Chapter 15.

The two got ready quickly, choosing to only take Moth's bag with them as they would only be gone for the day. They ate a quick breakfast of some bread and hard cheese before quickly before heading out into the snow together and walking the distance to a store across town. They pushed the door open into the store and walked in together, Moth looked around curiously at all the different objects on display while Lane walked straight through to the back of the store to find the owner, Sol hurriedly packing his wares into boxes.

"Oh, you are early." Sol says, rather cheerfully despite the fact that it was early morning and bitter cold that would sour anyone's mood. "I'm just starting to load up the cart, it'll only take thirty minutes or so and then we can get going." Lane stepped forward, "We'll help then, the quicker the better. Walkers are less active in the early morning." Moth darts over to them, nodding in agreement to back up his reasoning.

"I would never refuse help." He said cheerfully. "I've never met you before. I assume you're his partner, nice to meet you." He holds a hand out to him which Moth takes after a moment of caution and shakes. "Let's get to work." Lane says as he lifts up a large box into the cart. "He doesn't like to waste time does he?" Sol asks, laughing slightly. "Not really but you can trust him, he's really strong." Sol nodded in agreement. "I already know that but what about you? Are you not strong?" Moth shrugs. "I'm relatively strong but I'm a bit limited by this cloak."

"Is that right?" Sol mutters in curiosity, staring at the man's long cloak. Lane glares at them. "Are you going to help?" Moth jolts at Lane's voice. "Sorry." He laughs slightly before going over to help.

Lane sat in the front of the cart with Sol while Rin had positioned himself on top of the boxes of materials, looking out at his snowy surroundings. "Where do you need to take these things anyway?" Rin called, curious about where the three were headed. "There is a market every week in the neighboring town, my wares usually sell better there. I haven't been able to attend recently because of the rumors and reports." Moth tilted his head. "Reports?" He asked, looking out at the blankets of snow. "People have been sighting a category 2 walker stalking these forests and that's enough to dissuade anyone from trying to go through these woods without proper protection. But I feel confident today knowing that The Reaper has taken the job to kill it." Next to him Lane's eyes widened and he flinched seemingly caught off guard by that name.

"Who's The Reaper? I saw his name on a poster before." Moth asked, looking down at Sol curiously. Sol glanced back at him, his eyes wide with astonishment. "He's only the best walker hunter ever. He's insanely fast and strong and he can take out a category 3 with just one slash of his scythe. I heard he lived out of a small town but one day he disappeared a few months ago. I'm surprised you haven't heard of him, he's practically folk lore. You know there's rumors that he might be a humanoid because of how strong he is." He whispered the last part to Moth as if it was a big secret. "I doubt that humanoids tend to rely on their abilities instead of weapons and they wouldn't risk exposing themselves like that." 

"You seem to know a lot about humanoids." Sol says with a laugh, causing Moth to flinch slightly. "Have people actually sighted The Reaper or is it all just speculation?" Lane asks, interrupting the conversation. "Mostly speculation. The guy who took the job was a part of the group that worked with him once and he said that The Reaper would be taking on the job as well. I hope I get to meet him, I've heard he's really good looking, a strong and silent type." 

Moth leaned over looking at the tense look on Lane's face in confusion. His antennae twitched from underneath his hood as he heard something creeping towards them, he turned his head towards the noise, noticing that Lane did the same. Sol looked up at the two in confusion, asking what was wrong. 

"Moth, can you tell what it is?" Lane mutters, drawing out his axe. Moth's antenna twitched again, trying to find the sound, "The footstep pattern is not consistent with a human, it's either a walker or an animal. I can go look." Before he could respond Moth leaped off the cart into the snow, his feet barely made a sound as he moved into the forest. Lane seemed startled by his movements and quickly got down off the cart to go after him but stayed in place after remembering that they were there to protect the cart. After a few moments Moth ran back out muttering a few swear words as a walker snapped at him, it was a category 5 but Moth was at a disadvantage due to the walker's speed and his inability to use his wings. "Lane, help!" The other person moved quickly, slicing his axe through the walker's legs and then through the hand that went towards him trying to claw at him. Before he spun around and lopped off the head of the creature in a swift fluid movement. Moth let out a sigh as the creature stopped wriggling about and finally died, "Thanks, that one was way too fast." He smiled up at Lane only to meet a cold set of eyes. "Is everything okay?"

"What are you doing?" Moth frowned, tilting his head. "I figured it would be easier to stop it before it got close, so that Sol or the cargo wasn't endangered." He frowned, putting his hands on Moth's shoulders and scanning him for injuries. "Then you should have let me go." 

"The strongest person should stay with the target." Moth chided, mimicking Lane's tone. "You told me that." Lane rubbed his brow and sighed, "Still…" He grumbled. "While I appreciate you guys taking care of it, I still want to get to the market in time." Sol commented smiling awkwardly at the two. "Sorry." Moth said with a slight laugh as he leaped up onto the cart again and sat down.

"You two are really cute though, are you dating?" Sol asked, leaning back to whisper to Moth. "...Uh." Moth looked down, confused for a moment as he thought. Are we dating? I mean we kissed last night but that doesn't really mean that we are, Lane could have just been lonely. Is it even okay for us to date? 

The rest of their journey there went well, without any more attacks or problems. Moth was enthralled in the conversations he had with Sol only occasionally glancing over to Lane who looked ahead with a sour expression. The two were supposed to guard Sol throughout the day and ensure that he didn't get robbed or hurt, but Moth also decided to help him set up and sell things, seemingly enjoying the work. Lane watched the two from a distance making sure to keep his axe in plain view to dissuade anyone from doing anything, he thought about helping Moth to set up his own store one day if they produced enough food. The day ended quickly as they packed up to head back as the sun started to set making Lane nervous. 

"Are you alright?" Moth asked as he leaned over to look at Lane's tense face. "I didn't think we'd be out so late, it will be annoying if we get attacked now." He placed his hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "Don't forget, you have me. I'm the best there is in the dark." Lane doesn't seem comforted by his statement, in fact he seems more nervous and tense. 

They had just entered the thickest area of the forest, Sol was dozing off slightly in the front while Lane and Moth were wide awake and keeping an eye on their surroundings. A slight snap in a bush nearby startles them all as Lane and Moth immediately move, taking out their weapons and standing defensively as four people leaped out from the and pointed swords at them. "Surrender your belongings if you don't want to die." One of them called as the four moved in closer. Moth tilted his head in confusion, staring at them. "Who are these people?"

"Bandits. Bad humans, we aren't letting them take anything." Lane replied, swinging his axe forward to warn them to stay back. "These are bandits? I thought they'd be scarier." Moth mutters in disappointment. "Do I kill them?" Lane shook his head. "Better not to, you can collect rewards for bringing them in alive."

"Make your choice now, hand us your belongings or fight." One of the bandits stated. "We choose to fight." Lane says as he jumps down off the cart, landing on the ground with a loud thud as he brandishes his axe. Moth falls down beside him, his cloak fluttering as he falls down and lands lightly on the snow. Three of the bandits moved first, two of them going for Lane while the other targets Moth, all of them swinging their swords at them. Lane makes quick work of the two, blocking the first slash with the end of his axe before shoving it into his stomach and spinning the axe around to hit him across the face with the side of the blade, knocking him out. The second one comes at him and this time he hooks the blade onto his shoulder and pulls the startled bandit towards the ground, Lane steps through and pulls up his knee hitting it against the bandit's falling face. Behind him Moth is standing casually as the bandit comes at him, he secures his hood over his head as he waits for him to come at him. The bandit's sword swings down at him and Moth steps back, narrowly avoiding the blade, the bandit moves to cut him across the chest but Moth ducks under his arm, grabbing his wrist and twisting it causing the sword to clatter to the ground. The bandit stepped back after being disarmed and watched as Moth dropped his dagger, wanting to fight the man with his fists. His opponent seemed a bit startled by this, he was a burly man so when a small man in a dark cloak wanted to fist fight he thought it would be an easy kill. He came at him again, a meaty fist aiming to punch straight into his skull but Moth ducked underneath and grabbed the arm coming towards him before jumping up and breaking it with his knee. He then moved around the man to his back, leaped up, wrapping his arms around his neck and choking him. The man thrashed about trying to get him off of him without any luck as he slowly lost consciousness and fell forward to the ground. Moth got up off him and let out a breath barely being given any time to recover before a clawed hand slashes into his arm that he brought up to block the attack. Moth stared at the cloaked figure, the fourth bandit in confusion. 

"A claw?" He tilts his head slightly. "Are you a humanoid?" The bandit pulls the hood off their head and Moth's eyes land on the pair of lynx ears on top of the woman's head, her short hair and her fangs that were baring at him.