Screaming echoed through the small village as yet another villager was dragged through the street to the center square. His hand bound behind his head as he was dragged behind the horse, the riding wearing a face covering as he stopped the stead and jumped down. Around them were more villagers, along with the man’s screaming wife and child being held back by some relatives. Among the villagers were more beings dressed to kill and armed to the teeth, a mix of elves, humans, an orc or three, even a few goblins. All wearing similar attire and all with a variety of nasty weapons that each of them preferred to use.
As the man riding the horse dropped down he untied the villager as another black attired elf stepped up. ”We have you all multiple times now and yet some of you refuse to listen, so it’s time for another lesson.” As he spoke the bound villager was dragged by two others to a cross laid on the ground which he was forced down onto. ”We don’t want to hurt or kill any of you, we have told you this a number of times now. All we ask if that you follow our rules, and we’ll… protect you from the evils in the world.” A hammer strike and a cry of pain. ”It’s that simple, a bit of your food, cooperation with our rules and we can all exist peacefully together. I know some of us have taken up spaces in your homes, but that’s why we are building more, right? If you all would just cooperate with us, we can have some peace around here.”
As he talked he walked over to the wife and child of the man being nailed to the cross and he kneeled down to the hysteric child who tried to hide behind her mother. [color-darkblue]”Dear girl, your daddy didn’t listen to a simple rule, and there are consequences to not following your rules. When your mommy tells you to pick up your toys, you do it, right? Well, your daddy didn’t pick up his toys when we asked, so now he needs to be punished.” He reached out to touch her to wipe away a terrified tear, but she screamed instead and managed wiggle free from the hands holding her. The moment the girl was free she stamped the one elf’s foot before taking off into the forest. Her mother called for her and went to give chance but was held back. The man who had been talking placed a hand instead on the elf’s shoulders to stop him from giving chase as well. ”Let her go, she won’t go far before she comes back… maybe.” He shrugged as the cross was raised and driven into place for all to see, along with the half dozen others.
The shiny-ness of the forest was why she came this way once in a while. It was a beautiful place every time she came here, and it was something she did to relax and let her mind unwind from all the violence that her job usually entailed. The ronin walked slowly along, eyes half closed as she allowed the light breeze to cool her off, not that it was too hot, it was just perfect. The odd lighting of the forest made her brain tingle, that feline part of brain was delighted. It did help that she was utterly stoned, smoking her pipe as always, she had spiked her usual catnip with a little something extra to give it more of a kick. It was working very, very well, it could have been scorching hot or freezing cold and she probably would have been comfortable either way.
The ronin carried no weapons, she had an empty looking backpack and a light jacket that was open revealing a low-cut top that showed off the large snake tattoo that wrapped around the heart tattoo on her chest. The jacket’s sleeves were short so the claw mark like tattoos filled in with flowers on her forearms were visible. A light and long pair of pants that allowed flexibility and a sturdy pair of shoes made her an unassuming target as he walked along and smoked herself into the sky with each puff. Her elbow length black hair was hanging loose around her, she had a tie for it around her left wrist but was happy with it for now.
As she inhaled on her pipe she found out that it was all burnt out and needed to be refreshed. ”Hmph, again? Seems like I just did this.” She spoke to no one, or mumbled rather. Stopping to lean against a free to make sure she didn’t fall on her ass, Kawabata knocked the cinders out of the piped and took a bag of crushed catnip leaves and mixed in with them were small white crystals. She took a pinch of the mixture and packed it into the pipe. ”This Spark is some good shit.” She half giggled to herself putting the bag away and trying to find her small flint and steel she used for lighting the pipe.
Fumbling in her pockets she stopped when her sharp ears picked up what sounded like screaming mixed with crying for somewhere up ahead. ”Fucking fae, I’m not falling for that… again.” Stoned her not, that was why she was hugging the edge of the forest to look at the pretty shiny, so as not to get drawn in by the fae inside. But as she got her pipe lit the screaming was getting closer and there was no mistaking it now that it was from a young child. Not too long after she could see said child running in her direction. ”What the fuck?” The ronin muttered to herself as the clearly terrified child came closer. ”Ohhh, either the fae have gotten smarter or this is a real child in real need… I am not mentally prepared for that.”
The child, from what Kawabata could tell as she got closer looked human, maybe ten or eleven, barefoot sadly and dirty. ”Hey, kid, kid, you ok?” Kawabata called out catching the girl’s attention who stopped in her tracks and stared, scared, at the ronin who watched her back. ”Hey there, are you ok? Do you need help?” She asked dropping down to her knees so she wasn’t looking down at the kid. The girl looked like she was ready to bolt again. ”Please let me help you? My name is Kawabata, what’s your name?” She asked, smiling, but it probably looked odd because of Kawabata’s state of mind at the moment.
”Holly.”
”That’s pretty name, Holly! Now, can you tell me what’s wrong? I can try and help you.. oh!” The surprise at the end was when Holly suddenly closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around Kawabata as she broke out into tears again.
”They… they hurt daddy and mommy!” Holly wailed burying her face into Kawabata’s shoulder.
Stunned for a second Kawabata set her pipe down and wrapped her arms around Holly, still unsure if this was a fae trick or a real situation. ”I’m so sorry, honey, do you want me to help your mommy and daddy?”
Holly nodded but said nothing, and they sat there for a few moments as Holly cried until she couldn’t any longer and sniffled. ”Mommy told me of a boogeyman in the forest, I had to be a good girl and stay away. But mommy said that she hoped the boogeyman would hurt the bad men in our home, they hurt my friends.” Holly explained.
”Do you know where this boogeyman is, Holly? Maybe I can get them to help your parents and your friends?” Kawabata offered, knowing that this was either going to be the end of her thanks to the fae, or she was about to help a terrified little girl. If this was a fae trick this was a damn good one and they figured out exactly what to do to snag Kawabata in a trap.
Holly nodded and pointed in a direction. ”That way, mommy made sure I knew never to go that way on my own.”
Kawabata got to her feet and wished she had brought something that could clear her head, as it was she had to rely on time to get the fog from the Spark out of her head. She bent over and picked up Holly easily enough, she wasn’t a big girl. Kawabata reached behind her and made a canteen of water appear in her hand and held it out for Holly. ”Drink some water, please, Holly, ok? I’ll do the walking, you just point me to the boogieman, and I need you to be a brave young lady and tell me what you remember of what happened to your parents, ok? You’re a brave girl, I know Holly, the more you can tell me the more I can help them, ok?” Kawabata smiled as Holly nodded as she gulped some water down.
With that Kawabata started in the vague direction the little girl had pointed in.
This would be interesting no matter how it played out from here.
