About a mile away from the farm Albino finally slowed to a trot, we had reached our destination. It was a Nohrian campsite. Sliding off my horse, I tied him to a nearby tree and climbed the tree myself to get a better view of the camp. There were 3 armed soldiers patrolling around a large vertical post, where a young woman was tied up. The poor thing had cuts and bruises decorating her body, her long blue hair was cut and disheveled, and her lapis eyes sadly gazed at the ground, black tears stained her face. This is disgusting, nobody should be strung up and used like that. Like a piece of meat. Swiftly and silently as a cat, I hopped down the tree and concealed myself in some nearby bushes.

I like to wait until an unsuspecting guard isolates himself to take a piss or something, then I would jump them and hide the body. Silently picking them off one by one is the perfect way to cause a panic, a guard that is panicked by the disappearances of his comrades is more likely to make a mistake.

"Did ya hear about Denny? His wife is pregnant, we're throwing a secret baby shower tomorrow." said one armed guard to his partner as they unknowingly passed the bush containing a thoroughly pissed off mercenary. "Man that's too bad. Poor Denny can kiss a good night's sleep away!" the second guard joked; stopping dead with his back to me, his pistol just inches away from my face. I sucked in my breath, knowing that if I as much as breathed too loud, I would be discovered. There was a rustling noise to my left, as I turned towards the noise I noticed the third guard, entering his tent for an on-duty nap. This idiot has finally isolated himself.

Slowly sneaking my leg backwards, I inched away from the first two guards and approached the tent in the back; squinting as twigs and leaves grazed and scratched my face. But as I crawled towards the tent, a twig had snagged itself into my belt. The twig stretched as the mercenary crawled further away, completely unaware of his predicament. Crack! The twig had reached its limit and had snapped off the branch, whipping the mercenary in the process.

Wincing at the unexpected and sudden attack, I quickly flattened myself in the shrubbery, as the guards' heads jerked back to see where the sound had come from. As the guards approached, I focused on keeping my breathing steady and keeping my eyes closed. People have a funny way of knowing when they were being watched.I bit my lip to stop from groaning when a guard unknowingly stepped on my hair, pinning my head to the ground. I drew blood from my lip when a second guard had stepped heavily on the back of my hand. The guards were standing on top of the mercenary's body and surveying the horizon.

"Must have been a rabbit," said the first guard.

"I should blast that little shit for scaring me like that!" Scolded the second guard. Lowering his knee unknowingly onto the mercenaries back, his eyes swept the land for any sign of an unlucky rabbit. I silently thanked Naga for this dark night and my dark hair, allowing me to camouflage with the night-time terrain. The mercenary relished a sigh as the guards removed their crushing weight from his body. Wincing, I lifted myself onto all fours. The sore in my lower back throbbing madly and my hand as red as an apple

One guard approached the woman and began to pull on a rope. She wiggled as she was lowered to the ground, into the second man's arms. Fresh tears fell down her cheeks, as the man began to whisper in her ear. As soon as the second guard put his hand on the woman's waist, something broke inside of Navarre. With the speed of a jaguar he pounced on the second man, and shot an arrow at the first before he even knew what happened. In the blink of an eye, both men were on the ground. Their faces neutral, the mercenary was so fast they did not even have time to be surprised. The girl screams into her gag, as the mercenary approaches.

"Don't worry!" Navarre said, putting his hands up. "I am not here to harm you, I am rescuing you." The woman's muffled screams turned into muffled crying, as the mercenary moved his skilled hands around her several bindings. Gently, all ropes were taken away and the woman was freed once again. "Oh!" She cried, clutching the mercenary tightly. As she wept, Navarre held her tight, he patted her back affectionately whenever he felt a particular horrible hiccup. The sun was starting to come up when her sobs finally slowed to a halt; "What happened to you?" asked the mercenary.

"Th-they wanted to sell me!" whispered the woman. "They t-took me from my home, said I was pretty and that I could get them a lot of money." She gulped, Navarre squeezed her shoulder; telling her it was okay to move on.

"I d-didn't know what they were talking about, I told them to lea-leave me alone but they wouldn't stop following me. I ran and ran until I couldn't see them anymore. I thought I got away, when out of nowhere a bag was thrown over my head!" Once again the woman was sobbing, unable to continue her story. It broke the mercenary's heart to see someone so hurt. "Listen." said Navarre. "It is all over, those bastards that captured you are dead. You are not going to be sold to anyone." As a reply, the woman clutched his shirt in her hands and continued to sob silently into his chest. Noticing the gleam of a wedding ring on her finger, the mercenary continued. "Tell me where you live, I'll take you there and stay with you until your husband arrives; if he's not home."

"No no it's okay, you don't have t- What happened to your neck?! " The woman asked, starting at the mercenary's neck.

"Don't worry about it, im fine. Now please tell me where do you live?"

Ignoring his question completely, the woman reached out a shaky hand to touch the abused neck. The mercenary winced and recoiled slightly as soon as her finger met his warm skin. "Really, I am fine. Don't worry about me." Navarre muttered.

"Why don't you come into my home and I'll get you some tea?"

"You are kind, but I have to decline. A mercenary's life is a busy one and I have more jobs to get to today."

Frowning, the woman gave Navarre the address to her home and together they rode Albino to the destination. Her husband answered the door in a cold sweat, he had been searching all over for her and was taken aback to find her entering with another man. Navarre did not flinch as a fist was brandished in his face, by the angry husband. "And what were you doing with my wife?! Were you the reason she was gone for so long?! Did you take her?! Did you hurt her?! Because guess what buddy, anything you did to her I'll do right back to you!"

"I just rescued her from a Hoshidan camp." Navarre replied calmly. "She was about to be sold for slavery." With a nod, Navarre turned his back on the open mouthed husband. "And don't worry about paying me. No charge for this one."

"Thank you! I hope your neck feels better!" the wife called, after Navarre.

Climbing back onto the back of his trusty steed, Navarre set off once again. Now it was time to deal with this Lena person. The note she sent him, told him exactly where she lived. After riding for almost 2 hours, Albino slowed to a stop. Navarre's jaw dropped as a looked up at the massive fort before him. She must be some kind of royalty to afford a place like this! It's practically its own town!