Chapter 2. Bank Corrupt
Trent is staying on the move. He spots a river and is trying to convince the horse to cross it. Unfortunately, the horse is being stubborn. Trent takes off the horse's armor to relieve it of some weight. Trent decides to cross the river slowly by swimming against the current coming from an irregular angle. To his surprise, the horse actually follows him. It is this escape path, that he hopes will make Marcus's cohorts believe that he went along the river and not through it.
Back at the castle, Marcus is rallying the people: "Citizens! We must not any longer be cut short of great virtues by these traitors! A man who would kill his own father deserves no such grace as to live! I will provide you all! I will feed you all! Soon, each and every one of you great folks will eat and live like Kings yourselves, under my guidance! There is no longer any worries, I AM the King! I AM the provider! I will get us all to a high state of wealth!" The crowd of the town erupts in cheer. They are emotionally taken for a ride to find that King Norman was killed and that Trent was behind it. Though it wasn't true, Marcus was sly enough to convince them. Marcus is now busy renovating the King's castle. The guards now take many shifts protecting him, which wasn't the case before but there is no real trust anymore. Unfortunately, Crusher is now behaving more like a sheep than a wolf because he is tied up by a chain all day everyday. King Marcus sends off a team to kill Trent, with promises of great rewards. Also, he writes a great big letter to the King of the next town over, King Kromsted of Nathleen. He writes a story in his distorted view of events that led to his new royalty status. He sends the letter through a mail carrier using one of the deceased King's favorite horses.
Trent is feeling overcome with fatigue, emotionally speaking. The loss of his father, the loss of his position of power, and being departed from his pet wolf is hurting him. He looks for a place to go for help. He remembers a town that he once made trade and treaties with through the leadership of his father. A town that can be seen underneath the mountains, Nathleen. They have been walking for hours, he gets off the horse to let it drink from some water and eat some grass. Trent sits on the ground and keeps drifting to sleep and tries to fight it, but fails. He sleeps for what must feel like a few minutes and the horse makes a loud shouting noise waking him up in a hurry! He pets the horse and looks over the distance to see a figure. It's someone on a horse, carrying a bag. Trent doesn't know what is going on but he fears that it is someone heading to Nathleen too. He gets on his horse and heads to Nathleen again. He lost track of the other horseman but he made it to the town. He greets the guard outside of the town gates: "Guard! 'Tis Trent, I come to warn your great King of something bad that happened! King Norman was assassinated!" The guard runs up the steps and goes inside of the King's tower. A few minutes pass by. The guard comes back with a bow and starts shooing arrows! "NO! I was framed! I would never kill my father! He did so much for your town..." Trent yells and gets interrupted when an arrow hits his horse. The horse is jumping in a panic and throws Trent off and runs away. Trent gets up and pulls out his sword. He runs up to the steps and stands underneath them. The guards come down the steps. Trent jumps out at the last guard to come down and slits his throat! He takes the guard's dagger out from his pocket and throws it at the next closest guard, piercing through his abdomen as he falls down slowly. The last guard there turns around and extends his sword out right where Trent's head was and he ducks! He puts his sword up clashing with the guard's sword and shoves his arm towards the right side! The guard uses his free arm to elbow Trent in the rib cage! Trent takes a leap backwards and thrusts his sword forward and the guard uses his sword to block it. Trent puts his sword all the way up high behind his own head, then thrusts his sword straight down and the guard tries to put his sword in the way and it forces his body down to a crouching position. Trent holds his sword out acting like he's going to strike on the left side and quickly changes the motion to attack on the right side. By the time the guard notices it was a trick to make him block the wrong side, it was too late! Trent has killed him, just as more arrows shot out! Trent fled in the opposite direction, feeling as though he was exiled again from another town.