Chapter 1

"Everyone hurry up we leave by midnight". Ryles ushered everyone out of the meeting room. They were about ten in number, young men who were professional thieves working for their leader and masterplanner Leo Caud' von. He was the most feared in all four land's of the empire. Everyone knew his name but not his face, as his movements were akin to that of a phantom , this made people more scared especially when news began to spread about how one of the royal prince was robbed, despite their excellent squad of armies.

 Many feared traveling a far distance because of the fear of being robbed and it had been like that for years 

 "Master" Ryles' bowed upon entering the room . "Everyone is ready" He said, waiting for his master to lay out instructions as usual.

"What about the little one?" He asked out of the blue which surprised Ryles' 

"He's with us" He responded wondering why the little one was being mentioned. 

 "Let him lead tonight" His voice dripped with nonchalance as he smoothly sauntered into the inner room leaving Ryles' dumbfounded.

"Follow every single instructions he gives Tonight" Ryles' heard his master saying From inside the room. He could only stare in disbelief, not a word of protest coming out of his mouth . His master had always been mysterious, but tonight he felt like letting the little one take over was a little too risky.

 Tonight's operation was a dangerous one, they were going to raid a big merchant tonight, and he wasn't just any merchant. Merchant Percival, the most successful and most connected merchant in all four kingdoms of the Suncrest empire. He is even under protection of all four kings. And tonight, he is traveling to the north with a huge amount of gold for a very important event. Knowing well about the situation of Leo and his gang of robbers, he had travelled with strong soldiers provided by the king of Mythoria. Will these really stop the notorious robbers known to be far worse than pirates 

***

 Ryles had given everyone their respective roles and when he had finally announced 

" Little one, you take the lead" immediately gasps and murmurs followed. Everyone began showing their displeasure with the arrangement.

" Silence" Ryles' thundered " if you have a problem with it tell it to master yourself" Everyone immediately sealed in their thoughts and began filling out.

 For a brief moment there Ryles' glanced at the little one who seemed confused though composed, before mounting his horse, and everyone rode off

*** 

 It had been days since Merchant Percival had been traveling,and so far he had not come across Leo's men which felt a bit off. He sensed it to be the calm, before the storm. So he came up with a plan to confuse and throw them off, Incase if they encountered them before reaching the North.

 Somewhere around the border deep inside the thick and dense forest laid hidden Ryles' and the others disguised as ninjas and blended in with the dark atmosphere. They had been immensely trained right from a young age by their Master for this specific kind of tasks. They can hear sounds of carriage or running horses from miles away, another one of their speciality is throwing of knives, or flicking of needles dipped in poison ,or drug from a very far distance, and they would hit their target exactly where they wanted. They were skilled in so many other things, but the boy known as the little one only joined five years ago. He wasn't as well trained as the others, yet he was ordered to lead tonight. This got him a little nervous,and scared. Tonight could either go well, or bad under his control with their lives on the line. He released a shaky breath before facing everyone. They were all staring at him, different emotions displayed on their faces. 

 Jax one of their member came running swiftly, and stealthily from uphill where he went for better sighting. 

" Target is few miles from here, they will be crossing soon" He dropped the information, facing the current leader.

"How many carriage are there?" He asked the simple but important question.

"Four to be exact" jax responded, and this had the little one narrowing his eyes in suspicion. Something wasn't right. The number of Carriages a merchant takes on a journey is mostly four, but for a merchant with a lot of gold for a big event, there definitely would be more than four carriages.

" Didn't old man Jenkins say the merchant would be traveling with a large amount of gold,?"Raven nicknamed (the little one) asked Ryles' who also felt like something wasn't right.

"Old man Jenkins wasn't lying, master read his mind, before accepting the deal" Ryles' deadpanned. He had been there that night too. Something was definitely up with the carriage 

 The Carriages got nearer and everyone got ready waiting for Raven's signal.

 Suddenly everything felt like a dream, and SWOOSH!.... they had launched an attack, throwing a huge stack of fiercely burning hay on the road to startle the horses, shooting knives to weaken,or kill their victims. They soon came out of the shadows to hijack the gold in the Carriages, but before they could, something exploded From within the carriage. And everyone of them got blasted off, with the soldiers taking the opportunity to launch an attack and soon they were outnumbered. Coupled with the serious injury they received from the blast earlier, they had no choice but to flee. Only five of them escaped with the rest of them dead or captured by the soldiers