Tales Of The Mighty Dragonair

"I was in the big castle indeed," the man nodded and Arthur could see his face was void of any sign of tiredness or hard work, "but I didn't get what happened."

"None of your business," Arthur just closed the topic with this rude answer.

"Alright, just don't get mad at me," the man raised both of his hands, "I just want to ask for a trade here."

"About what?"

"About that prisoner," the man said with a big smile, "if someone like him was courageous enough to escape from the tight prison, then he should be very capable… right?"

Arthur's face changed and a fake glimpse of anger flashed over him. "If I were you, I would keep my own thoughts to myself."

The man suddenly took out a ring after glancing around fast, "this is just a gift. I've done many deals with your friends and got myself a lot of benefits. And it's an exaggeration to say they also gained the same or even more."

Arthur glanced at the ring before taking it in swift motion. "What do you want?" he asked before turning around and glancing at the man's entourage of around a dozen other men and a bunch of armed guards around the big carriage, "who are you?"

"Well, I believe we can skip such useless introductions," the man smiled, "I believe that ring will be enough as an answer."

Arthur got his meaning and the next moment he checked the ring. There was no resistance at all in the ring and there he found many coins that he admired most and many ores, plus some weapons.

"Indeed is sufficient," Arthur nodded, "then I can say that this road is safe and no one is here looking suspicious."

"Mr. Guard is indeed right and wise," the man smiled, "but y'know some accidents might happen along this long road. With the presence of such prisoners out there, some might get hurt."

Arthur nodded. "I believe such actions are just normal findings here," he said before adding, "I hope you won't be a victim of such things."

"I won't," the man laughed, "and I hope you can reassure your friends about this."

Arthur nodded and took his leave. He went back for a couple of minutes before the entire man's caravan went off sight. "Sigh, you brought this to yourself and all I can do now is to run alone," Arthur muttered, knowing that John was too anxious to get his freedom even at his expense.

Arthur then moved to the other side of the road and started running after getting enough distance off the road. This time he had no extra weight and started to travel faster with his high speed.

"That mountain…" as he kept running for hours, he couldn't think of anything but that giant shadow looming up front in the dark. He previously saw it when he first entered the port.

It was such a solitary mountain standing all alone in the middle of the world. "I never thought it would be this far," after a couple more hours he started to grow restless. "These patrols… I have never met anyone so far but it's still risky to travel at the light."

As he kept running forward, he started to think about his other options. That dark shadow seemed like a far fetched target to him. So he decided to look for other places he could hide, especially when the dawn was drawing near.

"Should I go to one of those lights?" During his run he spotted many far lights shining in the dark. From their sizes and the intensity of the lights he could tell they were villages.

Yet he dropped this when he saw his uniform. That guard uniform helped him to get out of the prison but sticking to it would bring him back to it.

"I need to find a new set of clothes," he decided as this was the wisest decision he could take now. "I should solve this problem at once," he decided then to head to one village and try to sneak into it.

As he got closer he could see the village buildings from far. "So they do have walls," he couldn't help but think his luck was bad. "I can't get in from the front door. I need to look for another one that is easy to sneak in."

He stopped getting to this village as he changed direction and started running towards another light spot in the distance.

Each spot of lights took roughly half an hour to reach, and after three more hours he didn't find any village he could enter.

"Stop right there," yet just before he could leave away from the last village he reached, this strong shout came to startle him from behind.

He turned and saw a small group of five people moving fast to surround him. What attracted his attention wasn't their weapons or bigger numbers, or even these scars over their faces which gave them a vicious expression… it was their clothes.

They were wearing different sets of clothes with blue, dark, and red colors in them.

"What do you want?" Arthur strongly asked while taking out two swords off his ring, "clear the way or else your lives will be the cost for your rudeness."

"Hahaha, you are such a funny guard," one of the middle aged men said while others laughed with him. "We outnumber you, and if you want to keep your dirty head over your shoulders then you should nicely and calmly drop your weapons and your rings and gears here then leave."

"It's a far distance from your base guard, and you should know it's not safe to walk alone in these lands during night," another one said in mockery.

"It's not his option my friend," another said while seeming to enjoy this catch, "they set their precious prison on fire and many escaped. They had to go out and roam the lands looking for those escapers."

"Yeah, this isn't the first guard we met since that started, and he won't be the last."