He hit the ground hard, his hood falling off. Three rough-looking men emerged from the shadows, surrounding him.
"Jackpot!" one of them laughed, slapping the other on the back. "Hahaha! Look what wandered right into our net."
"Tie him properly," ordered the tallest one, stepping forward with a coil of rope. "Let's not get sloppy."
But before he could even kneel—
Axelius stood up, brushing dust from his clothes with a sigh that made it seem like he was more annoyed by the dirt than the fact that he had just been kidnapped.
"Really now, if you're going to ambush someone, at least pick a better spot. And next time, try not to mess up their cloak. This one took days to stitch by hand," he muttered, flicking the edge of his now-dirty sleeve and giving it a half-hearted shake as if that would somehow fix the damage.
"Looks like Millie will fix it again." Owen said.
