บท 7: Two days After in the Bu Hai Village
Village Chief Owansu looked at God's House, fury in his features. Why had the sacrifice decided to be kidnapped?
Owansu glanced around the meeting that he convened, locking eyes with the teacher that taught the sacrifice and his own grandson. "What happened here, Teacher Claire?"
Claire looked at the village chief, disgust clearly in her face. Chief Owansu's face darkened at her disgust, but he knew that it wasn't the time. If the sacrifice were to be ruined, then the villagers would have to rear another one, and he wasn't sure that the Great God would be happy to wait for another 12 years.
"Clearly it was slave traders," Claire replied to Chief Owansu. "To be honest, that was one of the reasons why I came to the Bu Hai Village. It's the closest village to the center of the forest, and the King believes that there is a hidden crime syndicate there."
Chief Owansu's face darkened further. "How can there be a crime syndicate that we, the villagers of Bu Hai, would fail to miss?"
"And how could the villagers of Bu Hai miss a few slave traders, hmm?" Claire shot back, anger in her eyes. Sparks flew and the tension rose before Claire deeply sighed. "This is getting us nowhere," she said, "we need to think of a plan to get Ma- I mean the sacrifice back. If they didn't have M- I mean the sacrifice, I would have simply destroyed them. However, they can use the sacrifice as a hostage, and I'm not good at hostage situations."
"How long would it take to contact the Kingdom of Ymir?" Owansu asked.
"Contacting the guards for a kidnapping?" Claire sighed, "I'm afraid that that wouldn't work. The guards don't move unless the one being kidnapped is a noble, and that is only after they are bribed. A single person's life isn't that important to them. And even if I call in a few favors, it would take too long for them to get the letter and arrive to help."
"What should we do then?" Somehow, Chief Owansu had accidentally given the reins to Teacher Claire. The attention of the villagers were on her.
"We should make two teams. One of the teams would follow the tracks of the traders, while the other team travels to the nearest Ymir city to contact one of my acquaintances. It should take around four days if both groups don't rest and use horses."
"We can't do that-" Chief Owansu began before he was interrupted by Claire once again.
"It's already been almost two-and-a-half days since May- I mean, the sacrifice's kidnapping. The traders could have already reached the next city by then," Claire said, furiously, "If you, Village Chief, weren't so convinced that she had escaped, we wouldn't have lost time searching for her futilely in the forest despite the clues pointing towards a kidnapping!"
Village Chief Owansu grew silent, but he soon opened his mouth to give out orders. "The hunters will split in half," Owansu turned to Claire, "who will lead which group?"
"I'll go with the group that will make contact with the traders," Claire began, determination in her eyes.
The two conversed for a few minutes while the members of the village watched them. All had failed to see Mai entering the village, her sacrificial offering clothes messy.
Mai stood at the very back of the meeting, watching the back-and-forth arguing between Chief Owansu and Claire.
"And that's decided!" Claire overbearingly said, "I will go with the group to find the sacrifice!"
Chief Owansu's face was red with the effort of arguing with Claire. "I disagree-"
"I arrived," Mai interrupted Chief Owansu, tiredness in her features.
All of the villagers and Claire turned their heads in surprise. Claire was the first to speak. "Wha- how... when? May- I mean, the sacrifice. How did you manage to escape?"
Mai smiled and shook her head. Her fifty words would not be enough to explain what had happened.
....... 1 day earlier
Mai was still waiting for the right time to escape from the carriage, sure that there would be one soon. And an opportunity had came soon. The traders had arrived before a stream, and the two traders that were guarding the back of the carriage had gone over to the stream. Mai took this chance to streak out of the carriage, not turning back to look at the traders. Surprisingly, it wasn't until Mai had gotten far enough away that the traders notice the white streak that was running away from their carriage.
"Is that the girl!" One of the slave traders had said it shock.
"After her!"
It was a game of cat-and-mouse for a while, but Mai had managed to beguile the men and escape. Using her newly found skills and the help of the voice as a look-out, it took Mai a whole day to return to the village.
...... Back to the present
"It's good that you're safe," Claire had said, tears of relief pooling in her eyes.
"What were you doing, sacrifice, that caused you to attract those slave traders?" Chief Owansu asked, blame heavy in his tone. "There must have been something that you had done."
Mai looked in shock at the Village Chief while the villagers quickly began to murmur in agreement.
"Nothing," Mai replied to Chief Owansu. Mai looked around the mass of villagers and realized that Dir was not there, otherwise he would have been able to explain that she did not do anything differently in the forest. Chief Owansu was sure to trust Dir more than Teacher Claire.
When Claire heard Chief Owansu's words, she grew stunned for a moment at his sheer stupidity. Trying to take a calming breath, Claire quickly bursted, fury in her features. "Are you stupid?" She said, "Is it an animal's fault that they get killed by a predator? If there's a drought, is it the fault of the plants?" Her eyes bore holes in Chief Owansu's face. "May- I mean, the sacrifice," she paused, "No, I do mean May. May was at the wrong place at the wrong time. And it seems to me to be the fault of the villagers for not enforcing the security of the forest better."
Chief Owansu stared at Claire in shock, anger quickly filling his chest. "You are just a teacher," he began, "while I am the chief. How dare you accuse me in that tone!"
Teacher Claire's face quickly chilled. "I used to be the 2nd Commander of the King's guards. The King still owes me a favor. I hope you don't convince me to use that favor, Village Chief Owansu."
Tension arose in the air until Mai walked before Claire and the Village Chief, holding up two hands. "Stop," she turned to village Chief Owansu, "Sorry."
She remembered the grandson and the son and the wolves. She wanted to help the good wolf rather than the bad wolf, and she didn't believe in blame.
The argument stilled and Chief Owansu awkwardly coughed. "It's good that you know you're at fault! Go to God's house. You're not allowed to get out of there until five suns and moons pass!"
Mai nodded, relieved. She can finally sleep.
"So you apologized to him just so that you can be sent to God's house faster?" the voice asked, amused.
Mai nodded, a slight smile gracing her lips. She was exhausted. Entering God's house, she barely had enough energy to change her clothes and lay on her bed before she fell asleep.
........
It wasn't until the next day that Mai had enough energy to think about Dir. Why wasn't he in the crowd of villagers?
She looked up at the grassroots ceiling, her head tilted in confusion.
The voice sighed, "I'll see what he's doing."
Mai smiled and turned to put on her clothes. Although she could have stayed in her sleeping clothes, she would rather put on her ceremonial robes due to her habit.
It took a few minutes for the voice to return. "He tried to recklessly go to the forest to save you," the voice begrudgingly said, "so Owansu had him locked up. I hate to say this, but that headstrong, just-brawns-and-no-brain boy is pretty brave."
Mai nodded, concerned. "He okay?"
"Yes," the voice's tone darkened due to his grudge, "Hypocrite Village Chief Owansu obviously treats his heir better than anyone else."
Mai nodded and stood from her sitting position on her bed. She moved towards her weaving materials and sat down. She began to weave.
The voice grew silent, watching her. He liked to watch Mai when she was concentrated on a task. She would protrude her bottom lip and tilt her head slightly. The voice found it cute.
Five days passed in silence with the occasional conversation between Mai and the voice. After the fifth day passed, Claire had burst into God's house, her face filled with worry.
"Those d*mn b*stards wouldn't let me into your house, May. Are you alright?!" Claire anxiously asked, walking towards Mai and searching for wounds with her eyes. As she noticed none, Claire visibly calmed. "What happened? How did you escape?"
Mai smiled. "Bound by rope in carriage. When distracted, I ran. Using skills, arrived at village."
Understanding dawned Claire's features. "So you were bound in a carriage. When the traders were distracted, you managed to run away? Were you still bound by the rope?"
Mai shook her head and showed Claire her metal fan.
"Oh! So you sawed through the rope with your fan." A smile crept on Claire's face. "So having your weapon with you helped you, hmm?"
Smiling, Mai nodded. "Thank you," she said.
"And who do you have to th- oh," Claire grew embarrassed, "it's nothing. It's actually my duty." She coughed, changing the subject. "So what happened next? You escaped from the carriage and ran away from the traders?"
"Can she stop stating the obvious?" the voice said.
"Yes," Mai responded to Claire, ignoring the voice's sarcastic words.
"That's amazing!" With sparkling eyes, Claire leaned in closer to Mai. "We need to increase your training!"
Mai weakly smiled. After having been kidnapped, she would rather avoid the forest for a while.
Asking her various other questions, Claire was finally satisfied after an hour had passed. Mai had used her 50 words for the day, so she was a little melancholic when Claire had asked one final question.
"What do you think of Chief Owansu?"
"He's a hypocritical, worthless, d*uch-"
Mai coughed, interrupting the voice. However, Claire took it as Mai getting her attention. "What's wrong?" Claire asked.
Shaking her head, Mai pointed towards her throat. Claire soon understood, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to have you use your 50 words this early in the morning."
Mai shook her head 'no'. She liked the worry that Claire felt for her. It was something new and heartwarming. She liked both emotions.
"Well," Claire began, "let's go ahead and begin our training. I think I'm going to train you in another weapon: the whip. A whip not only has great reach, but it's speedy and, if you coat the end in poison, it can be deadly too." Claire instructed Mai, leading Mai towards her hut. "Oh, and before I forget," Claire said, "Dir is waiting for you in my hut. He was pretty anxious to see you."
Nodding her head, Mai continued to follow Claire. Even before they reached Claire's hut, however, Dir barreled into the two of them. Mai had barely dodged the boy.
"Whoa there, Aldrich! You almost mowed us down!" Claire yelped.
Dir ignored her, staring at Mai with tears in his eyes. "I'm happy that you're alright, Mai," Dir said, his voice filled with relief. Mai once again nodded her head, her neck getting tired with all of her nodded.
"If your neck hurts, then just ignore him," the voice told her.
Mai grinned.
"Okay, kids," Claire said, "let's continue this inside so that we can get started with a new lesson. Dir, I'm going to teach you how to make a trap strong enough for a human. And May, I already told you what I'll teach you."
"Yes!" Dir said, excitement in his face.
Mai softly giggled as she followed the two of them into the hut.
..........
Once again, days and months passed with Claire teaching Dir and Mai, and Dir and Mai becoming better friends. However, after a year and a half passed, Claire had decided that the children had learned everything that she could teach them. They were one test away passing Claire's course.
.........
Claire had decided to leave the two 11-and-a-half-year olds in the forest, leaving them nothing but their weapons and the clothes on their backs. She instructed the villagers, telling them to not assist the two children. At that, she watched to see how Dir and Mai would survive the ordeal.
Unsurprisingly, Mai and Dir were able to survive in the forest for as long as a month, utilizing all of the skills (and Mai's brain) that Claire had taught them. It was at that point that Claire could no longer avoid- the children had passed her course.
"I'm going to miss you guys," Claire gushed, tears leaking like a faucet from her eyes. She felt sad as she looked at Mai, still unable to believe that she was unable to convince Mai to escape from the village. "If I wasn't ordered to return to the Kingdom, I would have just stayed here."
Mai nodded, unwillingness filling her chest. She learned that she didn't like good-byes.
"Don't worry," Dir said, leaning his head close towards Claire so that only she could hear him, "I'll figure out a way to change her mind."
Claire nodded, and then she took out two boxes from her luggage. "I have a gift for you two," she said, presenting the a small box and a large box to Mai and Dir, respectively. "It isn't much, but I hope that you two will accept it."
Dir opened his box impatiently, excited to view his present. However, Mai savored the moment- once again, opening a present was something new to her, although it wasn't the first time that Claire had given her something. Mai unwrapped the present slowly, saving the brightly colored wrapping. She uncovered a beautiful hairpin that had lilacs sculpted on the top.
"Beautiful," Mai whispered, in awe. She clumsily gathered her hair together and gingerly inserted the hairpin. "I love it."
Claire had a proud look on her face. "I knew you would. Aldrich had told me that you liked the flower."
Dir at that point had yelled in happiness as he uncovered silver armor. "Thanks, Teacher Claire!" Dir told her, hugging his armor.
Claire smiled at the children.
"Claire! We're leaving with or without you!" One of the men that came to pick Claire up yelled at her, the tone of his voice revealing his impatience.
"That's my cue," Claire said, "I'll miss you two. Don't forget everything that I taught you!" Claire looked around and, noticing that none of the villagers were around, she quickly scooped both Dir and Mai in a hug. She was careful to make sure that Dir did not touch Mai. "Bye," she whispered before she left, not looking back.
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