It was as if her intuition had slowed down time. The warriors hadn't noticed, but she had, the arrow was coming straight for his unguarded face, the little portion where he had not lowered his visor. But when the arrow hit, Glinrin's face was protected by that self same visor. The arrow clanged against the metal and harmlessly fell on the ground. He moved his head instinctively to the left at the direction the arrow came from. That was when Piper realised two things, the reason why no murderer had been able to kill him. He probably had a stronger intuition than even her, and much greater reflexes, almost inhuman, she knew that for she saw him manipulate the Gladinstone in the visor just in the brink of time as the arrow was shot at him, it came down without a human touch. The second was that the process of hiring a criminal itself was the reason for his inhuman reflexes. And unlike the chicken and egg question, here she had a clear idea what came first.

As the arrow hit dead leaves on the untrodden forest floor, Glinrin's deep shout reverberated through the forest, "SHIELDS!"

Without another word the warriors gathered and took formation, shielding themselves from all possible sides for any incoming assault. Piper ducked inside the temporary shell for she did not have a shield. Through a little gap in the formation she noticed Glinrin casually standing outside.

Wouldn't a less crazy general take shelter inside this shell?

Glinrin craned his neck to the left and said something like, "Haven't had some good exercise in quite some time." Before commanding, "Stay in defence formation!"

He started walking casually to the left. Piper was sure she heard a low rumbling resonate. A couple of arrows flew at Glinrin only to greet his Gladinstone armour with a clang before being proven harmless. She noticed the characteristic frill at the tail of the arrows, which showed the involvement of hill tribes with ample certainty.

Soon Glinrin was lost in the darkness of the forest and night as the rumbling grew louder. The ground below Piper's feet had started shaking. She kept her eyes where she had last spotted Glinrin. A few shouts could be heard. The trees started moving in what Piper later realised was a circle, some of them fell as the roots were stuck in the ground. It was only then that she noticed it wasn't the trees that were moving the ground the trees stood on was turning and churning as if some invisible porter was at work.

That is alchemy?

Which was an odd question for she had seen a good display of it before. But this stood on a completely different level. Jokes had already left her as the low trembling had escalated to something akin to an earthquake. Was it not for the shouts of the tribals, Piper would have passed this up as some sort of natural phenomenon that she had not had the chance to witness before. But the shouts were there, and this was no natural phenomenon.

A small volley of arrows had tried to penetrate their shell as well to no avail. The warriors stood firm on their ground.

The earthquake soon stopped leaving a huge patch of destroyed trees in its wake as Glinrin came out casually, as if he had just returned from a garden stroll, his previously colourful armour now having only shades of dirt brown.

Does he realise they will have to make minor changes to the map of Grumville after that?

He then stopped to see the offensive on the right , before unsheathing two blades. He threw them above, and in mid air somewhere, the breathed life as they glowed white and swooped at the right faster than Piper's eye could hope to follow. Almost instantaneous a few bodies of dead bodies of men dropped from their hiding points in trees, blood gushing out of their hearts or throats.

They got no chance to shout.

And when she looked back to see what the General was up to then, there was no one in sight. Glinrin had disappeared in less than three second. But she saw a faint glow in the forest as scream after scream could be heard followed by lifeless thuds and crunches, as men fell down in the same forest floor that had once been their home and strength. Throughout the massacre, Piper occasionally saw one of the blades swooping around, and occasionally she saw the form of Glinrin's armour that glowed in the night air.

This time when Glinrin emerged, his grand Gladinstone armour not only had dirt but also blood. Piper was sure none of it was his own. The visor raised itself, as the swords sheathed themselves with their new found lives.

"At ease, men," Glinrin shouted and the defense formation broke. "The threat has been taken care of but be on guard, we may face more opposition."

After that display? Gladin bless me, no we won't!

"That's the strongest man in the Empire for you!" remarked Piper unwittingly.

At that Glinrin stopped. He turned and a step towards Piper, "What did you say?"

Isn't that a compliment?

"That you are the strongest man in the Empire, My Lord," she replied, afraid that wasn't the right answer.

Glinrin's visor came off and Piper did not like what she saw in his face; He looked almost angry, such an expression Piper had not yet seen on him, and that sent a chill down her spine. His loud voice boomed the second time through the now silent forest, "How many times have I told you to not call me that. I am not. Not until I defeat Sir Triston Griffiron in fair combat. He was a brother to me, I will not let anyone else use that title in my presence," his head craned to the left like he had done before destroying a whole section of the forest, "Let alone take credit for it."

Piper was both looking for the right words, and completely lost, "Apologies my Lord. I had no knowledge of the fact."

Glinrin turned after an unnerving pause and walked down the road that led to Trinopolis. The rest of the journey through Grumville was honoured with silences, partly because of the hill tribes and partly because of the General's outburst.