Chapter 6

Maximus looked around to find the source of the voice, when Hedger tugged at his shirt and pointed to the top of a pile of scrap metal. A man stood there and he slowly walked down the scrap pile to meet them. Maximus didn't recognize him at first, but then he realized that it was the same cloaked man from yesterday. It was Rex who reacted first, he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the man and said, "You're the guy from the pub yesterday, why are you following us?" For a guy with a gun pointed at his head by a seven foot Minotaur he seemed pretty calm. His face was still covered by his hood and only his chin and mouth were visible. His expression hadn't changed a bit. Then the man said "You're experienced in tracking with your nose, I'm guessing you and the boy are ex-military."

This was true of course, Minotaurs and other races with a keen sense of smell were taught special tracking methods related to smell and Rex had undergone it too. What Maximus didn't understand was how the man understood that he used to be a soldier as well. Rex narrowed his eyes and asked, "What's it to you?" The man still didn't seem bothered by the gun pointed at his face and this was starting to bother Maximus. Then the man said "I don't care about your past, what I do care about is a piece of information you let slip yesterday – you mentioned there was another way into the outskirts."

"Eavesdropping isn't very polite Mr. Hood," Hedger said, "so why don't you start by telling us who you are?"

"Actually Mr. Hood is just fine," he said, and Hedger had no response to that. Maximus was trying to figure out anything he could about this man but it was hard since his cloak covered his entire body. Even his feet and shoes were covered in wraps. But Maximus could tell that he had a sword on his waist under his cloak. The fact that he wasn't unarmed wasn't that encouraging.

"Umm Rex, put the gun away, I don't think he's gonna attack us," Maximus said. Then he turned to the hooded man and asked, "Why do you want to go to the outskirts so badly anyway?"

The man turned to Maximus. Maximus was kind of amazed at how expressionless his face still looked. He had seen more feelings on a stone statue. "My reasons are not important to you but I can make it worth your while," the man said, and then he put his hand in his pocket and took out three gold pieces and showed them to the trio. "These are yours if you can get me outside." This sure got their attention. "A piece of gold each for just letting him tag along doesn't seem so bad," Hedger said

Maximus had to agree it was a sweet deal, but he wasn't stupid enough to trust a guy who wouldn't even show his face. Rex seemed to be thinking along the same lines, he said "And are we just supposed to blindly trust you?"

The man lowered his head and said, "I give you my word that I will not attack any of you unless I am attacked first. Besides, shouldn't I be the one who should worry? After all, there are three of you and you are well armed."

"Don't think that we haven't noticed the sword you're hiding under your cloak," Maximus said.

"Yes but I assure you that is all I have," the man said, "unlike you I have no firearms."

Maximus wasn't too relieved by this. He knew that a swordsman with proper training and a powerful enough sword could easily take care of a group of gunmen. And his instincts told him that this man had both. Rex looked to Maximus. Even though Maximus didn't trust this guy, the money he was offering was good, and they could really use it so he nodded in agreement. "Fine," Rex said, "you can tag along but at the first sight of any funny business I am personally putting a bullet in your head."

The man nodded in agreement, his face didn't show any signs of worry that he had just been threatened or any signs of life at all for that matter. Then Rex held out his only arm and the hooded man shook on it.

After that they started walking to the cave entrance together. Maximus was pretty sure he had never been part of a more silent group, even Hedger wasn't opening his big mouth. It was Rex who finally spoke. "So who the hell are you anyway?" Maximus felt that Rex was being a bit rude but it didn't seem to bother the hooded man, instead he asked "What happened to your arm and eye?"

Rex snorted angrily at this and said "That's really none of your business."

"Then I don't think my identity is any of your concern either," replied the man. Needless to say there was no more small talk after that.

They finally reached the caves and Hedger began to lead the way. The rest of them followed close behind. Hedger could easily fit through all the caves but it was clear to Maximus that he didn't like not being able to use his wings. But at least he didn't have to crawl around on all fours like the rest of us, Maximus thought to himself. The caves were excruciatingly annoying for Rex who was bringing up the rear. Even though he was curled up into a ball and moving at the speed of a snail he was still just barely getting through. Once he even managed to get his horn stuck on a tree root that was sticking out and that just made his day. After about 20 minutes or so of torturous crawling they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel and were thrilled that their little maze was over. They finally got out but they still had aching knees and dirt all over them.

"I don't care if we gotta break down the barricade but we have to find another way back," Rex complained. Maximus couldn't help but grin at this, mainly because they had finally reached the outskirts. It was true that scavengers didn't get much pay and the job was a lot of hard work, but nobody ever said that the job was boring. There was something truly exhilarating about being out there and hunting in the wild. The three of them finally turned to the hooded man. Rex said "Well here you are, the great outdoors. So if you could just hand over the money you promised we will just be on our way." The man nodded in agreement, "I have a question though," he said. "There should be a trail nearby which off-road vehicles are supposed to use. Could you point me in its direction?" Maximus knew the trail he was talking about, there was only one such trail out here in the outskirts and he had travelled it a few times when he was still in the army. He had been aboard a convoy on transport duty. The trail was not there in any of the maps, and the things that were transported through here by the army were usually illegal stuff that never appeared in any of the military records. Maximus wasn't proud of this but he had seen and turned a blind eye to worse in the army.

"It's towards the north from here, just keep walking till you reach a small incline. You should be able to see the trail from there," Maximus said.

"I have heard that there is a cliff there from which the trail is visible," he asked again.

Maximus nodded and replied, "Yeah, you should be able to spot the cliff within five minutes." The man nodded at this and handed over the money. Then he began to move towards the trail.

"How do you plan to get back to the city?" Maximus asked as he began to walk away. The hooded man stopped for a second and said "I don't plan to," and began walking again down his path.

Once the man was out of sight, Hedger said, "Well, that was weird to say the least. Wonder what he's up to?" Rex let out a small grunt and said "Who cares. He already paid us, he can go and jump in a lake for all I care. Now come on, we got work to do."