Jack had been storming through the forest without much aim when he finally had to stop as the blood of the wolf was sticking to the back of his shirt. He tried to build a fire, but then it started to mist, and he couldn't find any twigs that weren't damp. Giving up on the wolf carcass, which was really a shame, he set out to find shelter.

He thought he saw something between the trees, but just at that moment, pain spasmed across his chest. Falling to the ground, his reflexes were late. Jack went face first into a goop of mud. Spitting out mud and leaves, he rolled over to see the sky was dark and the tree branches were camouflaged. Mist hung on his lashes and chilled his skin.

The pain returned and he could see the purple glow beneath his shirt.

We're close, Serena said. I feel it.

Can we just go? Jack thought to her, but then she was silent. He wiped his face with his sleeve and sat up. A single footstep and he was alert. He took out his knife and turned it to the gun. He didn't have many bullets left, but the heavy gait, careful step of his enemy, told him he probably only needed the gun for a threat. 

It was so dark now, he couldn't see a thing, but he didn't need to. Jack had trained to fight in the dark. It was shortly after his killing in the royal grounds he joined an organization to learn to fight. The adrenaline had been addicting.

But the other person had learned to fight in the dark, too. He wasn't good at it though.

Jack whipped his leg out, kicking the stomach before the fists could come. Norman went crashing through the trees with a groan. Charging footsteps and Jack sent his foot flying into the crotch of an unfortunate henchman who squealed on impact. It was just like Norman to not come to fight fair and square.

Mud squished. Puddles splashed. Branches and twigs snapped. Jack turned and stabbed, feeling the squelch of an eye, and hearing the shriek of pain like a banshee's scream. He yanked his knife out and threw whatever was on it, into the forest.

"My eye!" the henchman howled, breaking the silence. Jack was about to stab him in the throat, when a spasm of pain zipped across his chest and he lost balance, falling over to his side. His head reeled. 

Norman was coming. 

Lightning flash, illuminating the hidden things. A glint of a knife. Jack rolled over. Norman cursed as he missed. Jack struggled to get up when thunder cracked through the sky, shaking the ground. Rain gushed from the unseen clouds.

Norman from the front. Jack, still on the ground kicked Norman in the stomach, sending him back. He used a nearby tree to haul himself up. A henchman hurled his boulder-like body into Jack, slamming him into the tree. Jack grunted and kneed the man in the chin, crunching his jaw. Then he stabbed the man with his knife, deep into his heart. The man fell, dead.

Dungs and apples. Jack straightened his back as the pain from the curse subsided. He combed his hair back, tasting blood and rainwater on his tongue. Lightning flashed. The henchman behind him didn't stand a chance with his stealth as Jack swiveled around to kick him in the crotch. He squealed like a pig and fell into the fetal position. Snapping off a branch, Jack stabbed the man in the neck, nailing him into the ground. Blood gushed from the wound and the scent flew into Jack's nostrils.

Thunder cracked again. Rain blew sideways as the wind picked up. In the dark forest, Jack heard two sounds. Norman regaining himself somewhere to the left and another henchman loading a gun near Norman.

Good plan but won't work. When lightning next flashed, Jack shimmied up the nearest tree, pulling himself from branch to branch. Thunder cracked and threw himself on the henchman who, startled, set the gun off, hitting himself and falling over dead.

"Guess it's just you and me, brother," Jack called out into the darkness, slipping away from the dead henchman.

"Don't you call me brother, fraud! I know who you are!" Norman shouted. His confused footsteps told Jack that Norman didn't know where he was. That was good news to him.

"Enlighten me, Knave Heartetto," Jack said with a smirk. He stood behind a tree when lightning next flashed. He saw Norman looking around wildly for those few bright seconds.

"I heard them, that wench and Piet. Jack Plantagenet."

Eli's voice sure carries, Jack grimaced. The pain returned. Not now! He clutched his chest, gritting his teeth, hoping it would subside soon.

"The prince. All this time. You killed Jack Ogswold and stole his life."

"You didn't even notice." Jack held back a wince as the pain intensified.

"He didn't deserve to die."

"You're stupid." Jack stood as the pain subsided but remained as a gentle throb.

"And you told me it was the royal takin' our money away, makin' us poor."

Jack listened to the sound of Norman's shoes. The rain turned to a mist again. He heard Norman hadn't moved much from where he had been.

"And you said we should kill the royals to make a statement. We should kill the heir to help Endil from corruption. Even if it meant we'd both get put up for death row. And then you went on to blame me!"

Jack remembered that day he and Norman had the conversation. Jack told Norman that he found out about all the horrible things that the royals were doing to keep themselves rich and the peasants poor. He only said that to convince Norman to help him though. That was all. Jack just wanted to kill Jack Ogswold who was refusing to get off the throne, breaking the blood pact.

With quiet step he was now behind Norman. The bastard was still standing with his back to Jack, unaware of the nemesis in close proximity.

"I thought I was, for a long time, betrayed by my brother. But Jack Ogswold was dead. Now I can finally kill the one I was supposed to." Norman whipped around as the lightning flashed. He had noticed, but Jack was faster. He kicked Norman's stomach and shot him in the guts. As Norman fell and struggled for his life, Jack rolled him over and stepped on his throat.

"You ruined my life."

Norman struggled under Jack's foot. "Prince is dead. Ogswold is dead. Who are you, Jack?" he rasped.

Jack paused as a second of confusion flashed across his mind. Thunder rumbled, now in the distance. Rain fell on them heavily again.

Norman gave a strained chuckle. "You don't know. I knew it. You're nobody! A fraud, a—"

"Shut up, dungshit!" Jack released his foot and stabbed Norman in the throat before he could rise. Blood squirted out, covering Jack. He stepped away from the carcass, as dead as that wolf.

"Shut up, I'm Jack Ogswold, and you ruined my life!" he shouted again and staggered a few steps back.

Who am I? What a stupid question. He shook his head. Lightning flashed. The forest area where they fought had four henchmen dead in various positions and their ringleader still bleeding out with a smile on his face. Norman had not been able to lay one finger on Jack, but he lay something, and it was a small victory.

Jack stumbled through the forest and tripped. Branches slashed through his skin, his body was out of control, he tried to grab something to stop his fall, but things were just out of reach. The world spun. Pain shot through his chest.

We're close.

Serena's voice was the last thing he heard. His vision darkened as he hit the ground.