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“Uh,”she started,”I doubt that will go over well.”
“I know,”D replied quietly.
Kat sighed, shaking her head, and walked off to the town, doing as he asked
though unsure as to how to get them to not flip out at her for the last order D gave. D
meanwhile waited in the grove sitting by a tree to think about things.
Walking into the town she went to the bartender and explained some of the things
to him. Together they went to talk to the village council and the mayor. Agreeing to the
matter of the jade was an easy matter, they complied gratefully but the matter of the
children went over badly. After trying to explain things they adamantly stated they would
not kill any of the children. In response to this they practically threw the two of them out
of the mayor’s office and after dropping the bartender off at the bar she headed back to
the grove where D waited.
He stood as she arrived and he as she walked over she said,”They won’t kill the
kids if they come back.”
“We should move quickly then,”D said quietly.
“Yeah,”she agreed,”So what do we do first?”
“We need to find where they’ve been taking the children,”D replied.
“Allright,”she said,”Is there a trail of anything we can follow or is this just a guess
and hope we’re right sort of thing.”
Nodding to the northeast D replied,”There are more claw marks that way. We
should follow them as far as we can.”
“Ok,”she agreed as she began walking in the direction of the marks, D walking
slowly beside her.
Eventually the orchard became a forest surrounding them and the path grew
somewhat overgrown making them have to pick their steps carefully. As the path got
more and more overgrown though the marks became harder to discern, and at one point
stopping completely. At the notice of the marks being gone they stopped and Kat turned
to D.
“What now?”
D simply took off his gloves and said,”You know what to do.”
With a grumble and a few comments about degrading behavior the symbiot started
sniffing around, acting for all intents and purposes like a hound leading his master on a
hunt. In response D muttered some threat to it about sticking the symbiot in bear
droppings and it silenced itself, leading them furthur on, about 3/4 of a mile. Stopping
they looked at the hill before them with a small, seemingly abandoned house on the top of
it. From their position beside each other at the base of the hill she looked at it and they
noted that there was a light on in the house. D put his gloves back on as she looked at
him giving him the “I don’t like this” look.
With a grin she whispered quietly almost jokingly,”So who’s going to knock?”
D was silent for a moment and then said,”No one.”
“Good,”she replied, giving the house another glance,”So what now?”
“I’m not sure,”D stated simply,”If the oni is still there, a frontal assault is suicide.
If only his minions are there we have a better chance.”
She nodded slightly and said quietly,”Now how to determine what’s inside...”
“We camp,”D said as he walked around the base of the hill, finding a rocky
outcropping,”and wait.”
She followed him, sitting down on a rock near where he stood, both waiting for
the time to pass and tell what was in the house. Slightly after midnight a light fog rolled
into the valley, obscuring the small house though the light still shone slightly from the
window. Katrina looked at the fog then up to D, as the defeaning silence continued.
After a moment she looked up towards the house, the light that came from the window
slightly lighting up the small grove and creating shadows at the base of the hill where they
waited. Eventually D stood and stretched, as he glanced around and then began walking
cautiously up the mountain.
“I haven’t seen anything yet,”she said in barely a whisper as she followed him,
staying slightly behind him,”You?”
D was silent and she looked at him for a moment then her eyes focused back on
the house. He stopped about 20 feet from the house, just at the edge of the treeline and
Katrina stopped beside him, to his right as the symbiot spoke up.
“D,”it said quietly,”The house is empty.”
Katrina gave the symbiot a glance and then looked at D as he nodded, drawing his
sword. As she drew her own he began walking towards the house slowly and she stayed
to his right, catching up with him.
Reaching the rotting door D pushed it open slowly, and its hinges creaked as he
looked inside. A terrible smell eminated from one of the two rooms within and to his right
he heard Katrina mutter quietly to herself, her nose wrinkling slightly from the smell.
“What a lovely new smell you’ve discovered...”
D was silent and walked into the left hand room, finding a small metal box covered
in brownish stains placed in the middle of the room. Coming up near him, unable to see
what exactly it was as she kept her guard up, she asked.
“What is it?”
“It’s a trap,”D said simply,”Leave it.”
She nodded slightly and looked at him as he brushed past her going into the next
room. As he entered his eyes fixed on the source of the smell. Laying on the ground was
one of the children, eviscerated. The small girl appeared to have been dead for some time
as the flies buzzed around her eyes and mouth. Looking at the sight, Kat’s free hand
quickly went to cover her nose and mouth.
“Looks like someone had some fun,”the symbiot interjected making the whole
scene seem worse even though it spoke with hardly a joking tone.
D gently put his arm around Kat and they stepped from the room quickly as she let
him lead her out of the room and the house. Once they were out she shook her head
slightly.
“Disgusting.”
D nodded in response and she looked at him, her hand finally falling back to it’s
normal resting place at her side, her sword still drawn and in her right hand.
“Now what?” She asked as D returned his sword to his sheath, removing his arm
from her as well.
He knelt on the ground, holding his left hand to the ground as she sheathed her
own sword and watched him. The symbiot sniffed the ground for a moment then pointed
to the west. Kat looked in that direction and took a step forward. Putting his glove back
on D stood and began to walk slowly west, following a thin trail through the woods. Kat
walked beside him in silence, the image of the girl still fresh in her mind.
“They did that to all the children?” She asked quietly looking up at him.
D was silent and walked on not meeting her eyes and eventually she looked back
down again, her eyes on the path and ahead as they followed it.
“Horrible,”she whispered as they walked and after almost an hour they came to a
clearing.
Hearing the sounds of battle in the valley below she looked at D, her hand going to
her sword almost instantaneously. D was silent and she looked in the direction of the
noise again then back to him.
“Too many to fight,”he said simply and her hand went back to her side as she
nodded.
Together they stood at the edge of the forest, watching the large group of soldiers
charging towards a brick castle in the distance.