The words carried clearly across the road.
Mary stiffened instantly, shield rising half an inch without conscious thought.
Musk’s head snapped upward, instincts overriding confusion.
The merchant nearly yelped, the jeweled cane slipping in his sweaty grasp.
“Spy?” one of the hired guards whispered, drawing his sword halfway from its sheath.
Eric didn’t turn immediately.
Instead, a slow smile formed on his face, lazy and amused.
“Oh?” he said softly. “There’s another one?”
Kael’s gaze lifted toward a cluster of rocks on a slight ridge overlooking the road—farther off than the dying oak from earlier.
“Did you think I only noticed one?” he replied evenly.
Silence fell.
Wind brushed through the low shrubs lining the path. A loose pebble shifted somewhere in the distance.
Nothing moved.
Eric finally tilted his head upward, eyes narrowing slightly as he followed Kael’s line of sight.
“Come down,” he called casually. “Or I’ll come get you.”
For a moment—
Nothing.
Then, from behind the rocks, a faint scrape of gravel against stone.
Mary raised her shield fully now. “Everyone behind the wagon,” she ordered sharply.
The merchant scrambled without protest, nearly tripping over his robes as he ducked behind reinforced wood. His guards repositioned, blades fully drawn this time.
A cloaked figure slowly straightened from behind the ridge.
He had been there the entire time.
Watching.
His hood obscured most of his face, but even at a distance, his tension was visible—shoulders tight, posture coiled.
Eric chuckled under his breath. “We really are attracting pests today.”
Kael didn’t smile.
His eyes remained fixed on the figure.
“Come down,” Kael repeated calmly.
The cloaked man hesitated.
Then, carefully, he began descending the slope, boots dislodging small stones as he made his way down. His hands were visible, palms outward to show he held no weapon.
When he reached the road, he stopped several paces away.
“I meant no harm,” the man said quickly, voice tight. “I was only observing.”
“For who?” Mary demanded, stepping slightly to block any angle toward the merchant.
The man’s jaw tightened.
Eric cracked his neck slightly, the sound sharp in the stillness. “You’re not very good at this.”
Kael’s expression didn’t change.
“Answer.”
The man glanced between them—the shield-bearing woman ready to intercept, the hammer-wielding giant whose grip promised broken bones, the trembling merchant half-hidden behind wood.
Then his gaze landed on Kael.
And something shifted in his expression.
Recognition.
“You’re… not normal,” the spy said quietly.
Eric laughed outright. “That’s your big conclusion?”
Kael stepped forward once.
The spy instinctively stepped back.
“How long,” Kael asked evenly, “were you planning to follow us?”
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The man swallowed. His throat bobbed visibly.
“I—I wasn’t following you specifically. I was tasked with observing traffic along this route. That’s all.”
“Who tasked you?” Mary pressed.
Before he could answer—
From nowhere—
An anchor-shaped dagger tied to a chain shot out of the bushes like a striking viper, streaking straight toward the spy’s neck.
Clang!
Eric moved first.
With nothing but a thick fallen branch he’d casually picked up moments earlier, he deflected the chained blade inches before it could sever flesh.
The impact rang sharp and metallic, echoing down the road.
The chain recoiled, slithering back toward the bushes.
Eric’s eyes narrowed.
“Shouldn’t the two of you come out?” he said lightly.
Leaves rustled.
Two figures dropped from the trees.
They landed lightly on separate branches before stepping forward into clear view.
Their movements were controlled. Balanced. Not reckless bandits.
Their gazes were not on Kael.
Not on Eric.
Only on the spy.
One of them—taller, with sharper features and colder eyes—spoke first.
“We really should kill that spy,” he said flatly. “He leaked details about the organization.”
The spy’s face drained of color.
“No!” he shouted, panic breaking through composure. “I haven’t leaked anything! I swear it! I kept everything contained—I didn’t speak to anyone!”
The second brother said nothing at first.
He simply reached behind his back and removed a wrapped weapon.
When the cloth fell away, a crescent moon blade gleamed—curved and heavy, attached to a short grip, chained at the end. The steel caught the sunlight in a dull, lethal arc.
A weapon meant to hook, tear, and drag.
He glanced sideways at his brother.
“Duck,” he said calmly. “That dude with the nasty personality will shoot some weird fireball at you.”
As if on cue—
A compressed fire bullet tore through the air.
It screamed toward the younger brother’s head.
The younger brother twisted mid-air with unnatural precision.
The fire bullet passed by his side, grazing cloth but missing flesh his flesh
He landed smoothly.
Didn’t even look surprised.
“I guess you saw me dead from that stuff, right?” he said casually.
Eric’s expression darkened slightly.
The elder brother didn’t respond to his sibling’s comment.
The spy stumbled backward, terror overtaking him.
“I didn’t betray anyone!” he cried desperately. “I only reported surface movements! I never mentioned internal routes or codes! You’re mistaken!”
The elder brother’s eyes didn’t even flicker toward him.
“Mistaken?” he said quietly. “You were seen speaking to an intermediary.”
“That wasn’t—” the spy choked. “That wasn’t about the organization! It was personal!”
The younger brother shrugged faintly. “Doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me!” the spy shouted, voice cracking. “I’ve been loyal!”
“Loyalty is irrelevant,” the elder brother replied calmly. “Information moved. That’s enough.”
The spy’s knees buckled slightly.
“They don’t care,” Musk muttered under his breath.
The second brother’s eyes settled on Eric now.
“Hand over that spy,” he said flatly, “and we might just let you go.”
Kael tilted his head slightly. “Forget about that. Why don’t you come down properly?”
Eric’s tone lost its humor. “Stop, Kael. They’re dangerous. They dodged my fire bullet.”
Kael frowned faintly. “You fired a fire bullet when?”
“Before we started talking,” Eric replied without looking at him.
A brief silence passed between them.
“We should be careful,” Eric added quietly.
Mary shifted her stance, shield angled defensively. “Who are they?” she asked under her breath.
“Not bandits,” Musk answered grimly.
The two brothers spoke again, voices colder now.
“Give us the spy,” the elder said, “if you don’t want to die.”
Eric smirked.
“Why don’t you come get him, pest?”
The younger brother’s eyes sharpened.
“Very well,” he said calmly. “I won’t underestimate you.”
He dropped from the tree.
The moment his feet touched the ground—
He lunged forward with terrifying speed.
Straight at Eric.
The ground cracked slightly under the force of his push-off.
Eric barely had time to pivot as the anchor blade whipped forward.
Steel sang through the air.
Eric ducked, feeling the wind of the blade skim over his hair.
The chain snapped taut as the younger brother yanked, redirecting the blade mid-swing to come from behind.
Eric twisted sharply, barely avoiding being hooked at the waist.
“Fast,” Eric muttered.
Kael didn’t move.
He watched.
Measured.
The elder brother remained perched on the branch, eyes flicking between Kael and the spy.
“You’re not interfering?” he asked lazily.
Kael’s gaze shifted to him. “I’m deciding if you’re worth it.”
The elder brother smiled faintly. “Confidence.”
Below, Eric blocked another chained strike with his reinforced forearm guard. Sparks flew as metal scraped metal.
The younger brother pressed relentlessly—precise strikes, no wasted movement, no wild aggression.
“You’re stronger than expected,” the younger said mid-combat.
Eric grinned despite the pressure. “And you’re uglier than expected.”
The chain lashed again—low this time.
Eric jumped, barely clearing the crescent blade as it sliced across the dirt.
Behind them, the spy scrambled backward toward the wagon.
“Please,” he begged hoarsely. “Don’t hand me over. I swear I didn’t betray them!”
Mary stepped in front of him instinctively.
“You’re not moving,” she told him firmly.
“They’ll kill me,” he whispered.
“They will,” Musk said bluntly. “If they get through us.”
The elder brother finally dropped from the tree.
He landed lightly, dust barely stirring.
His eyes never left Kael.
“You noticed me twice,” he said conversationally. “That’s interesting.”
Kael’s expression remained calm.
“You’re loud,” Kael replied.
The elder brother laughed once, short and humorless. “No one else heard me.”
“I did.”
A pause.
“Are you the leader?” the elder asked.
Kael didn’t answer.
Behind them, Eric locked weapons briefly with the elder brother, chain wrapped around Eric’s blade as they strained against each other.
“You’re not ordinary adventurers,” the younger observed.
“You’re not ordinary assassins,” Eric shot back.
The younger brother’s lips curved slightly. “We’re not assassins.”
The chain suddenly slackened—
Then whipped around from an unexpected angle.
Eric barely managed to block in time, sliding back several steps from the impact.
The elder brother shifted his stance.
“If you protect him,” he said quietly to Kael, nodding toward the spy, “you inherit his problem.”
Kael’s eyes darkened slightly.
“I already inherited it,” he replied.
Wind picked up along the ridge, carrying dust and tension with it.
The merchant whimpered softly behind the wagon.
Mary tightened her grip.
Musk planted his hammer firmly into the dirt.
Eric wiped a thin line of blood from the corner of his lip, grinning wider now.
The younger brother straightened slightly, anchor blade spinning once at the end of its chain before settling into his grip.
“Then,” he said calmly, “let’s see if you can survive it.”
