Gamers' Quest

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Tark perched in a tree and waited. He kept his eyes on the path that wound its way through the Forest. He knew it was just a matter of time. All he had to do was wait … and commit highway thievery. He wondered, as he sat on this branch, whether or not the term highway thievery still applied if the perpetration occurred on a path. Pathway thievery? Would that make him a pathwayman instead of a highwayman?

Tark's violet eyes lit up as he saw movement through the trees. He drew his shabby cloak around himself. It may have been old and worn, and had certainly seen better days, but it still had many of its original magik properties. And right now, it was helping him blend in with his surroundings. It also assisted in keeping the morning chill at bay. Tark was a touch on the scrawny side and tended to feel the cold.

The retinue approached, and Tark smiled. It was all so predictable. Stupid princelings seemed to forever be traversing the mid-level paths of the Forest. They obviously believed these paths to be less dangerous than the large highways or the smaller tracks. And they were probably right. Notorious, well-armed highwaymen worked the larger, well-travelled routes. Travellers who looked like they were worth robbing were likely to have at least one attempt made on them during the course of an average journey. And as for the dark, obscure tracks that wound their way through the unforgiving heart of the Forest … well, there were things far worse than highway thievers in the World.

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