18 years later

Lisk was a rather skinny young man, about 26 years old. He was shorter than the average man in Greater Birchland, but he was not too short. When he was young, Lisk was an obnoxious prankster. He would hack down entire birch trees to build wooden rafts, wooden swords, wooden horses, or whatever his imagination let him come up with. He was very resourceful with the crafts of woodworking, but sometimes he simply placed piles of wood in front of people’s doors to block them from going in and out of their own homes. Other times, he would build bird nests, put dead animals inside, and place them inside people’s houses.

This naturally got him into a lot of trouble, his mother warned him, “If I get another complaint about you, I’m turning you into the Enforcers.”

Enforcers are the law protectors of Greater Birchland. They were known to be ruthless. If they get to the criminal, the criminal is likely to serve life imprisonment eating barks and being cellmates with opposums.

Lisk, of course, knew that was just an empty threat, his mother would never do that. He was her only son, and his father worked in a distant land so Lisk only got to see him once every few years. Lisk did tone down the mischiefs as he grew older and became more mature.

The Greater Birchland is ruled by the Channing family. It was established as a republic, but in reality, everyone knew the Channing family had power over everything. The Consul George Channing was known to be a strict but effective ruler. There were a famine when Lisk was eight that starved a majority of the citizens of Greater Birchland. Channing ruthlessly began to search the houses of the wealthy for food and wealth and seized whatever they could have found, and distributed it across the land. Many elites of Greater Birchland resented him because of this, but the effectiveness Channing averted this crisis with made him loved by the general citizens.

Of course, nothing is without consequences, when Lisk was nineteen, George Channing was mysteriously murdered. His son, Joseph Channing, who was only fourteen at that time, inherited his father’s position of Consul, making him the youngest ever Consul in Birchland’s three-hundred-year history. This was amusing to Lisk at the time, but Joseph soon turned out to be just as efficient as his father, but also way more stubborn and way more merciless. When he was sixteen, Joseph began invading neighboring land and acquired land from the Crystal Lake kingdom and the Timeless Plateau tribes. Those neighbors had co-existed with Greater Birchland for a century, but Joseph’s fondness of wars and expansionist ambitions changed all that.

“I hate war.” Lisk remarked to his friend and training mate Dust.

“That kid been that way since he was fourteen. It’s like he enjoys it, every bit of it.” Dust swung his right fist at a eight-foot tall birch tree. The trunk cracked. Dust followed through and slashed the tree with his left hand. The trunk collapsed to the ground. Dust sighed, “I still can’t break this damn thing with just one punch. Am I hopeless?”

“You don’t need me to tell you that anymore, good.” Lisk smirked, “I wish someone can talk some sense into the kid, causing all this rift with all our neighbors will eventually come back to bite him.” Lisk hopped four feet into the air and straightened his right leg, and with the speed and agility of a leopard he swung through a birch tree with his leg. The broken trunk piece traveled about ten feet through the air, and it collided with another birch tree, the impact snapped the other tree in half.

Dust applauded, but at the same time he looked disheartened. He asked, “When will I be able to get there?”

“I have three more years of training than you, but you might get here faster than I did.” Lisk assured Dust.

Lisk and Dust were students of the Warrior School’s bare-hand combat methods. Although neither of them actually attended Warrior School, they often watched people from the Warrior School train, and they have picked up bits and pieces of the methods of the school. The Warrior School is located at a remote mountainside spot in Greater Birchland. Many enrolled in the school to learn the methods of different weaponry and bare-hand combat. It was a rough place though. A great majority of people go home after less than a year since they were told they had no gifts for Warrior School.

This sneak peeking, of course, was a practice that was borderline illegal. The people that do this were called smitelers. Smitelers are a rodent that can imitate movements, and sometimes even speech. Legends has it that they were often used in war time to send messages. The animal is believed to have gone extinct.

There were no laws against smiterlering, but combat schools punished those they caught in the act. The forgiving schools would let the offender off with a beating, while the less forgiving ones would break the offender’s limbs.

“We should get going.” Dust looked at the sky, the Sun was setting. Greater Birchland was a great place to be at this moment. The sunsets during the spring were always majestical.

“Oh, it’s time already.” Lisk remarked, “The Plunderers are beginning to act earlier and earlier.”

Dust seemed a bit concerned, and said, “I don’t think these Plunderers are like the ones we have seen in the past.”

They trekked through Greater Birchland on their horses, eastward to the borders of Greater Birchland and Crystal Lake. The exit of Greater Birchland was a forest containing a stream that eventually led to Crystal Lake. Rumors stated that Bigfoots and lions existed among the birch trees in the forest. The stream was called the Crystal Stream, and the Collectors found it an ideal supplier of River Crystal, an ingredient for medical procedures.

Night finally settled in. Lisk and Dusk reached the borders of Crystal Lake. Birch trees were still abundant by the side of the road, and their presence extended well into Crystal Lake territories.

Lisk had tracked down the Plunderers’ movements and they knew this time, the target was Duke Yastin of Crystal Lake Kingdom. The Duke was traveling with about ten servants, and he had countless valuables with him. This is a cursed habit that the royalty of Crystal Lake Kingdom always had --- no matter how perilous the road is reputed to be, those fools always feel the need to flash their stature.

“It’s the only thing to uphold their sense of worth.” Lisk remarked, “They win no wars, and live constantly in fear being overran by the more powerful authorities nearby. They had to show their worth and pride through their wealth.”

George Channing had left the Crystal Lake Kingdom alone for decades. He reasoned that there isn’t much land to be gained there, and because the Crystal Lake boasted a long shoreline, it actually served as a guard for the Greater Birchland because it made sure that the Greater Birchland did not touch a body of water.

George Channing’s concerns was not unwarranted, the Greater Birchland did not have a navy, or soldiers and generals that were experienced in on-water combat. Although his father was quite happy to have Crystal Lake as a cushion to help secure the Greater Birchland, Joseph Channing was not so complacent. He eyed the abundant resources that could be gained from the invasion of Crystal Lake Kingdom. River Crystals, supplies of silver, and fertile farmlands, there was everything Joseph wanted.

Lisk and Dust settled on top of a birch tree, watching for signs of light to signal the arrival of the Duke. An hour or so later, a dim candlelight and a few horses passed by, with a man rocking a glittering golden helmet.

“How thick can this guy be?” Dust whispered, but Lisk motioned him to be quiet. He knew that the Plunderers couldn’t be too far from them right now. Sure enough, leaves rustled and five masked men appeared from the birch trees around, surrounding the Duke and his companions.

“I have a lot of gold to give you. I am in a hurry and must make it to Joseph Channing by the day.” The Duke pleaded.

Lisk frowned as he watched on. He heard movement beside him, and he grabbed Dust’s shoulders immediately and whispered, “Not yet.”

One of the masked men laughed hysterically, “Gold? You think we need gold?”

“What do you think we are, Plunderers?” Another man sneered.

“These people aren’t Plunderers, where did the Plunderers go?” Dust asked.

That wasn’t the primary concern for Lisk. It doesn’t matter where the Plunderers went, if they don’t show up today, they will be here tomorrow. Their existence did not bother Lisk. Lisk was much more concerned with who these mysterious people surrounding the Duke currently are.

“What do you want?” The Duke’s voice trembled.

A sword was flashed and a stream of blood came down the Duke’s neck. The Duke fell of his horse and lied flat on his stomach. The glittering golden helmet fell out and one of the men kicked it away, grunting, “I expected more of a fight.” This was the third different voice Lisk had heard.

All the Duke’s servants could do now was to stay in place and hope for the mercy of these masked men. One of the men raised their sword.

“Enough, Hans, we got the job done. He’s not reaching Joseph Channing now.” The fourth man spoke for the first time.

“Yes, but we can’t have any surviving witnesses.” The third voice replied. The man raised his sword and struck down each of the Duke’s defenseless servants, one by one.

“Hans! Good grief.” The fourth voice sounded appalled, “Let’s get out of here.”

The men hurried away from the night as Dust moved as if he was going to pursue them. Again, Lisk grabbed Dusk’s shoulders, who was now evidently annoyed, “Are we going to just let them get away with...”

“Neither me or you are going to last a minute against one of them, let alone five.” Lisk sighed.

“How can you tell?” Dust raised his voice a little bit, which was met immediately by a hush by Lisk, Dust then lowered his voice, annoyed, “How can you tell?”

“How quickly the guy pulled his sword and struck down ten people is evidence.” Lisk replied.

“Those people are servants. They don’t speak combat.” Dust was still not convinced.

“Yes, but the speed of the sword does not lie.” Lisk explained. He had overseen enough sword duels at Warrior School to know what speed of sword would be measured as fast. That was a hobby of Lisk’s: going to the mountainside by Warrior School and hiding in a birch tree so he could observe high-level combat and learn a thing or two from it. It was against the rules of non-students to observe classes in session, but Lisk hid well enough so he was never caught, and his eyesight was sharp as an owl so even sitting on a branch at a distant birch tree he was able to observe the lessons.