Zain soon spotted Blazren again, arms crossed as usual, his expression stiff.
Zain stepped up beside him.
"How'd it go, old man?"
Blazren didn't even glance at him. "Not that good."
Zain raised an eyebrow. "What happened? Explain."
Blazren finally turned, his eyes tired.
"Some of the raid teams made it into a few slave bases."
Zain leaned against the wall. "And?"
"Some of them were empty," Blazren said.
"Just left behind gear, broken chains, old tools."
"Looked like they were abandoned days ago."
Zain tilted his head. "Sounds simple."
Blazren's jaw tightened. "That was the easy part."
Zain's smile faded slightly. "Go on."
"Some of the other bases were different," Blazren said, voice low.
"They weren't empty. They were traps. Filled with strong ones. Crazy ones."
Zain crossed his arms. "How bad?"
Blazren looked down at the tablet in his hand.
"Three heroes dead. Two more in critical condition. One team barely escaped."
Zain was quiet for a second.
Then he sighed.
