"Shit..."
'Should I try to negotiate, give my money and belongings away? That muscular guy doesn't look like a bandit, a woodcutter? Perhaps they are illegally poaching wood in the forest.' Alicent thought. One had to have filed a permit with the Forest Conservation Association in Grunard.
The Forest Conservation Association was a suborganization run by the Harvest Association. The Forest of Ond was a sacred forest for believers of the harvest goddess, Some believed that the forest held mystical and magical properties.
This is why the Harvest association started the Forest Conservation Act. Yet there were still illegal woodcutters without a permit who chopped down the wood and sold it to other cities or rural areas.
"Perhaps we can talk this out, I will give you everything I have... Even my horse," Alicent said sternly.
"We can just kill you, too." The man who held the barrel said, slightly intoxicated.
"Anzer, shut it!" The man who held the axe shouted at the man. Anzer shut his mouth and stepped back. He chuckled.
"He's all yours then, Basil..." Anzer said as he sat down on a rock to the side.
"There is room for negotiation. What do you have?" Basil said as he stepped forward. He was a man of wide stature, he was fit and muscular. Alicent was intimidated.
'This woodcutter, Basil, seems to be a sensible man, I don't have anything of value except for 10 Ros and 30 Pes.' The money wasn't enough to buy a full-course meal, with the "Tyrant's biography." he would have 18 Ros and 15 pes worth of money, but he didn't think the woodcutter would be interested in a biography.
'Can I trick him and make him fall into this trap?..' He thought, as time passed, the forest kept getting darker, and within another few minutes, the forest would be dark enough for the unnatural leaves to blend with the fallen leaves.
'They were the ones that set the trap, even if I make this guy fall in somehow, that Anzer guy is still there. I can deal with him, but Basil can probably climb out of the trap in that time. There has to be a way, a trick, a dirty play I can perform. ' Alicent thought, as he thought for a few seconds, an idea popped up in his mind.
'The best possible move I can make is to lie and throw my pouch. When he bends down to pick it up, I will run faster than a hare being chased by a predator.'
"I have around 80 Ros in my pouch." He lied; he had barely 8, with the 1 and 2 Pes coins that made his pouch look heavy, it was plausible to believe that the pouch was filled with Ros coins.
To a normal country dweller, 30 Ros was a week's worth of salary, he doubted that the 80 Ros would be completely invaluable to the Woodcutter.
"Get down from the horse first," Basil said. He had already deduced Alicent's plan. There was nothing Alicent could do, he had already lied about the money. Dread fell upon Alicent, there was no hope of escape now. There were only two options now: fight or death.
"Alright," Alicent said with his sword still firmly held in his hand as he got down from the horse, his body shook in fear as his feet landed on the dusty and leafy road.
There was a small curve in Basil's face, the joy from Alicent's foiled plan. He was a man who had lived decades longer than the boy in front of him, cheap tricks couldn't outsmart him.
Alicent pulled out his pouch from his bag and opened it, examining the contents. His heart was beating hard by the second. He reached inside and pulled out a few of the coins from his pouch, around a handful of pes coins.
"50 pes in case of emergencies, the rest is yours." He said whilst he put the pes coins in his pocket. He threw the pouch just before the man's feet.
Anzer kept an eye on the boy.
Basil bent down to pick the pouch up carefully, his eyes still fixed on Alicent. His hand reached out to the leather pouch beneath him.
Just as he grabbed it, coins flew towards him, he flinched to protect his eyes.
Even though throwing the coins was like trying to break stone with leaves, it served as a distraction for Alicent's next move.
Alicent bent down whilst keeping his eyes on both Anzer and Basil. The former still sat on the side, believing Alicent's move was futile. He had full confidence in his partner and even had a small smile on his face. He was not taking the teen seriously.
'He's still sitting down, this works in my favour.'
The teen bent down and picked a handful of dust.
On the other hand, Basil was enraged. A coin had accurately hit his left eye, causing him pain. He tightly gripped the Axe, he had one goal in mind. To chop the boy in front of him down like a log of wood.
As the man charged towards him with the axe. Alicent stepped back slightly. He jerked his arm, as if he was throwing the dust he held at the wood poacher.
Basil flinched and closed his eyes at the motion, expecting the dust to come flying at him. It didn't. Just as he opened his eyes, the dust finally came. It entered his eyes and nose when he was confused and surprised.
Alicent debated on stabbing the man with the sword, but it was risky and it was a suicide move; one swing of the axe was enough to kill him.
With this fact in mind, Alicent ran towards the trap, intent on making Basil, who had temporarily lost his eyesight, fall into the trap. His glance darted towards Anzer; he had finally stood up, and he was shortly going to be dealt with as well.
"Basil, avoid the trap," Anzer shouted, but Alicent remained indifferent. He jumped over the wide trap, his feet trembled as he jumped.
He tumbled in the dust and fell face-first as the sword fell out of his hand and flew almost a meter away. His nose was bleeding from the fall. He looked back with dust covering his face.
Perhaps the woodcutter would have turned and run around the trap, but after seeing his prey weaponless with whatever vision he had recovered, he took the shortest path
Basil leaped to the other end of the trap.
Rage had consumed him. His hand, which had several veins popping and convulsing striations of muscles, was tightly gripping the axe.
'Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.'
Alicent grinned widely at him as blood dripped down his philtrum.
He pulled out the "Tyrant's Biography." It was more than 2 kilograms in weight and was thick; its cover was hard, and if struck, it could seriously injure someone.
Alicent flexed his arm and threw the book at the man when he was in the air, the book flew towards him whilst spinning vertically at a fast pace.
Without wasting another second, Alicent leaped to the side and picked the sword up in case the woodcutter wasn't incapacitated by the hit.
As the book flew towards him, Basil widened his dusty eyes. There was no way for him to move, and the book possessed incredible speed; if it hit him, he was sure to go unconscious or injured at the least.
'To unfailingly take the attack, attack where there is no defence'
Bang!
The book hit the poacher right in his Gabella, without making any sound, the man fell into the trap and landed on his back first. The branches under him gave out, and the woodcutter fell into the hole that was previously concealed.
Thud!
He had lost consciousness from getting hit by the book, and falling into the hole was just a bonus for Alicent.
With a look, he confirmed that the woodcutter was indeed unable to move. He moved his gaze toward Anzer, who gripped the barrel in his hands with a tight grip. The tip of the barrel was pointed straight at Alicent.
'Is that a fu*king gun?'
The teen widened his eyes.
Bang!
Aicent saw blood spraying, it was from between his eyes as a metallic bullet passed through his skull, leaving a gaping hole. The movements around him slowed down.
His heartbeat got louder, like a clock that hung on the wall. He could hear his quick inhales and the subsequent exhales.
As his mind slowed down, he thought with surprise.
'Am I fu*king dead?'