Cora froze, turned with gritted teeth. "They are here," he said.

A figure emerged slowly from behind a tree: long raven hair slid like two waterfalls on the chest. Elidana, Marmorel, and Fez remained silent, a shadow of terror darkening their faces.

Aran also remained petrified: he wasn't a Kharzanian and certainly was better than a hungry beast. He straightened his shoulders and said, "Who is asking?"

It was then that Cora recognized him. He was the man who helped them after the accident. What was he doing there? Had he followed them?

"I need to talk to him. I heard Cora calling him by name," said Camiel calmly, maintaining his gaze on the blond boy. "I know he's the son of the Allets, a boy like you. And he's traveling around here... a rather curious coincidence, don't you think?"

"You're the Hozman from this morning. I saw you, you know?" Aran snarled disdainfully. "And I don't mean when you were helping the injured: you were there before the accident. I saw you from the train. You were outside the wagons, damn it! With a sword in your hand!"

"I don't deny it, but you're partly wrong. The culprit of the accident was the Kharzanian soldier I had to face," said Camiel calmly. Marmorel hissed in fear. "Stay calm, I'm not here to hurt you..."

"Well, I'm Aran Allet!" exclaimed the boy.

The Hozman breathed a sigh of relief and said, "You can call me Camiel. We have a lot to discuss about important matters that concern you, or rather, concern all of you." He slowly moved his hand to his sword. Cora held his breath. Even more slowly, Camiel stuck it into the trunk of a tree. The blade was stained with red, but the newcomer spread his hands and showed that he didn't have any other weapons on him.

"While you decide how to continue the conversation..." Camiel quickly looked at Fez, "boy, take off your shirt and give it to me: the smell of blood is like honey for the predators that inhabit the forest. I wasn't the only one chasing you this afternoon and I had to cover your tracks."

Fez widened his eyes, tore off his shirt and threw it to the Hozman, who rolled it up with a amused smile and put it on his shoulder. He looked back at Aran and Cora. They continued to observe the precious quality of the sword, which was similar in its slender and elegant style to the blade that the young Allet held on his desk. But this one was different: more complex in its grace and rich in details, as if it wasn't meant for a mercenary.

Aran took a step forward, his expression determined and his shoulders straight. "Before we talk, I want you to answer my question." He approached him until he was in front of him. "Are you the Hozman who was in Lud?"

Yes, I am."

Aran struck him with a straight punch to the nose. A cry tore through the air, Marmorel had her hands over her mouth and her eyes wide open.

"Are you crazy?" Elidana shouted.

Aran loaded another punch, and Cora rushed to stop him. But Camiel raised a hand and gestured for him to stand still.

Aran looked back at the two girls and Fez, his expression filled with anger. "The fire in Lud is his fault... the newspapers were talking about Hozmans." And he turned back to the stranger.

"Are you done? Do you feel better?" Camiel asked.

"It depends on what you have to say," Aran replied.

Camiel took a seat on a rock and looked at everyone. "I know it's too much to ask for unconditional trust, and I understand that. But I need... really need you to listen to what I have to say."

"Trust?" Cora exploded. "You're just murderers! If it weren't for you Hozmans, we wouldn't have Kharzanians in Lamia!"

Camiel sighed and furrowed his brow. "Are you using the presence of the fox to justify the hunt?" he asked. "Very clever. I hope the others don't think like you."

Cora opened his mouth to argue, but found himself speechless.

Camiel smiled, nodded, and turned to Aran. "Where do I begin... let's see..." he counted on his fingertips, "About ten days ago, I detected an immense amount of Seorite coming from Lud," he said. "There are no deposits in your area, so it seemed very strange to me. I had to investigate, you know? And so I set out."

He scratched his chin and looked at the boys one by one. "I searched for days, but found nothing. No seorite, no deposits, nothing."

"And with that?" Cora burst out. "Everyone knows that only the Kharzanians can transport Seorite to Lamia. It must have been them."

"No, boy. I thought so too at first, and I even thought that the army in the city were tied to the stones I was looking for. But they were also chasing my same source. They even asked the city council to collaborate, but it seems that even they had no answers. Nobody knew anything; unbelievable, isn't it?"

Aran approached the warrior. "You've been to Lud and you know my name. Have you met my father?" he said with a vague hint of pride in his voice.

"Ludvig Allet. Yes, we met. A man who knows his stuff," he looked Aran up and down, "and you resemble him a lot, I must admit." He shook his head and turned back to the others. "At first, I thought the city council was hiding the Seorite from the Kharzanians, but they were busy with the Great Jalme."

Marmorel widened her eyes. "What happened to the Great Jalme?"

"I'm sorry to tell you, but after my arrival, I discovered that he was dying, he had lost every ounce of life...and all of his foliage, even before I got here."

The kids exchanged quick glances. Elidana leaned forward from the branch. "The Great Jalme has never lost a leaf! The newspaper talked about a fire!"

"You may believe me or not. I know what that tree meant to you, and I understand it's hard to digest my words, but I told the truth." Camiel paused. "However, let's go back to my research. I found out that the son of the Allets sold a large, loaded Seorite. It was just before the attack."

Aran swallowed.

Cora stepped forward. "Wait, did you say attack?"

Camiel nodded. "Exactly. The kharzanians set the city on fire, which is why they're looking for me, and why they're hunting you down."

Fez and Marmorel huddled together.

Aran gave Camiel a scowl. "I sold the necklace, but it was an old piece of jewelry from my mother. What does that have to do with this?"

"I thought your father was behind all this...the story of his travels. Too many coincidences not to think of a preconceived plan."

"Did the people of Lud manage to escape?" Marmorel intervened with a broken voice.

"From what I saw, the kharzanians attacked in search of Seorite, and I can't give you the certainty that they survived," the warrior replied. "The only ones I saw escape were the children from the orphanage."

Elidana hugged herself. "Eh? Mrs. Flint?" she asked him. "Is she okay? Please tell me she's okay!" Her fiery gaze was fixed on the Hozman, and none of the others dared to speak, all waiting for an answer.

"She certainly survived that night."

Elidana and Cora sighed in unison, their eyes moist with tears of relief. Now they could listen to the warrior's words, but Marmorel slammed her hand forcefully on the branch. "Who's to say you're not behind all this?" she shouted, "It's easy to give us an explanation like that. You set fire to Lud like the newspapers said. You transported the loaded Seorite from the Great Jalme. You involved us to divert attention from yourself!"

Aran closed his eyes and shook his head. Camiel raised an eyebrow. "I never said there was Seorite charged near the Great Jalme."

Aran shot a dirty look at Marmorel. Immediately after, he looked back at Camiel. "The Great Jalme regenerated my mother's necklace stone. I just sold it to a merchant to make some money," he said concisely. "We needed it to go see the Edel Grand Prix. Then we got on the train, and you already know how it ended."

Camiel scratched her chin. "So you're telling me that the Great Jalme had this incredibly rare ability that no one knew about?"

"It was an accident, no one knows. No one knew... well, now you know too."

"I don't doubt your words, I'm not surprised by anything anymore... but I don't understand why the inhabitants of Lud didn't notice it."

"It had never happened before. I didn't believe it. But then Cora fell among the roots... the necklace regenerated. He passed out..." Elidana said, placing a hand on her forehead.

Aran huffed and shook his head with more vigor. Perhaps they had said too much? After all, this Camiel could be a friend or a foe. Cora grimaced, staring at the others. Leaving out some details wouldn't be a bad idea.

Camiel looked at Cora, her eyes narrowed. "What is the girl talking about?"

"Nothing. There was a hole, and I fell into it," he grumbled in a low voice.

"I don't think it was luck that brought us together." He stood up and grabbed her sword to sling it over his back. "We will go south," he ordered. "We have to embark on a long journey. You are no longer safe here; they will be looking for you throughout the region..." He grabbed Cora's arm, who struggled with difficulty, "if you've been to Edel, they will have you on file They know who you are and where you are going: Lud is out of the question. It's strange that they didn't caught you within the Kharzanian borders."

Marmorel stammered something and broke into tears. Fez hugged her.

"I won't take orders from a dirty Hozman," Cora growled.

Elidana climbed down from the branch and stood on the ground. "But we have to go back to Lud or Clodia! We'll go to the Order of the Knights of Lamia and explain that it was a misunderstanding!" she yelled, resolute.

"There's no misunderstanding: you're wanted by the biggest and most ruthless army on the continent. Do you know what that means? In Lud, I saw soldiers forcibly enter homes, I heard gunfire and screams fill the sky."

"Who are you to tell us what to do?" Cora shouted, his nerves taut like violin strings. "We've decided to go back home, and we will."

Camiel sighed and raised his eyes to the sky. "You're going to meet certain death. There's no possibility that the Kharzanians will listen to you."

"Do you think we don't know that? The Senate will protect us!" Aran pointed to the others. "They want to go home, and I've decided that we will!"

"You want to go back to Lud, huh? Aran Allet, you have the lives of your friends on your shoulders. You'll see their blood flowing through your hands!" Camiel roared, his voice thundering.

"So now it's my fault?" Aran grabbed his shirt collar and shook him.

"No, it's not your fault, but you can convince them to follow me. You already know I'm not lying," said the warrior. He tightened his grip on Aran's wrist and shrugged him off with the ease of dusting off dirt.

"Enough now! Fighting won't solve anything!" Elidana screamed.

The Hozman lowered his voice. "I just want to bring you to safety."

Cora curled his lip. "But what do you gain from it?" That man could have simply left on his own and disappeared into nothingness. Yet he was there, intent on convincing them not to return to their homes.

"I gain that five boys won't end up six feet under, can you blame me?" said Camiel. "Now it's up to you. You have two choices, flee without a destination to be captured, or follow me and try your luck." He looked at the forest. "I'm going to get something to eat. We'll stay here tonight. You'll be tired and hungry, but don't light any fires. We'll talk about it tomorrow." Without waiting for a response, he disappeared into a sunset that faded into reddish veils. Cora and Aran stood still. Defeated, they watched Fez and Marmorel cry out their pain.

Camiel returned a few hours later, as promised, with canned food and without Fez's bloodstained clothes. He had taken a shirt and pants for himself and bandages, which he made sure to use for Cora's wound.

"Mr. Camiel, where did you find these things?" Fez asked. He had been holding the bolt in his hand the whole time, tightening it, caressing it, as if it were a defense against despair.

"I went back to the train, and the Kharzanians were gone. They must have taken the passengers and Seorite," Camiel opened a jar of jam and dipped his bread in it.

The group ate their dinner in silence, too preoccupied with quieting their rumbling stomachs to engage in conversation.

After they had eaten their fill, Marmorel and Elidana lay down among the branches. Camiel jumped onto another tree and looked at Cora. "I need to meditate for a few hours. One of you will take my watch. I'll switch with you as soon as I'm finished." He picked up his sword and rested it on his lap. Meanwhile, Aran and Fez found a spot to rest near the girls. They were overcome by fatigue.

Cora yawned and only then realized that Elidana had not asked for a goodnight pebble. Of course, in such a situation, that game was trivial. But just to be safe, he leaned down and felt around for a small rock until he found one. He flipped it over in his fingers and slipped it into his pocket. "I'll apologize tomorrow," he whispered, nodding towards her.

But something caught his attention and drew it back to Camiel. The man had remained motionless, and a strand of light began to make its way from his ring to his hand. That small luminous serpent touched the sword as if searching for something, until it reached the stone set in the hilt. Cora furrowed his brow, squinted his eyes, and pulled himself up to observe the scene better.

The light touched the stone, almost as if it was testing it. It touched it again but shattered and retreated slightly. Every time, Camiel became unsettled for a moment, let out a cry, and then composed himself. And the strand resumed its search. It was only after several attempts that the light, instead of breaking, merged with the stone.

An olive-green glow covered the warrior. He remained in that position for many minutes, with the green aura increasing and decreasing in intensity without a precise rhythm. Cora had never seen anything like it before; he didn't even know what a Hozman was before he met that man. He only knew that they were the ones who had killed Ethan Standford, and for that, he hated them all. But there, in front of the wonderful emanation of light and vapor, in the silence of a sleeping forest, Cora was fascinated. It was a torch with an emerald flame that crackled slowly and moved gracefully between the man's arms, shoulders, and head without consuming him.

When the moon had already set, Camiel opened his eyes. The light had disappeared. The warrior came down from the branch and looked at Cora. "You go rest now. Don't worry, I'll take over from here." The boy nodded and climbed the trunk to find his place, still shaken by the event he had witnessed.