"Wow, well I've never heard quite such a rant about men expressing affection for one another," the pudgy priest said.

"Yeah, it's just that a lot of people seem to have this whole idea wrong," the scarred hunter said.

"I think I get that. It's what you've been talking about for the last ten minutes." Grom stretched his arms upward then finished his ale. Jax finished the last of his roasted chicken that had gotten cold and pushed his empty plate across the bar. Reaching for a couple of coins, the muscular man placed them on the counter.

"You don't need to do that..." Grom tried to interrupt him, “You know, paying for everything.”

"Yeah? With what money do you have?" Jax shot back.

"I got a very small loan from the church in the last town remember? We've been wandering and looking for this Marrow guy for quite some time."

"And we're going to keep looking. Until we find the fuck'n bastard." The two got up and left the well-lit tavern, making their way out into the afternoon sun. A soft warm breeze and the sounds of commerce were abundant as folks bought and sold wares all over the streets.

"I've said it before... But... Well we don't have to find this man you know. We can just let it be... And forget about the whole thing," the holy man reminded.

"Let me understand this. A guy stole your money and you don't think you deserve to get it back?"

"Well it wasn't my money really... Most of it was collections for the church."

"He stole from charity! That's fucking worse! Also, are you forgetting the small little detail that he killed me?"

A slim tan vendor with a waxed beard called to the two men with his unusual sales pitch, "Fresh fruits and veggies! Just picked this morning, and I've named every single one of them. But there's so many delicious choices, I've lost track of who's who!" Jax approached with a silly smirk at the gimmick.

"That's fuck'n dumb, I love it! Give me five please." After buying some fruits they continued walking in the midday sun. Only a few clouds hung in the sky after the morning rain had passed.

"No, I didn't forget that he killed you... Ahh, but I think... I think the fact that I don't know even myself how you're alive again means something."

"Seems like your god wants justice. Which works fine with my plan cuz that's exactly what's going to happen," the hunter's voice deadly serious. Grom still hadn't quite gotten used to this man's intensity.

"I don't know if you're right, But I have to admit... It is kind of one of the reasons why I'm okay with following you around for a while."

"Bullshit. You're following me so you don't get mugged again. And I'm letting you because I fucking hate feeling like I'm in your debt for bringing me back."

"It's my fault you died anyway..."

"Once again, bullshit. You didn't make me have a little fun beating the shit out of some assholes." Getting to a more residential area of the town, they branched off the main road East heading Northeast. There was much less horse and cart traffic down this stretch. Far too much awkward silence between this new team the priest had to speak up.

"Can we... Slow down a bit? I'm not used to walking as fast as you."

"I'm going to say no. Mostly because I'm a dick who doesn't care if you can keep up or not. We have a job to do and a scumbag to find. Considerate another part of your training regiment."

"I'm still pretty sore from yesterday..."

"Good. That means leg day was a success. Today we will work our core, then tomorrow arms. So really they've got two days to recover."

"We have to work out every day?"

"Every day," the hunter said firmly.

"But like... Don't you ever take a day off... Like a real day of rest sometimes?" The intense man stopped in his tracks turning to square off against the heavy-set fellow.

"Grom. Look at me." Slightly confused he did so, looking into his sharp eyes. "Not at me, at me." Jax gestured to his muscular physique sweeping his hands down. Grom inadvertently winced expecting some sort of insult to be hurled at him. "This is a choice. A choice to be disciplined. Every day I can take steps towards this. Every day I choose not to take those steps, I fall away from this. Every time I don't take those steps, makes them that much harder than next. You haven't been shown this before so I'm going to Instill this knowledge and habit into you. You have expressed to me a desire to change. So I am going to be that catalyst, and while you travel with me, we are going to work out... Everyday."

“Every day?”

“Every day.”

“You know... That kind of has a nice ring to it, like it could be our mantra... Every day.”

“What? That's fuck'n stupid. There ain't no gods damn way we're just going to repeat at each other, 'every day.' That would be dumb." Jax dismissed the notion, threw his hand out, and continued to walk. Grom thought about how awful having to partake in the daily workouts would be moving forward. Everything they did the past few weeks... He was expected to do that every day? Sounded like the priest's personal hell. The scenery around them switched from the many homes of the townspeople to spread-out ranches and farms at the edge of town. The smells of the village like fresh baking or a smoking forge replaced by occasional pungent stables. Both looked off into the distance where few had traveled this empty dirt road, and the hunter became curious.

"So after I find and kill this guy, what are you going to do? I don't assume your plans are to hang with me forever."

“I don't... I don't know yet."

"You had said you needed a change, that's why you left your clergy to begin with. Is this enough of a change?"

"I'm looking for something," Grom almost whispered, distance in his voice.

“What exactly?”

“I'll know it when I see it.”

“You have no idea what or where this thing is do you?” Jax asked.

“Kind of... But not exactly... It's hard to explain.”

The taller man rolled his eyes, “Would be a lot easier to find something if you knew what it was you were looking for.”

“If only it was that easy.”

“Whatever. We're going to get your money back, at some point, I'm going to stop caring that you saved my life, and we'll just go our separate ways. I've never been one who's all about, like, teamwork and shit.”

“I suppose... I guess that works," the shorter man replied, wiping his brow from a pace above his comfort level. Finally out of this sleepy town, they followed the path with a forest not too far off. Short green grass close to the trail became much longer and lush with the occasional thistle popping up. As the two men continued those keen ears picked up the disturbance. Looking straight forward the hunter fell into a much more methodic and purposeful gate.

"Hey Grom, did you happen to see those crows this morning?" The other man's eyes widened with a kiss of fear. The priest almost shot a look behind them but Jax placed a heavy hand on his shoulder to stop the giveaway. "If you look," the muscular man whispered, "that defeats the purpose of the code phrase."

"Sorry... What do we do?" Grom whispered back.

"You know I think that's a great idea," Jax remarked slightly louder than normal. "And such a beautiful day too, could you even ask for better weather?" He put his hands up nonchalantly, making a big show about casually looking around, also grabbing a glance behind them without being suspicious.

"Umm... Yeah... God sure has blessed us this fine day," the nervous man added to the charade.

"Invisible," the fighter whispered. The priest got to chill down his spine and mouthed 'What do we do?' toward Jax. "Act normal. Tell a story while I listen. Let me handle it." The hushed words didn't provide the bearded man with much comfort.

Nervously, the heavy-set man did his best to let the hunter get in the zone. Having seen this practice a couple of times, all he could do was play ignorant and think of the story to recount. Fumbling with the start before realizing the context didn't matter, he just had to provide some one-sided conversation for a business is usual disguise. Grom settled on a mix of some cooking recipes he wanted to try and exaggerating about how he heard of the delicious dishes.

The hunted predator let instincts take over. Controlled breathing. Slowly closing his eyes, feeling the clean air on his skin. Listening to everything all at once, unconsciously isolating them and quieting them in his mind. The rustling of the trees... Fading away. The tale of thirty-two uses of blackberry jam... Disappearing. The crunching of footsteps... Dissolved into silence.

Inhale... Exhale.

In, and out.

A raindrop.

Another.

Another.

Falling over and over behind the two. The pace of these quiet and careful footfalls just fast enough to gain ground on the possible targets. Not a very large pursuer, they were too light on their feet. Jax's nostrils flared, the smallest of curves to the corner of his mouth. This other hunter was pretty good. Our hunter was better. A spike of adrenaline roared through his system at the impending encounter. Those raindrops slowed ever so faintly at the proximity.

Jax whipped around in a whirlwind of weaponry. Ax and machete drawn, head forward but eyes glued to the ground. Didn't matter if the pursuer was invisible, what he needed to see happened underneath them. And those sharp eyes found it. A step backward from the unexpected twirl, disturbed the smallest spot in the dirt road. Locked on where those grains of sand had moved, he continued the momentum of his ax swing. Aiming just a bit above the ground, he let the blade travel a touch further than an ankle would be. Instead, he carefully hooked the joint with the bottom of the weapon's head and pulled feeling resistance against the handle.

The stalker gasped as their foot was pulled one way... Off balance body the other. Jax thrust the ax back and up, making sure even the most flexible of people wouldn't be able to recover from this motion. The foot held in place, the only ingredient needed was gravity in this recipe for a painful fulcrum. The ankle, tibia, and fibula shattered loudly like a terracotta pot.

The woman screamed as she hit the ground and became visible. Head wrapped in dark cloth but with a window that revealed blue eyes watering in frenzy and immense pain. Her hands tried to catch the fall but now slipped on the dirt trying to back away from the man who towered overhead. This inadvertently sent more spikes of torment rocketing up her leg still being held. Cries of anguish blew on the cloth covering the unlucky woman's mouth.

"Well Grom, looks like somebody thought we were easy pickings and got in way over their head. Don't do anything fuck'n stupid and things won't get worse for you." She saw his leg nearby and reached across for a dagger tucked in her vest. All the air escaped her when a boot heavier than a house stepped on her wrist compressing her lungs. "Come on. I get that you're in a lot of pain and maybe didn't fully hear me, but I just said don't fucking do that." Jax quickly looked up at the tree line. "Oh good, some of your friends want to get in on this?"

The twang of arrows being loosed punctuated the sight of two projectiles crossing the distance towards the man standing tall. The flight to the road a little bit greater than the amateur robbers had anticipated. Jax flicked his machete and deflected them as if they were moving in slow motion. Ping! Tung!

The disappointed man looked at the fallen arrows, "What? I'm not even worth bolts? How about you all come out from hiding? Let's all have some nice honest, proper playtime." He boasted sweeping his machete across the hiding places of the others. The hunter tilted his head to the left, eyes moving to the side. They then moved straightforward and he turned his head slightly right once, then again. "Well damn, looks like it's just us," he spoke calmly looking at his captive. Tears poured out of her burning bloodshot eyes. Her free hand had wrapped around his ankle, shaking as it tried to lift the crushing weight.

"Oh shit, I guess you probably like to breathe don't you?" He reached down and grabbed the forearm of that pinned hand. Holding her wrist firm, he removed the brown rugged boot. She gasped and wheezed, now able to fill her lungs. Jax shook her own hand towards the woman's face, "I'm faster than you. Go for whatever you've got stashed away again and I'll be less careful, and crack your ribs. So Grom, what do you think we should do with this one?" the hunter turned to his traveling companion. The priest was scrunched over cowering. Whole body trembling and hands near his head shaking at the recent events. "My gods man, what in the hells is your problem? You look like you've pissed yourself."

"H-how? H-how... Are you this calm about violence?!"

"Violence? This is merely a dispute about ownership. This piece of shit thinks our gold is hers. Her parents obviously never taught the lessons that we all are supposed to live by. So here we are. Having a lovely teachable moment." His statement carried enough sarcasm to put a hole in a castle wall. Her hand by her side slowly reached toward her belt, suddenly grabbing a switchblade. Springing the sharp chrome free, the injured woman drove it right through Jax's foot. His head dropped to stare at this little outburst.

"Awww, these were my favorite boots," he let out a mighty sigh. Her eyes went wide at his disinterest in the wound. "Are you really that fucking dumb? No I'm being serious right now. Do you have any idea how easily I could rip your foot off right now?" He pulled on the limb lightly. The woman released short whimpers of agony as a fresh riptide of pain washed over her.

"Jax stop this madness at once!" Grom raised his voice.

"Ugh... Fine. Okay here's how this is going to work. We," he pointed back and forth between the two men several times as he kept talking, "are going to keep on walking with all of our money." He crouched down, putting the machete back in it's sheath and lowering her leg to the ground. "You get to figure out if you can make it back to wherever it is you came from with a broken ankle. And hope that the wolves don't get you tonight. Now, technically, I owe you a couple broken ribs for this toothpick impaling me. But, lucky for you, I like somebody with a bit of fire." He removed the bloody knife from his shoe, wiped it on his pants, and flipped the blade down pocketing it.

“I do get to see your face, though. Just in case I bump into you again. Hopefully, you'll be better by then,” he said grasping the head wrap and casting it aside before she could stop him. Her silky blonde hair flowed down and youthful face were revealed. The only makeup was the numerous lines of tears. “Woah, I didn't think the pretty ones were allowed to become robbers. Seems like a waste.” Jax pulled his ax away and stood back up ready to leave this woman to her fate. He was met with an oppressive scowl from his teammate. "What?... What?! Why the fuck you looking at me like that?"

"We're not just going to leave her."

"She tried to mug us!" Grom said nothing still holding a sad scowl. "Have you forgotten how much we fuck'n hate highwaymen?" He continued staring. "She stabbed me!" That sadness still carried. Jax had no idea how to continue from here. The woman sat up and pulled her leg in, whimpering at each little movement. How none of the bone hadn't broken skin was a slight mercy. However, she probably never would walk on it again properly. Unless...

"I'm going to heal her," the priest broke the silence.

"Absolutely not."

"I-I-I don't take orders from you," Grom stuttered, still slightly shaking. Those sharp eyes narrowed at the shorter man, then to the woman on the ground in contemplation. Jax knew the man was right but didn't know how to convince him otherwise. She had gotten what she deserved, just healing her wouldn't be right. Many tense moments passed before a thought bloomed.

"Hey wait a second! I have a great idea. You, girl. Tell me something," the tower of a man commanded. She looked back and forth between the two men with incredible panic and confusion then to Jax who asked a question. "Have you ever heard of a bandit, that goes by the name... Marrow?" The priest didn't see her face twitch but the hunter did.

Snapping his fingers Jax knew how this would play out, "Perfect! We get to do a little bonding exercise and everybody's going to get what they want. Sweetheart, this man over yonder is a miracle worker. You've heard of the magical healing types. He's one of the best, brought me back to life actually, but we'll save that for never. He's going to heal you a little bit. Just to take the edge off, and you know, prove he can. Then you are going to tell us some good details about Marrow. In exchange for that, he will heal you up even more. Not all the way fixed, but hey, lowers your chance of dying tonight. Tell you what, if you have even more details and can possibly tell us everything you know, shit, you might literally walk away from here," he stated plainly throwing his arms out wide. "Mister do the right thing gets to heal, we get some information, you get the fuck out of here."

Grom rolled his eyes but approached the woman cautiously. "Look... I'm sorry he can be incredibly extra... But that does kind of sound like a win-win-win, doesn't it? A-and he does speak the truth... I can help you if you let me. My name is Grom, what's your name?" Still breathing heavily the fallen woman took a moment to get enough air.

"My name... Is Shadowblade."

"Oh my fuck'n gods we shouldda just walked away." The priest threw him a sour look at the remark, before turning back to her.

"In my line of work, a little bit of honesty goes a long way." She stared deep into this man's much kinder expression.

Still having gritted teeth from the pain she managed, "Astrid... My name is Astrid."

"That's a very pretty name. Is it all right if I help you and then you can maybe help us?" The wounded woman eased a bit and nodded. "Please just stay still... Oh and uhhh, don't be alarmed at the glowing... It's supposed to do that."

"Hey! Not too much, just take the edge off. Don't be giving away our bag," Jax added. The healer said a very quick passage upon closing his eyes. Neither of the other two could understand the divine words, but his hands started burning sunrise soft. The blanket of soothing relief instantly relaxed her nerves.

"Oh my gods... That feels so much better..."

"I know right! It's pretty fucking great. This one keeps telling me now I'm just getting hurt so he can fix me up. He's totally right but don't tell him that," Jax whispered the last part. The hunter had picked a flat piece of field to roll out his pack, setting up an impromptu picnic. Astrid tried to move her leg a bit but immediately winced at another unpleasant jolt.

"I'm afraid that's all you are getting from me for now... But... I mean... Does prove my skills. Now I guess we're going to have a little listen." She stared as the other man sat down keen for whatever she had to say. Her baseline bitterness boiled up seeing these two be so casual again.

"My team's going to come back for me. My friends are going to show up and then you guys are screwed."

"Listen Astrid,” Jax pulled out the fruit he had bought, “First of all, they are not your friends cuz they let you walk around with the dumbest fucking name I've ever heard. Secondly, those cowards ran away. They ain't coming back for you."

"You have no idea how many of us there are, and they were just gathering others seeing as you might have looked a little tougher than we thought."

"There were four others. Two of them thought climbing trees in a place where the canopy don't touch was a good idea. The other two stayed on the ground. One arrow came from the below. One arrow came from the trees. With you down, they still outnumbered us two to one, and still they ran away. You dumb bastards don't even have crossbows." Her eyes went wide at his accuracy. The expert of the land put his hand on the ground. "All four cowards, still running away from us. They abandoned you sweet cheeks,” He said with honest sadness. “Where's all that honor amongst thieves I always hear about now?" Astrid's mouth hung open and she slowly looked to Grom.

"I know, It ain't the normal type of magic you're used to seeing but... He kind of is something else." The thief looked at her leg. She then tossed a glance towards the trees where nobody had waited for her. Then finally back at the men now having a mid-afternoon snack. She sat in her options marinating. For many moments only the wind spoke. Having spent so much time together already, the two somewhat got the hang of some wordless communication. Jax's bored eyes remarked, This was a bad idea.  Grom's expression urged patience, Give it some time... you'll see.  After a very long simmer, Astrid spoke up.

"All right. Fine. I'll tell you everything I know about that festering pus ball and the rats he roams with. But first, I didn't really get to have my fair say in our little agreement."

Jax raised a brow talking with a bit of food in his mouth, "Oh yeah? What else could you possibly want?"

"My knife back."

"With how nicely you gave it to me? Absolutely not."