Chapter Five

A gentle breeze swayed the tall grass, the sun radiating its warmth upon them. Not a single cloud in the sky.

Gideon swept a glance over the open fields, examining their distance from the Kingdom that they left from earlier that day. He could still make out the outline to the castle from their position, but he knew any farther that they went, it would disappear from view. He moved his gaze over to his companion, no, not companion. Barely an acquaintance as it was forced upon just hours before by his King. Her hood was up again, concealing her identity from any passersby. Her weapons were hidden beneath her cloak, so almost any thief would believe this person was unarmed from afar.

"You're staring again." her voice drifted from beneath the cowl of her cloak, catching him off guard.

"I'm not used to quiet company." he muttered, returning his gaze to the dirt road ahead of them.

"Get used to it. We'll be spending most, if not all of our time, not communicating."

"That won't do us any good if complications come up, or when it comes to defeating Xerath." he argued, but he let out a sigh, moving his eyes to the blue sky spread out above him, the sun warming his face. "Look, I didn't want this as much as you did, but we might as well find a way to have this benefit us somehow."

"The reward is the only thing benefitting me right now. I could care less how this will work out for you though." she said, the sound of coins jingling in the pouch she was given reaching his ears.

"Bringing down the legendary Xerath wouldn't benefit you at all? Your name could go down in history." he said, raising a brow at her, but she only shrugged it off.

"You can have the fame and glory, I don't want any of it." she ended the conversation with a kick to her stallion's hips, sending him into a gallop. Gideon let his shoulders drop, a groan leaving his lips as he runs a hand down his face.

"This is going to be a very long trip." he agonized before kicking his own horse into gear, galloping after her.

After riding for a few hours, Rayne had pulled off to the side of the road with her horse where a river stretched from deep within the field. Dismounting, she took a seat beside the bank as her steed took care of his own feeding. Gideon followed up shortly after with his horse, dismounting.

"Why are we stopping? We could reach the forest by nightfall easily." he said.

"And run our horses into the ground? I'm not risking that. I want to be rid of you as soon as possible, but I'm not exhausting my horse for it. Besides," she got to her feet, her eyes roaming the tall grass across from her, the wind making the blades of green and yellow dance and sway, "you don't want to explore that forest at night. It's more dangerous than during the day." she spoke, resting one of her hands on her hip. Gideon huffed, going in to argue when he spotted her body stiffen just slightly. His eyes followed the position where she was looking into the tall grass, but he didn't see anything.

"What is..."

"Tell me, Ryder" she said, turning partially toward him, her gaze still hidden in the shadow of her hood, her hand descending deeper into her cloak, "do you have a strong sense of perception?" she asked him, and he cocked his head in confusion. Her hand snaked out from her cloak, the sun glistened on the steel as she flicked her wrist toward the direction of the field. A soft grunt escaped from the grass, followed by a thud.

Gideon rested his hand on the hilt of his sword as she made her way across the river and into the grass. After a moment, she stepped out from the field, her hand dragging what appeared to be a body behind her. Upon closer inspection once she was back over on his side of the river, she threw down the body of a goblin.

"What? Why is a goblin all the way out here?" he asked, taking a knee next to it, examining its clothes for a Crest symbol.

"Don't bother looking for it. It's one of his. Looks to be a scout." she said, taking out her water skin and proceeds to dump the water on the goblin's face. The creature coughed, spitting out the water that was descending onto him from above. Gideon jumped to his feet, withdrawing his sword from its scabbard and pointed at the goblin.

"Hck, ack." the goblin coughed, spitting the water from its blackened mouth, his blurry gaze clearing up to seeing two humans standing over him, one with a sword drawn. Its body stiffened at the sight, and it lifted it's lips in a snarl, baring broken fangs at the two.

"You are far from home." Gideon spoke finally, but it continued to snarl at them, "Where is the rest of your group?" he asked again, and still received no answer. Rayne reached over, putting her hand gently over Gideon's. The touch surprised him, but he didn't let it falter him.

"Put away your weapon, it won't talk otherwise." she lowered her voice to him, removing her hand and knelt down beside the goblin. Gideon cocked a brow at her before letting out soft grunt and sheathed his sword. The goblin moved it's attention toward her, its eyes alert, but fear sparkled in them. "I'll compromise with you. Tell us what your master is planning, and I'll let you go." she said, and for a moment, a glimmer of relief sparked in its eyes, but it moved its attention to Gideon, "Don't worry about the brute, he won't do anything." she soothed, and Gideon crossed his arms. The goblin glanced about, seeming to be choosing its words carefully.

"Master... Destroy... Kingdom... Reign... Eternal..." it spoke in broken words, picking at the blades of grass around it. Gideon's face fell at the words, concern and anger building up within him when Rayne got to her feet, and made way toward her horse. The goblin looked over to her, slowly getting its feet, "Am... free?" it asked, and Rayne waved in a shooing motion toward it. It cackled softly before turning heel and escaped to the bank on the other side of them.

"How can you just let it get away?" Gideon threw at her, turning toward her when a something blurred past him out of the corner of his eyes, a whistle sound and what felt like a soft feather brushed his cheek. A squeal erupted behind him and when he turned, the goblin had an arrow pierced through the back of its neck and pinned into the hill of the embankment. Gideon stood dumbfounded as he gazed back at Rayne who was holding a short bow in hand, the bowstring quivering slightly from the draw.

"I didn't say I wouldn't kill him." she replied finally, disconnecting the bowstring and Gideon watched in amazement as she folded the short bow up and stashed it in a bag.

"Wait a minute, how did you...?" he started to ask as she mounted her horse, peering down at him.

"If you don't hurry up, I'll leave you behind." she quipped, kicking her horse's ribs once again and went into a gallop. Gideon ran a hand down his face, feeling even more exhausted than he should, aching for this trip to end.

The sky was painted shades of purple, orange and red as the sun began to set. The tall grassy fields that they dealt with had slowly faded into a meadow, trees scattered on either side of the road. In the distance, small buildings started to come into view.

"It looks like the village on the map. It's getting late, we should stay at the inn and set out again at dawn." Gideon suggested, but Rayne drew her horse closer to his.

"Something is off." she lowered her voice, and Gideon took another glance at the village, finally seeing more as they closed the distance on it. Two figures stood at the entrance of the village, but moving his eyes past that he noticed the first couple of buildings appeared to be boarded up or falling apart. As they approached, one of the men stepped forward, raising a hand to halt them.

"State your business." he spoke harshly, his bald head giving off a slight shine from the setting sun. He wore a dark blue tunic and black pants, a short sword at his hip, but the air about him was off.

Highwaymen.

Gideon shuffled his horse forward, reaching into his pouch and presented a sigil of his rank. The man hesitated, clearing his throat.

"Sorry, but you'll need to find a different path." he scoffed, and the other man stepped forward along side of him. He wore his blonde hair tied back in a small bun, wearing a dark red tunic and brown pants. A handmade sat on his belt.

"You have no right to deny a Knight of King Abel. Step aside." he ordered, but the men looked at each other and let out a laugh.

"Or what? You're going to kill us?" the first one asked.

"Yes." Rayne chipped in, and the men were caught off guard. A creepy smile slithered across the second man's lips.

"Oh ho. You brought a woman, did you?" he stepped forward, and Gideon watched as the man placed his hand on her knee. He felt every muscle in his body twitch, restraining himself from intervening. Rayne turned her head toward the highwayman, reaching down slowly and picked his hand off of her thigh and with one swift flick of her wrist, broke his wrist. He let out a yell, holding his hand close to him.

"You bit..." he yelled, tears in his eyes as he peered up at her, but his eyes go wide. A glint of the light reflected on steel as a sharp pain stretched from one corner of his mouth to the other, and continued to deepen toward his ears. His eyes slowly glazed over, but not until he took in the sight of blood that was dripping off the tip of her short sword.

The man fell, a deep cut on his face as blood poured from the wound. The other highwayman stepped back, his eyes wide in shock. Gideon looked at Rayne in awe, and shock. She delivered the blow without a second thought. Most mercenaries he knew were ruthless, but this was a first for him.

"Wench!" the man yelled, withdrawing his sword and charged at her. She clicked her tongue, her horse rearing back on it's hind legs. The man brought his sword up, but her horse slammed a hoof into his arm, making him drop his weapon. He jumped back, clutching his arm against his chest, his face red with rage. "My boss will hear of this!" he yelled, turning and bolted through the town.

Silence filled the space between Gideon and Rayne as she relaxed her stallion and sheathed her sword.

"It appears we'll be delayed." she said, kicking her stallion into a walk. Gideon walked along side of her, leaving the corpse of the highwayman behind.