Chained - A Jae-ha Fanfiction

Chapter 11

Two Months Later

There was a strange air about the town. Something felt off.

"Do you sense that, Rensa?" Ja-ri asked when Rensa had joined her.

"I do.." Rensa murmured, turning in a slow circle to examine the town. It appeared as it always had. A close community surrounded by forested orchards. They were awaiting the return of most of their people from their travels. It had taken the remainder of the month to complete the fruit Harvest, and then Rensa had the idea to also make and sell items with the wood and animal skins they possessed. So they took another week preparing items to be sold. They had been out in the world for less than a month and were expected to return any day.

Though it had not snowed yet, such clouds loomed over the horizon. The men that stayed to hunt were preparing to track the herds that inhabited the land around Hoshu Yet even they were still awaiting the return of the travelers. They could not hunt if they did not have bins of salt to store the meat for the winter months.

Rensa had awoken that morning prepared to help ready Hoshu for the coming winter. She and Ja-ri were working on clearing out the storage room from the old, stale food, to make room for the new grains coming in.

"Why don't you go find Rengi and Shion." Rensa said, trying for a light tone, though she wasn't sure she was able to quite manage it.

Ja-ri immediately hurried away to find her family and Rensa remained in the doorway of the storage house, surveying the street. She still saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"Good morning, Miss Rensa." Ori greeted, lifting his hat as he passed by with a small cart of firewood in tow. He was an older man, with graying hair and wrinkles forming around his eyes when he smiled.

"Good morning." Rensa managed a polite smile, yet she was still watching for something, she could not shake the bad feeling.

And then she caught it. A single movement in a tree across the street and an arrow narrowly missed Ori. Rensa lurched forward to warn the man, but he must have seen it coming because he jumped back, nearly falling into his cart.

Then a large group of men began to pour into the street, all dressed in rough clothes with high quality weapons.

"We are making this town our headquarters." A large man stepped forward, brandishing a spear. "Clear out and no one gets hurt. Fight, and we will show no mercy." He shouted. He wore a shawl of animal skins and his hair was ragged.

"Aww what are you sayin' Chief?" One of the boys in the group whined out. "I wanted a fight." He seemed young.

"That was not the plan." They hissed through gritted teeth.

"But plans change, right boss?" He asked hopefully.

The leader whipped around and started yelling about something. That they needed to wait and plan, and regroup. While he was distracted, Rensa was able to hop over to Ori. "Run." She whispered. "Gather as many people as you can and get out. I'll buy you some time in case they change their minds."

"You will never make it if they get violent, I think I should-" Ori was about to argue but Rensa cut him off with a shake of her head.

"You have a family, and you need to help protect the other families. I can try to talk them down, or at least get more information." She shoved at his shoulder. "Go. Now!"

He took off in the opposite direction and Rensa hobbled forward, plastering a smile to her face. "Good morning, gentleman." She called out, and almost all of their eyes turned on her. A few glared at her, some of their expressions told her they liked the way she looked, a few pairs of eyes flitted from her to their leader who had also turned to watch her approach. "What brings you to the humble village of Hoshu?" She asked as she continued to make her way over to them. The cold air caused her to shiver and bumps to form on her arms. She had forgotten her cloak in the storage hut.