The following morning, Kenneth had gone out back behind the inn where he noticed something near the corner of the building.
"Dear lord," he said while looking at the hooded man who was lying in a pool of blood. Shortly thereafter, Dale and Kenneth had brought the man into the tavern where they laid him out on the floor.
"He's lost a lot of blood so I don't know if he'll make it," said Dale, who had used healing magic the best he could on him, but what little bit of his face was visible showed that he did not have much color to him.
"Dale, his right hand," said Latina while pointing at the mentioned limb. That's when everyone else noticed a brand on the man's hand.
"He's a slave," said Kenneth.
"Must have escaped last night, but now the question becomes what do we do," said Rita, who was holding the baby.
"What do you mean?" asked Latina.
"Slaves are people who are sold to others and are treated poorly," said Dale.
"And we can all get in serious trouble if we're found harboring one that tried to escape," said Kenneth.
"Ugh, Smar…agdi," groaned the mysterious man before passing back out.
"Did he just say Smaragdi?!" asked a shocked Dale and Latina at the same time while staring at the man.
"Does that name mean something to you?" asked Kenneth.
"Smaragdi is my father's real name, we learnt it on our journey to Teathrow," said Latina while clutching onto her bracelet which she was wearing as a necklace since it was too big.
"This changes everything, I can't let this man die before learning what he has to say," said Dale whose expression changed into one of determination.
"But the hunters are definitely looking for him and will find us at any point," said Kenneth.
"Guess I'll have to call in a favor then," said Dale. At the same time, some men had picked up on the blood trail that the man had left.
"Looks like it ends around here," said a man while stopping at a fence.
"Then our target must be inside," said another as they looked at the front entrance of the inn.
