Brian walked down the forest path.
It felt good to be back in the forest. Granted, he had just been in the forest a last week with Finn. But when you lived your life in the mountains, it was always good to be back in the forest. The lush green plants soothed his eyes. There were plenty of colorful wildflowers all around the ground. The green moss covered the rocks and the logs. The air smelled sweet.
Last week, when Brian had been back in the forest with Finn, they had both taken care to hide their faces, and they had deliberately stayed off of the main paths. Now, Brian was walking confidently down the main path with his face unveiled. He didn’t care if anyone found him. In fact, he wanted to be found.
And it wasn’t long before they found him. Brian heard them long before they said anything. He could hear them moving up in the trees, and he could hear them rustling through the bushes. “Bumblers, all of them,” Brian thought to himself. “They think they’re being sneaky, but they’re making enough noise to alert even a child.”
Brian kept walking, and didn’t turn his head. But eventually, one of the men stepped out from the bushes and came into the path just slightly behind Brian. “Alright, that’s far enough,” the voice called out from behind him. “Stop walking, Brian.”
“I was wondering when you lads were going to come out from those bushes,” Brian said. “I’ve been listening to you for the past mile.”
“You stupid clod,” the voice said. “I thought you had enough sense not to come back to the forest.”
Brian started to turn around. The tone of the voice changed rapidly. “Don’t make any sudden moves now. We’ve got you covered.”
Three more men emerged from behind the trees. Two of them had bows tight, with the arrows aimed squarely at Brian. Another had a sword drawn.
Brian put his hands up, but he didn’t seem nervous. “Easy, easy, lads,” he said. “I’ve known you were there the whole time. I’ve been waiting for you to come out of your hiding places.”
The men laughed. “If you knew we were here, then why did you come this way?” asked one of them. “You know that it’s death for you to be caught in this forest.”
“I’ve got some information for Risoart,” said Brian. “Bring me to him.”
The men laughed again. “Nice try. Risoart’s not going to waste his time with you.”
“He will, once he hears what I’ve got to say,” Brian said. “I’ve got information he will want to hear. I’ve got some information that Ambrosia will want to hear.”
At the name of Ambrosia, the men stopped their laughing. They looked at Brian with different eyes. “What do you know?” one of them asked.
Brian chuckled. “No luck, lads. This information is too valuable to me. It’s going to get me a full pardon, once Risoart hears it. I’m not going to give it away to you, and then have you try to claim credit for it yourselves.”
“Well, then we’re at an impasse,” one of the men said. “Because we’re not going to risk disturbing Risoart until we know for sure that your information is good.”
Another man spoke up. “If we bring you to him, and you just start speaking nonsense, then we’ll take the blame.”
“He’s got a fierce temper, I’ll grant you that,” Brian said. “If he doesn’t like what I have to say, he’ll probably cuss you out and smack your ears. But he won’t do any more than that. You can stand being cussed out again, can’t you? You lads haven’t grown that weak while I’ve been away. But on the other hand, if he’s happy with my information, then you’ll get the credit for bringing me to him. And when Ambrosia hears about this, she’ll give the credit to you too.”
They hesitated.
“Come on,” Brian said. “I wouldn’t have come all the way down from the mountains if the information wasn’t really good.”
The men looked at each other. One of them said, “Well, he’s obviously come down to the forest of his own free will. He could have just stayed up in the mountains. He must have something.”
Another man gave an angry sigh. “Alright, alright,” he said. “Come with us, Brian. We’ll take you to Risoart.”
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