0011 Looking For and Hiding

In the dark amid the undergrowth, a man was crawling lightly along the ground trying not to make a noise, in a few minutes he arrived at the edge of the top of a small hill, but high enough to look in the distance at a group of about a hundred men camping in an area in the middle of a forest.

Some bonfires lit up the camp in the middle of the night and thus helped the man to see some characteristics of the people in this group.

Men in gray armor, and apparently a nobleman badly dressed according to their preferences, besides them, a group of five people in black robes tied near a carriage.

"These idiots... So they really were captured...

... Did the others die or run away?".

He craned his neck in search of more men in black robes, but did not find anyone in addition to the previous five, then he slowly stood up preparing to leave.

Craouch! Craouch! Craouch!

Footsteps were heard from behind and soon he drew his sword, preparing to deal with the gaudy enemy, but as he turned he noticed in the distance a man in black robe holding a battlehammer in one hand and holding his chest with the other, an indication that he was wounded.

The man came towards him pulling one leg and head down, barely able to walk straight as his body swayed from side to side.

Looking at the man in the black robe, he pulls from the pocket of his clothes a kind of prayer string made of white pearl-like spheres, lifting the prayer cord towards the man, one of the spheres faintly glowed with a white light and then a white 'Y' shaped light shone on top of the hand holding the hammer.

"So you managed to escape...

... You guys screwed up, not only were you discovered, but now the Marquis is coming back...".

Seeing that the man had stopped not far from him and was staring at the mark shining on his hand, he sighed.

"Don't worry about it, you all received one of these before starting your missions...

... It's a way of finding those who abandon their duties...

... I understand you could just cut off your hand and run, but who would do that without knowing they have a mark, right?".

He walked towards the injured man who was still motionless as he calmly told him about the mark and when he got to just over a meter from him, he stopped again waiting for an answer that never came.

Growing impatient with the wounded man, he spun around and stabbed his sword into the chest of the man who now staggered back and fell to his knees, but still made no sound of pain.

Not wanting to think about it, he braced himself for the final blow when he had to jump backwards dodging a spear-shaped branch that shot out of the ground and came flying from his right side.

When he landed from the jump, he rolled on the ground dodging a sword blow that came from behind, managing to turn his body and look at his attacker, he recognized a man in gray armor, one of the Marquis's men with eyes glowing in green.

His brief second of distraction almost cost him a wound when another branch shot out of the ground towards him, causing him to defend himself with his sword, which ended up being knocked out of his hand due to the strong impact.

"Shit!".

He cursed when he noticed a sword coming down towards his head and this time he readied his arm to defend himself.

The Marquis' knight managed to slash his sword through the flesh of the enemy's arm, so looking into his eyes, he noticed his eyes starting to glow crimson red and decided to retreat.

"Come back here little chicken...".

Mocking the retreating knight, his entire body twisted and the crimson glow emanated from around him causing his robe to rip apart and revealing a lizardman wearing thin leather armor and plain cloth pants that were now in rags.

The transformation was quick and soon he threw himself towards the knight who lowered himself placing both hands on the ground.

Before the lizardman reached his target, dozens of roots shot out from everywhere at the top of the hill grabbing his arms, legs and tail, leaving him furiously biting and ripping everything that came close.

Taking advantage of the siege of roots, the knight continued making the branch spears shoot from the ground from different directions, hitting the lizard in several places on the body.

^"Damn, the commotion will attract the others...

... If more of them come, I'll be captured too...

... My work is done, I need to go back and do my report..."^.

Overcome by concern, the lizardman decided to flee and unleashed his power without worrying about being discovered by the other knights, and this time his body grew to nearly four meters in height, his jaw became like that of a crocodile with terrible teeth, its bones tore through its skin coming out of its body forming large spikes all over its body, and the claws of the hands took on a white blade shape on each finger, his armor and clothing now couldn't withstand the transformation and ripped completely, leaving him naked in the form of a lizard monster.

The lizard monster destroyed everything around him, he could no longer be contained, his speed was too fast and with a spin he hit the knight with his tail in a strong blow, causing him to fall into a tree a few meters from them.

He looked at the fallen man one last time and turned to flee, but at the same instant he was hit on the head by a battle hammer, the blow hurt but it was not serious, the surprise that his attacker was still alive and striking around, even though he was on the verge of death and now facing his transformation, left him speechless.

"Fuck you! Get out!".

Filled with rage, he slashed at the black-robed man in front of him with his claw, his blow was enough to rip the man to shreds with his legs falling to one side, arms and torso to the other.

Satisfied, he jumped to run, but fell flat on his face, one of his legs was now fully wrapped in roots and the knight was back on his feet, facing him from behind.

"What the fuck! What dying wish is this?".

The lizard monster screamed punching the ground as it got up, leaving a huge hole from the mark of its fist, its claws easily cut the roots holding its right leg, so he prepared to kill the wretch who was causing him trouble.

As he turned his body to look at the knight, he noticed that his eyes, in addition to the previous green glow, now had a gray glow, both colors dancing like fire in his eyes.

Taken by surprise he received another strong blow to his head from the battlehammer of the man he had killed, the anger is gone from his body the moment he saw the man who should have been dead standing up beside him again.

^"But what the fuck is this?"^.

Up close and now without the black robe covering the body, the man's body was revealed, the skin was pale, pieces of flesh missing on all sides with organs hanging out of its body, the head was open, the limbs he tore were connected again, with the flesh torn around it, part of one leg was just the skeleton, and all the blood was already dry and hard.

The knight took the distance, shooting spears of branches and trapping the lizard monster with its roots, the corpse took the blows in place of the knight, while striking the lizard's head using the hammer, and whenever it was dismembered, the body parts were attracted by a smoke that glowed gray and reassembled the body.

The lizard monster had strength, it had speed, its body was resistant to damage and it healed easily, but his time was short, and he was more concerned with fleeing as killing the knight was now impossible, within minutes, he found himself surrounded by four more of the Marquis' knights, two of whom wore skull armor.

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On a bonfire at night, the Marquis Honorato was calmly tossing little leaves of seasoning on a ham that was roasting over the fire, one of his men at his side followed his movements by sprinkling white stones of salt, the fragrant smell of the barbecue already drifted through the surrounding forest, for at almost every bonfire in the camp a scene similar to this took place.

At the foot of a small hill not far from them, a group of knights was dragging the huge body of a lizard monster towards the camp and watching the scene, the marquis was called by one of his knights.

"Sir, counting on this one, we've already killed eight men spying our way, by the directions they're scattered, they're still not sure where we are...

... All the way through Taleno is heavily watched, there are even troops from the Grand Duke of Taleno patrolling the roads...

... The safest way is to return from here to the Orient, going to Valone...

... Also, they all have some sort of church equipment...".

Cutting a piece of meat, Honorato listened carefully to the information until the end, then took the cut piece to taste its flavor, put it in his mouth, closed his eyes, chewed and in the next moment he showed a smile and gave a thumbs up to the man next to him holding a cloth bag with salt inside who, seeing the Marquis's thumbs up, went to store the salt and the other seasonings.

"Going to Valone is the longest way, maybe that's why it's the least watched way... Let's go around the outside of Taleno, pretending to go to Valone...

... As for the church, we don't know what's really going on...

... Ask the men to take a stealth walk from now on, besides, send someone to offer food for our captives...

... And lastly, come back and sit down to eat with me...".

"Yes sir! Thank you sir...".

The knight thanked him, bowed and went to carry out the orders given to him, as for the Marquis, he cut another piece of meat and continued eating with his assistant who now brought a ceramic pot with boiled rice.

**************************************************

It was the ninth day of the journey since Alicia and Bella left the outskirts of Taleno, a new camp was found during this morning and so the entourage of the Sigredio Church managed to form a group of almost three hundred people, moreover, the new camp didn't just have tents, now even makeshift wooden houses were built.

This time the women's tent had eight other women, however they didn't want to interact with Alicia and Dayana's group, only the older ones were respectful towards Jenany due to her noble status, which once again made Dayana's envy rise.

The morning at the camp continued as usual, it was tiring for those more accommodated to the luxuries and facilities of the city, but the majority there were aspiring soldiers of god, the white and gold armor was a symbol of honor and justice for a good part of the population, especially among those present there.

In conjunction with the armor, the white and gold tunics and robes had even more value and honor, and one of the most important people in the camp was the Bishop wearing his robe over a tunic.

Standing before a bird that was half a height taller than him, the bird was white only with black wingtip feathers, on its head the feathers were ruffled both upwards and to the sides like a crown of feathers, and attached to his neck like a necklace was a closed tube used to send letters, scrolls, or whatever the document was.

The eagle stood there looking at the man in front of him and the other curious people around him.

The Bishop approached the bird slowly, reaching his hands fearfully towards the tube, opening it gently and taking out an envelope inside, when he finished closing the tube, the eagle abruptly opened its wings, showing its wingspan of more than four meters and scaring the Bishop who almost fell when he walked away.

^"Those damn birds... The church should get rid of them instead of raising these damn beasts..."^.

Cursing, the Bishop lowered his head, shading his eyes from the blustery wind the eagle caused as it flapped its wings and took off, disappearing northward.

Finishing cleaning the dust on his robe, he looked at the letter where a golden seal from the god Diore was used to seal its opening, pondering as he watched the onlookers around, he decided to head back to his makeshift office in a wooden house.

Closing the door behind him, he checked to see if there was anyone in the room and, finding it empty, sat down, opening the letter roughly.

_"... We inform you that for six days we have not received news of the whereabouts of the Marquis Honorato...

... Traces have been found outside Taleno's lands, but it is not possible to assume that they are the Marquis and his men...

... The mission needs to be carried out as quickly as possible...

... Leave someone else in charge of the mission, go to the Duchy of Alle to guide the Duke on a large search to the east of his territories...

... Diore is with you! Saint Felipe."_.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! My contributions! I will be without my great contributions!".

**************************************************

A new meeting was called, and this time everyone was participating, without the division of groups made in the previous meeting.

"As everyone already knows, our duty here is to get rid of the enemies of god that haunt the lands and people of Marro...

... This will be our base for meeting throughout the mission...

... We are in the lands of the Marquis of Glianorio, who will provide us with all the necessary assistance...

... But remember, we are on the border between the lands of the two Marquises, both east and west we are less than half a day from the nearest village...

... As well as a day and a half from Marro City to the east, and a day and a half from Glianorio City to the west...

... Take a good look my dear faithful, to the south you have the forested hills of the wild lands, and to the north the City of Houg which is possibly full of evil spies...

... Any problems you encounter, come west, only the west can provide divine support...

... This is my last warning to guide you as I need to get back to Alle...

... I will leave the command of the mission in the hands of Cardinal Joseph...

... Diore is with you...".

"Diore is with us!". "Diore is with us!".

The Bishop took his leave, followed by the greeting to which all those present responded, and then proceeded in his carriage returning to the road on which they had all come.

Soon Cardinal Joseph began to separate the groups into small troops, several small troops began to leave for the east in the lands of the Marquis Honorato that if observed from above, you could see several white dots entering the less forested terrain, and farther east, several farms of all kinds lined the horizon.

The mission started...