The next morning Maximus had gotten up really early. The plan was to slip out early in hopes that the soldiers wouldn’t have started their patrols by then. He managed to wake Hedger up as well and drag him outside, but it looked like just the sight of a comfy pillow would send him back to dreamland. He had told Rex to meet them in front of the cannon but when they reached the street he was already waiting there. He wasn’t alone either – at least a dozen people were also standing there staring at the same piece of paper.
“What’s going on?” Maximus asked Rex. Rex just snorted and stood there for a few seconds then he said “The reward for the manticore is out, 400 gold pieces.” That finally woke Hedger up, “Did you say 400 golden beauties, man, the sellers’ council really wants this thing gone.” Maximus was also surprised at the reward. He had never seen such a high bounty before in the trenches. Then again they never had to deal with such a strong monster before. The world’s money system was easy enough to understand. Ten pieces of bronze made a silver piece and ten silver pieces made a gold piece. This was the same under all the Olympian kingdoms under the order of the God-King Zeus. And four hundred gold pieces were a lot, at least in the trenches. With that kind of money a person could really restart his life. But he knew that the risk was too great, but then again he had already done something today against his rational instincts. He had brought along with him the cursed blade.
They started to move towards the east part of the trenches, there was an old junkyard at the end of it. It was a place where a lot of the kingdom’s scrap metal got sent, and in Mars, a large portion of these included war vehicles such as tanks, Jeeps and armoured cars. After anything useful was taken from a destroyed vehicle, whatever was left was hauled off to the junkyard. Out towards the back, where the larger vehicle shells were stored, there was a small opening which led to some underground caves that in turn led to the outskirts. The caves seemed to be built by dwarves, but had been abandoned for years.
Dwarves were an underground dwelling race. They were also natural born excavators. They had powerful front claws that were excellent for digging and they also had a keen sense of smell so that they could navigate the tunnels even without light. Dwarves also made the best blacksmiths, mechanics and building constructors. Anything that needed building or fixing was their thing. Maximus had read somewhere that most of the Dwarven population resided in the kingdom of Vulcan. But you saw quite a few in Mars as well. The problem was that dwarves only grew to about three feet tall, which made most of the tunnels inaccessible to them, especially for a big guy like Rex. But a few of the tunnels were made to move equipment and they were big enough for Rex to squeeze and crawl his way through. Obviously he wasn’t looking forward to this.
“Damn it, wish the army would just take out that manticore instead of blocking off the entrance,” Rex said. But Maximus knew that wouldn’t happen. The outskirts just weren’t considered as valuable territory. There was no way the army would waste resources there. And even though the blocking of the entrance was an annoyance to scavengers and sellers he knew that a lot of people slept better at night knowing that the army was guarding the entrance. Hedger glided down to shoulder level from a tree. He was munching on an apple; he tossed one each to Maximus and Rex. He took another bite and said “If anyone has the right to complain here, it’s me. I can’t believe you guys talked me into doing this again.” Hedger didn’t usually join them on their scavenging hunts, but the dwarf tunnels were way too complex and it was easy to get lost or stuck. Neither Maximus nor Rex could go through them easily. That’s where Hedger came in; he was small enough to fit through all the tunnels and lead the way for them. But he hated this more than Rex did as he couldn’t use his wings there. And not being able to spread his wings made Hedger kind of claustrophobic.
As they reached the entrance of the junkyard a familiar metallic smell surrounded them. Maximus liked the junkyard. It was filled with old relics of the past, each broken piece of equipment here had a story to tell and most would be Great War stories. When he was still in the army he used to admire the tanks and other battle machines used by the army. He always preferred his sword but it was hard not to feel the power radiate from a R.A.M. tank. The R.A.M.’s or the Region Annihilation Mega-tanks were the army’s ultimate weapon. Those double barrelled mega tanks could probably even take out a ground manticore without a scratch.
As they started walking through the junkyard, Maximus noticed that Rex wasn’t really joining in the conversation and he had a serious look on his face. “What’s wrong?” he asked Rex. He didn’t respond right away, then in a low voice he said, “I think we’re being followed.” Maximus turned around slowly to take a look but he didn’t see anyone. The junkyards were almost always empty; somehow the rusty machinery didn’t exactly make it an attractive hang out spot. “I don’t see anyone,” Maximus said.
“Neither do I,” Hedger said in agreement. But Rex still seemed unconvinced. “I don’t know, somehow I feel it in my snout.”
“Maybe you just got a bug or something stuck in there, your nose is sure big enough for it,” Hedger said, “guess your instinct isn’t just what it used to be.” But before Rex could respond to that with some rather unconventional words a voice said “I wouldn’t say that.”
Maximus looked around to find the source of the voice, when Hedger tugged at his shirt and pointed to the top of a pile of scrap metal. A man stood there and he slowly walked down the scrap pile to meet them. Maximus didn’t recognize him at first, but then he realized that it was the same cloaked man from yesterday. It was Rex who reacted first, he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the man and said, “You’re the guy from the pub yesterday, why are you following us?” For a guy with a gun pointed at his head by a seven foot Minotaur he seemed pretty calm. His face was still covered by his hood and only his chin and mouth were visible. His expression hadn’t changed a bit. Then the man said “You’re experienced in tracking with your nose, I’m guessing you and the boy are ex-military.”
This was true of course, Minotaurs and other races with a keen sense of smell were taught special tracking methods related to smell and Rex had undergone it too. What Maximus didn’t understand was how the man understood that he used to be a soldier as well. Rex narrowed his eyes and asked, “What’s it to you?” The man still didn’t seem bothered by the gun pointed at his face and this was starting to bother Maximus. Then the man said “I don’t care about your past, what I do care about is a piece of information you let slip yesterday – you mentioned there was another way into the outskirts.”
“Eavesdropping isn’t very polite Mr. Hood,” Hedger said, “so why don’t you start by telling us who you are?”
“Actually Mr. Hood is just fine,” he said, and Hedger had no response to that. Maximus was trying to figure out anything he could about this man but it was hard since his cloak covered his entire body. Even his feet and shoes were covered in wraps. But Maximus could tell that he had a sword on his waist under his cloak. The fact that he wasn’t unarmed wasn’t that encouraging.
“Umm Rex, put the gun away, I don’t think he’s gonna attack us,” Maximus said. Then he turned to the hooded man and asked, “Why do you want to go to the outskirts so badly anyway?”
The man turned to Maximus. Maximus was kind of amazed at how expressionless his face still looked. He had seen more feelings on a stone statue. “My reasons are not important to you but I can make it worth your while,” the man said, and then he put his hand in his pocket and took out three gold pieces and showed them to the trio. “These are yours if you can get me outside.” This sure got their attention. “A piece of gold each for just letting him tag along doesn’t seem so bad,” Hedger said
Maximus had to agree it was a sweet deal, but he wasn’t stupid enough to trust a guy who wouldn’t even show his face. Rex seemed to be thinking along the same lines, he said “And are we just supposed to blindly trust you?”
The man lowered his head and said, “I give you my word that I will not attack any of you unless I am attacked first. Besides, shouldn’t I be the one who should worry? After all, there are three of you and you are well armed.”
“Don’t think that we haven’t noticed the sword you’re hiding under your cloak,” Maximus said.
“Yes but I assure you that is all I have,” the man said, “unlike you I have no firearms.”
Maximus wasn’t too relieved by this. He knew that a swordsman with proper training and a powerful enough sword could easily take care of a group of gunmen. And his instincts told him that this man had both. Rex looked to Maximus. Even though Maximus didn’t trust this guy, the money he was offering was good, and they could really use it so he nodded in agreement. “Fine,” Rex said, “you can tag along but at the first sight of any funny business I am personally putting a bullet in your head.”
The man nodded in agreement, his face didn’t show any signs of worry that he had just been threatened or any signs of life at all for that matter. Then Rex held out his only arm and the hooded man shook on it.
After that they started walking to the cave entrance together. Maximus was pretty sure he had never been part of a more silent group, even Hedger wasn’t opening his big mouth. It was Rex who finally spoke. “So who the hell are you anyway?” Maximus felt that Rex was being a bit rude but it didn’t seem to bother the hooded man, instead he asked “What happened to your arm and eye?”
Rex snorted angrily at this and said “That’s really none of your business.”
“Then I don’t think my identity is any of your concern either,” replied the man. Needless to say there was no more small talk after that.
They finally reached the caves and Hedger began to lead the way. The rest of them followed close behind. Hedger could easily fit through all the caves but it was clear to Maximus that he didn’t like not being able to use his wings. But at least he didn’t have to crawl around on all fours like the rest of us, Maximus thought to himself. The caves were excruciatingly annoying for Rex who was bringing up the rear. Even though he was curled up into a ball and moving at the speed of a snail he was still just barely getting through. Once he even managed to get his horn stuck on a tree root that was sticking out and that just made his day. After about 20 minutes or so of torturous crawling they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel and were thrilled that their little maze was over. They finally got out but they still had aching knees and dirt all over them.
“I don’t care if we gotta break down the barricade but we have to find another way back,” Rex complained. Maximus couldn’t help but grin at this, mainly because they had finally reached the outskirts. It was true that scavengers didn’t get much pay and the job was a lot of hard work, but nobody ever said that the job was boring. There was something truly exhilarating about being out there and hunting in the wild. The three of them finally turned to the hooded man. Rex said “Well here you are, the great outdoors. So if you could just hand over the money you promised we will just be on our way.” The man nodded in agreement, “I have a question though,” he said. “There should be a trail nearby which off-road vehicles are supposed to use. Could you point me in its direction?” Maximus knew the trail he was talking about, there was only one such trail out here in the outskirts and he had travelled it a few times when he was still in the army. He had been aboard a convoy on transport duty. The trail was not there in any of the maps, and the things that were transported through here by the army were usually illegal stuff that never appeared in any of the military records. Maximus wasn’t proud of this but he had seen and turned a blind eye to worse in the army.
“It’s towards the north from here, just keep walking till you reach a small incline. You should be able to see the trail from there,” Maximus said.
“I have heard that there is a cliff there from which the trail is visible,” he asked again.
Maximus nodded and replied, “Yeah, you should be able to spot the cliff within five minutes.” The man nodded at this and handed over the money. Then he began to move towards the trail.
“How do you plan to get back to the city?” Maximus asked as he began to walk away. The hooded man stopped for a second and said “I don’t plan to,” and began walking again down his path.
Once the man was out of sight, Hedger said, “Well, that was weird to say the least. Wonder what he’s up to?” Rex let out a small grunt and said “Who cares. He already paid us, he can go and jump in a lake for all I care. Now come on, we got work to do.”
They started to move through the trees to their usual scavenging spots, but somehow Maximus couldn’t stop thinking about the hooded man. “Come on, let’s head to the taller trees first. Since Hedger is with us he’ll be able to get any fruits that are on top of them,” Rex said. Maximus nodded and they started to move towards the trees. Rex was still sore from being cramped up in the tunnels so he wasn’t in any mood to talk, and Hedger began chasing the moths that were flying around in the forest. This gave Maximus some time to think.
They had reached the area of the outskirts where the trees grew really tall. Among these were some apricot trees. The apricots that grew here were really sweet and were considered a luxury in the trenches. They were sure to be able to sell them at a good price back in the city. Since Hedger could just fly around and pluck them it didn’t really leave Maximus and Rex anything to do.
Maximus then started thinking about the time he was on transport duty. They were passing through the trail carrying a crate. The convoy just contained one armoured car with four soldiers inside, including Maximus. They were never told what was in the crate during the briefing. All they were told was that it was for the good of the country and for the glory of General Ares. Maximus was smart enough to know that this meant that if he asked more questions he would just attract trouble. The transport was going smoothly till it had reached the cliffs. That’s when things started going bad. Their convoy was ambushed by a group of Orcs. There were around seven of them, but they weren’t well trained enough to take them on though, they were easily dealt with. They managed to deliver the crate without trouble after that and they were asked to never speak of the mission to anyone. That’s when it finally hit Maximus.
“Hey Rex I was just wondering about that hooded guy,” Maximus said. Rex gave Maximus an annoyed look. “I already told you to let it go.”
“I know, but listen,” Maximus said impatiently “Didn’t you think it was weird that he wanted to get to that trail. I mean, the only thing it gets used for is the shady transports which the army does.”
“Yeah so?” Rex said.
“Also, he was asking about the cliffs right?” Maximus asked.
Rex’s eye slowly began to widen “Are you trying to tell me that man is trying to ambush an army convoy?”
Maximus slowly nodded.
“But that would be suicide. A convoy will have at least three men all heavily armed.” Maximus knew Rex had a point, but his instincts told him that the man they had just met wasn’t exactly ordinary. “I know, but if he managed to pull it off it would be the perfect crime. Those transports never went into any records, if he got off with whatever they were carrying there’s not much that could be done after.”
“But even so …” Rex had begun to say when Hedger flew in and dropped some apricots on him. Rex managed to catch them just in time. “What are you ladies mumbling about?” Hedger asked. “Max thinks that the hooded guy’s gonna try to knock off an illegal military convoy.” Maximus had already told the story of those transports to Hedger before so he knew what they were talking about. “I thought you said those convoys were heavily guarded,” Hedger said. “I mean unless Mr. Hood is packing a few explosives under his cloak what’s he going to do?”
Maximus just stared at Hedger as if he had just told a horror story and he knew Rex was also thinking the same thing. Hedger had just told about the explosives as a joke, but both Maximus and Rex saw it as a very real possibility. “He was really keen about keeping his cloak on,” Rex said nervously. It finally dawned on Hedger as well. “Wait, are you guys seriously considering the possibility that he might try to bomb the convoy?” The three of them just stood there silently for a while. Maybe they were just being paranoid, Maximus thought, but this was not something he could just ignore if people’s lives were at stake.