Two days later, the company entered Arken Forest.
Led northwest by Kalden, they had endured a full day of relentless rain followed by another wrapped in thick fog. At last, they had found their footing within the ancient woodland.
Pale gazed at the slender trees with open wonder. A quiet smile lingered across his unusual face as he studied them one by one.
Kalden shifted uncomfortably.
"Has he never seen trees before?"
"Probably not," Maynar replied between loud, obnoxious bites of an apple.
"What do you mean, probably not?"
"Look at him. He's from the west. I doubt anything grows in those lands. My guess is Pale has never even seen vegetation up close—only from the deck of a slave ship."
Kalden was left speechless.
"Could you chew any louder?" Arsik snapped, visibly irritated.
"I'm sorry?"
"Didn't you hear the question?"
"I did. I just wasn't expecting—"
"Ignore him," Darma cut in abruptly.
Arsik flashed a false smile.
"Oh? Are you two together? Am I interrupting something?"
"You are, actually."
"Enough," Kalden said sharply, making them realize just how much noise they were making.
Silence fell at once.
The fog still clung stubbornly to the forest, and the dense undergrowth made every step of their journey difficult.
"Should we light a torch?" Maynar asked.
"Bad idea," Arsik answered. "Something tells me we're being watched."
"That wouldn't be surprising," Kalden added. "Not after all the shouting."
Pale continued walking at the front of the group, completely unbothered.
The others instinctively kept low, every muscle tensed against whatever danger might be lurking unseen.
Pale, however, seemed blissfully unconcerned.
He strode onward with the same childlike excitement he had worn since entering the forest.
Then an arrow whistled through the air.
It buried itself in the tree directly in front of him.
Pale merely tilted his head, studying it with curiosity.
"Pale, down!" Maynar shouted as he threw himself behind a bush.
More arrows came hissing from every direction.
Arsik pressed himself against the trunk of a tree while Darma crouched low, folding his wings tightly against his back.
"Pale!" Maynar shouted again, somewhere between a whisper and a scream.
An arrow struck Pale in the calf.
He bent down, smearing blood across his hand.
Then his smile widened.
He calmly drew the strange sword hanging from his belt.
Kalden rushed to his side and raised his shield just in time to stop another arrow aimed at Pale's chest.
Grabbing him by force, he dragged him behind a tree.
"It's only blood, my lord," Pale said. "It's the least we can offer the Brothers."
Kalden didn't even pretend to understand what he meant.
"There are about ten of them, I'd say."
"Ten? Soldiers?"
"Bandits. Yes, soldiers. Armed men, anyway. What's the difference?"
"A bandit isn't a soldier," Pale answered matter-of-factly. "His soul is that of a thief. No one like that could stop Pale."
Before Kalden could answer, Pale stepped out from cover and sprinted straight toward the enemy.
He didn't even limp.
It was as though he felt no pain—and no fear.
"He's insane!" Kalden shouted.
Shield raised, he charged after him.
"After all that noise we made..." Darma grumbled before launching himself high into the branches of a towering tree.
"They're close!" he called from above. "I see the rats! Three to the north, two to the west—and more behind them!"
Arsik needed no further instruction.
He veered away from the others, slipped the iron gauntlet over one hand, and drew a knife with the other.
Three bandits emerged ahead of him.
Two had already traded their bows for rough woodcutting axes.
Arsik hurled the knife.
It buried itself in the first man's chest.
The bandit fell backward and never moved again.
An axe sliced through the air, grazing Arsik's arm.
He drove his shoulder into its wielder, knocking him off balance, then swung the iron gauntlet into the face of another attacker who had barely managed to swap his bow for a knife.
Teeth shattered.
His jaw broke with a sickening crack.
A second punch crashed into the ribs of the remaining bandit.
The young man gasped for air.
He was younger—and faster.
His kick caught Arsik squarely, sending him sprawling.
Raising the axe overhead, he brought it down with all his strength.
Arsik rolled aside.
The blade buried itself in the mud.
He kicked the young man behind the knee, dragging him to the ground.
There, in the mud, Arsik slammed his iron fist into the bandit's face again...
and again...
and again...
until nothing recognizable remained.
Only then did he rise and look around.
Pale had impaled a bandit on his strange sword.
His face hovered inches from the terrified young man's, who could feel his own bowels loosen in sheer panic.
Nearby, Kalden fenced against two more attackers, advancing a single step before retreating two, each movement measured and disciplined.
Darma descended from the sky like a falling beast.
He crashed into two bandits at once.
Neither had time to react.
Neither had time to flee.
From a safe distance, Maynar could do nothing but watch.
Everything had happened so quickly.
"Two of them got away!" he shouted once the fighting finally subsided.
"Then go catch them," Darma said, wiping the blood from his hands.
"I... Aren't you worried they'll come back tonight?"
Arsik laughed.
"They're far more likely to be afraid we'll visit them tonight. They never saw us coming."
Darma looked over at Pale, grinning.
"I've never met a sicker bastard than you."
Pale smiled back.
"I don't know what a bastard is... but thank you for the honor."
Everyone burst into laughter.
Even Kalden.
He removed his helmet and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"The forest isn't made for armor, Lord Knight," Arsik said with a smirk.
Kalden pointed to the arrows that had ricocheted harmlessly from his shield and breastplate.
"Were you hoping I'd end up dead?"
Arsik spat onto the ground.
"I haven't been dreaming much lately," he said quietly.
It didn't seem like an answer meant for anyone but himself.
"Let's move," Darma said. "I don't intend to spend the whole night here."
He looked deeper into the forest.
"Let's find that damned cabin."
And so they continued on through Arken Forest.