Meanwhile, as Kaelen, Tarris, and Anderson were contemplating Raen’s words, his squad was nearly finished getting ready to travel to their new post.

  “It’ll take that long to reach the new post?!” Jason stared at Raen, his expression shocked and unwilling.

  “About 6 hours, it won’t be an easy trip, so make sure to pace yourself.” Raen patted the boy on his shoulders before checking his equipment, making sure everything was there.

  “Raen, why are we bringing so many rations? We’ll get new ones every couple of days. Is this much really necessary?” Adam asked, glancing at the full bags.

  “Most of the rations are the kind that don’t spoil easily, which means they can last us a long time.” Raen took some military biscuits out of a bag. “It’s always a good idea to bring more than you need. You never know when they’ll get in handy.”

  “Starvation is not something you wish to experience.” A rumble came from the corner. Marcus sat, as always, with his sword across his lap.

  He packed the quickest, as he was the one squad member who barely had anything to pack in the first place.

  “Captain’s way of thinking is correct. I suggest you keep that in mind for the future.”

  “I-I see.” Adam scratched the back of his head and smiled at Marcus, who merely nodded in return.

  Lately, the old man had been getting chattier and chattier. An unexpected, yet welcome change for Raen.

  “I think we’re done,” Mark stated, a bag slung across his shoulder.

  “Yes, everything has been packed. We can leave.” Dral added whilst placing his axe on his belt buckle.

  “Very well then, let us –“

  The sound of hooves and neighs interrupted Raen. The entire squad stared at the entrance of the tent, slightly on edge, before Raen finally strode over, exiting it.

  “I thought you would welcome these for your trip.”

  “Battalion Commander, sir!” Adam quickly stood straight and saluted Kaelen, who had arrived with multiple horses.

  “Sir?” Raen stared weirdly at Kaelen, surprised by his arrival.

  “With my influence right now, this is the best I could do,” Kaelen said with a smile. “Good luck with the rest, Lieutenant. And sorry for placing you in this situation.”

  Kaelen saluted Raen and his squad before nodding and moving to leave.

  “Sir, a moment please.” Raen strode over to the confused Kaelen before leaning in, whispering in his ear:

  “Be wary of the 3rd Prince. Do not trust him under any circumstances.”

  “What?” Kaelen’s eyes widened in shock as Raen stood straight, saluting him.

  “Farewell, sir.”

  He didn’t elaborate further, nor did he wait for Kaelen to ask him a question. This was the most he could tell him. Hell, even telling Kaelen this much was dangerous.

  The squad didn’t ask Raen what he had told Kaelen, nor why their battalion commander left with such a shocked expression on his face. Some things were better left a secret. They all knew that.

  “Hey, won’t we be able to get there faster now?” Jason observed the horses with a wide smile plastered on his face. “I didn’t know we would get horses for our trip.”

  “Nobody usually does. I wonder what the commander did to actually get us these.” Mark glanced at Raen, who shook his head, also confused.

  “Well, I for one won’t think too much about this present.” Thatch quickly appeared on one of the horses, gently stroking its mane, his travelling bags already placed across it.

  Raen and the rest did the same and then left the camp.

  Raen glanced back, well aware that this would be the last time he would ever be able to see the camp. He wondered just how many of the people he had met and talked to in the last couple of days would be able to survive what was to come.

  ***

  The trip east was quiet. There were no patrols along the way, and the forest was completely silent. If Azurand was massing troops, they’d probably be invisible until they decided to show up.

  “Cap’n.” Thatch appeared beside Raen, his horse keeping pace. “Noticed anything unusual?”

  “Well, I don’t know,” Raen smirked at Thatch. “What did you notice?”

  “Hmph,” Thatch grunted at Raen with a wronged face. “You’re always trying to bait for information.”

  “But alright, I’ll bite.” Thatch smiled widely. “There’s nobody around, absolutely nobody.”

  “The truce is still on, no reason for anyone to be around.”

  “That might seem true, but there would always be scouts around.” Thatch glanced around before whispering. “Do you know there’s none around now?”

  “Nope.” Raen dismissively said, causing Thatch’s smile to grow wider.

  “Do you wanna know?”

  “What, so you know it too?” Raen suddenly asked Thatch, his face dropping. “Damn, the information isn’t as tightly guarded as I thought.”

  “…” Thatch’s smile was wiped off as he stared at Raen with a blank expression.

  “You’re no fun, lying like that.”

  He then glanced up ahead, where Adam was riding alongside Jason, chatting with him, trying to lift his spirits up.

  Thatch smiled and was about to guide his horse forward to them, undoubtedly to chat up Jason.

  “You managed to gain anything from the skull?” Raen’s quiet voice reached him first.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “No. There’s only so much I can do by myself.”

  “My offer still stands. Maybe we can find something out about it together.”

  “Sure.” Thatch thought for a second. He then nodded at Raen before moving on.

  Raen observed his squad. With the addition of Thatch, Adam and Jason became livelier and chattier. Adam was a bit on guard against him, as he knew his pranks could go a bit too far at times. But Thatch luckily didn’t seem to be aiming for anything like that.

  Marcus was further up ahead, riding in silence at the very front. If anything were to happen, they all knew they could rely on him to give them a heads-up.

  Dral was riding some 3 meters on Raen’s left, scanning the horizon. His left hand gently massaged the horse’s mane while his right was next to his body, ready to grab his axe at a moment’s notice. He was riding in a saddle, like all of them, but Raen didn’t doubt that he would fare just as well without one.

  ‘As expected of someone from the northern tribes. He’s already established trust with the horse.’

  Mark, on the other hand, rode behind Raen, whistling a tune that echoed through the empty forest. One might think it was reckless to do so, as the sound would alert anyone close to them. But Raen was well aware that the tune he whistled was anything but normal.

  ‘No matter how many times I hear it, it’s always a bit magical.’

  Raen knew that tune. In the past, some of his pursuers used it to track him. If a person was fifty meters away from the person whistling, the latter would know of his existence.

  The more talented whistlers would be able to widen the detection radius. They could also be able to pinpoint their location.

  It was borderline magic.

  All of them came with Raen, without so much as a word of protest.

  If they wished, they could have asked the higher-ups to delegate them to a different squad. And Raen would gladly oblige with their request as well.

  None did that.

  They trusted Raen and followed him willingly.

  And he, in return, was about to ask them to become traitors.

  He would, of course, give them a choice, not that he could force any of them to join him. Still, he hoped he could persuade them all to come with him.

  His plans would go much smoother with all of them with him.

  It took them about four hours to reach the guard post – two hours faster than the journey would have been on foot. The terrain was not that good for the horses; they could have crossed the distance much faster. The bags they prepared were mostly filled with food and water, so the weight was not too much for the horses.

  The Eastern Front was where the 2nd Regiment was placed. It was the regiment with the lowest number of soldiers, thanks to the casualties they had suffered months ago.

  Geographically, it was the same as the central battlefield where they had previously been stationed. With the only difference being the fact that little battle had been seen here, thus the terrain outside the camp had barely changed.

  That would soon change.

  It was still daytime when they arrived, but the sun was slowly setting. Thus, they had to quickly unpack and get the guard post running.

  The guard post itself was … shabby. It was made out of wood, and it was obvious that nobody had been there in quite some time. Dust and leaves littered the ground, and there were some vines growing on the outside walls as well.

  Outside, an officer was waiting, only there to confirm their arrival. Upon seeing them and quickly greeting them, he left. Eager to get away from them and the old building.

  “This place will take hours to properly clean and make suitable for us to stay.”

  “There’s no need for that. We’re only staying here for the night.” Raen said, causing the rest to stop and stare at him.

  “Ummm … what?” Adam grabbed the bags, taking them off the horses, confused at Raen’s words.

  “Azurand has been reorganizing its army. They’re going to attack the Eastern Front.”

  “Either they will do it tomorrow evening, when the truce technically ends, or the morning of the following day.”

  Raen’s words caused silence to descend over everybody.

  “So … we’re not watchdogs.” Mark suddenly punched the wall of the guard post, causing some of the wood to bend. “We’ve been given a death sentence, huh?”

  “You could indeed think of it that way.” Raen moved away from the wall, looking at them all. “The Prince has decided to send us here because he knew the attack was coming. We wish us to die in this place.”

  “More specifically, he wishes I would die here.”

  “But why would His Highness wish that?” Adam asked. “You have done so much for the army. You –“

  “That is one of the reasons, Adam.” Raen shook his head, glancing at the young man.

  “I’ve overshadowed him. And he also believes that I was involved in his assassination attempt.”

  “But it was proven you were innocent,” Jason gulped nervously. “That guard you guys captured, wasn’t he bribed by the enemy spies to give false testimony?”

  “That was about my murder accusation. It has been dropped.” Raen chuckled. “ But it doesn’t matter. His Highness was nearly killed.”

  “He’s now become paranoid, no longer trusting a single soul.”

  “So, what do you plan on doing?” Dral crossed his arms. “You’re definitely not the type to lie down and die.”

  “I’m leaving.”

  “Seriously?” Mark stared intensely at Raen. Not in anger, just pure bewilderment.

  “After Azurand attacks, we will probably be reported dead. Nobody will search for us; it’s the perfect cover.”

  “I want you guys to come with me.”

  “But Raen – what – how, where would we go?!” Adam shouted, his body shaking. “What about our lives, our families back home?!”

  “Our town is just a couple of miles away from the battlefield! What will happen to it if we just leave?!”

  “And what do you think you can accomplish here?” Raen suddenly asked, staring intensely at Adam.

  “What can one soldier do against Azurand’s army, huh?

  “You have already seen what’s been happening. The same will continue.” Raen walked over to Adam. “The Empire won’t win, Adam, and I’m not going to die with it.”

  “No, you’re just going to let everybody we know die and do nothing to stop it.” Adam walked up to Raen, his anger reaching a boiling point.

  Raen sighed and shook his head. “I never said I’m going to do that either.

  “You damn – wait, what?” Adam stopped himself from cursing, blinking at Raen in confusion.

  “It’s not going to be easy. My plan might not even work, but I have something in mind to try and save the town.”

  “That place is our first stop after leaving anyway.”

  “You can stay there, Jason, you won’t be tried for deserting. The town and the surrounding areas will soon belong to Azurand.”

  “I-I … w … I don’t-“

  “It’s fine, your family needs you,” Raen said, gently placing his hand on Jason’s shoulder.

  “Now, we should do some light cleaning. Just in case somebody is still observing the post, checking up on us.”

  “We’ll talk later tonight. You guys can give me your answers then.” Raen glanced at Marcus and Dral, who said nothing in return but merely nodded at him.

  “Thatch, a moment please.”

  Raen walked away from the post, stopping some 15 meters away, observing the forest around them.

  “Now that, I didn’t expect,” Thatch stopped next to him, smiling at Raen with child-like innocence.

  “Thatch.” Raen opened his mouth, still staring ahead. “You wouldn’t happen to know military placements of the army? Strategic points? High-value locations and the like?”

  Raen turned his head, smiling at Thatch with a chilling smile.

  Even Thatch felt a chill go down his spine for an instant. The man he had worked under seemed like a different person.

  “Come on, Cap’n. You know that those things went up in flames a couple of days ago.”

  “The ones Commander Klaos had, yes. But with Azurand making their move, the army has to respond. I don’t doubt multiple officers were put in charge of that.”

  “I’m asking for a favor here. I’ll owe you one.” Raen’s voice turned serious, causing the smile on Thatch’s face to be wiped clean.

  “Being in possession of such information could be considered as treason, you know?” Thatch responded.

  “I just told everybody I plan on deserting. Do you really think I care?”

  “I guess not.” Thatch shook his head, a smirk appearing on his face.

  “Alright, Cap’n, I’ll give you what you want. Even though I have no inkling of why you might want that.”

  “You'd better give me some results with our investigation tonight.”

  Thatch walked away from Raen, who nodded his head and glanced at the back of the boy. He had taken a gamble. One he was nearly sure would work out.

  Thatch had a habit of always wanting to know everything. Stealing such military secrets was nothing too difficult for him. He had probably transcribed them right after studying them.

  He was proved partially wrong soon after.

  Raen received the information he needed, but he quickly identified that it was written not too long ago.

  Thatch had just memorized all the information. He wrote it down in order to give it to Raen, who stared at him with a dumbfounded expression.

  After Thatch left, he spent some time studying the information, memorizing everything before burning the parchments.

  The rest had been busy cleaning the guard post. Even if they were going to leave it tomorrow, they should at least have it somewhat presentable in order to stay the night.

  “Done?” Thatch asked Raen, glancing at the ashes near his feet.

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  “Now it’s your turn,” Thatch said as he held the blackened skull of Varis in his hand.

  “In a few, I need to do something first.” Raen patted Thatch on the back before moving, arriving near Mark.

  “I need a favor.”