Saiden watches as his allies walk off. He considers going to the bridge but decides against it. Not wanting to interupt Arrowhawk and the other man's conversation (The discussion looks fairly important), he sighs and sits down to take watch over there campsite.

With nothing better to do he looks over the campsite for any oddities (Not including the previously mentiioned ones). His warhammer stays at his side just as a precaution.

"I don't know what kind of soldiers the man in the armor thinks we are, but this isn't from a routine fight, and a medic couldn't help me. I'll tell you what happened, but I need some way of knowing you won't spread it around."
Arrowhawk showed no facial reactions to the man's words but spoke once he had finished. "I am new at this camp. There is no one here to spread it to and spreading anything randomly is not of my interest. Now tell me, what happened?"

He replies, and leans closer to say:

"To the East, across this river and past the forest, there is a smugglers guild without a name, known by many as the White Wolves, called this because often the higher up enforcers have magically controlled winter wolves at their command. These wolves are treated barbarically, and one of the things done to them is to tear their teeth out and replace them with small blades, cursed blades. I'm sure you have heard of weapons and creatures capable of leaving lasting wounds, and these are exactly that. They are infused with a negative energy of a sort, I do not know how it works, such that it resists healing, both natural and magical. There are spells that can cure it, this I know, but the only person capable of casting them is none other than our Sergeant. Now, for the story of how I was wounded by them."

He pauses and sighs.

"I used to be a member of a rival guild, raiding their secret caravans, when I ran into one such enforcer in the forests past this bridge. Me and my raiding party were completely outmatched, with I one of the few survivors. Scattered and broken, with my arm no longer bleeding but still stubbornly wounded, I came across a man sent to reinforce this very company... James Rydell, as I learned from papers on his person... the enforcer was coming for me... I had no choice. I... killed him and took his identity. I am past all of that now, I have seen the way these men act, and I have no wish to continue my life... before. I only wish that I could answer the letters that come from his family..."

Whoever he is, his face is in his hands by now.

"I have... the body... stashed out in the woods. I know where his family lives, and I'm trying to return him."

He sighs once more and stokes the fire halfheartedly. After a short while he calls fo Saiden:

"You hear any of that?"

He sighs once more and stokes the fire halfheartedly. After a short while he calls fo Saiden:

"You hear any of that?"

An eye pops open and a smile crosses Saiden's face. He looks towards the man, "What, was I that obvious?" He says. He drops his hammer to the floor and faces him, suddenly serious. "Don't worry I trust you, and I won't spread it around. What you did in the past is of no concern to me."

Arrowhawk looked over at Saiden. "I do not know this man, but I believe he can be trusted. You have told us your story good man, and I will keep to my words and not spread them. Now tell us what we can do to help."

"No, actually, that wasn't obvious at all. I just guessed and you fell for it." 'James' says with a friendly laugh.

He turns to Arrowhawk and says:

"At the moment I have no need of assistance, though it is good to know I have people to trust if I needed it."

The sun sets at last beneath the horizon, just as (assuming they do after looking at the bridge) the others come back. 'James' notes:

"And, by the way, I'm supposed to tell you that you all have first watch. Me and these guys (he motions around him at the other 5 sitting around the fire) have second, so we'll tell you when it's over as well, after about an hour. Mind you watch that forest, just in case."

"You give your trust too freely, James. I have only just met you and already you have confessed to a murder and to a theft of one's identity." Arrowhawk says the name of the soldier with a touch of irony to the voice, like knowingly saying it as if it was fake. "These are serious crimes you have committed. You trust me not to spread the news to our officers, but what evidence do I have that I can trust you not to kill and rob the rest of us?" Arrowhawk was dead serious as he spoke. There was no hint of humor in his words. He was not sure he could trust that man.

Arrowhawk looked the soldier in the eyes with a serious look. "If you can trust me well enough that I will not spread the words of your crimes," he said with a whisper, "you can trust equally well that if I even suspect that you will attempt to do me harm, I will not show you the same mercy you showed Rydell." Arrowhawk stood up and walked towards the tent he was supposed to stay in for the coming months. He had yet not picked his sleeping space.

Once inside the tent and sure that no one was listening, Saiden approaches Arrowhawk. He says in a whisper, "You don't trust him, eh? If he was lying then what he did or is intending to do must be much worse then the tale he told." He starts emptying his pack and opens his bedroll. "If he is lying then god help us all."

'James' silently gapes as Arrowhawk speaks. As he leaves, one of the men sitting around the fire puts his arm on the shoulder of 'James' in a worried manner.

A few moments later, 'James' (who I will address without the quotes from now on) appears at the door to the tent with a daggar held by the blade, unthreateningly.

He softly speaks "If you truly believe that I am lying about being reformed, or that I would steal from, or otherwise harm any of you, take this and kill me with it."

"You don't trust him, eh? If he was lying then what he did or is intending to do must be much worse then the tale he told. If he is lying then god help us all."
Arrowhawk turned to Saiden as he emptied his bags. "I believe his story, there is no reason not to. Being reformed however is easier said than done. A man who has killed another and gotten away with it might just as well attempt it again." Suddenly, James appeared through the entrance of the tent.

"If you truly believe that I am lying about being reformed, or that I would steal from, or otherwise harm any of you, take this and kill me with it."
Arrowhawk looks at him with a surprised look. As much as he tried to look like a tough guy who had seen it all, he did not expect that. That look turned back to the resolved look that was before. Arrowhawk walked up to James and took the dagger. In a swift motion the blade was at James's throat, only barely touching him. "Make no mistake James," Arrowhawk said, "if the time comes that I am proven right, something really might puncture through your neck. Until that time we are considered comrades, so we best should act like it." Arrowhawk handed him back his dagger and finished unpacking.

James flinches when the daggar is swung, then half smiles after Arrowhawk speaks. Before he walks out he says:

"As soon as you're done unpacking, I would go get your friends and take watch. Me and my tent will be along in about an hour to relieve you."

James might be a killer, but Arrowhawk was certain that he was right. If the others wouldn't get back soon they would all be in trouble. He continued unpacking but turned to Saiden. "You are Saiden, if memory serves. Or is your name Kelan? I have a bad habit of forgetting who's name belongs to who. In any case, we have not yet been properly introduced. They call me Arrowhawk." Arrowhawk offered his hand. "I'm going out to get the others. Care to join me?"

Saiden bears a surprised look on his face. He appears to be in deep thought. Snapping back to reality he says, "Sure, why not? And it is Saiden."

Before they start towards the others Saiden looks at Arrowhawk with a worried expression on his face, "Try not to get on the camp's bad side, it endangers me as well as you." As he says this he seems to be worried about an even more pressing matter.

OOC: We might be adding one more player, hopefully providing some much needed healing.

Arrowhawk looks Saiden in the eye and grins. The grin is bleak and without expression, almost forced, like it was only meant as a polite gesture. "Fair enough. I hope that you understand that I have a problem trusting murderers."

The bridge was hardly much. An army attempting to cross it would be at a disadvantage should it meet the kind of resistance that was waiting on the Red Duke's side. At first Arrowhawk did not see their two comrades anywhere, but he did have the tendency to overlook things when he was not really looking. "Do you see them, Saiden?" he asked his traveling companion.