They stayed in the village for what felt like days.
The old longhouse was warm quite, and safe Jorah treated Thaddeus's injuries with a soft, green light that sealed his cuts and banished the bruises.
The villagers were distant but not unfriendly — offering bread, directions, old clothes.
For the first time since waking in that cave, Thaddeus wore something that wasn't bloodstained.
Just a rough shirt, dark pants, and patched boots. It felt strange like pretending to be someone normal.
In return, the group helped where they could, Gwen split firewood Ty helped repair a broken watchtower with his usual lopsided grin.
Jorah told stories to wide-eyed children around the fire. And Thaddeus? He watched.
He helped carry water repaired broken fencing. Tried to stay busy but deep inside, he waited for the catch.
Because there had to be one the catch came on the second night.Ty burst through the lodge door, breathless, eyes wide he didn't speak right away — just stood there in the firelight, clutching his bow like a lifeline.
"I, uh… I don't mean to startle you," he said. "But I think they just walked into the village."
Thaddeus's stomach dropped.
"Who?" I asked, though I already knew.
Ty didn't blink.
"The ones that took you."He stepped closer, voice low and urgent. "Obsidian armor. Black horses. Dragon crests on their shoulders. Five of them."
Gwen was already packing. Jorah tossed a blanket over the fire, dousing the flames.
"We leave," the old man said simply. "Now."
They slipped out the back of the lodge, cloaked in darkness no goodbyes, no torches Just fast, quiet footsteps through alleys and snow.
At first, it felt like they got away clean.
But then… the torches appeared. Far across the field, red-orange flames weaving between trees — moving closer.
"They're following," Gwen said grimly.
"Back to the cave," Jorah said. "They won't think to check there." They ran.
The cave welcomed them like an old secret.
The fire pit still had coals. The walls still dripped cold water. The shadows still shifted wrong when you weren't looking directly at them.
They took turns sleeping. Shifts. Rotations. Quiet.
Thaddeus couldn't relax. He sat near the mouth of the cave, staring at the tree line, trying to keep his breathing calm. Eventually, exhaustion won.
He laid down.And closed his eyes.
He woke up to ropes Rough, Tight, and Cinched around his wrists and ankles. Cold stone beneath his back.
Panic slammed into him — and then he looked up.
Ty stood by the cave and an arrow nocked, aimed at the entrance and Gwen stood in the middle pof them with her blade unseated he felt the rope tighten to see the old man with a grim face as if he didn't want to but had no choice.
"But why?"he asked, … after a moment of silence Gwen spoke first,
"if it was regular hunters sure we can take them, that fight you seen right there wasn't even our all but we weren't sure if you would try to kill us or rob us so we played weak, but once Ty told me that it was of the heavenly manor residents that would be a hard battle nevertheless Ty also heard that you had a huge bounty so instead of only receiving half the reward we'll take you straight to the buyer and make the full amount" Gwen finished her sentence.
The moment she did my previous captures arrived.