A true madness was taking place in the center of the city of Cautares.

  Soldiers were moving in every direction, running through the stone streets, shouting orders while the echo of their boots rang against the city walls. The doors of the houses slammed shut, and the people hid behind them, fearful, holding their breath.

  The air was filled with tension, as if the entire city knew that something terrible was about to happen.

  Inside the kidnappers’ hideout, however, the pressure felt different.

  There was no chaos there, only constant unease, a heavy silence broken only by nervous breathing and hurried murmurs.

  “Is the child still asleep?” one of the captors asked, his voice low but impatient.

  “Yes…” another replied, frowning. “But we’re running out of time. Remember that soon he’ll get hungry and start crying…”

  “Then if he cries, cover his mouth,” a third one intervened, with disdain.

  The first one turned immediately, furious.

  “Are you an idiot?” he snapped, barely holding back a shout. “Babies can’t breathe properly through their noses alone! If you cover his mouth, you’ll suffocate him. Killing him is not our job.”

  “Then what do we do?!” the second one shouted, desperate.

  The leader of the small group took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm.

  “We’ll use a relaxing drug,” he said at last. “Like the one from the Peratix flower, the one that grows in the Indomitable Forest. I brought some, just in case.”

  The baby remained asleep, unaware of everything, while the hours passed slowly.

  Several had already gone by when the captors reached the time limit requested by the rest of the band.

  “Good,” said the first one, adjusting his cloak. “Soon it’ll be time. We’ll activate the cave wolf control stones. They’ll attack the north gate of the city.”

  He paused briefly, making sure everyone was listening.

  “The soldiers will rush in large numbers to defend the people. With that distraction, we’ll release the bait. It’ll be the disposable slaves; they’ll flee through the south side.”

  A twisted smile appeared on his face.

  After running for nearly ten minutes through the forest, a faint light appeared, marking the path. There, they managed to regroup with the rest of the band.

  “You sure took your time, animals…” spat the bandit leader, looking at them with contempt.

  “It was quite difficult,” one of the captors replied. “We had to be very careful not to be followed. If they found out which family hired us, we’d all be dead.”

  With a total of thirty bandits gathered, they began preparing to take the hidden route through the Indomitable Forest and escape the area for good.

  “Good,” said the leader. “It’ll take us a week to reach the Mount of the Gods crossing the forest. Then another week on horseback to Taratios, and there we’ll make the delivery.”

  His voice grew even colder.

  “We took all the milk we could from one of the slaves. It’ll help keep the child alive.”

  “You mean the slave whose child they killed?” one of them asked.

  “Yes…” the leader laughed. “The damn woman tried to escape to leave her child somewhere safe, even if she died. Ahahah…”

  With those abominable conversations finished, the bandits set out toward the north of that land.

  Kael remained motionless in the bandit’s arms, even holding his breath. His mind, however, did not stop moving.

  I have to stay calm…

  There’s no other option.

  These bastards thought of everything… there was no way to draw anyone’s attention while we escaped…

  Helplessness tightened his chest.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  What do I do…?

  Am I going to die…?

  “Hey,” one of the bandits said, panting. “Does anyone want to carry the kid? I’m already tired.”

  He didn’t get to finish the sentence.

  A whip of water appeared out of nowhere and pierced his back with brutal violence, splitting him in two in a single instant. The body fell to the ground without even understanding what had happened.

  At the same time, as Kael fell, the whip shaped itself with impossible precision, turning into a liquid rope that held him in the air and dragged him toward his rescuer.

  It was Redda.

  Her gaze was serious, harder than usual, as if years of experience and pain had surfaced all at once.

  When they saw one of their own fall, the bandits reacted instantly, drawing their weapons and conjuring magic.

  “You damn miserable old woman!” one of them shouted. “We’ll kill you!”

  Redda raised a hand to prepare herself when an ice stake, launched like a projectile, grazed her chest by only a few centimeters.

  “Don’t stop attacking her!” the bandit leader ordered. “And take the child at the first opportunity! She’ll reveal our position!”

  Redda, a bit more serious than usual, looked at Kael and showed a gentle smile, almost childish, completely out of place in the middle of the fight.

  “Ho, ho…” she said calmly. “There are quite a few bad people here. Sorry for being late, my lord. I’ll get you out of here and take you home so we can play.”

  Kael, clinging to her with all his strength, couldn’t help reacting.

  “Aaaa! Lady Redda is the best!” he thought, excited. “She even uses water magic!”

  The attacks did not stop. Swords, daggers, and spells came at Redda from different angles. She had to constantly switch between protecting the young master and dodging, slowly taking several blows and cuts. Blood began to stain her clothes, but her posture did not waver.

  Despite her age, the condition of her body made it clear that in her youth she had maintained a discipline and training worthy of what she once was as a guardian.

  “Maybe I don’t have age on my side…” she murmured firmly, “but I do have experience… you unfortunate little children.”

  Her magic intensified.

  The water around her took the form of a chain that wrapped around her body, spinning with controlled violence. From her free arm, the water whip emerged again, fast and devastating. Each strike was precise; each impact, lethal. With every lash, a bandit fell, cleanly cut.

  “Don’t be cowards!” one of them shouted. “Attack together! Kill that old woman!”

  Even being a renowned guardian in the past, Redda could not ignore reality. Old age and its inevitable wear were beginning to take their toll. She endured powerful blows and deep cuts, but fatigue kept building up. Even so, her face remained firm and serious. In her eyes there was no doubt or regret… only determination and conviction.

  “This is getting complicated…” she said in a low voice, “but there’s nothing to worry about, my little young master. Even if it costs me my life, you will get out of here safe and sound…”

  The bandit leader stepped forward, visibly irritated.

  “This is already testing my patience,” he spat. “Move aside, you useless fools!”

  To be a leader capable of moving through the Indomitable Forest and knowing its hidden routes, he had to be strong. And he was.

  “I must admit you’re strong, old woman…” he continued, “but not strong enough. If I fought one-on-one against a guardian, I think I would win…”

  With unfair and merciless determination, he conjured an ice stake the size of a human and hurled it with all his strength.

  Redda managed to dodge it with difficulty, jumping aside, but she realized it too late.

  The bandit leader had moved with absurd speed and was already behind her, in midair.

  There was no honor.

  There was no respect.

  There was nothing.

  For a bandit, winning was the only thing that mattered. And he knew perfectly well how to act under those conditions.

  “Your love and determination will be your downfall!”

  Without hesitation, in a cowardly and treacherous move, he aimed a precise and deadly slash toward the side where Kael was.

  Redda did not hesitate.

  She knew that move was coming.

  She turned her body quickly, bringing her free arm forward, executing the motion to move away from the bandit. She rolled violently across the ground, shielding Kael and dragging herself due to the enormous speed she had used.

  A second later, something fell from the air.

  It was an arm.

  Redda’s arm.

  It had been used as a sacrifice to deflect the attack that was aimed at the young master.

  A small, desperate cry began to be heard.

  “This can’t be happening…!” Kael thought, terrified. “Redda is dying… I have to do something! Damn it… I can’t let more innocent people die…!”

  “Ohhh, my little one… calm down,” Redda said, forcing a smile. “It’s nothing. These things tend to happen. There’s nothing to fear… they’re just a few scratches…”

  But blood kept pouring endlessly from the place where her limb had been severed.

  “Kill the old woman together!” the bandits shouted. “Then we’ll tear her apart and leave her pieces scattered all over the forest!”

  They didn’t even get to take another step.

  A blade of wind magic separated one of their heads from his body, and at the same time, a massive light rose, illuminating the area. Another bandit burned, wrapped in flames.

  By twists of fate, two full-time cooks had arrived at the battlefield—who on that day had turned into hunters… and would end up becoming bandit killers.

  Jacki and Lasan.

  Both had been gathering spices in the forest and appeared just in time.

  “I don’t know this kind of animal very well,” Jacki said, looking at the scene with contempt, “but it certainly looks like a disgusting and filthy plague… it needs to be eradicated.”

  “You have no idea how much I used to complain when, besides being a cook, I had to help as a gatherer,” Lasan added, with a fierce smile. “But today… today I’m glad to accept this role of being a KILLER.”

  A ray of hope calmed Kael’s heart as he saw the timely intervention of the most outstanding cooks of the Sungley family.