The path to Redwood was a three days long trip. The town in the outskirts was a perfect place for an invasion as it was pretty close to the prestigious Redmont Fief and not so far from the royal castle, as well. It got its name from the strange trees with reddish wood inside the hardened bark, which surrounded just outside the town and gave the houses inside their signature red color. Ghoulsbane was positioned towards the northeast of the town, and the actual distance was not the problem for the rangers, but the travelling conditions and the harsh terrain was going to make it a challenging and long journey. As the talented ranger horses stepped on the rowdy, rocky road, the sun was bidding farewell to the group, leaving only the eerie silence of the night behind itself.
"Should we camp? It's getting late." Suggested Bryce.
"I can still run, I don't need rest!" Pfeil attempted to impress his owner.
"You're so sweet, but I think we all need a quick rest." Bryce pet the beige mane of the young horse. "Follow me, Merlin. Let's find a smooth spot to place our stuff." He added.
"Sure." Merlin answered shortly. Then he started prodding the brown haired man in lavender clothes, who was sleeping leaning on him through the half of the road. "Hey, lazy writer guy. Wake up and help us."
"Mhm... What?! Are we under attack? Where?" Gilbert the writer woke up in shock.
"Why didn't we just leave him there, again?" Merlin asked Bryce in front of him with a cruel look on his face.
The camp was not the best in terms of conditions, and definitely not the best in terms of food. Some of the corroding gas had burned through and destroyed a portion of the food supply, and the remaining meat and fruit had a texture akin to a leather boot. Merlin was actually convinced it tasted like a leather boot after biting into the meat in his hands. Regardless, the rangers finished their meal without complaining, while Gilbert was sure he spent more energy to chew the meat than the amount he would gain after eating it.
Finally lying under the paulin, the group had an uncomfortable rest of around five hours until Bryce grew restless from nightmares.
"How many days must we travel for? I'm already done for." Gilbert said as he tried to ride on Ace, following Merlin.
"If you're just going to complain, the only travel you'll get will be one straight to the grave." Merlin threatened the man with an intense glare.
"We don't have the luxury of acting relaxed. You can complain all you want after we find Clyde." Bryce said in a more understandable and calm voice.
Riding on the horses once more, they kept travelling towards Redwood. The road was getting even more rocky and the horses slowed down to avoid breaking their legs.
"At this rate, it will take ages until we could even see the town from afar." Bryce said as he looked at the feet of his horse. They didn't look battered or hurt but they could be if they kept going through.
"Why don't we take the forest route?" Suggested Merlin.
"Wouldn't that just slow us down? The path we have now is straight." Gilbert chimed in.
"But this straight rocky route is also slowing us down." Bryce answered. "We need time, so we'll do what takes the least amount. I second the forest idea." He added.
"Well, what do I know?" Gilbert shrugged and went along with the rangers as Ace moved out of the way gently.
The forest path was much easier to go through with its softer terrain and scarce trees. Looking at the map continuously, Bryce directed the group to draw a big arc inside the forest that would connect with the end of the rocky road. As they proceeded through the woods, the trees became more frequent and slowly took the form of the reddish trees of Redwood.
"See, the red trees are appearing. We're likely to be there in a couple of days or so." said Bryce. The long haired ranger was looking at the path ahead with concern mixed with dedication in his eyes.
"Good. I was almost going to say I missed Norgate." Merlin uttered with a tired voice.
"Good thing you guys are here to protect me and all, this place is scary." Gilbert looked around frantically.
"We're not here to protect you. It's a 'keep us informed and we won't kill you' relationship." Merlin kept threatening the man behind him.
"Merlin, to your right." Bryce warned the dark haired ranger upon seeing the shadowy figures just outside the forest.
"Are you kidding me!?" Merlin whispered in surprise. Once they got a clear view, the blurry, crimson figures turned into a group of familiar cultists.
Bryce pet near the mouth of his smoky cream coloured mount and whispered.
"Pfeil, silent."
The young horse instantly slowed its steps and treaded the soil lightly as to not make any noise. The shaggy bearded ranger pulled the hood of his cloak and disappeared from view. Merlin gave the same command to Ace and followed what he could see from the movements of Pfeil.
"Bry, let's do a pincer!" Merlin told him just before slowing down. The long haired ranger agreed with a hand gesture and went on ahead.
"What's a pin-"
"Gilbert, silent." Merlin said in an instant, not allowing the writer to speak.
"I'm not a horse..." Gilbert whispered in a hurt manner.
The from the point that the forest ended, Bryce moved silently to hold the path behind the cultist group. Suddenly appearing out of the middle of the forest, Merlin showed up right in front of them.
The group would be the exact same as the group of cultists they had first met if not for one person and those that didn't survive the first encounter. The leader with the creepy dark eyes, William, was standing in front of the dark haired ranger. Right beside him was Ruby, the red headed, cruel right hand of the cultist leader. Among the other followers was Cleo, the thin moustached man who was standing behind with a short, disturbingly familiar kid with a ginger hair.
"Clyde!?" Bryce momentarily forgot about the pincer movement, his concealment and everything else. The cultist group, in its entirety, turned towards the startled long haired ranger, not even seeing Merlin right in front of them.
"Seriously, Bry..." Silently jumping off his horse, Merlin wrapped his cloak around and disappeared from plain sight. Gilbert didn't move a muscle and laid low on the sturdy ranger horse.
"Oh, if it isn't our friend from before." William spoke with a condescending tone. "Are you finally submitting to Hyrd'mis?"
"Clyde, it's me, Bryce!" The tall ranger looked like he was in trance, ignoring the smirking cult leader.
"Kid, why don't you greet our ranger friend?" Cleo asked impishly.
"Ranger... The enemy!" The boy's eyes behind the crimson goggles was brimming with rage. "Stay away from me!" He quickly shot an arrow from his recurve bow. Bryce could have dodged the arrow effortlessly, but in the devastated state he is, he barely avoided it.
"What did you do to him, is this what you did to that bard as well!? Answer me!" Bryce could barely control his feelings. Watching from behind, Merlin's face wrinkled at the sight of the scene unfolding in front of his eyes.
"Don't slip up, Bry. Come on..."
The long haired ranger didn't waste time in raising his own bow and shot at the group of cultists. Almost the speed of a lightning bolt, his arrow skewed through a cultist before he could react.
"What's the matter, have you ran out of smokescreen?" Bryce taunted William.
"Oh, I'm afraid we don't need that." William said threateningly. "Clyde, from now on, if that ranger harms us, kill yourself."
"I'll sacrifice myself for Hyrd'mis... He gave me eternal joy..." Clyde took out his saxe knife and pushed it close to his neck.
"No, Clyde! Don't!.." Bryce froze in place and started breathing heavily.
"Well, that was easy. Let's just get rid of him." Said Ruby, holding a red bottle in her hands.
"The last thing you see will be the crimson mist of Hyrd'mis!" She threw a bottle of the fearsome liquid high. As the bottle flew, it suddenly shattered while up in the sky, dissolving into the air dealing no damage. Suddenly, right behind them, another ranger with dark hair and flashing blue eyes appeared, holding a longbow in his hands. Suddenly, the cultists changed targets to the Merlin who prevented their plans from out of the blue.
"Oh, a pincer movement? I'm sorry to say that it won't work. One of you has his hands tied, after all." Uttered the red haired cultist, while unsheathing a large dagger and charging at Merlin.
Suddenly, just for a moment, the eyes of Merlin and Bryce met. From the years of training and time they spent together, the glint in Merlin's eyes disclosed his plan to his old friend. Deflecting Ruby's swings with his own saxe knife, Merlin threw his bow aside and once again braced for the horde approaching him.
"Well, that guy is next to useless anyway, so won't make much of a difference." He swung his knife to a new cultist that charged at him and quickly switched hands in the middle of his next swing to throw him off, slicing open a large wound in their belly. Then he grabbed his throwing knife for a surprise shot at Ruby, but the woman sensed the knife, shielding herself behind the group of cultists. William stood back and enjoyed the fight from afar as he had already moved away from the conflict. Cleo forced Clyde to move towards the horde, and as nobody was looking, Bryce grabbed a familiar metal weapon and a piece of rope from the pack on Pfeil beside him.
"I think it is about time we finish this. Kid!" Cleo signaled at the ginger headed boy to attack.
"I couldn't have agreed more!" Merlin also gave a signal to his friend.
Suddenly, the boy in crimson robes suddenly slipped and fell on the ground. His feet were bound by two strikers connected with a rope, thrown by his mentor far before he could even notice.
"What is the meaning of thi-" Cleo's face suddenly changed as he saw the tall ranger on his horse, rushing to grab his young apprentice trying to get up. Before he could react, a high pitched whistle was heard from Merlin, who called for his own horse and once again caught everyone's attention. Ace came rushing with Gilbert still riding on him, and the moment they arrived, the entire field became shroud in smoke.
"What the... What is going on?" Ruby yelled in frustration. Little did she know, the rangers had already left the scene and were running towards Redwood.
"Good smokescreen, writer." Merlin uttered rare words of praise.
"I should be applauding for you two! Did you really plan that trick out?" Gilbert replied, amazed.
"Well, it kinda happened on the spot. Bry could try to be more competent though." He gave a teasing look at the shaggy bearded ranger, who was tearful to be reunited with his apprentice.
"I guess... I didn't think it would get into me that much." He replied.
"Pssh. You're just getting softer, if that is possible." Merlin chuckled. Clyde was more silent than ever, and just looked into the distance in a creepy manner.
After the night came along, The group had to set up the camp for rest.
"I'll tell the horsemaster to send Gale over. He probably missed the mute guy too." Merlin said in a monotone voice while preparing the paulin and the blankets.
"Don't bother. He won't make it in time, we risk moving from one place to another. We could share Pfeil for now." Bryce objected.
"That makes sense... Where's Clyde?" Asked Merlin.
"Wasn't he with you?" Asked back Bryce.
"I thought he was wi- Oh, come on..." As soon as Merlin finished his words, The ginger headed apprentice appeared in front of them with a knife in his hands.
"I'll kill the enemies of Hyrd'mis!"
"Clyde, it's me, Bryce! Snap out of it." The concerned mentor tried to help his apprentice to no avail.
"Bry, you can't talk your way into hypnotism. You're being soft as usual. And to think you said you have more experience..." Merlin quickly approached and disarmed Clyde with expertise.
"Y-you, stay away from me!"
"Stay still and shut up!" Merlin tried to lift the goggles off his face, but it was stuck tightly. Losing his composure, he had to take a step back.
"Darn it... They thought of everything. I bet if I..." He paused for a moment. "Clyde, I'm cutting your goggles."
"I won't allow you! I-I'd rather kill myself!"
"Yup. No choice. We have to get his guard down somehow." Merlin went deep in thought, but then he realized Bryce wasn't listening that well.
"Clyde, don't you remember me?" He asked desperately.
"Hmm... Ah!" The ginger headed boy lighted up for a second.
"You're another enemy. A different one... A useless one." He said as if he was a mannequin.
"Use...less?" Bryce felt something break in his heart.
"Don't you see how clear I speak now? Hyrd'mis gave me that confidence, not you. All you've tried was for nothing." He said cruelly.
"B-but..." Bryce started shaking.
"I don't need help as long as I have Hyrd'mis. He is strong, beautiful, helpful... He loves me more than anyo-"
"There's no Hyrd'mis! You're just escaping from your problems!" The tall ranger rose up.
"Really? I guess you do that a lot as well. Since when did you bring up your past?"
"I... was going to tell you."
"So was I, but see how things are now."
Bryce stood in silence for a few minutes. Merlin was equally speechless, and for those long, dreadful few minutes, all that one could hear was the noises of Gilbert making soup, away from the trouble. Bryce finally decided to play his last card.
"Clyde, back then, you said I needed this more than you did." He reached to his pocket and took out a dried white lily, a memento from his late wife and daughter. "You were mistaken, and so was I. So please take this, and remember us..."
Clyde took the lily from the mentor's hands, and promptly crushed the delicate flower into pieces.
"What does that piece of trash prove, anyway? You're just holding onto old memories." Clyde could barely finish his words before he realized Bryce looked at him in such a way that he wanted to hate him, but couldn't. What was it that made him this likeable to this old man? Clyde thought. Anyway, it wasn't needed. All he needed was Hyrd'mis. He wouldn't harm him. He wouldn't trick him.
"I still can't believe..." Bryce couldn't even finish his words as he was drinking his soup.
"Bry, it's not Clyde speaking, you know that." Merlin tried to comfort his friend.
"But what if he is? What if he just hated me from the beginning?" Bryce tilted his head forward.
"Is Clyde really that sort of..." Before the dark haired ranger could finish his words, Bryce had already left. Looking at him wrapping a blanket around to sleep, he sighed deeply.
"So, do you guys really talk with your horses?" Gilbert suddenly asked.
"Shut up." Merlin took his frustration out from the writer without noticing.
"I was just trying to lighten the mood." The guy in lavender clothes said innocently.
"There is no mood to lighten. Go watch Clyde as I get some sleep." Merlin went to bed as well, leaving the stranger with the apprentice in trance.