It wasn’t Tom.

Five men slinked from the shadowy foliage, dagger and knives in hand. Their entire faces covered by a mask except for their eyes that glinted with a predatory light. He darted his gaze left and right, they all surrounded the direction back to the road.

“What do we have here?”

“A wee lost boy I can say.”

“Yeah, definitely a wee boy.”

Three of the men burst into raucous laughter while the other two never kept their gaze away from him, snickering but wary. Hyde kept his silence, although he knew his ears were burning. It wouldn’t be easy to get away. He felt jittery and if it wouldn’t bring a knife right up his leg, he would have tapped it ceaselessly. He could run deeper into the forest.

But knives already digging in his flesh crept in the back of his mind.

Who was to say that their base wasn’t in this very forest?

He swallowed some saliva and looked at the men, each in the eye. The three continued chuckling, shaking their heads. The other two returned his stare, one was blank but the other seemed a bit wary.

“So what do we really have here?”

Thankfully his voice didn’t quiver as much as he was afraid it would. He raised his chin slightly and clasped his hands together as if they were in an auction house. One of the men stepped back involuntarily.

“Dead meat.”

Another of them answered with a snicker, eyeing him with a suspicious look. The knife in their hand twitched in response, possibly willing to lodge it in his throat if he did any more antics. Hyde would take his chances and smiled bleakly.

“You guys can’t hunt for animals and have to resort to eating passing travellers?”

“Stupid.”

The one in the middle remarked with a shake of his head, glancing at his companions.

“Nobles are so stupid.”

Hyde felt a shudder ran down his spine. So they knew, his fingers edged inside his sleeves. Did they know it by simply looking at him? Or did somebody—

“Why don’t you deal with someone on your level then?”

A familiar loud-mouthed figure appeared behind the men with a challenging grin on his face, his sword glinting valiantly. Relief flooded his chest. The men turned to face the newcomer. Hyde’s fingers grasped the cool hilt underneath his sleeve. His initial relief dissipating as he measured the odds. He would have preferred if Tom had made a more silent appearance but his friend seemed to fail to understand the severity of the situation. Two versus five, and they could attack from both sides… it could work, Tom’s armour would protect him. He only needed to use his head. Tom opened his mouth.

“Get away, Hyde!”

Crap, he’d ruined the chance for a surprise attack. Three of the men began to make a move for him. Withdrawing the dagger from his sleeve, he threw it at the man in the middle. The man ducked to the right, avoiding the weapon and slowing his companion in the process. Hyde darted to left, pulling out his rapier and thrusting it at the closest man. Blade clashed against blade, the man’s knife meeting his weapon.

Hyde stepped back, glancing for uneven terrain of roots and undergrowth. He made another thrust at the man, forcing him back. With the rapier, he had more reach and could control the flow. He kept them back with another swing. Hyde moved back, hopping over the overgrown roots of the tree and pressing his back against the trunk. He threw a quick look at Tom. The young man used his sword, jabbing at one and keeping away from the other. It was an awful strategy for Hyde.

When one of the men slashed at his face, Tom managed to get away in the nick of time. The soldier’s focus wavered for a moment as he noticed Hyde’s gaze.

“Hyde! Run off you doof—”

It whirled from the air. The blade sliced across the young man’s face. Tom winced and redirected his attention back to the men in front of him, sweeping his sword at them. The dagger stuck just above Hyde’s head. He cursed, he had to retreat.

“You guys picking on the noble like a bunch of bullies?”

Somehow, the soldier managed to jeer and slash at the two men at the same time. Tom spat on the ground. Blood dribbling on his cheek.

“Come and face me like real men!”

It shouldn’t have worked. It shouldn’t have really worked. But since it did, energy coursed through his legs as he darted across the woods. Over the verdure. Past the trees. The sound of metal hitting metal disappeared over the sound of the wind in his ears. He tripped and got up again. Light peeked at the end of the thickets. He was close. He ran faster.

He landed on the dusty road, the sun’s heat glaring down on him.

People seemed to have immediately crowded over him, shielding him from too much exposure from the sun. Their voices soon overlapped in his ears.

“Hyde? Are you okay?”

“What happened?”

“Where’s Tom?”

Somebody lifted him to the ground. It was Frank he guessed. A water skin was thrust to his lips. He gulped the water, relishing the cold liquid pouring down his throat.

“Tom! Bandits!”

He managed to raise his voice over the din of the soldiers.

“Get the boy back.”

The captain, the butler or was it Rhine who spoke up? Hyde pointed to a direction. Five of them immediately pushed through the forest. It meant only four of them were left, James, Cedric, Frank and the Captain. Panic coursed through his veins, ten soldiers, that was all they had. Could they really be able to get to Zourian Kingdom with just ten men? His surroundings spun in answer.

“What did you get yourself into Hyde?”

Rhine’s voice seemed a mile away, although she was standing in front of him with a frown etched on her face. Her hissed tone was a far cry from the look in her eyes, her brows creasing together in apparent worry. She didn’t need to worry about him, he was fine.

He shut his eyes for a moment, it was best that he gained his bearings first.

“I…”

“It’s terrible to imagine that thieves are apparently so close to us.”

Hyde could imagine Rhine fuming, moving and stamping angrily on the road. It was a silly sight as he finally looked at the female. She was waving her hands about. It was her chance to rant and she would take the opportunity to do so.

“How could the Royal Army not be able to sniff out such a threat?”

Hyde sighed to himself and eyed the path into the woods. Rhine could be like their mother when she wanted to be. It wasn’t apparent that people were living there, so perhaps the thieves were only resting there to avoid being captured? But if they knew he was a noble, it could have been a planned attack. Not that it would make sense that they’d send five men to deal with him.

“Rhine.”

He rubbed a hand over his eye, watching his sister stop pacing around. She turned to him and glared at him.

“You really had to enter the woods alone, didn’t you? What were you thinking Hyde?!”

“I was thinking that I needed to go to the bathroom.”

Somehow, it was enough to take out the anger from Rhine who averted her gaze. She kicked the dirt road with her satin dress slipper. Her lips were now pursed and she had crossed her arms.

“Well, you should have said something... I had your best friend follow you. I hope he’s unharmed.”

A nauseousness started in his stomach that finally burned through his throat. He had left Tom to fend for himself. It didn’t matter that it was to call for reinforcements… how could the young soldier survive against five men?

He glanced at his friends who were with the drivers. They were a comfortable distance away from him and his sister. It was probably to give them privacy to speak to one another... but what if it was something more? What did they think of this situation? Was he a coward? He clenched his fists. If something happened to Tom, how could he ever⁠⁠—

“Hey! What’s with all those sad faces?”

For once, Hyde didn’t think Tom was acting too haughty. The young man stepped out of the trees with the other soldiers right behind him, and he looked alright. The blood on his face was drying up and no other injury was on his person.

“Tom!”

In what seemed to be a blink of an eye, Jamie crossed a considerable distance and flung himself into the other man’s arms. The two of them littered the ground.

“Hey, kid! You’re heavy!”

“But you’re alright Tom! I was so worried.”

“Geez, why can’t a pretty girl worry about me instead.”