[Year 344, The month of Flame, day 20]

“Be careful with the bags Geisai. We can’t sell anything if they’re too damaged.”

“Okay.”

The sun sat high in the midday as mom and made our way towards the village.

For the last couple of weeks, we’d been preparing to move. First, we separated everything we owned into the things we’d need, could sell, or was completely useless. While there wasn’t all that much to sort through, mom seemed to have trouble selling the some of the stuff off.

Right now mom was walking beside me while I carried three sacks over my back. We’ve been coming to the village almost every day, yet mom hadn’t even sold half of what she wanted to.

Today was the last day we’d come to the village. If mom whatever mom couldn’t sell would be left behind or burned before we left the day after tomorrow.

Apparently, we would need some money for our trip, but when I found a fancy box wrapped in a dirty cloth mom yanked it out of my hands and told me to not to mess with it. While the looked like it would easily sell, mom was adamant in her refusal to do so.

Whatever that box was, it must have been really important to her. It was probably for the best to I leave it alone.

But, after I found it we began eating more food than normal, so that was nice.

I wondered what we’d do for food when we left our current home, but mom said that we had enough dried food and herbs to last us through autumn. She didn’t tell me anything but she knew about traveling so there was nothing to worry about.

We weren’t that far from the hill that overlooked the village now and there was something I wanted to ask mom before she left.

“Hey, mo─”

“Gaaayh!!”

“Uaaah” “Uaaah”

When I tried to get mom’ attention a yelling figure burst out of the underbrush a few yards away from us. Both mom and I were caught off guard by its sudden appearance, but mom barely had time to draw her daggers before the figure fell to the ground.

“Stay back, Geisai”

Mom placed one of her arms in front of me and started to slowly back away. She always did this whenever an animal crossed our path. But, it wasn’t a monster that appeared, it was a person.

“Mom, he’s hurt.”

The man that appeared was covered in dirt and blood, his pale blonde hair was matted down by sweat, a large piece of his right ear was missing, and his flesh of his left arm had been torn down to the bone just beneath the shoulder. I thought he was dead at first, but I saw that his chest moved up and down.

Something big had attacked him and it could be following him. My legs started to shake when I thought of that.

What if it was still around?

“...sai.”

What if it attacked us?

“Gei…”

What if─

Geisai!”

“Whoa!!

“Geisai! Listen to me! I need you to calm down.”

Hearing mom’s shouting got my name got my attention. At some point I’d dropped the bags I’d been carrying and started to walk backward. I think she’d been talking to me for a while but I hadn’t heard her, but she held out one of her daggers with the hilt facing me.

“Geisai, take this and if you hear anything coming, run. Run as fast as you can and don’t look back.”

“But─”

“Geisai! Do what I tell you and take the knife!”

Not wanting to anger her anymore I grabbed hold of the worn hilt and took the blade from mom.

“Huagh.”

After sighing, mom slowly made her way towards the fallen man, stopping for a moment every time the man jerked around. When she was right beside him she poked him a couple times with her foot.

“Ouaghhh.”

When the man let out a pained moan, mom readied her dagger before trying to talk to him.

“If you can hear me speak up.”

“I-l’m ale-ve. Get tou vellaghe Haeve to worn thesm.”

I could barely understand what he said but mom continued speaking to the man.

“Worn them? Worn them of what?”

“O-O res dozzesens of them. Brouther Brouther ◼◽◾◻◽◼ ◼◽◾◻◽ ”

The last part of what he said was impossible to understand, but mom froze for a moment when she heard it.

Before I could say anything, mom started to frantically move around. She looked between me, the fallen man, and the direction of the village while walking around in a circle.

Mom did that several times before stopping in front of the man and calling me over.

“Geisai, come here.”

Mom’s tone didn’t leave any room to disobey her, so I ran up to the fallen man.

The stench hit my nose almost immediately, the smell of dirt, piss, and blood caused me to gag at first. I didn’t understand how mom could bare to be with this man for so long.

“Breath through your mouth, honey. You’ll get used to it soon, but now I need you to do something important.”

“Huaan haa. Huaan haa”

“That’s good, keep doing that. Now, you see that man’s injured arm, the place where the bone is sticking out?”

It wasn’t hard to miss seeing as most of the flesh had been torn off just below the man’s right shoulder. I nodded my head at mom’s question as I the stench was still getting to me.

“Alright honey, I need to to grab that section of his arm and snap it over your knee as hard as you can.”

The man started screaming and jerking about when he heard that, however, he must have been pretty worn out because mom was able to hold him by sitting on his chest.

“Geisai, hurry!!”

Not wanting to disappoint mom, I quickly grabbed hold of the man’s injured arm and snapped it off. It came off easily, I didn’t even have to break it over my knee like mom told me to.

“Aaaaaggggghhhhhhh”

“Gah.”

The man’s reaction immediate, his violent buckling being enough to throw mom off of him. But that was only a brief burst of energy, as the man fell to the ground as quickly as he shot up.

Once she was sure the man wouldn’t get up anymore, mom stood up and approached him again. She took out one of her dagger hilts and placed it in his mouth. When she looked up at me the usual warm in her eyes had been replaced with a cold glare she usually had when killing wild animals.

“Honey, you can drop that now.”

I realized I was still holding the man’s bloody severed arm after mom said that. I tossed it aside as quickly as I could and tried to wipe the blood off my hands.

“It’s okay, we have to do this to save his life. We don’t have the time to do this gently.”

I think she was trying to comfort me, but she wasn’t even looking at me anymore.

Her eyes were locked to the stump where the man’s arm once was.

“Emalf gnisnaelc dewicked yaway nurb.”

The smell of burnt flesh filled my nostrils as I did my best to seal cauterize the boy’s stump. The boy had succumb to the pain halfway through the procedure, and it was probably for the best that he had.

If surviving the trek back here hadn’t damaged the poor boy’s mind the dismemberment was sure to do the trick. However, it was a necessity, the arm had already begun to show signs of infection and he would’ve bled out before we reached the village if left alone.

The boy’s life would neve-

“Gaaaarrrraaaagggghhh”

“Mom!? What was that?”

The origins of that roar weren't too far from here, maybe a mile at most.

Now wasn’t the time or place to pity a stranger. The village had to be warned about what was to come and I needed to find a safe space for Gaisei and myself.

Pity and guilt could be dealt with later, but right now we needed to get moving.

“Geisai, we’re going to the village. You’re gonna have to carry him there.”

“But… What about the bags?“

Geisai was overwhelmed by all of this, as he should be, but he was at least he was aware of his surroundings.

“They’re not important anymore. We have to go. Now.”

Geisai hesitated for a moment but he bent down and hustled the boy’s body over his shoulder. While seeing a seven-year-old left easily lift someone more than twice their size was a sight to behold, but Geisai’s strength had its uses.

Once he found his balance we began half-jogging our way down the hill. However, the closer we got to the village the more worried I became. With a bit of luck, we should be able to get into the village without much issue, but what came after was a different story.

We’d made it halfway thru the wheat field before the farmers started kicking up a commotion.

“Isn’t that…”

“Has she lost her…”

“...for letting a Darh’ki stick around.”

“Isn’t that…”

All around us I could hear their voices, some openly criticizing me, other simply curious about what was happening. Then there were the outright insults and degrading comments, it was because of them that I never brought Geisai here after the first visit.

I wanted to see how this was affecting Geisai but he was walking ahead of me so I couldn’t see his expression, but he did speed up shortly after the insults started.

It was a bit of a blessing when I saw Donovan walking out of the village gate, even if he those around him didn’t seem all too happy to see me.

However, before either of us could say anything, a young woman and a man beside her spoke up first.

“Garrick! What have you done to my son!?”

“Get your filthy hands off of him!?”

The man was moments away from tackling Geisai but stopped in his tracks when I drew my dagger. The guards drew readied their weapons at this, but Donovan intervened before things got out of hand.

“Enough!! All of you lower your weapons! That’s an order.”

The normal professionalism in his voice was replaced with an unwavering commanding tone. No one dared to oppose, so everyone reluctantly lowered their weapons.

“Aislinn.”

Understanding what he wanted I nodded my head and gave Geisai an order, all the while paying close attention to our surroundings.

“Put him down, honey.”

Without a word, Geisai walked forward and placed the bo- Garrick on the ground. The pair I assumed were his parents immediately descended on Garrick’s unconscious form.

“Get him to the healer.”

A couple of helped Garrick’s parents take him deeper into the village.

“Aislinn, what’s going on?”

“Came across him on our way to the village. We did what we could to keep him alive, with what we had on hand.

Before he passed out he worried of a massive group of ogres heading towards the village.”

The crowd went silent for a moment upon hearing my explanation, confirming something I heard a while back. I few years before I settle here, a devastating ogre raid had destroyed the field just days before the harvest and even killed the previous village chief.

Given the effect just mentioning ogres had on the villagers, I imagined that a lot of people lost something important that day.

“Lies! How do we know that her spawn didn’t attack the poor boy?!”

“Who the hell said that!?”

My temper flared as I tried to find the source of that idiotic comment. However, everyone remained silent.

“Before, you fools speak your baseless claims just ask yourself what the hell I would gain from bringing the boy here and telling such a blatant lie. If I wanted to I could have left him to die, and left you all to your fate. I-”

“Enough! Aislinn, that’s enough.”

Before things got out of hand, Donovan brought things under control once more. After taking a deep breath, he began giving out orders.

“If there is even a slight chance of an attack coming, we must prepare for it. All guards, begin to fortify the outer wall! Any able-body fighter shill take part in the coming battle. Women, children, and those unfit to fight are to take shelter behind the inner wall!”

“Let’s get going Geisai.”

As I turned around and prepared to leave with Geisai, Donovan stopped us.

“Aislinn, where are you going? When I said women and children, I meant all women and children. That includes you and your son.”

“But, Chief. It’s a Darh’ki.”

Donovan gave the guard that spoke up a cold look as he repeated himself.

“Women, children, and those unfit to fight are to take shelter behind the inner wall Do I make myself clear?”

“Y-Yes sir.”

The villager burst into action almost immediately, all of them rushing do as they were instructed, as Gaisei and I were lead into the village.