Chapter 15

That particular morning was a little bit cloudy, which shortened the eye's view to a distance. Perhaps God wanted to fertilize the earth by giving it rain. On one of the routes in the middle of the forest, there was a single old and rusty carriage.

From the outside of the carriage, a snore that came from inside the carriage was clearly heard. It was Alan who was asleep. When he wanted to change his sleeping position, the carriage suddenly shook. He was awakened after his head hit against the barrel really hard.

He groaned a little as he touched his head. "Where am I?" He was hungover. "Good morning, beast. How do you feel?" Alan looked back and saw that it was Leo who greeted him. "Not so… good?" Leo smirked. "Good." Alan was confused about what Leo said. It felt like some sort of a mockery but Alan just let it be because he was still in a state of dizziness.

Leo threw his waterskin to Alan. "Drink up for your hangover." Alan quickly took it but unfortunately, he threw up before he could take a sip. This was because he could not stand the shakiness of the carriage. As he felt the urge to throw up, he immediately faced his head outside of the carriage to vomit. Leo helped Alan by rubbing his back.

He wiped his mouth. "Thank you." Leo stood up. Alan gave Leo the cold shoulder. "You better be prepared." He headed back to where he was seated. "Yes, sir." Alan responded. He took a few sips from the waterskin which made him relieved. After that, he tried to remember what happened yesterday but his mind was still blurry.

He looked at Leo. "Nope, I won't talk about what happened yesterday." Leo knew what Alan wanted. He seemed to have the telepathic power to read people's minds. The conversation ended there and the both of them waited to arrive at the city.

A little further away from Leo, there was a big dark man who was cleaning his dagger. He minded his business and seemed to be not fond of talk. He looked like a professional with what he was doing. This can be seen by the scars on both his hands and how sturdy his body looked. That man was distracted by Alan's stares, so he then returned the look with a sharp stare and proceeded to keep his dagger. Alan quickly turned his eyes away when he realized that man was staring back at him.

On their way there, they suddenly smelt something awful as if there were something rotten inside the forest. The smell became increasingly strong like there was something dead in there. The carriage began to move at a slower pace so as to not to make any noise. Leo and the big dark man held their swords. Alan followed their footsteps. The both of them sneakily looked outside to try to identify if there was anything that might be of danger to them.

Alan shivered a little, as he did not know what they may be facing. Only their preparations and alertness could save them. The rotten smell slowly turned more and more faint and the carriage began to go at full speed to leave the forest. Alan felt better.

"What just happened?" Leo started to look serious. "The locals said that there was once a man-eating monster inside that forest. They still do not know what kind of creature it is because whenever someone went in the forest, they never came out alive." He said. His big voice was enough to make people terrified by his story. No wonder Alan became scared because he saw someone's boots tainted with what seemed like fresh blood in the bushes earlier.

"They assumed that this creature came from among the beast folks. Duke Kevin's army captured some of the beast folks to use as bait; they were tied to a big stone and thrown inside the forest to ensure that they did not run away. After they were placed inside the forest, a roar as loud as thunder erupted which made the birds in the surrounding area fly away in flocks. They were terrified and the rope that held them together suddenly tightened. A few moments later, the rope became loose and when Duke Kevin's army tried to pull back the ropes to bring back the beast folks, they came back as dismembered corpses with their upper bodies gone." He continued. Alan and Leo lowered down their heads.

The terrifying story of the creature turned sad and disappointing. The innocent beast folk became the victims of cruel humans. Even after what humankind did to them, they still did not do anything in return but instead, they just kept running to save their lives. In the past, they were stronger and were the source of pride for all living beings because their people were one of the heroes who helped save the earth from the demon king. However, right now, they are powerless and received no sympathy from any country to accept them.

"If I had a chance, this dagger will penetrate its throat." He said in a vengeful voice as he pulled out his dagger. "We're almost there." The coachman interrupted them. That man kept his dagger back to where it belonged.

After the carriage reached the main gate, the guards stopped them from entering to do some inspections. At the main gate, there were two queues for inspection, one for the carriage, and the other for walkers. As observed from the surroundings, the walkers were more in number than the carriages. The walkers looked more like captives but they were not handcuffed. "Your letter of approval?" One of the guards demanded documentation from the coachman. He took out the letter and showed it to him.

The two letters of approval presented meant that there were supposed to be only two people who requested to enter. He inspected the back of the carriage where barrels were placed to confirm the number of people. When he opened the carriage, only the big dark man was inside. Leo and Alan were already gone. They were not actually gone but they were inside the barrel, to hide from the guards.

"What's this?" The guard asked. "It's ale." The big man responded. "Seriously? This must be delicious." He looked excited and impatient. "Hey you, come here." He called his partner. From the appearance of his partner, it seemed that he was a lot younger than him, perhaps he was a newcomer. "Take something that we can easily drink from." He asked. "Is this ale, sir?" He was curious. It seemed that that guard was a leader. "You're damn right, son. Remember, no one can know about this." He smirked. "Your wish is my command, sir." He quickly ran to find something similar to a mug.

"Where is it supposed to be sent to?" He asked while he knocked one of the barrels. Unfortunately, Alan was inside the barrel. Alan was shocked, his heartbeat got faster and faster as if it was going to explode. At the same time, the big dark man stared at that barrel and then he turned the barrel of ale to that guard. "For Duke Kevin, sir." He acted cool.

"This much?" He was mesmerized as to how much ale there was inside the carriage. Luckily, the ale was enough to share with all of the residents in this town even though it took a long time for Duke Kevin's people to finish them. Because Duke Kevin ruled his faction as a dictator, he solely controlled anything and everything especially food, finances and the army. Even the nobles under his faction were powerless. He easily took down anyone who was against him.

"It's good to have plenty of this." He smiled but the big dark man didn't reply to him. He just kept his watch and made necessary preparations just in case they may be busted by the guards while Alan and Leo started to sweat nervously in the barrel. The guard still did not realize what was inside the barrel.

"Sir, I brought you what you asked for." The other guard came back with the requested item. He was panting a little after he ran all the way here. He looked at his surrounding to make sure the others did not see what they were doing and then he slowly took out the mug.

"Stay here and cover me. Once I am done then it's your turn." He stated his order and that young guard responded by saluting him. After that, the old guard continued what his inspection. At this point, he could barely wait to get his hands on the barrel.

Then he started to stab the barrel. "Sir there's another carriage coming towards us." His partner reported to him. He stopped and said to his partner. "Just do what you have to do." His voice got a little high. It was as if he was annoyed that someone disturbed him when he wanted to take a sip of his favourite drink. His throat demanded it. His partner quickly handled the other carriage.

He did not waste his time; he quickly stabbed the barrel to enable the alcohol to flow. Unfortunately, something suddenly bumped so strongly into the carriage that it caused him to lose balance and fall. The mug flew away from his hands from the impact and dropped somewhere that he could not see inside of the carriage. Lucky for him the barrel didn't move anywhere. Otherwise, the barrel may have fallen on him.

As for the big dark man, he was still in the same place holding the carriage wall with both his hands. He kept his calm. He just continued watching the barrel and ignored what bumped into the carriage.

"What the hell is going on?" He got up and slowly fixed his armour. Suddenly a few whistles were blown and someone shouted for them.' The guard asked his partner what had just happened. But before he could answer, a few knights in their horses came towards them. One of the knights stopped and the other continued charging forward to chase something.

"What are you carrying inside the carriage?" The knight asked. "Doing some inspection, sir." He responded. "Don't waste your time, close the gates now. The beast folks had already entered the gates." He commanded and then he left them to follow his team. After the old guard got down from the carriage, he led the carriage through the gates of the castle. Finally, Alan and Leo succeeded in entering the castle. They were so thankful to get inside.