"Ser," Ulap said, keeping pace beside him. "You're injured."
Navi glanced at his hand. The gash was already closing at the edges — slower than he'd like, but closing.
"I'm fine."
"You're literally dripping blood—"
"Ulap."
"I'm just saying—"
"I know. Let's just hurry." Navi adjusted the Likha's weight on his shoulders and kept walking. "Town first."
Ulap looked at the wound one more time, then at Navi's face, then decided to let it go.
For about four seconds.
"Does it hurt?"
"Ulap."
"Okay! Okay. Walking."
After a while, they finally reached the shop.
Navi dropped the Likha body at the doorstep with a heavy thud and pushed the door open, breathing hard.
The shop owner looked up from behind the counter — then looked at the body — then looked back at Navi.
"…A bear again?"
"Yeah." Navi leaned against the doorframe. "Again."
The shop owner clicked his tongue and walked over, crouching to examine it.
Navi straightened up. "You need to report this to the mainland. Tell them to send a Sandata — someone to search the whole island. Two bear Likha in three days isn't normal. They could be breeding somewhere. That's dangerous for everyone living here."
The shop owner was quiet for a moment, still looking at the body.
"…You're right," he muttered. "I'll send a raven tonight."
"Good." Navi exhaled. "Now. I'd like to sell all of this."
The shop owner stood, crossed his arms, and studied the body with a practiced eye.
"…One gold."
Navi looked at Ulap.
Ulap didn't even blink.
"That's not fair."
The shop owner turned to him slowly. "…Not this again."
"This is a rare Likha," Ulap said, completely calm. "A bear variant. Not native to this island — which you yourself just acknowledged is abnormal. The difficulty of the kill alone—"
"Kid—"
"—plus the size, the rarity, and the fact that I've read that bear Likha organs are worth triple on the mainland market—" Ulap pulled the bag off his shoulder and set it on the counter. "The head's in there too, intact. I'd say the fair price starts at fifty gold."
The shop owner stared at him.
Then at Navi.
Navi shrugged. "He reads a lot."
"Right, yeah, yeah, whatever—" The shop owner reached under the counter, muttering under his breath, and counted out the coins. "Fifty. Take it and go."
Navi took the gold. He looked at Ulap.
Ulap looked back at him with the expression of someone who already knew.
Navi pointed at him. "That's what I'm talking about."
Ulap grinned.
They walked out.
Outside, the afternoon light was already going amber. Navi counted the coins once, then split them without hesitation and held out half.
"Here. Twenty-five."
Ulap stopped walking. "Ser… that's too much. I really can't—"
"Ulap."
"No, I mean it — I didn't even fight—"
"You just made us forty-nine extra gold with a sentence," Navi said flatly. "Take it."
"But—"
"Don't even—" Navi grabbed Ulap's hand and dropped the coins into it. "You earned it. Don't argue with me about this."
Ulap looked down at the gold in his palm. For a second he didn't say anything.
"…Alright, ser." He closed his hand around it. "Thank you."
"Yeah." Navi turned to go — then stopped.
Ulap noticed.
"Ser?"
Navi wasn't looking at him. He was looking at his hand. The gash had closed. Not fully — a raised, pink line remained — but the bleeding had stopped completely.
"…Oh," Navi said, almost to himself.
Ulap stared. "Wait — ser, that wound was deep earlier—"
"I heal faster." Navi said it casually, the way you'd mention the weather. "Always have. My grandpa was the same way." He glanced over. "I think it's an Emovere thing."
Ulap opened his mouth. Then closed it. His eyes went distant for a second — the way they did when something was turning over in his head.
But my father didn't heal faster…
He didn't say it out loud. He just filed it away quietly, the way he did with everything he read.
"Go home, Ulap," Navi said, already walking. "We both need rest."
He paused and looked back.
"Oh — and stop by the outpost on your way. Tell the guards on the wall to stay sharp tonight. Two bear Likha in three days, one of those things could come out of the treeline and hit a post before anyone even sees it. All twenty stations."
Ulap straightened up. "Right. On it, ser."
"Good." Navi waved without turning around. "Get some sleep after."
"You too, ser!"
Ulap moved quickly through the streets, the gold tucked safe in his pocket, the warning already forming in his head. He'd hit the east posts first, then circle—
"Excuse me."
He stopped.
A man stepped out from the shadow of a narrow alley. Neatly dressed. Calm eyes. The kind of calm that didn't come from being relaxed — it came from never being surprised.
"Sorry to stop you," the man said. His voice was pleasant. Unhurried. "You're the boy who hunts with the Sandata, aren't you?"
Ulap looked at him. Then at the two men standing further back in the alley.
"…Who are you?"
The man smiled — small, polite.
"My name is Cameron. I was sent from the mainland." He reached into his coat and produced a sealed letter. The stamp on it looked official. "I arrived earlier than the raven, I'm afraid. The mainland already had reports of unusual Likha activity on this island weeks ago." He tucked it away before Ulap could read it fully. "I'm a Sandata. Assigned to find the nest."
Ulap studied him. Something about it felt slightly… off. But the seal looked real. The clothes were expensive. The man hadn't moved aggressively.
"…Why are you talking to me?" Ulap asked.
"Because," Cameron said, "I need a small favor. And you seem like a smart boy."
He tilted his head slightly.
"I need you to bring Navi to the forest tonight. Northwest — I've already located what I believe is near the nest. I'd go to him myself but—" a brief, almost self-deprecating smile, "—Sandatas tend to be territorial about their islands. He might not cooperate if I approach him directly. But you he trusts."
Ulap didn't answer.
Cameron watched him.
"You're hesitating," he said, not unkindly. "That's smart. You should hesitate." He paused. "Ask me something. Whatever's making you uncertain — ask."
Ulap crossed his arms. "…How did you get here before the raven?"
"Ability," Cameron said simply. "Mine is speed — not physical, but logistical. I can cross information gaps faster than most. That's why the mainland sends me first." He said it like it was slightly boring, a thing he'd explained too many times. Convincing precisely because he didn't oversell it.
Ulap was quiet.
Cameron reached into his coat again.
"I don't think favors should be free," he said. He held out a small pouch. The weight of it was obvious even from a distance. "Fifty gold. For one conversation with your employer."
Ulap's eyes went to the pouch.
Fifty gold.
His sister was sick.
Cameron didn't push. Didn't say another word. He just waited — patient, relaxed — like he already knew how this ended.
"…Just lead him to the northwest forest?" Ulap asked quietly.
"That's all," Cameron said. "Tell him there's a Sandata already there. That he needs backup locating the nest. Nothing untrue about that."
He held the pouch out a little further.
Ulap took it.
Cameron smiled — warm, genuine-looking.
"Thank you. You're doing the right thing." He stepped back into the shadow of the alley. "You should finish your rounds. Don't want the guards waiting."
Ulap stood there for a second.
Then he turned and kept walking.
By the time he'd warned all twenty posts, the sky was deep purple, the first stars already out. He told himself it was fine. A Sandata was already there. Navi would just be helping. Nothing bad would happen.
He knocked on Navi's door.
Navi opened it, still holding a piece of bread.
"Ulap? What are you doing here?"
"Ser." Ulap kept his voice steady. "The Sandata arrived. The one from the mainland. He says he needs your help locating the nest — he's already in the forest. Northwest."
Navi looked at him for a second.
Then he set down the bread.
"Alright," he said. "Lead me to it."
They moved fast through the dark, the trees thinning as they pushed northwest. Navi kept pace easily but his eyes were scanning — treeline, shadows, ground. Old habit.
"Hey," he said, not looking at Ulap. "You went home after the posts, right?"
"Uh—" Ulap hesitated. "Not yet. I came straight to you after."
Navi glanced at him. "Your siblings?"
"They have food. And my brother can watch my sister." Ulap waved it off. "Don't worry about it, ser."
"You should've gone home first."
"It's fine, ser—"
"Ulap."
"I'm fine!" Ulap said. Then quieter — "Really."
Navi looked at him for a second longer than necessary.
Then let it go.
They pressed deeper. The forest got darker. Quieter. The kind of quiet that wasn't peaceful — the kind where things had stopped moving.
Navi slowed.
"It's odd," Ulap murmured, looking around. "Did they already search the area? Are we… late?"
"Maybe—"
BANG.
The sound cracked through the trees like nothing Navi had ever heard.
He felt heat.
Not pain — not yet. Just heat. In his chest. Spreading outward. He looked down, confused, and saw the blood before he understood what it meant.
Then—
BANG.
Something tore through his jaw. The world tilted. He was vomiting blood before he even realized he'd fallen to his knees, one hand braced against the ground, the other trying to find his sword.
"Ser—?!"
Ulap's voice sounded far away.
"Ser!! What happened—what—"
Footsteps. Slow. Unhurried.
Three figures emerged from the dark between the trees. The two men flanking wide. The one in the center walking straight toward Navi with his hands behind his back, like he was taking a stroll.
Cameron.
He stopped a few feet away and looked down at Navi the way you'd look at something mildly interesting on the ground.
"…Navi," he said pleasantly. "Good to see you."
Navi's vision swam. "C—Cameron…?"
"Hm." Cameron tilted his head slightly. "You're coherent. Impressive."
"Ser!!" Ulap rushed to Navi's side, hands pressing against the wound instinctively, eyes wide and wild. "Help— is anyone— please, he needs a healer—!"
Cameron didn't look at him.
"It was me, Navi," he said calmly. He crouched down to eye level, forearms resting on his knees, voice dropping just slightly — not dramatic, just intimate. Like sharing a secret. "The weapon. Are you impressed?"
He turned it over in his hand once, almost casual.
"Agarthan technology. Beautiful, isn't it? The greatest empires in the world don't have this." He glanced at it briefly, then back at Navi. "And yet here it is. On a small island. Pointed at the last Hernandez."
He leaned in slightly.
"I'll kill you tonight, Navi."
"I knew it."
Ulap shoved Cameron hard — both hands, all his weight.
Cameron barely moved. He straightened up slowly and looked at Ulap the way you look at something that has made a very small, very regrettable decision.
"You dare—"
BANG.
Ulap staggered. His hands went to his back. He looked confused more than anything — like his body hadn't caught up to what happened yet.
He dropped.
"Cut him," Cameron said to his men. Quiet. Almost bored.
"No—"
Navi's hand found his sword. He didn't know how. His body was moving on its own, pulling himself upright, one knee off the ground—
BANG.
Back down. Chest. He felt it this time — the full weight of it — and the tears came without permission, burning down his face while the rest of him refused to stop moving.
"Ulap—" His voice barely worked. "Stand up… run—"
Ulap wasn't standing up.
Ulap was on his side in the dirt and his eyes were open and they weren't looking at anything.
"Why—"
Cameron turned back. He looked at Navi with something that wasn't quite pity and wasn't quite satisfaction. Something flatter than both.
"Why?" Navi's voice cracked. "You were like… you were like family to my grandpa… to me—"
Cameron was quiet for a moment.
Then he crouched down again. Same posture. Same calm.
"Was I?" he said. "I suppose that's what it looked like."
He studied Navi's face with mild curiosity — the way you'd examine a painting to understand the technique.
"I was patient, Navi. That's all. Your grandfather was the strongest man I'd ever encountered — killing him outright would have been a waste of resources. So I waited." He paused. "I visited. I had coffee. I made offers he could refuse. I waited some more."
He tilted his head.
"Do you know how long I waited for that old man to die?"
His voice didn't change. Not bitter. Not angry. Just factual.
"Years. I watched him age. I watched him slow down. I calculated the window." A faint exhale through his nose. "And then one night, a Likha attack of all things closes it for me. Fate has a strange sense of humor."
Navi's hand was still on his sword. Still gripping.
Cameron glanced at it.
"You won't," he said simply. "Not tonight."
He stood.
"The swords — your grandfather's — I don't want them anymore. Sentimental value only, and I don't deal in sentiment." He straightened his coat. "There are six others I'm more interested in."
He leaned down one last time. Close enough that his voice was almost gentle.
"I am the black merchant, Navi. I find things. I move things. I take things." A pause. "I always get what I want."
He held eye contact for one more second.
Then stood, turned, and walked back into the dark between the trees without looking back. His men followed. Their footsteps faded.
The forest went quiet again.
Navi was alone.
Ulap was on the ground beside him, eyes open, not moving, the moonlight catching his face just enough to see it clearly.
Navi's sword was in his hand. He didn't remember drawing it fully.
His vision was going dark at the edges.
He didn't close his eyes.
Not yet.