The scent of iron, blood, and human filth filled the cave. His head throbbed faintly from it, making him stand and step over the still-warm corpses.
Thick blood squelched under his feet, but he paid it no mind, nor did he care for the whimpering man with his knee and wrist shattered.
He gathered the few things he'd brought: a common knife and some copper coins. Then he walked towards the cave exit, satisfied.
The test worked...
Kairos left the cave before dawn, slipping through the trees in the morning mist. His mind was set on what he'd do next.
***
Two days later, Kairos arrived at a bigger settlement than the last village, still near the border. The place was called Oakhaven, which was funny, since the big oak tree that used to be the village's pride was now just a burned stump, thanks to Vaelgard soldiers.
He wasn't a fancy nobleman, a victim of the Lyceum, anymore. That identity was too risky here.
Now he was Remus, a leather craftsman who'd lost his family in the border war, looking for work wherever he went. It was a common story, easy to believe, but it also drew sympathy and suspicion he could use.
He rented a small room above a blacksmith's shop. The shop itself was loud and hot.
The owner, Borin, was a muscled man with a wrinkled, sooty face. Every hammer blow from Borin onto the red-hot iron sounded like his own hidden anger screaming out.
From his dusty balcony room, Kairos watched what happened that morning: a Veridian soldier, wearing a rough embroidered tunic, a sign of Baron Varkos's man, stood with his hands on his hips in front of the shop.
"Iron tax is up this month, Borin!" the soldier yelled, trying to sound important but failing. "The Baron needs stuff for border safety!"
Borin stopped his hammer mid-air, his sooty face turning red. "Up again?" he growled, his voice rough. "I can barely get good rock! The way east is blocked by raiders, the way north has crazy fees from Vaelgard guards! What, you want me to work with mud?!"
The soldier tapped his fingers on his sword scabbard. "Your whining ain't my problem, blacksmith. Pay up, or your shop's gonna end up like that oak stump."
Tension hung heavy in the hot workshop air. Borin bit his lip, his breathing heavy.
Kairos saw his big fists tremble with anger, but he held it back, afraid these soldiers would smash his shop.
Finally, with a grunt, Borin handed over a nearly empty coin pouch. The soldier snatched the bag, then spat near Borin's feet before strutting off.
Kairos came down from the balcony, and as he passed the shop door, Borin was slamming his hammer into cold iron out of anger, making a loud clang that echoed everywhere.
"Hell's where they're headed," Borin grumbled, still looking furious, as Kairos walked past.
Kairos stopped, pretending to look at a pair of daggers hanging on one of the shop walls.
"Therion squeezes his own people while bowing to the Baron in his grand castle," he said in a neutral, flat voice, like stating a weather fact. "Strange. Shouldn't the Baron be bowing to Therion and protecting those who feed him?"
Borin glared at him. "Protect? Therion just protects his own pockets and his spot with the Dukes in Veridian!"
He spat towards the dusty road where the soldier had stood. "Listen, Remus, you're new here. Don't go acting smart."
"Just an observation," Kairos shrugged uncaringly. "In my old village, when leaders forgot their people... a small fire could turn into a big blaze."
He patted the daggers. "Good daggers, strong and seem like they'll last. It takes skilled hands and strong will to forge steel into weapons."
His gaze shifted to Borin. "And patience to endure the heat, waiting for the right moment to forge and shape it."
Borin just stayed quiet, staring at Kairos. There was something about the way this stranger spoke, about how calm he seemed despite the trouble.
This young stranger didn't offer answers to his problems, and he didn't try to start a rebellion. He just recognized Borin's work... and gave him an analogy.
He nodded slowly, more to himself than to Kairos, before sitting back down and hammering iron again, this time with a steadier rhythm.
Kairos glanced at him, then pretended to leave the shop, a slight upward curve to his lips. He had planted a thought in Borin's mind, pointing his anger towards something that would grow bigger, one day.
***
Oakhaven also had a busy market, where all sorts of rumors buzzed like flies on rotten meat. This is where Kairos found "Lia."
She was just a spice and herb seller, a middle-aged woman with eyes that always flickered with alertness and ears that, though she'd never admit it, heard everything.
Her husband died forced to work building Veridian's fort up north. And her daughter disappeared while picking herbs in the border forest, probably snatched by Vaelgard patrols.
Lia's sadness had turned her into someone who always watched and listened to everything happening in the area, hoping to hear news of her daughter.
Kairos walked up to her stall, pretending to be interested in the dried roots displayed. "Looking for something to help you sleep, Mister?" Lia asked, her voice raspy but friendly.
Her small eyes calmly looked over Kairos's simple clothes, which he'd gotten from a small village's laundry line before he came here.
"More like... a desire to calm my mind," Kairos replied, picking up a stalk of valerian root. "This region is full of... noise. Veridian patrols, bandit gangs, whispers of a large convoy carrying valuable goods passing through dangerous routes."
He shrugged tiredly. "It's hard to get a good night's sleep."
Lia squinted at this young stranger. "Convoy? Hmm. They say Therion's sending a big load of stuff to Veridian next week, and it'll go over the Iron River Bridge."
She lowered her guard around Kairos and her voice too. "Brenn the one-eyed and his thugs surely sniffed it out. But this time it seems Baron Varkos is bringing extra guards, paid fighters from the south. Looks like there'll be blood."
There was satisfaction in her voice. "Hope they kill each other dead."
Kairos nodded slowly, as if agreeing with Lia. "The Iron River Bridge, truly a strategic place. Whoever controls it..."
He deliberately let his sentence hang, watching Lia's reaction. And he saw it, a flicker of hope in her eyes, which she quickly hid.
No doubt, Lia wanted to see Veridian and Vaelgard, and everyone involved in their politics, brought to ruin.
"Strategic for finding death," Lia agreed, her hands busy tidying her herbs again. "But for us little folk? That place just means more soldiers, more bandits."
She glanced at Kairos. "You seem to know a lot for just a leather worker."
"These ears still work," Kairos replied with a thin grin. "And in a place like this, information is often worth more than silver."
He placed a few copper coins on the stall table, more than the usual price for valerian. "For the herbs, and for your information, madam. In uncertain times like these, knowing where the storm will strike can save lives."
Lia snatched the coins quickly, hiding them behind her rag right away. Her eyes looked at Kairos with even deeper calculation. "You really ain't just a leather worker, are you?" she whispered.
"Currently, I am indeed a leather craftsman," Kairos replied, and left the stall. He felt Lia's gaze on his back.
Kairos had given her money and, more importantly, recognized how sharp she was about her surroundings. He had made her feel important, made her feel heard.
And he had subtly hinted at chaos at the Iron River Bridge, or more accurately, she'd come to that conclusion herself. Filled with vengeance, she would become a source of whispers in this village.