The people of Nefram rushed to put out any of the remaining flames. Priests from the church collected the wounded and hurried them to safety, the dead would come afterward. They worked to heal the wounded so they would be able to survive, most of the younger priests failed. Kids who survived cowered in fear near the fountain. Ace was already leaving the ruins of the city.
Ace took a horse from the stables assuming the man who owned them was either dead or helping stop fires. He put a saddle on the black horse that had a white spot on its forehead, mounted it and gave him a name. Ace whispered in the horse's ear, "Today you become my horse, and your new name is Ghost." He had the horse slowly walk to the ruins of a general goods store. Ace dismounted walked in there and collected water, food, flint and steel, and three blankets. He found a few bags and stuck the goods in them. carrying the bags, he went to the counter and left 5 gold coins on the counter for the shop owner if he still lived knowing that it would also help with repairs. When he reached his horse, he loaded the bags and remounted and left out a hole in the back of the city, this hole was made from mage blasts so it was significantly smaller than the ones found in the front of the city. He had to dismount the horse and lead it through the hole in order to fit. Once out of the hole he remounted and was on the top of a grassy hill. In front of him was a forest filled with hundreds of tree. He rushed through fields and entered the forest.
Once he entered the forest it quickly darkened. The air around him became ominous, it was as if he was being watched. Ghost stopped running and only went forward at a slow march no matter how much Ace tried to get him to speed up. They reached a small stream but the horse refused to go past the water. Ace let out a sigh and dismounted the horse. He tied the horse to a tree stump, grabbed a canteen with a strap on it and threw it over his shoulder and resting it on his waist. He then grabbed a long stick in case he needed something to support him. He crossed the stream, slipped and as he fell a dagger flew over his head missing him. Another dagger was thrown slicing throw leaves, using the sound he rolled and dodged the dagger. He turned his head and saw a symbol on the blade. It was a coyote skull with a sword down the middle, a dagger in the mouth, and ax cracking the skull, and finally flames behind it, the emblems of the Hunters Pack.
The Hunters Pack is a well-known sellsword group that has always had common ties with the Tarslens. The Group has been around for 50 years and has continued to grow. They have become the third strongest sellsword group and also the biggest over this time span. They have also only had one leader, the 70-year-old Man known as only Jayce. Jayce has brought up the reputation of his group by killing leaders from other groups such as Yoren of the dark spiders. He would then kill those who would not give him their loyalty. Many members who wanted to live and get rich would instantly change sides to join him just to survive. The group grew and became what is called a guild. The guild became well known due to all the after attacks on cities that have been attacked first by Tarslens. They would go in, kill survivers, kidnap kids, train kids to kill for them, and grow there army. Whoever Ace just encountered, must be preparing for an attack on the city.
A third dagger whizzed past him. This one crackled with lightning as it stuck, it had the same emblem. He realized this must be a squad of three that he's dealing with and the captain got tired of his men missing so he took matters into his own hands. Ace looked around and saw that there were shadows everywhere, he smirked and decided he would use his magic. He entered the shadows and blended in, the shadows were lit up with a purple light, his aggressors were revealed. He drew his sword this time instead of his dagger. He pulled his blade back, flames made from the shadows wrapped around him, he then lunged into the closest sellsword, the blade driving into his throat, he launched himself over the man slicing his sword to the left to free the blade. As he landed he spun to the right driving his sword in a downward arc slicing another one of them wounding him. The man dropped his blades and couldn't move his arms. Ace then stabbed into his stomach and kicked the man in the chest to free his sword. One man was left and it was the squad leader.
Ace smirked as he slowly walked toward the man. The man's eyes showed fear, the kind of fear that will drive a man insane, the fear that will cause nightmares for years, the fear that will cause a change in careers. Ace smiled and talked in a low silent tone, that was scary due to how serious he sounded "Tell me where your comrades are if you do this will make our lives way easier and you could live."
The man stared back, his adrenaline started to kick in. He drew two swords, "Screw you boy!" he shouted as his blades were engulfed in lightning.
The man swung his left sword sending an arc of lighting forward toward Ace. Ace rolled in a diagonal arc to the right, the man was prepared and brought his blade down, he cut Ace's right arm. Ace let go of his sword and used his shadow magic to create ropes of shadow and restrained the man's arms against a tree and then created two spikes out of the shadow and pinned him there. The then created another spike and shot it in his spinal cord paralyzing him. Ace walked over, drew his dagger and pressed it against his ear. "Tell me where they are." He said putting space between each word to let the effect of what he was saying dangle in the air. The man bit his tongue to where if he spoke it would be unknown to what he would have said. Ace sighed and used the shadows to crush his body.
Ace looked through the bodies of the soldiers and found a map. He put it in his pocket and walked back to Ghost. He untied his horse, mounted him, let the horse drink water from the stream and took a drink of water from his flask for himself. He then road off to the Sellsword camp. As he road off his cloak flapped with the wind, and a smile on his face. He was going to finally be a hero.
