Chapter 51: The Bait
The screams were background noise that blended naturally with the environment.
They camouflaged and dispersed among the deteriorated streets. Arguments quickly turned into insults. The law had long abandoned those men.
Gabriel ignored them.
His attention had never wavered. He walked straight north.
The further he walked, the more windows were boarded up and many doors showed signs of having been forced more than once.
A gloomy wind dragged papers and dust from an alley.
Then the scream was heard again. Closer this time.
"Sir! Please don’t go that way!"
Gabriel continued walking. But the voice insisted.
"Sir! Wait!"
He heard hurried footsteps behind him, followed by agitated breathing.
And finally a hand tried to rest on his back. The boy was panting as if he had run halfway across the city.
"Sir...! You have undoubtedly... taken... the wrong path..."
Gabriel stopped for the first time. He observed him carefully; it was a young man of miserable appearance.
Thin, dark hair, and worn clothes.
With an exaggeratedly worried and fearful expression.
"You’re heading down Beú Street," he explained between breaths. "That route leads directly to the Frozen North."
Gabriel observed him attentively for several seconds. The boy began to feel uncomfortable.
Then Gabriel spoke.
"You’re not an NPC."
The world seemed to stop and the young man froze.
"H-how?" The stammering was immediate.
Gabriel didn’t even respond. His hand moved quickly and grabbed the boy by the nape before he could react.
"Because you wouldn’t be such a terrible thief."
The young man’s face lost all color. He looked as if he had seen a terrible ghost that had escaped from purgatory.
"Wait! I can explain!"
"I’m not interested in your explanations."
Gabriel raised a knee and the impact hit the boy’s stomach. All the air escaped from his lungs.
He doubled over immediately while gasping.
"Stealing is much more common than you think."
The young man remained crouched for several seconds trying to catch his breath. Finally, he raised his head.
"Steal and let them go free... right?"
Gabriel tilted his head in confusion.
"No. Killing them is."
The silence was absolute. He heard him swallow audibly.
Gabriel finally released him. And the young man fell weakly onto the cobblestones, without strength.
He perfectly represented the metaphor of prey.
Gabriel reflected for a few seconds and then made a decision.
"I need to reach the Frozen North. You will serve as my guide, and if you take me there, I will forgive you."
Miraculously, the young man regained his strength and practically jumped to his feet.
He performed an exaggerated bow.
"Your Majesty! Your words are my orders! There is no better mule to transport you... I mean guide."
Gabriel gave him a hard blow to the back of the head.
"Walk!"
"Yes, sir!"
While the boy rubbed his head, Gabriel discreetly extended a fingernail.
A small wound appeared on the young man’s neck, barely a scratch, invisible to anyone. He activated Blood Trail, and the skill responded immediately.
Now he could locate him, in case he decided to run valiantly.
"What’s your name?"
"My name is Leo!"
Gabriel placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it slightly hard.
"The real one."
His smile disappeared.
"It’s Francis, sir..."
"We understand each other."
Francis looked on the verge of tears.
***
The journey continued.
The young man walked ahead while pointing out different routes. Every few minutes he tried to start a conversation and was ignored with the same frequency.
"You know? I’ve always admired heroes."
The only response was silence.
"I’ve heard of some who kill dragons!"
"I’d love to be a hero someday. But one of the heroes who survive and enjoy their old age."
Finally, he sighed.
"It’s hard to talk to you."
Gabriel didn’t even make the effort to look at him.
"In my lands it’s hard to trust a thief."
Francis tilted his head.
"Right in the heart. So much damage!"
Several more minutes passed. And as they advanced, the streets worsened.
The buildings seemed more deformed, the filth accumulated, and the people became more dangerous.
They continued as a pair: the immovable and the timid.
The young man began to get nervous.
"Are you always this quiet?"
"Yes."
"That explains a lot."
Gabriel finally looked at him.
Francis immediately raised both hands.
"I didn’t say anything, sir."
At one point the boy tried to separate a few steps. Gabriel simply pointed at his neck and the young man immediately returned.
"I wasn’t going to run away."
"Of course."
"Really."
"Of course."
The boy felt the weight of defeat on his shoulders.
Until they finally arrived. Before them appeared an area that clearly stood out.
Dark and heavy.
No one frequented that place.
Francis stopped, as if roots had grown in him.
"Honorable hero, this is the path that separated us. This poet must still pursue higher ideals."
He made an elegant bow.
"Do you also pretend to be a poet?"
Francis coughed.
"Inspiration is as free as people!"
"Go in first."
The boy smiled nervously.
"I think you should go in first."
"No."
"Why?"
Gabriel observed the surroundings. The gazes felt much heavier at that boundary, from the shadows and the windows.
They were watching both of them, in silence and with care.
They had already been informed of his presence beforehand.
His gaze on Francis changed. He was thin, small, and harmless... Like a rabbit.
Ideal bait.
"Great poets need experiences."
Francis swallowed.
"I’m pretty sure I don’t."
Gabriel pushed him.
"Walk."
"Betrayal..."
"Faster."
Francis began to advance with his shoulders slumped. He looked like a man heading toward his execution.
Each step was slower than the previous one. He looked back constantly.
In his eyes, betrayal shone more than ever. Cursing his bad luck.
And finally it happened, when three men appeared from the end of the street.
Then two more emerged from a nearby door.
They began to surround Francis.
The boy stood motionless, curling into a ball. His expression was tragic.
"Gentlemen," he said with a forced smile, "I got lost."
The laughter was immediate.
One of the men spat on the ground.
Another spun a knife between his fingers.
"Of course you got lost."
"Very lost."
Then one of the men saw Gabriel. Their laughter disappeared.
The others noticed him quickly too.
Mask, coat, and weapons.
He definitely did not evoke the image of prey.
One of them took a step forward.
"Friend, we don’t want trouble."
Gabriel kept walking.
"Then we can..."
The blow came before he finished the sentence. The fist struck him directly in the jaw and the man was sent flying.
He hit the ground without getting up again.
The others took a fraction of a second to react. Then they lunged at him, with Gabriel taking advantage of the opening.
Moving with unnatural speed, a second blow hit another man’s nose. An unpleasant crunch came from his nasal bones and blood shot out.
Before he fell, Gabriel was already moving.
With his reflexes, he dodged the knife cut, spinning on himself, and landed the third blow on the thug’s neck.
The last attacker fell to his knees without strength.
The other two accomplices had fled immediately.
The curious watched from a distance, with no one intervening.
No one said anything. They simply watched the scene.
Francis had disappeared in the moment of desperation. There wasn’t even a visible trace.
Exactly like a capable thief.
He had probably been running since he approached him.
Gabriel shook his head.
It was exactly what he expected.
Because bait that didn’t know what it was fishing for was always the best bait.
And whoever was hiding in the shadows... they had received the message.
The Frozen North had finally shown its teeth.
Then he continued walking.
Straight toward the heart of the darkness.
A beggar laughed uncontrollably at the result of the fight.
