NOVEL NEXT Chapter 69: Danger Approaches
If they wanted to do so, they would have to prepare properly. After giving a full description of the Sarcevic Wolf's abilities and tendencies, Isaac repeated what he'd heard from the hunters. He told Eva and Johan about the unusual behaviour of the animals, especially in the west.
That fit with what Johan said about merchants being attacked to the west of here, so the team were pretty confident the Sarcevic Wolf lived west of Kirk Village. Isaac was the first to speak up,
"Now that we know the vague location of the beast, we can start thinking about how to kill it. Since the mission needs to be completed as soon as possible, I want to fight it tonight."
"But how will we find it? All we know is that it's in the west."
"We can't find it. That's why we'll need to lure it out."
The group reacted in shock and disbelief. Luring the wolf out would require somebody to act as bait. Whoever did so would be more likely to lose their life than keep it.
However, Isaac interrupted their worried thoughts,
"Relax. I never said one of us would be the bait..."
Isaac began to explain his plan...
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When night fell, Isaac, Johan, Eva and Abbie left their residence. They jumped out of the back window in case Alex was watching from the wall above and carefully made their way through the streets towards the prearranged meeting point.
This 'meeting point' was a dirty alley in the slums of the village.
Even the brightest light would still cast a shadow; where there was light, there would also be darkness. There was another side to this seemingly friendly, prosperous village. It was the side where the village's filth and rabble were and hidden away. It was the slums in which the team now stood.
It looked no different than the slums you might find anywhere else in the world. Rubbish lined the narrow road and people either lived in small, dirty, decrepit shacks or out on the streets. Isaac saw their pallid faces, their thin, bony bodies, and their lifeless eyes.
Most had already accepted their inevitable fates, but a few – a sparse few – still had a glimmer to their gaze. The faintest hint of hope remained, and thus these people were not resigned to death. No, they were desperate to live.
The group had come to meet one such person.
He was a man with a haggard face and wrinkled skin. His condition made him look as old as Leon, but he was actually just half the village head's age. When he saw the group, his face brightened.
It was the only element of his appearance that could be described as 'bright'. In fact, it was the only part of his appearance which couldn't be described as 'bleak'. His lips contorted into an unsightly smile as he asked excitedly,
"You promised! You promised, right?!"
Isaac raised his hand and gestured for the man to calm down,
"We're here, aren't we? If we were lying to you, we wouldn't have bothered to turn up."
"But I mean the payment! You're really serious? I'll never have to spend another day here so long as I listen to you?!"
"Of course." Isaac sighed, "Just walk around outside the village for a bit and you'll never have to come back here again. This is your last chance to decline. Will you do it?"
Isaac spoke in a deep, quite obviously fake voice. He and the others were in cloaks which helped them blend into the deep, dark night. The man knew it was fishy. He saw that they were quite obviously suspicious, but he didn't care. They'd handed him 25 copper pieces before he'd even done anything, so he knew they had money. So long as there was something to earn, he didn't mind what kind of shady things he had to do.
"Yes! There's no way I wouldn't do it for 6 iron pieces! That's what we agreed on, right?"
The man's voice was tinged with nervousness as he spoke the last sentence. He feared this mysterious stranger would suddenly lower the price. However, Isaac saw right through him,
"I'm not so petty as to change the agreement now. You'll have 6 iron pieces as soon as the job is done. Just follow me."
Isaac turned on his heel and his cloak billowed out behind him. His 3 teammates and the beggar man followed him as they headed towards the north side of the village.
This side of the village hadn't been attacked yet and this area was widely regarded as safe. Most guards had been relocated to the damaged east and west sides of the village, so there weren't many people here.
That just made things easier for Isaac's team.
Johan, Abbie and the beggar man stayed hidden in the shadows of a building. Meanwhile, Isaac and Eva crept away from the group. They snuck towards a flight of stairs leading up to the top of the village wall and silently ascended. At the top of the wall, they moved swiftly and soundlessly. The 2 guards nearby were knocked out before they even knew what was going on.
Then Isaac peered over at Johan's group and beckoned for them to come up the wall. He and Eva waited for them at the top of the stairs.
When the other group arrived, Isaac did something quite without warning.
He jumped off the other side of the wall.
The deep snow issued a crunch as Isaac landed in it. Thankfully, it took most of the oomph out of that 2-metre drop. Behind him came the whooshing sound of a cloak being buffeted in the wind before there was another crunch. Eva stood up and walked over next to Isaac.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yes."
Cold and concise as always, Eva didn't ask anything else. The pair waited together for Johan, Abbie, and the man to jump. Sure enough, 3 more *crunch* es sounded in succession. The others had jumped down and they joined Isaac and Eva.
Then, just as they had arranged beforehand, they entered the outskirts of the forest which surrounded the village. Now the guards on the wall wouldn't be able to see them, but Isaac and the team could still see the village which was lit up like a lighthouse in the dark night.
When they were sure they couldn't be spotted, they skirted around the village towards the gate in the west. There was small path which led up to this gate – well, it'd be more accurate to call it a trail than a path. People who travelled between Kirk Village and the nearby Kukkula Village decided they needed a clear route between the two places, so this trail was created to make sure people wouldn't get lost on the way.
However, in the last week, many people had been attacked on this route. There was even a group of merchants coming from Kukkula Village travelling here to peddle their wares. Unfortunately, they never made it; their destroyed carriages were discovered a few days ago.
Since then, this route became notorious as 'the path of death'. Anybody who walked it would become prey for the monster lurking in the darkness, or so Leith had told Isaac. Instead of thinking 'Hey, that sounds pretty dangerous, I better not go there' like any normal person, Isaac decided to test Leith's theory.
He forced the beggar man to walk down the road while his team hid in the forest to the side; he and Abbie were to the left, while Johan and Eva were to the right. The beggar didn't object to walking down this hugely dangerous road. In fact, he didn't even know about its reputation or nickname.
Contrary to what any wuxia novel with a 'Beggars Sect' would have you believe, beggars weren't the world's greatest information gatherers. Of course, some were well-placed enough to hear important bits of conversation, but not Guðmundur. He was too concerned with finding his next meal to eavesdrop on others.
Therefore, it was easy to convince him to walk down the road. In fact, he was happy to take this trail since it felt safer than walking through the eerie midnight forest. Of course, the trail was in no way, shape or form safer than the forest, but Guðmundur didn't think too deeply about that.
They say ignorance is bliss, and Guðmundur certainly felt blissful while thinking of the money he could earn just by walking. He kept plodding along the trail, utterly ignorant of the danger approaching him from behind...