quiet, when you talk it's in whispers, in a place like this there's a good chance of seeing knights of the Empire.
Second, you don't see anything, but I do. There are fresh footprints on the road, still from today, footprints of boots and a cart, probably what Kane heard was a delivery of supplies to a nearby base."
"They were transporting supplies at night?"
"It's safer that way, during the day there is a higher risk for attack, so supplies are usually transported at night."
"Then what do we do now? We were supposed to find out about the patrol and the village."
Asked Kane, seeing that the tutor had experience and listening to him made sense.
"Let's wait here, we are near the village so even if we spend some time here we can still go to Norley village to see what the situation is like. Night only started about two hours ago, so there's a good chance they'll still be transporting something.
We'll sit quietly, watch the surroundings, and if a convoy with the empire's supplies passes by, we'll just watch and gather information, we're to remain unnoticed, understood?"
"Yes sir."
Everyone lay in silence on the cold ground under the starry sky, looking at the road passing through the forest for signs of life.
The adrenaline and excitement of their first mission never left Lores and Blake, though Kane was more troubled by the anxiety of not knowing what might happen, and the limited visibility through the dark night.
The boys didn't have to wait long, because after only a few minutes, red-hot torches could be seen in the distance approaching in their direction.
"Something is coming!"
Kane whispered, looking at the increasing number of torches emerging from the distance.
"Yes, I can see it too, remember to keep quiet."
Said the tutor, gazing into the distance.
They stared in silence at the oncoming carts, trying to see who was driving it.
After a while when they were not far away, they all noticed what was heading towards them.
"Slaves"
Whispered the tutor with horror in his voice, staring at the Empire's knights carting away injured and starved villagers in cages like cattle for sale.
In pain and fear, they screamed and cried, begging for help, which only moved Blake and Lores even more.
"We have to help them."
Blake finally said, conquering his fear.
"Don't you dare, you have to stay here."
The tutor ordered, seeing the boy's lack of self-control.
"We can't leave them like this."
He said, getting up from the ground.
Instantly Kane's shivers ran through him, and he and the tutor simultaneously brought him back to the ground, and looked to see if the knights of the empire had noticed them.
"What are you doing!"
Kane asked him.
"We can't leave them like this! Look what they did to them!"
"There are four of us and their 10 if not more, sit here and be quiet!"
Said the angry tutor, pressing the boy to the ground.
"You are to stay down, and the rest of us are to gather as much information as possible."
Kane, seeing that Blake had come to terms with the abandonment of the slaves, again looked out from behind the hill at the Empire transport.
"Good thing they have torches then at least you can see anything..."
He thought, staring at the knights.
"10... no, 11 knights, all with the same equipment, straight swords. Two horse-drawn carts with slaves from the villages, a total of 9 kidnapped including 4 children, a woman holding.... a baby? I think so, that's a total of 10 kidnapped. Other than that, I don't see anything on the carts transporting anything else."
Kane continued to stare at the soldiers hoping to learn more, but was unable to see anything new.
All the boys stared for long minutes with horror and sadness in their eyes at the passing carts full of crying adults and children being taken to the slave market, never to taste freedom or happiness again.
As the empire's convoy drove away, they all let out a deep breath from their lungs feeling relieved that they had not been caught.
"Nothing could be done...?"
Blake asked himself.
"No, but they're not lost yet."
The tutor replied.
"Okay, for a while there will probably be no one passing this way or passing through, we go to the other side of the street and keep looking for the village."
"Yes sir."
Running down the hill, Lores suddenly remembered one thing.
"Why didn't we get any armor, just swords alone? All knights walk around in armor."
"And do you think the military makes child-sized armor?"
"No..."
Answered the dissatisfied boy to himself.
Crossing the street, the tutor suddenly stopped, staring silently in the direction in which the empire's carts had departed.
"Something happened?"
"Are they coming back?"
A concerned Lower Knight began to inquire.
The tutor sighed after a good few dozen seconds in stillness and finally said.
"Change of plans, I'll follow the convoy, there's a good chance they're heading towards their base, and you guys hide here and just like before, be quiet and stay low. Watch the area and wait for me, understood?"
"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave us on our first mission?"
Asked Kane, unsure if this was the right decision on the part of the tutor.
"If you follow my instructions, which is to stay hidden and sit quietly, then nothing will happen to you, just wait for me, in case you see the first rays of the sun and I don't return further, you are to go back to the base and leave me."
The tutor looked at the downcast faces of the Lower Knights.
"Understood?!"
"Yes sir!"
They told without enthusiasm.
" I'm the going now, you guys take cover and remember what I said. If you keep your heads down, you shouldn't get hurt, avoid fighting and watch your area."
The tutor ran toward the Empire's carts, leaving the rest of the group behind.
Reluctantly and without conviction, the boys hid again in the woods overlooking the road, and waited for the tutor to return.
Despite the passage of more than two hours, nothing and no one appeared in the forest or on the road. Not hearing from the tutor despite such a long time began to fill the boys with anxiety.
"What do we do, he still hasn't come back?"
"What if they caught him?"
Lores and Blake began to think out loud.
"You don't know what happened, so don't assume the worst, he told us to wait here until the sun's rays appear, then we wait. We don't know how far away their base is, so it's just as well he continues to follow them or he's already on his way back. We sit quietly and wait."
He tried to calm the boys Kane and rid their heads of unwanted thoughts.
"It's been about four hours since we left the base, which means in about four to five hours the first rays of the sun will appear, and after another hour it will be daylight. We were given orders to find out what's going on with the last patrol and the village, not to chase some convoys..."
Kane wondered what was the priority in this situation, waiting for the tutor or fulfilling the terms of the mission.
He sighed, staring at the two, stretching ends of the roads, trying to make a decision.
"Okay, I remind you that our mission was to find out what happened to the previous patrol and check the situation of the village, this way we won't be able to complete this mission.
I'll go in the opposite direction of the road as the tutor, they were probably taking those slaves out of the village, so by walking it I'll end up there.
I will leave lines carved on the trees with my sword so that you can find me in case the tutor returns before I come back. You guys stay here and wait for the tutor. And the situation is the same as with him, if I don't return until the first rays of the sun appear, you return to camp without me."
"Kane, this is not a good idea..."
Said Blake, horrified at the thought of more and more of the group starting to disappear.
"I'm not going to fight, I'm just going to see what's going on and I'll be back, just sit here and stay down."
Said Kane pulling his sword from its scabbard and heading along the road.
With the blade of his sword he carved a line on the bark of a tree and said.
"These are the kind of signs I'll be leaving behind, good luck and sit tight."
"Okay, take care."
Said Lores, knowing that he couldn't stop Kane anyway.
"I'll handle this quickly and quietly, if the empire knights have caught the tutor, we need to get back to the commander with something."
Thought Kane running along the road, looking out for the village.
"But it's freezing, even this jacket doesn't help, although it's probably due to lying on the ground."
He spoke to himself, pulling from his pocket a slice of bread he had received in the camp.
Eating the stale bread, he continued to run along the road, trying to stay alert, knowing that he was in a real war.
After a long sprint of several minutes along the sandy road, Kane suddenly stopped and ran into the nearest bushes.
"Light?"
He asked himself, and without confirming what he saw, he immediately ducked so that no one would notice him.
Crouching down, he slowly and quietly began to approach the source of the light to see what it was.
Slowly approaching, Kane's heart began to slowly speed up. In the distance, he was beginning to see, more precisely, what was happening. The source of the light was a torch, and behind it in the dark distance he was able to catch the roof of a house with his eyes.
"I guess that would be the village."
Still unsure, he hid in the bushes, lowering his head more and more to remain unnoticed.
Walking farther and farther away, gazing at the torches, silhouettes of people and buildings began to appear in its vicinity. Staring at the figures appearing in the distance, he didn't notice what was in front of him.
Stepping into another bush, Kane took his eyes off the torches and looked ahead, where a few meters ahead he saw two knights of the empire patrolling the forest area.
The boy immediately panicked and jumped back, falling to the ground, catching his mouth and holding his breath so as not to make a sound.
He stared fearfully into the bushes, hoping they hadn't noticed him.
Each second his heart and breathing calmed down, but he still felt the fear of the knights who might catch him.
On his knees, he slowly crawled over, and glimpsed what was happening, revealing the bushes to the side.
"They didn't see me..."
He breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the knights leaving.
"It was close."
He sat under a bush, waiting for his mind to fully calm, gazing up at the starry sky.
"Oh right, I forgot to leave signs on the trees".
He reminded himself, staring at all the trees he had left out.
"Tough luck, they'll find me somehow."
He uncovered the bushes again, gazing at the village he had reached.
"Few torches burning, I won't be able to see much."
He began looking around, trying to see anything.
"Hmmm... there aren't too many houses, but all in all it's a village, so it's not surprising. They've hung the Empire flag everywhere, I don't see any civilians, there are only knights everywhere, but that's probably because it's night. The knights are... 1, 2, 3... 13, but in some houses I can see that there is light, that is 20 to 30 probably in the village."
Kane looked around, trying to find anything useful to report to the commander.
"I have the amount of troops, we know that they are transporting slaves, stationed in the village .... supplies and command are left for me to check, I have no idea what else could be useful, and just, a missing patrol, I forgot.
Hmm... at our base the commander was in a special big tent, but here all the houses look the same, the supplies are probably stored in one of the buildings too, so I won't find out anything. Just what about this patrol?"
He looked around the area, though the near absence of any light except a few torches for the entire village made it difficult.
He focused his gaze on every feature and shadow that emerged from the darkness, but despite spending several minutes in the bush, he was unable to find anything about the patrol.
"I'm unlikely to see anything additional here, should I wait a while longer until something happens or go back to them already? Hmm... no need to tempt fate, I'm going back."
Slowly retreating without looking away from the village, Kane ran back to Blake and Lores.
"This time it might be better if I go back through the woods and not down the road, I'll run into someone again or someone will see me and there will only be trouble."
Running back through the forest, trying to keep quiet despite the fast movement, Kane searched with his eyes for where his companions were hidden.
"What if they've gone and I get past them, I didn't think of that.... It's hard, at most I'll go alone to the camp and they'll join me."
He thought, running over the scorched earth, on which remnants of fresh snow remained in places.
"Oh, I think it's Lores."
He stopped, and snuck up from behind, unsure if it was Lores with Blake, not risking running straight in front of his opponent.
Only by being a few steps away from them was he able to spot familiar faces and approach safely.
"I came back, I didn't see anything interesting in the village, did I miss something?"
"..."
"Hello? Something happened while I was gone?"
"..."
Kane, hearing no answer, looked at the boys.
The boy saw the traumatized and fearful faces of Blake and Lores, accompanied by streams of tears pouring down their cheeks.
Puzzled and concerned, Kane grabbed Blake's shoulder and asked again.
"What happened!?"
Blake, without a word, slowly pointed with a shaken hand in front of him.
Kane looked in the direction where the hand shaken with fear was pointing.
A large group of Imperial knights were crossing the road the boys were watching, lighting up the area with torches. Among the knights, one of them on the top of his spear had a skewer head with gouged out eyes, all soiled in blood and mud, around which flies had already gathered.
Kane terrified trying to calm down, looked once again at the face of the severed head, and it was none other than the tutor.
There were remnants of blood running down the spear from the neck, and one could still see the horror and fear of the moment before death on the face.
All to the satisfaction of the knights of the Empire who paraded the enemy's head like a trophy, marching into the village.
Unable to contain himself, Kane fell to the ground and threw up, feeling panic, fear and helplessness. He stared at the ground, shaking and not knowing what to do.
Only after kneeling for a while with no signs of life did he remember the situation they were in and looked at the two boys, who, unable to move out of fear, were still staring at tutor head, quickly grabbed both boys and brought them to the ground.
In a shaken voice, he said to them.
"D-Don't lean back..."
Three words were enough to make him throw up again out of fear, that's how Kane felt, feeling as if every second was sentencing him to death.
He watched the light from the torches move along the forest, seeing that the knights didn't notice them and moved on, he grabbed his chest and tried to calm his breathing.
"He is ... dead...."
Said a traumatized Blake.
"Yes..."
Kane mouthed with a sigh, trying to catch his breath.
"Have they gone yet?"
"Yes."
Lores collapsed to the ground, losing the will to live, when next to Blake, coming to his senses, he threw up under himself in disgust.
Kane, though still barely able to control his shaken body, said.
"Let's go back... while they're gone..."
He sighed, still feeling helpless and afraid, but knowing that he had to go on.
"Give me a minute."
Said Lores, whose eyes welled up with tears.
He looked at the two boys, knowing that he wouldn't make them march to the base anyway, they would barely be able to move on their own, and sat down on the icy ground, grabbing his head....
After returning to the base tired and traumatized Kane noticed the Jin group still did not return, the boys, standing in front of the commander's tent, only felt more and more pain.
Finally Kane said.
"Go get some rest, I'll report back..."
Lores and Blake looked at the boy and, without a word, walked away to the nearest campfire helplessly falling to the ground.
Standing in front of the entrance to the tent, he took a deep breath, and went inside.
Drenched, tired and traumatized, the empty-eyed child stood in front of the commander, who, after his first glance at the boy, already knew what had happened.
"How many died?"
"One, the tutor."
"What about the rest?"
"They are alive, they are at the campfire, I came to report..."
He looked at the commander with a blank and lifeless gaze, not knowing what to do with himself.
"Well, report what happened, I want to know all the details."
The boy sighed in pain at the thought of recounting the whole night.
"We started by heading north, after about an hour of walking we came to a road in the middle of the forest. On the orders of the tutor, we stopped there, hoping to meet someone and gather some information.
After a while, an Imperial convoy drove across the road with.... 10 or 11 knights equipped with ordinary armor and straight swords, they were transporting civilians from villages to the slave market in carts, a total of 10 people, including four children, one baby.
It is likely that they also transported their supplies along the same road.
After the convoy passed when we crossed the road, the tutor decided to follow them, hoping to reach the enemy base behind them, and told us to hide and wait for his return.
We waited for an hour, and the tutor did not return, remembering that we had information to gather from the village, I ordered Lores and Blake to stay where they were and set off along the road in the opposite direction of the tutor, assuming that there was a village from which they had taken the slaves.
On the way there was actually a village, after checking the village there are currently about 30 or 40 knights of the empire counting those who marched to the village after capturing and killing the tutor."
At this point, Kane barely paused from throwing up again, covering his mouth with his hand.
Breathed heavily, and continued the report.
"We found no information about the missing patrol, probably dead. I didn't see any civilians or supplies in the village, they were probably storing them in their homes, and the civilians had either already been killed or taken away, or because it was night, they were locked in their homes.
When I returned from the village to Lores and Blake, there were Imperial knights marching across the road, with the tutor's head impaled on a spear, heading toward the village.... We waited until they passed, and returned to camp.
That's all."
The commander looked at the frozen boy with pity and after a moment's thought replied.
"Okay, that's enough for me, tomorrow night come for more orders, you can march out".
Shivers went through Kane, hearing that tomorrow could be a repeat of what happened today.
"What happened? I said march away!"
"Yes sir..."
Replied Kane without willingly saluting, and left the tent.