He was wandering through the forest. How many days had it been now? Over the corpses of leaves and animals, the boy walked. His cheeks were sunken in, his breaths short and laboured. His muscles had begun to atrophy. Yet still he walked. Grey clouds hung over his head, following him with each step, blaming him. It was all his fault after all. Shackles were latched onto his ankles, each step he took reminded him of the weight he carried behind him. The souls of the lives he himself had ended. They were his responsibility now, just as the events of that night fell under his blame. 

He reached forward, grasping towards the open air in front of him. His fingers were frozen black, frostbite having long ago bit through his skin and climbed up to his shoulders. His arm throbbed in pain, almost as if a blade had pierced it. He could feel his skin flaking at his shoulders. All the while he continued through the forest. Why had he even set out at this point? He had long since forgotten. He simply continued to move, he owed it to those who he now carried with him. He paused, looked forward, took a breath, and continued moving.

* * *

The first thing Argo could feel upon awakening was an extreme tightness around his arm. The second, a blood curdling headache. The third, an extreme surprise at his current state of being alive. His mind raced to scramble together the events just before his loss of consciousness. The fight on the cliff, he had been ran through with a blade, Nyx pushed over the boulder, it fell, then so did he. 

He blinked lethargically, looking down from the brightly burning lamp overhead to his arm. It had been bandaged well, they must have come down for him following the fight. Or the bandits were being particularly nice to one who had just killed three of their own. He turned slightly to his side, he could see someone sitting in a chair, though his vision still remained slightly blurry. He blinked, clearing away much of the fatigue which was still infecting each and every one of his actions. Nyx came into view, her black hair was tied back, stopping it from poofing out like it typically did. Her eyes were closed, and with the slow methodical rise and fall of her chest, Argo could only assume that she had fallen asleep. He smiled, she had cared enough to come visit him at the very least. Whilst they were a weakness, connections still had their use. A shiver ran through him at that thought and suddenly Argo was grateful that his master wasn’t aware of his opinion.

He slid his hand back along the soft bed in which he rested and used it to push himself into a sitting position. The noise seemed to stir Nyx from her not so deep sleep. She took her right hand and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before stretching outwards and letting out a deep yawn.

“Welcome back to the world of the living.” She joked, a half smile worn on her tired face. Dark circles lay underneath her eyes. He was forced to remind himself that she hadn’t had much sleep, she had taken second watch the night before? Was it the night before?

“What day is it?” He spoke, finding his tongue oddly heavy in his throat. They must have administered him some kind of numbing ointment. The wounds in his arm, shoulder and thigh should have hurt far more than they currently were.

“Hasn’t been that long. It’s night. Or well maybe early morning. We haven’t been in Galad a day yet.” She pushed herself up and off of the wooden chair which she had been sleeping on. It slid against the wooden floor with a slight grating sound.

“And where are we?” He asked, leaning against the wall behind him. He looked towards Nyx who paced lightly around the room, she had taken off the belt she kept her weapons attached to. It was strange to see his travel companion in less formal work gear. He picked up on the sight of dirt covering her hands and clothes, she hadn’t had time to get changed or bathe since arriving.

“A small inn. I spent two of your talents on numbing cream and some bandages.” He nodded. All initiated members had some level of expertise in first aid. So long as nothing was infected he wouldn’t need to see a surgeon. “You shouldn’t make any sudden movements for the next day and a half. Means no riding either so we will need to stay here for the time being.”

“Okay.” He expected that much, though it pained him to have to halt his journey. “Do you know where Ryle went?” They needed a Knower, and if his acts from the day before were anything to go off then he would be more than proficient enough to help them track the man responsible for killing his parents. Besides, he needed to know what was in that book, no one sent so many bandits, well trained ones at that, to track down a simple music book. 

“Yeah. He agreed to meet me in the tavern downstairs tomorrow morning.”

“That sounds like a plan,” Argo spoke in a soft tone as he fell back down into his bed and rolled over. He saw one sitting on the opposite side of the room. Nyx moved to a gas pipe and twisted a cap, slowly the light overhead began to burn out. Argo felt the exhaustion he had managed to keep at bay since waking come back to him and as Nyx got into her own bed, he fell asleep.

* * *

“Yeah, just some of whatever you have in the pot please,” Argo spoke to one of the waiters in the tavern which sat just two floors below where had slept the night before. She eyed him somewhat suspiciously, and who could blame her, he was covered with far too many bandages for any simple accident, it was clearly a battle wound. Despite her worry, she nodded, taking a copper chip from him before walking back off towards the kitchen. Argo turned back to face Ryle.

The three of them sat in a booth within the tavern, the cushioned seats were like heaven after the past few days of hard riding, every moment not on horseback was one of bliss, even despite his battle wounds. Ryle sat opposite both him and Nyx, on the table in front of him was the book that had caused the bandits to chase him in the first place. Unlike Nyx and Argo, Ryle seemed clean. He had a distinct lack of stubble, the dirt and sticks which had covered his hair the day before were nowhere to be seen and he even smelled mildly of flowers. 

“I think you have some explaining to do Ryle,” Nyx spoke, her voice as cold and intimidating as it had been when Ryle had first met the pair in the forest the day prior.

“I think that I do.” He paused, sweat dripping down his brow. He really did need to get nervous less easily, from what Argo could tell the man was more than powerful enough as a knower to get himself out of a simple conflict. “I am a musician by trade, I make room and board playing at the Three Horses Inn in town. We heard news about a week ago of an ancient music book found at a set of ruins further towards the Central province, close to the centre of the Eastern province. Now, I told you that I was a Knower, though I think I underplayed my skills slightly.” Argo and Nyx shared a short look before turning back to face him. “I can run. Fast at that, faster than most horses. Normally it takes about a week or two to travel on foot. It’s two days on horseback. I got there, bought the book. And it cost me quite a lot mind you. I was a bit exhausted from my travels and was walking back at a normal pace. Then about a day before I ran into you they attacked me. Just as I was setting up camp. Said they came on the behest Knowledge.”

“The concept?” Argo asked.

“I have no clue. But they seemed to speak about it as if it were a person.”

“Maybe a pseudonym?” Nyx suggested.

“I have no clue either way. Regardless, I started running then. Didn’t stop all day, they chased me through the night. Would’ve known if they stopped.” 

“So what exactly do you know?” Argo needed to know whether he would be of use to them or not. However, something about the name Knowledge pulled at his mind. Why was that?

“Eyes and ears. Though not super well mind you. I can hear relatively well about five hundred metres in any direction, enough to pick up a whisper. Can read a sign from about two kilometres off. That’s how I knew they were chasing me. My speciality is wind, learnt it at first just to help me carry the sound of my music through an audience, works wonders really. Though it has the added benefit of helping me run fast.” The man truly was obsessed with music, Argo shook his head softly. He wouldn’t be a bad tracker with the skills he had, though Argo needed a bit more.

“And truth? Any skill in that regard?” 

“Ha!” The man shouted, garnering the attention of a few other people getting breakfast within the tavern. “No, not really. I dabbled with it a few years back, but I could only catch a lie about every one in ten times.” So he had been a Knower that long.

“How long do you think it’d take you to get that down to one in two.”

“A month of hard work, why?”

“Those bandits aren’t exactly going to leave you alone y’know?” Ryle seemed to freeze at that. The poor boy hadn’t even considered that they wouldn’t give up on him after one encounter. “So either you never leave this city again. And pray that a tipped of guard won’t hand you over to them.”

“They wouldn’t.” So naive.

“Or, you can come with us. I’m in need of a half decent Knower, and with us, you will have yourself some protection.” Nyx looked at him for a moment, as if judging whether the attitude Argo was taking would be successful or not. Then she smiled, maybe for the first time, aside from when she had been speaking of her horses. 

“It’s a good offer. Hell, we can even pay you for your service.” Nyx chimed in, offering away more of Argo’s money. He would’ve been annoyed if he weren’t desperate. If they couldn’t find another willing Knower in this city it would delay him further. And one with Ryle’s skills would at least want a crown a fortnight.

“Well. It seems I don’t really have an option. Thank you for having me.” That was the last thing he needed. A skilled tracker and combatant and a Knower with several aptitudes. It was time for them to head towards the Eastern roughs. “So. When do we head out?”

“I’ll be paying you a crown now and a crown on completion of the job.” He said, limiting the amount of money he would need to pay, before continuing. “We go this afternoon, get packed and then meet up with us. We will want to try to avoid the bandits and hope they are still recovering from the fight yesterday. Nyx, you will need to lead the descent though, okay?”

“Fair enough. Ryle, can you boost our speed?” She asked. It was a fair question, Argo kicked himself for not asking it the day before, having just a bit more speed would have saved him from a fair share of his current injuries.

“Should be able to. Not to the same extent as myself though, and you won’t be able to control it as well.”

“Good, then you hang at the back and focus on helping Argo, his thigh and arm will be weakened with their injury.”

“Wait. You mean we may actually get in a fight?” The boy went pale.

“No. This is just in case.” Nyx lied, the bandits were acting at the behest of a customer as it seemed from Ryle’s story. They wouldn’t give up due to a few casualties.

“Okay then. Everyone go, we meet at the gate at the third bell.”