Back in Ironhelm, Gael is absolutely angry. "Why did this happen, how could it had happened." he yelled at one of his younger members. He walks by a few who bow their heads as to show respect. "How did five of them get killed? They were in a place nobody except us could have known." The member follows behind Gael, he hands Gael the map which Gael rips apart "Tell me how could that have possibly happened, they were very promising men."
"Well sir, it can't be that hard to guess exactly how. The location was leaked by one of us, like you said only we know." Said the younger man who seems a bit tired "A traitor is what I'm trying to say sir. The problem is we don't know who it could of been."
Gael keeps on walking pass a hallway "I'll tell you who I'm more than certain it was. It was Daniel of course, there's no doubt if there was a traitor." Gael says as they enter a room, Gael sits down and demands the man so sit down. Without any word, more men enter the room, they all look like they haven't slept at all.
"May I ask why you believe that it was Daniel sir? Didn't you say that you trusted him the most out of all of us." said the young member, the others stare at him and one whispers to him to be quiet.
"I know what I said and I was a fool, to be tricked but I'll tell you why it's him. As you can see these men who are tired right? Well they were searching for Daniel and he was gone, he disappeared." Gael says as the young man looked at the other men who were fighting to not go to sleep. "It's quite strange that as soon as Daniel disappeared this happened. Never has our information been revealed to the enemy until Daniel disappeared." Gael says as he begins to think of something.
"When we do find him, we are going to kill him right?" Asked the young man, he waited for a response which Gael took his Time on.
"No, we are not going to kill him, none of us are. It's more like his death is going to be done by others. A way to negotiate with our enemies if things get too heated." Gael says as he grabs his knife "To think that I gave you to a traitor, that's unforgivable." he says as he presses John onto his finger. He makes sure it isn't enough to cut him "I'm sorry and I mean it John". he then gives himself a small shallow cut.
"Ah I see then, since they killed so many of them, he will be used to get us out of trouble." said the young man.
"Yes, that's what I just said." Gael says as he stares at the man "You there." Gael points at the man next to himself "I want you to clean John for me, he's messy and he might rust." the man grabs John and leaves the room.
"Well there also that girl Ashly, she's the only woman in our group. She might also be a possible traitor." Gael says which the other men don't seem surprised by "I mean Daniel was confident enough to tell her about my one demand. That must mean something, that maybe there is more that he told her about." he says as he stands up and orders the men to leave.
Once they are gone the young man stands up and walks to Gael "Why? isn't she one of our best? She has nothing else other than us, why would she betray us now?"
"Well then we must also be prepared for her death as well. We must make it seem natural, and we have to investigate her beforehand." Gael says which the young man seems confused "Oh there a reason to why hers has to be secret and I'll tell you." he says
Before Gael can tell the young man the reason, an older man enters "May I tell him exactly why it's a secret?" he says which Gael turns around and looks annoyed "Sir I don't think you've forgotten how unwise it is to think of such things. Ashly to be exact isn't on any list, she can't be killed and you know why, Gael." he says staring at him in the eys
"Well then, if it wasn't for Corey I would have already explained." Gael says as he stares at Corey "Listen, the reason to why this should of been secret is because, people like Corey are old. Specifically they knew Ashly way longer than any of the new members. They see her as the daughter of Bruno, and show a fraction of care for her." The last part Gael says directly to Corey.
"Yes it's true that we haven't really cared for her ever since his death. We should of done better, but what we did should not to be overlooked. We made sure you had Ashly have someplace to stay when she was too young to do anything." Corey says as he puts his left hand on Gael's shoulder "We all know that as soon as she finished her fifth mission you stopped helping her. Sure we forced you to give her more missions than others to compensate. There's one thing we all wouldn't hesitate to do. Gael you know exactly what I'm talking about. Sam has been waiting for you to make the wrong decision." he says smiling as he lets go of Gael's shoulder and leaves.
"We won't hesitate to kill you if Ashly dies by your command. We also know what you said to Daniel and we'll, we were this close to killing you." Corey says as he shuts the door, leaving Gael angry and the young man worried.
Gale and the other man leave on the other side. He notices the other men are staring at them with disbelief "Sir, why did you let him disrespect you like that? I thought you said you won't let such things happen to you." said one of the men, Gael ignores him and walks pass them.
"Listen to me, they aren't joking when they say they will kill me. I will be replaced and you all won't notice when." Gael says as he turns to them "My death isn't something I fear at all, it's quite the contrary. I have always known my death won't be natural or pleasant. What the real problem is is that it will take time to have a new leader. Currently we are in a terible time to wait for a new leader. Our enemies will make a move on us if we spend too much time finding a new leader." Gael then leaves the building.
Outside he and other man are talking "Listen to me, these old men have known Gael for a long time. They knew Bruno personally, before I meet him. They all probably grew up together and that's terrible for me. They are more loyal to him than to me. Unlike you and any younger man, they don't blindly follow orders." Gael says as he gets on his horse "There are a total of ten of those elder men remaining. That's more than enough to kill me without facing any consequences. Recently I heard some of the younger men are starting to like them."
"I see sir, don't worry about that. I can assure you that there's plenty of us that are loyal to you. We can make sure that this won't happen at all." Said the men "We have faith in you as you are a great leader in our eyes."
"One day I'll have them all executed, maybe I can hand them over to the Lurkers. Have them be useful one last time, make them Less aggressive towards us." Gael says smiling as he pulls out a cigar "They might even be willing to negotiate better that way." The man lights Gael's cigar as he begins to leaves.
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Meanwhile Ashly and Lucas are still traveling, Lucas seems to be tired after a long ride. Ashly is staring at their surroundings, making sure they're not being followed. The horse is already slowing down "I should of made that old hag give us a better one. I had more than enough reasons to force her, reasons that she would of immediately agreed upon." Ashly says frowning, her voice sound grouchy.
"Ashly she's an old lady, maybe that horse was special to her. I think that she used her for a long time, believe that there was a good reason for her to give her to us." Lucas says but Ashly hits the back of his head. "Ashly don't hit me while I'm steering the horse, I don't want to be knocked out. You're much stronger than what you think, I'm not too strong myself." he says looking ahead.
Ashly scoffs and looks away, they have been traveling for too long. Ashly wants this to be over already, why can't the place be any closer she thinks to herself. Lucas calls her name "What is it Lucas?" Ashly says as she looks forwards and sees a man in the distance.
"We are here Ashly, you just needed to be patient. It's Rutsonwood, we have arrived just after five hours of traveling." Lucas says smiling as they approach the man.
"Glad that this is over then, I would of lost it with this old sack of meat." Ashly says as they continue to ride the horse.
The man notices them and recognizes Lucas and smiles. Lucas stops the horse and sees the man "Lucas is that really you? It's been a long time." he says as Lucas gets off the horse and hugs him "Wow you look so different, you're more of a man now aren't you." he says as he lets go of Lucas.
"Yeah I know, I can't believe it's been so long. I really missed you, I'm glad I'm now able to visit you all." Lucas says as he looks at him "Mr. Norman, I can't express how happy I am to see you. I wish I could but If I did, we will be out here for the whole night."
"Don't worry Lucas, some emotions are better without explanation. Lucas how are you handling Diego's death? I want to know because it affected us greatly." Norman says as he waits for Lucas to respond
"Oh yeah that… well I have been handling it fine enough. I don't cry as much as I used to when he first died, I do visit his grave." Lucas says as he takes a deep breath "It's all right now, I'm glad he was buried in the district. Honestly if he wasn't I would of been handling it worse than before." he says as he wipes a tear that has formed on his face.
"Well then, I'm so glad that you're handling it well Lucas. In that case then, I would like to welcome you back to Rutsonwood." Norman says "Everyone will be exited to hear you came, we all really care for you Lucas." he says as he looks up to Ashly who is still on the horse "May I ask why are you and that girl here? It's fine if you don't answer."