Jade Medieval

Chapter 12

The two men below the tree limbs hushed themselves and took hiding behind bushes. I heard the four note whistle i had made earlier. Mother had taught it to me. I pressed my lips together and repeated the tune back as loud as i dared. If mother was down there then she was in trouble. I saw her walking closer to the men in the bushes and whistled the four note tune again. My attention stayed on my mother's movements. Michael was climbing down the tree.

"This is a waste of time, there is nobody here to worry abou-"
Bang!

Michael had dropped from the tree and landed on something that resulted in an uneasy laugh from one of the men. My mother was out of sight.

"Thats some exploding gunpowder stuff we got from out far East. That there is the trial one, we meant to come out here to practice rigging it up," the man grinned sickly and moved out of my like of sight," guess we have a real subject!"

The two men laughed from their bellies. My eyes widened in shock. Micheal looked up at me unsure of what to do. The men shouted at him trying to get him to fight them.

"They want you to leave," I said quiet as I could moving down lower," don't move, that might tigger the explosion."

He nodded very slowly and I noticed his one hand was shaking. He moved it behind his back and made a fist.

"Move boy or we shoot this pretty old crow!" A different man in red moved in front of Micheal now. He held a woman with a rice sack over her head. My hand clamped over my mouth to prevent any noise. They had gotten Mother. Her dress was filthy and soiled. My eyes searched her captor's face. He had a mark on the side of his face, likely from her hitting him.

"No," I heard myself say.

"So she is up there?" The man in red says now,"lucky you boy."

He snarls like an animal and I move to jump down but Micheal stops me with a silent gesture. The man tosses my mother to the ground and I clench my fist. He walks up to Micheal and whispers in his ear. Whatever was said was not agreed upon mutually. Micheal looked about to speak but held his words in. He looked up at me as the man in red spoke again.

"Little lady like that wouldn't wanna see this," He said waving over another man with a duffle bag.

I smelt somethinf awful.

"Powder to block your sight," he says and takes out a smaller bag from his counterpart's worn duffle bag.," Don't ask me why, Jade isnt it? I didnt plan for this to happen."

Next thing I could see was lots of white dust being thrown at me. My ears rang after a moment of recovering from the dust in my lungs and eyes. A loud sound shook my mind along with the base of the tree. I felt myself being proppelled from the branch I sat on. Landing with a thud I strained to hear or make out anything. Men's feet walked around me and an eerie laughter rang through my skull.Once I recovered I looked to see a burning foot in front of my face and screamed.

"Oh my-oh my god! Micheal!"

I crawled away from the foot frantically. It felt as though the forest had grown silent. My hand reached up to brush at my ear. I listened and heard the sound of my breathing. I was taking quick, short, terrified breaths. I stopped at the base of the tree I'd just fallen from. My own voice echoed and sounded wrong as I spoke.

"Mother?" I said emotional.

I looked to her and saw the rice sack being taken off her head. Her eyes looked for me immediately. The first thing she saw was the foot. A large mass of blood was splattered around but I rwfused to look at it. I buried my face in my hands. My mother hurried up to me and we hugged tightly. She guided me away. After we got to the edge of the forest my mind stopped working. My eyes stayed open and stared out at nothing. It was as if my gut had been crushed up. When multiple droplets hit my hand I looked up to the sky thinking rain was coming. Mother had been sitting beside me but I had forgotten she was with me. Touching my forehead she clicked her tongue and frowned. The men in the bushes had been gone amd I hated them for their cruelty.  I tried so hard not to think about it but...

Mother pulled a silver, embroidered, long necklace from her indigo dress pocket. In the center was a polished, round green stone. A jade stone. I remembered the story of how her grandmother bought it on a pilgramige our East. Her curly dark hair bounced upon her chest as she took a deep breath. She wrapped it inside her fingers and held my hands to her lips. Softly she kissed my hand like i was a little girl who'd gotten hurt and needed her mother. She was exactly right.

"This is for you."

"Mother," I manage with a shaky voice,"I can't accept this

"You can and you will." She spoke firmly then her gaze moved to look behind us," he is in a better place now."

"Mmhm."

"You were set on a mission?" She asked

"Yes i was to get someplace safe, took the long way 'round." I forced a weak smile.

Loud orders came from behind me and Mother straightened herself and stood. I followed her out of the remainder of the forest carefully and we threw stones at the dirt. After we made it back to her home ny whole body and soul ached. Time to think was not what I wanted.
"How did that man know my name?" Was a thought that kept returning to me followed by images of Micheal.

I took one look back and walked back into my house with mother.

Mother had spoken to me but I wasnt listening.

I nodded silently and she spoke to me about thinking positive. When she said goodbye I realized that she had to go to work. As she rounded up her seamstress box of needles and things I snatched an apple.
My legs walked me out of her home. My hand waved goodbye to my mother. My heart kept beating despite the loss it endured.
Munching on an apple absentmindedly I made my way back to my home. I was hopeful for silence and something to keep my mind busy. When I did finally arrive home I took a deep breath. The silence was broken by a wail coming fron upstairs. If I had to guess I'd say it sounded like Sasha.

I held my sword in front of me and swept the second floor. At the last door in the hallway I heard it. Two men,Sasha, a whimpering maid, presumably, and Kyle