The soldiers were too busy focusing on their tasks at hand to even notice that Tryde had departed from the group.

They woke up early, before the sun had risen to repack their sleeping gear and get their horses ready for the day ahead.

Before they departed, they had a light meal consisting of a slice of bread, a handful of nuts and a piece of cheese.

It wasn’t much but it would tide them over until lunch time.

They rode for maybe two hours when a terrible, unmistakable scent hit their nostrils. Their arms raised to their noses to try and filter it out. No matter how much they were faced with this smell.....it never got easier.

"Boof..." One of the soldiers near the front of the group let out an exhale through his mouth as the scent intensified.

Marix held up a balled fist and everyone brought their steeds to a halt.

The loud sound of buzzing filled their ears before their eyes fell on what was laying before them – a dead body.

Marix circled his finger in the air to which everyone began to look around and in the trees as he dismounted.

He approached the body cautiously and pressed his wrist to his nose as he investigated.

It was a man and judging by his head of fully colored hair and build, Marix surmised he was in his 20s to mid-30s.

As for who he was....difficult to tell.

His clothes didn’t appear to be those of a noble, but he was not so poorly dressed that he seemed to be a servant.

Marix trailed his eyes down the clothes and noticed significant blood stains across his shirt and pants. He took a deep breath and knelt down to pull the cloth open with a stick to try and examine the wounds but the body was too decayed for him to tell.

He stood up and shook his head as he remounted his horse. He whispered to the soldier next to him, "Civilian. Male. 20s to mid-30s. Cause of death unknown. Status unknown. Pass it on."

As he walked his horse forward, the soldier whispered to the soldier next to him, and so on and so forth, passing the message along in a quiet chain.

After about an hour of leaving that atrocious smell behind them, Marix spotted something dark in the distance.

He halted the troop and backed them up a bit before making a few hand movements. They all dismounted and ground tied their horses before assuming formation and crouching down as they quietly moved through the brush.

The dark object wasn’t moving but was clearly not belonging to the forest.

Once Marix got closer and had a better view of it, he stood tall and gave a hand signal for the troops to stand down to which they all stood up as well.

Another corpse.

This time, skeletal remains.

Marix got closer and squatted next to it.

It was a woman, wearing a maid’s uniform. Although it was too discolored to tell which house it belonged to.

There didn’t appear to be any blood stains on her clothes either.

’Strangled, poisoned or possibly blunt force trauma.....’ Marix considered the options as he stood up and rubbed his chin.

Then, the old maid he had met while interrogating Eilownia popped into his head, her words echoing in his mind, ’I don’t think the current Lord Evans or even his new staff realize but we were paid the most of all the servants at that time. We received double the wages!’

"Hmm...." He mumbled as he glanced back in the direction of the previous cadaver and then looked back at the deceased maid before him.

’I wonder if this is a dumping ground for the Evans Estate.’

As Marix was lost in thought and examining the maid’s uniform some more to try and find any actual evidence she belonged to Lord Evans’ staff, the sound of rustling bushes alerted the troop.

Marix held a finger to his lips as held his hand up, motioning towards the sound. The men behind him nodded and slowly crept forward, assuming formation as Marix cautiously tiptoed forward.

He kept his body at an angle, his hand clutching the hilt of his sword as he progressed towards the sound.

Suddenly he heard a high pitched yelp as one of the soldiers came forward with a boy whom he had had in a headlock before tossing him before Marix.

As he hit the ground, most of the soldiers drew their swords and pointed them at him while the others stood by on look out.

The boy looked up at Marix. Dirt smudged his cheeks and the tip of his nose. His clothes were filthy and covered in debris from the foliage.

His eyes were wide and full of tears, worry lines covered his forehead as his eyebrows knitted, and his mouth was downturned with his bottom lip jutting out.

Marix stared down at him. He looked to be about 10 or 11 years old.

"State your name and business. What are you doing crossing the border? Don’t you know that Viraaz and Sola are at war? Are you aware of how suspicious you look?"

The young boy gulped hard and slowly stood, holding his hands in the air as a sign of surrender.

"M-My name is M-Mauve...sir....." His high pitched voice was cracking and shaking although it paled in comparison to the trembling his body was doing.

"Mauve. Like the color." Marix repeated and noted.

Mauve nodded his head, "Y-Yes sir. I’m just d-delivering p-p-packages between S-Sola and V-V-Viraaz, sir."

Marix’s eyes dated down to the tan colored leather satchel at his side and nodded towards it.

One of the soldiers confiscated it from him and handed it to Marix.

"Search him."

As Marix opened the bag, two of the soldiers patted the boy down, searching for any concealed items or weapons.

Marix waited for them to finish and only began his search of the bag when they confirmed the boy had nothing suspicious on him.

"You are aware of how dangerous this is? Is your life truly worth a few packages? It can’t be as simple as that can it?" Marix inquired as he searched through the contents of the bag.

It was chalk full of letters and packages. Some were wrapped up pretty with bows, others were in plain boxes.

He pulled the letters out and handed the satchel to the soldier next to him as he began to open and read through them.

"Oh Danra, you hold my heart completely, but I can’t take this time apart anymore. I think it’s best if we see other people. You are the man of my dreams but it seems this dream cannot become a reality."

’Ouch.’ He thought as he moved on to the next letter.

"Elette I miss you so much! I’m going to do my best to make it to you for your birthday. I know it’s dangerous to travel to Viraaz, but I just have to see you. Let me know if there’s a good rendezvous point, maybe we can meet in the middle."

"Dearest Nora thank you so much for the gifts you sent! I hope we can spend next Winter’s Melt Day together!"

"The Sola Summer Sun Festival is coming up Froir. If the war is not over by then I’ll make sure to send you some goodies! But I’d love to be able to spend it with you...."

"As much as I’d like to see the next Viraaz Flower Festival, I doubt those Viraaz government assholes are going to let go of whatever grudge they’re holding onto and make it possible."

Marix raised his eyebrow at that last one, although none of them contained anything incriminating.

"I know it’s dangerous, s-sir.....but it p-pays really we-"

"Stop with your stuttering, speak up like you mean it." Marix instructed as he shifted his weight to the other side and crossed his arms.

Mauve gulped hard a second time as he chewed on his lips, the nodded and took a deep breath.

"It pays really well...and my mother has had to work extra hard since my father disappeared. I have four younger siblings, I’m just trying to make it easier on my mother..." The tears in his eyes that had since dissipated, began to reappear as he spoke about his family’s struggles.

Marix nodded, "An honorable decision. Keep your weapons on him as we go through these."

The other soldiers kept their swords pointed at the boy who was still holding his hands up.

"You can put your arms down now, they’ll gut you before you do anything." Marix instructed as he began to rip away the packaging.

Mauve put his arms down and watched with slumped shoulders as they ripped through the packages.

Some held articles of clothing, others were full of Solan delicacies such as Butter Pie and Sun Scones. One of the soldiers let out a low whistle at the sight of some intimate portraits to which Marix quickly snatched them out of his hand and shoved them back in the bag.

"It’s clear there is nothing suspicious here, just a boy trying to take care of his family."

Marix approached and gave the signal for the soldiers to lower their weapons.

"As the man of the house, it’s important that you step up to make sure your mother and siblings are not only safe, but that they don’t suffer another loss. Get out of this line of work, you’ll get yourself killed."

Marix then tossed him a large pouch of coins.

"Conceal those and return home safely. Don’t tell anyone you ran into us. Tell people that you lost their packages after being attacked by a wolf."

He nodded to the soldiers who shoved Mauve into the dirt and cut three shallow lines into his arm.

Mauve cried out and grabbed his arm as he stood up.

A look of pity came over Marix’s face before he quickly concealed it.

"Now, go home and never come back to the border again."