Harold POV

Tex rolls into the darkness of some nearby bushes and stops moving only to see that both of the brothers were on the ground entangle in each other arms. While the other two men from the village look on with surprise as they back away from the fallen brothers. Both of them were looking around into the moonlit landscape to see if there are any other dangers. Harold could see the two brothers on the ground. One of the brothers was trying to get up while swearing. Seeing a knife sticking out of the back of Holden put Harold in a daze. If not for seeing Jack in the moonlight trying to kill Joseph, he would not have believed it. Coming to his senses, he grabbed his Jimmy and pulling him back up the road to the east, worry that if Joseph dies, they would be next. The Larson brothers were only recent immigrants to their village.

In contrast, Joseph has been a member all his life and help out trapping food with him to feed the families of the village over the last few years. If not for the previous year's help from Joseph, they would have lost half of the villager to starvation. Pushing his friend into the dark shadow of a bush farther up the road, he whispers into his ear.

“Stay and keep quiet unless you hear my voice or Joseph." If anything happens to me, head home, and tell my ma what had happened here.” After seeing his friend nod, Harold moves back up the road pulling out the short sword that he pulled off a dead body yesterday. He would have felt more comfortable with the spear. Holding onto the sword while moving back up into the shadows trying keeping out of the moonlight, both thanking and cursing the moons shining so brightly tonight. He stops moving when he saw one of the brothers move onto the road. A strange thought pop into his mind, 'What with Joseph's strange accent?'

Tex POV

Tex figure that if these two brothers got their way, all of them would have been lead into a trap or killed right here. Not knowing why they decide to attack him first, Tex could only figure that they couldn't take on three of them, so they decided to kill one of them. While in training a few weeks ago, Tex did outfight the others in using the spear. To Tex, the training was a joke compared to the boot camp that he went through. It would seem they plan on killing one or all of them near around where they buried the map.

Staying still in the grass, he can see Jack holding up Holden, helping him toward the road. Jack seems to have pulled out the dagger in his brother back when he was untangling from his brother earlier. The blood flow in the moonlight was a lot. If it does not stop soon, Harold was going to die from blood loss. Jack was almost to the road when he stops and lay Holden down onto the ground. From where Tex is hiding in the grass nearby, seeing his friend Harold was only a few feet up the road from Jack hiding in the shadow of a bush. Tex can see Jack standing up and looking to the west, an uneasy feeling went through him, and he then saw a coyote walk out of the grass and sit next to Jack, looking west, waiting for something to happen. Tex curses loudly in his mind at the Coyote God. Lifting the ax to throw just as Jack was raising his head to shout out to the west for help and bringing down the sentries on them. As he was about the release the ax, Jack stiffened and fell forward, hitting the ground face first with a dagger embedded in Jack's back. Looking east and seeing Harold picking up his sword off the ground from where he was crouch rushing forward and plunging the blade into both brothers.

Tex looks around and not see anyone else. He moves up and whispers toward Harold, “Hey Harold, it T-Joseph.” Almost calling out his name as Tex Harold jump in fright.

“You are going to scare someone to death, giving them a fright.” Harold patted his chest in fright as he sees Joseph step out onto the road in the moonlight as if he appears like magic.

“Can't believe we trusted them.” Pointing at the two brothers dead on the ground, Harold spat out as he walks over and pulls the dagger out of Jack's back, as he was about to wipe the bloody blade on Jack's clothes until Tex stopped him.

“No point wasting good clothes. strip the two and bury them.” Tex pause looking at the moon to the east and commented. “Bury the body where no one can find them and head west on the road until you are north of the battlefield and hide. I will rescue the women for you and try to get as many out of the camp as I can.”

Harold nod and crouch down as Tex point toward a thicket. “There two mules and a cart full of goods I liberated from some grave robbers that took the items off the dead on the battlefield. There is an old abandon foundation of a spring house that can be used for water, be careful about leaving tracks going down that entryway so no one can spot them.” Pointing toward the area where Tex enters the road from the thicket. “When I free everyone, you two bring them here and keep them quiet for a day or two before heading back to the village, Move at night and keep off the roads, be sure to use the mules. We can come back and get the cart later.”

Harold pulls off a pouch full of coins and dumps a few into the palm of his hand in the moonlight. The silver coins are called crests. (Silver Crest are silver coins that the Kingdom of Ir use as it's currency. It is a silver coin that been melted and pour into molds with the Kingdom of Ir crest upon it thus call a Crest.) Harold's eyes get wide as he looks at Joseph shaking as he looks back down at the silver. There is enough silver there to buy a farm and livestock and still keep a family alive in food for a few years.

Tex clap Harold's shoulder and whisper, “you two divide up the silver and use some of it to help the widows and orphans in the village. Be sure not to let anyone see the money,” Pausing as he saw Jimmy moving over to them exited holding another bag.

“Silver?” Tex looks toward Jimmy.

“Yyy-yes!” stuttering, whispering excited, handing over a bag to a surprise Tex. There were also several pieces of wood with marks on them. Jimmy's eyes grew wider, looking at the pouch in Harold's hands.

Tex pulls out the two pieces of flat woods and seeing lettering on them that came to focus as words to his eyes. Being surprised that he can understand the writing, realizing that Joseph must have learned to read and write when younger by his father teaching them. All in total, there were sixty-two silver crest and a few dozen coppers. The copper was the size of a nickel and thick as a quarter stamp with the Barony Dosu crest on one side and the year 641 Li (founding of Kingdom of Li) stamp on the other. It seems the local barons can make copper coins. The only reason they're not a massive influx of copper coins is the fact Bronze weapons and tools need copper and tin. A silver mine may be a good money source, but unless iron ore is found and use to make weapons and tools, the next best mines to have is copper and tin.

Looking over the pieces of wood seeing the words Bounty: Alive, one male – one Crest; Alive, one young female – two crests; three crests if virgin; Alive, one elderly person – five copper. Children alive one copper; No bounty if dead; half breeds are ten crests if female twenty crests.

Tex grew angry at seeing the bounties and after looking at the other wood panel and seeing scratch marks showing ten women and six children and two elderly women and about forty men. If not for the fact that both spies were dead, he would raise them from the dead, then kill them all over again only much slower. Upon seeing a symbol next to the children mark on the piece of wood that looks familiar to him. Pondering over it, he remembers that the same symbol was on the map by a farm just three miles from here to the northwest. It might be where the children are being held.

Telling both Harold and Jimmy, “Get back here before daylight and hide out until it is safe and try to get to Old Man Kepler's farmstead and hide out there instead of heading to the village. Use the money to buy food quietly from the neighboring barony. I was at the abandoned farm two months ago, and everything was a button uptight. Dry firewood in the back and I check the food cellar, and they're still several containers of seal corn in there. I will go and get the girl out, be sure after you finish bury those two to go meet me north of the battlefield and hide off the side of the road.”

He was thanking Joseph in his mind on the memories of checking that farmstead a few weeks ago. He thought back to that wood-frame house that sat on top of the food cellar and stone foundation. The lower half was used as a barn, and a house was on top. The heat in the winter from the animals would rise into the house above. From Joseph's memories, the barn held some hay from the summer and stalls to keep a few heads of cattle, sheep and goats are clean but empty. The farm is only about five miles north of the village, about halfway to the swamp. Old man Kepler passes away while hand cutting hay in the fields. Someone from the village saw some of Baron Rathe's men leaving the farm the day before. He was found in the field with the sickle embedded into his chest as if he fell on it.

It took an hour for Tex to move through the woods, passing the sentries undetected that was posted in the woods. When he saw a coyote was laying on the ground ahead of him, calmly looking at a tree. Tex froze.