Hellan
I was sore all over from hauling wood the whole day. Even though we had just sent so many souls on their way, I slept like a log in the same village where everyone had died. We slept on the hay next to each other and I wound up shamelessly rolling all over Shin for the entire night. I woke up in his arms and stretched. I walked out of the barn and found a backet of water left over from yesterday when we took a bath. I washed my face, the cold water banished whatever remnants of sleep I still had. The sun was already up spreading its warmth and light. In the horizon there was a gathering of storm clouds and they were quickly stretching over the sky. Shin walked out of the barn yawning. Since our clothes were dirty, we changed them for farmer's garments we found in the house. Seeing Shin in a lose shirt and a straw hat was sending me to overdrive. I seductively walked to him while biting my nail. He noticed me and smiled while pulling me closer to him. I remembered yester night where he pinned me down in his arms to stop me from rolling around. I felt heat rising in my cheeks as I stood on my toes planning to land a kiss on him when my attention was drawn to someone walking towards the barn.
He had a cleanly shaven head, that was his most distinct feature. Shin let me go and I jumped from his embrace. The man stood at the path that led to the house. He scanned us severally his eyes seemed to see everything. I subconsciously set my dress right. It was a simple dress that commoners wore. Modest but had too many layers so it was a bit heavy. It would be a bit of a challenge fighting in these clothes. The man tilted his head a bit to the side and narrowed his eyes. I couldn't tell what he was thinking as his face mostly remained neutral.
'It seemed we missed two' He spoke in a flat voice showing no emotion at all.
'You don't think?...' I whispered to Shin and he nodded his head.
'Most probably'
'But why would he come back here. Isn't that...' I continued whispering to him as the guy silently watched us occasionally narrowing his eyes.
'Maybe he is confident with his skill' Shin's answer made some sense, but if he was truly skilled this could become a nuisance. Immediately I saw the man, my instinct screamed telling me to get away from him.
'Are you from this village?' Before we could answer him, we saw two other men walking towards us. They were also cleanly shaven. One of them the taller muscular one had a butchers knife and the other was leaner had a blade on his waist. I could immediately tell they were brothers. They only spared us a glance and started whispering among themselves. I took a step back towards the barn hoping I could get our weapons from inside. The man with a blade locked eyes with me when I took my second step so I just froze afraid the next step might be my last. Yes that's the feeling his eyes gave me.
'Hi...Hello am we don't have much time to introduce ourselves, so we will skip the unpleasantries and keep our relationship as acquaintances...'The man we had seen first started sounding very polite.
'Where are the bodies?!' The man with a blade on his waist cut off the first man. I could feel his caged aura leaking and it was giving me a bad feeling. I looked to Shin, his eyes were focused on the three brothers.
'Are they sick in the ears?' The man with a butchers knife asked after we had taken a long time without answering. These men must be the one who killed the villagers and took their innards and heads. But what did they need with the head? I could sense a sinister plot here but that was not my immediate concern. We needed to leave here as fast as possible.
'Hey! You can hear us right?' He turned to his brothers and they shook their heads. Shin had hinted at me with his eyes that we should leave then stared counting down with his fingers. I was ready to bolt when he starts.
'I know him' The first guy caught our attention again. 'Yes I've seen his face somewhere before. But where?' He rubbed his chin looking deep in thought. He scratched his head and soon after his eyes lit up. 'Bounty! There's a bounty on his head' This caught me by surprise. since when did Shin have a bounty. Who was stupid enough to place a bounty on a royal's head. 'Did it say they want him alive? Uuuurgh! I should have read well'
'We don't need the bounty brother' The man with a blade cut off his brother again. 'The shells are missing' He muttered the last part then looked at us. I was still ready to bolt, Shin was no longer counting down. I could run, but I didn't want to leave on my own again. No never again will I run on my own, I will drag him with me if need be.
'You!' He pointed his finger at me. 'Where are the bodies?' His voice was cracking up. He was almost pleading. I looked at Shin and his face was still blank.
'We should kill one of them. The other will talk' Butcher knife suggested then he went silent as dread filled his face.
'Wait...You...No its not possible. You...' Butcher knife was breathing hard as he struggled to formulate his words. 'You...Burn...You didn't... Right?' He looked at us an insane glint took control of his eyes. When Neither one of us answered he drew his knife. 'DANM YOU! DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU!' He kept shouting as he threw a tantrum hacking everything in his path. His brother with the blade went silent looking at us trying to kill us with his gaze alone.
'Forgive my brother' The first man was still overly polite. 'We have no quarrel with each other so if you'd be kind enough to show us where our...the bodies are, we will really appreciate it.' He even bowed to us. His polite tone was starting to get on my nerves. 'I believe you buried them. Right?'
'You killed all those people?' Shin's voice was rough. I didn't know him much since ours was an arranged get together. But I knew Shin had a soft heart, he put aside his goals to send off people he didn't have any attachment to.
'Please tell me the bodies are still intact' It was blade brother who spoke his voice shaking with anger. Butcher's knife was still throwing his tantrum Hacking away at the house. He drew his blade and pointed it at us.
'Don't kill them brother, we still need to find the bodies' First guy spoke softly but loud enough for all of us to hear him. It was at this moment that Shin held my hand and bolted towards the main road. Something flew right in front of us but instead of stopping, Shin change directions and we were now running towards the village. I turned around and saw the butchers knife rush back to Butcher's knife's hand.
'Don't run on your own. Stay with me' His voice was still firm. I held onto the many layers of my dress and followed him as fast as I could. Lucky for me I still had my boots. I shifted my wait to the left to avoid the knife which got embedded onto the wooden wall of the village house. I tried taking the knife as I run past it but I got cut instead. My palm bled. I bit my lip as the pain rushed to my head. Shin held my other arm and snapped me out of it. Thanks to the knife we kept on changing course as we roamed the village. I was kind of happy I listened to Shin when he told me we should send the souls on their way. If we had gone with my plan who knows what these madmen planned to do with dead people.
'Linda is going to burry me alive' I sighed as we got to the edge of the village. I had no clue on what direction we were currently heading towards but I held onto my man's hand tightly afraid if I let go I may loose him for more than three days.