Without much protest, he let his kidnappers free him from his bondages, finding himself propped up on his knees. The bag was stripped off his head, freeing him from his dark tomb. It took a while for his vision to fully adjust to the low light level of the woods, but when he came to it, he found himself stationed on the side of a thin road paved with snow. Around him, all covered in black attire were six men. They came in various sizes, and from what Ander could only assume, some wore the figures of what looked like women. Flurries continued to fall upon the group before one spoke.

“Do you know where you are?”

The voice belonged to the one named Point, and now able to see, Ander matched the voice to its body. Point stood at the center of the six, with his arms crossed. He had two bearded axes hung from his hip, as did he have various other pieces of kit hung there too.

“Speak, boy!”

“I-I-I,” Ander’s vision darted between the six, unable to properly string a sentence together. Clearly put off by his unintelligible babbling, Point drew one of his axes to aim at the boy, making him speak hurriedly. “N-No sir, I don’t!”

“Good,” Point stowed the ax, sighing. “Do you know why you’re here?”

“B-Because I sa-saw you…?”

“Very good,” Point spoke softly, a contrast to his earlier tone. “You’re here because you’re a witness. You might not know, but we don’t like witnesses. Not. One. Bit.”

“But we don’t kill witnesses either.” To Point’s right, there came the deep voice of Blade, the same man who had carried Ander over his shoulder. The man sported a full build, more so than Point did, not that any of them were small, save for one figure at the very end of the pack. Blade, true to his name, had a long sword strapped to his back, as did he have a shield held over it, peaking over the sides of his shoulder. For a thieving group, they were relatively well-armed.

“Y-You’re not going to kill me!” Ander shot up on his knees, turning to face Blade.

“No,” Point spoke, shaking his head. “Nature will.”

Ander froze as the man spoke, falling back onto his heels as he stared vacantly at Point. His suspicions were indeed true. This was an execution, but instead of a painless death, they were quite all right with him succumbing to the elements. It was, after all, a good way of disposing of witnesses with a somewhat clear conscience. Smart as it may be, it was still murder.

“We’re going to leave you here,” Point began. “And that’ll be that. You may move if you like, or whatever the hell you end up deciding on. But considering the state that you’re in, you’ll most likely die before sunrise no matter what you choose to do. You’re free to head towards a town, which I believe the closest one is north, northeast from here, but it’ll be a rather long walk, one that I’m certain you won’t make.”

Are we really that far out, he thought in distress. The ride did take a decent amount of time to complete, but without a set measurement, he hadn’t a clue how long it actually was.

“Well, that’s about it. Good luck, kid.” Point wished him the best before turning his back to Ander, signaling for the others to do the same. As they began pacing back towards their horses, the young Idris was given a respite to understand his situation. The moment they left, he was destined to die, that was certain. He was nothing more than skin and bones, and without actual winter clothing, he was liable to freeze before midnight. Terrible thoughts of his demise filled his head, making him conjure tears from his eyes.

Is that the only response I have, he demeaned himself, trying to suppress his sobs. Is crying all I can do? 

That was when a quaint memory came to him, nothing more than a spark in the endless snow. Before his eyes flashed a moment in time, one of many that evoked great grief in the boy. It was of Nina during the time he mourned over her dead body. Tears streamed down his face, both in the memory and in the present. A single phrase occurred to him, layered between sobs and shudders from the recent past. 

I will live on, for us.

“Wait!” Ander called towards the six, who were just a moment from saddling up to depart the woods. At his request, they all stopped and turned to face him, waiting for what the boy had in mind.

“L-Let me… Let me join you!”

It was the only thing he could think of that had a faint chance of saving his skin. If he was a witness, the only way he could be trusted not to break their secrecy was if he was a part of the secret. It was a stretch, and in his current state he had legitimately no desirable traits to aid the team, but his resolve had made up its mind. He would live on, no matter the cost, no matter the chances.

“You wish to join us?” Spoke Point, resting his hands on his axes. “Are you quite sure?”

“Yes, I am!” He yelled, fire in his eyes. His tears were long gone, replaced with the fiery will. “I am sure of it, please! I’ll do anything, I beg you!”

Point, looking between his associates, nodded his head at the boy’s words before taking off his black veil. He showed his face to the boy, as did the five other outlaws in tandem. Ander’s original suspicions had been proven correct. In total, there were four men and two women. Strangely enough, there were only five humans, with one of the girls clearly not belonging to the race of man. The event jarred the boy before he resumed his efforts.

“What must I do to join, I beg you!”

“Thaddeus, go fetch the map,” Point said to the man at his side. Thaddeus, a pale man who sported a sharp undercut, had a bow strung across his back, much larger than the bow belonging to the figure he had seen before. He nodded in response to Point, turning to pace toward his respective horse in search of ‘the map’.

“Listen close, boy,” Point held up a finger, before aiming said finger at the first person of the group. “That over there’s Nallia, that’s Bella, that back there is Thaddeus, this is Leon, that’s Damien, and I’m Sylas. Got it?”

“Y-Yeah,” Ander mumbled, trying to put faces to all the names. He had enough context to try and match the outlaw’s names to their cover names, starting with Fangs, who was clearly Nallia seeing as she had actual fangs peaking over her lower lip. Next was Damien, who could only be Scout based on his size matching the figure who had spotted him. Leon was Blade, a statement aided by the longsword he was armed with. He had no clue whether Soul was Thaddeus or Bella, but names and faces were the least of his worries at the moment. 

“You best listen close, because after I say this, you’re on your own,” Sylas kneeled down in the snow before Ander, looking him dead in the eyes. Thaddeus had returned with the map and handed it down to Sylas, who took the paper and thrust it into Ander’s chest. “This is a map, give it a quick look.”

Following the man’s instructions, Ander undid the bindings of the map to gaze down at its inscriptions. It wasn’t like any map he had come across, that much was obvious. All it contained was a mess of lines like a small child had free reign over it with a thin brush. At the top right of the map, there was a small red dot, next to which there was a faint compass. As far as maps go, this one was terrible in quite possibly every regard, and it didn’t take the boy long to realize that was intentional.

“Pipe up, boy. This here’s a challenge,” Sylas said in a calm and cool voice. He stood, towering over Ander with his larger frame. “This map details the southeast region of the Vern's forest, the very place we’re in now. You may have noticed, if you haven’t already, that there’s a red dot in the right-hand corner of the map. That’s your objective. You’re going to use this map, and you’re going to try and find us. You’ll have till sunrise, and let me warn you, it is a very long walk, and seeing as it’s winter, it’ll be quite cold as well.”

“W-What happens if I don’t find you before sunrise?”

“If you don’t find us, well, we get back up on our horses here, and we hunt you down. And when we hunt you, and when we find you, which we will, Thaddeus here is going to send a bolt right between your eyes. Ain’t that right, Thad?”

“Right as rain, boy,” the archer replied. The voice was enough to tell Ander that Thaddeus was Snipe, the man who had been given discipline duty for Damien.

“W-Why?” He began to stutter, the cold making his teeth chatter. “I m-mean, if I find you, w-what happens next? Do I join the group?”

“It depends,” Sylas chuckled, running a hand through his black hair. “The more you ask now, the less time you’ll have to find us, boy. But if you do, we’ll bring you up as one of us, that is, so long as you survive making it to the hideout.”

“O-Okay,” Ander pushed himself off the ground, shivering as the cold air made contact with his frail body. “I-I will find you, you have my w-word!”

“A word from a bag of bones doesn’t mean much, kid. Either way, I wish you luck on your journey,” Sylas bode him well once again before turning around to approach his horse. The others did the same, and eventually, all of the six were mounted up, reigns in hand. Sylas glanced down at him, calling to him one final time.

“Here begins your test, lad!” He bellowed with a smile. “We’ll be waiting for your return, and if you don’t, you’re well aware of what comes next! Kyaa!”

The man whipped the leads of his horse, and off he went, trailed by the five other thieves. The pack sped off down the snow-covered road, yet, despite their horses clearing trekking through the drift, they left no footprints of any kind. Tracks would have made the affair all too easy, yet it did raise suspicion in the boy that one of the thieves was a Magii, an extraordinary sight in any environment, let alone amongst the outlaws. Nevertheless, the group was quick to disappear into the foliage, and there he was left alone, armed with nothing but his map, and his wavering mind.

“No…” He pushed aside his worries, knowing they would hold him down. He made a vow to Nina, he gave her his word. Even if he had nothing else, he would make sure his promise meant something. “I will live… I will, for the both of us.”

O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O

The crunching of hardened snow followed the boy with every pace, breaking the still air of the forest. The wood around him was cloaked in silence despite the many creatures lurking beyond its curtains. Even though he couldn't see them, Ander could feel countless eyes following him with each step he took further, watching the shivering boy from the darkness. There would often come a call, or even the crackling of broken twigs from beyond the wooden wall, but they were scarce, and faint at best.

The boy trudged through the snow, one hand stuffed into his woolen pocket, and his other hand holding up the forest map. It took him quite a while, but he was able to come to grasps with its speciality. The forest was home to a great many paths, but not nearly as many as were depicted on the map. Rather, there was an excess of routes drawn, made to try and confuse whoever was unfortunate enough to be reading it. He had little education when it came to cartography, but a bit of sense was all that was needed to crack it, and thus he was well on his way toward the red dot in the right-hand corner.

Sylas was right, it was quite a long walk. It had been a solid hour, if not two, since the thieves had left him in the forest. And by his rough estimate, he had yet to make it halfway to the thieve’s ‘hideout’. Furthermore, his body had gone from cold, to shivering, to absolutely freezing. Any sane person would have agreed with Sylas’ comment about the journey being impossible for the frail boy, and they would be right to believe so. Yet, Ander felt no urge to stop, nor rest, nor slow down in the slightest. He had his route to survival, and it involved making it back to the thieves, no matter what pain it brought him.

Through cracks in the wooden canopy above, a full moon shined bright upon him, masking his face and form in a pale luminescence. It was enough for him to read the map, with only the need for a little squinting. It wasn’t just the trail, but rather the whole wood was covered in dim light, enough for him to peer through the forest walls at his side deep into the secrets held behind them. If it weren’t for his dire condition, or looming threat of death, the scene would have come across as absolutely wonderful. A relaxing image for all those burdened with trouble. One calm and tame, without an inkling of a threat.

Or so it seemed.