The gorge was the best way down to the lowlands, and an inlet of the Azure Sea. Though easier to navigate than the crags around the gorge, the slope was steep and the ground was covered in loose pebbles and scree. The sparse vegetation around the crack wasn't much to hide in, but it was more than enough. Compared to the scouts, Henes was about as stealthy as a rockslide, but he hung back, tense with obvious worry.<br/><br/>A few minutes later, the sound of an approaching party drew nearer. There were the small group of swordsmen, a mismatched group of brigands with a pale, unhealthily lean look to them. There were a large group of people of all ages from children to elders with their hands bound and formed into a human chain by a rope that coiled around each of their necks, many of them dressed like the people in the town Mouse had visited. Some of them let out soft sobs and winces of pain, the louder of which were rewarded with a cuff around the head from the warriors. A couple of them were staggering, on the verge of collapse and only held up by their neighbours.<br/><br/>But the leader of the group was the most eyecatching of all. Though the heat up here was prickly and clinging, uncomfortable even for Mouse's lightly armoured group, he was wearing a suit of heavy black-tinted armour. The weight and heat must have been severe, but he showed no signs of discomfort as he strode ahead of the group--indeed, he seemed to find the walk easier than anyone following him.<br/><br/>There was a tension in the air. Mouse's scouts didn't say they were waiting for a signal, because they didn't need to.<br/><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Man of Mystery</div><div class="spoiler_body">(https://i.imgur.com/9jAVfIB.jpg)</div></div>