Arisa, Part 1:Dusk

-Chapter IV: Wanted-

Next morning Keith went to town again. Yesterday’s storm had raged on all night after he and Arisa had reached the farm and ate on the roof. The lightning had struck a hole in the roof tiles and the wooden foundation was visible through the smouldered tiles. This morning Arisa had told him water was leaking through the ceiling in the attic, so he went to Westhollow again to hire a craftsman to fix it. Arisa didn’t join him, she had told him she would be making preparations for her departure like fixing the arrow holes in her coat and determine her next destination using one of the many maps she carried with her.
Keith had strolled through town all day and still hadn’t found a craftsman. The storm had caused quite some damage. And all roofers were busy fixing every other roof in Westhollow.  There was no one who would walk several miles for a job now. This left Keith and his family to repair their own roof… Keith sighed. Fixing your own roof would be a real pain. He already remembered last time he and his father had thatched the roof, Keith ran around all day checking and calling out to his father if there was still water sipping through the patched parts. It had taken them a full day because neither of them had known how to do it properly. As Keith returned to the farm, he saw Arisa sitting on the roof. He wondered if she was drinking again, but when he came closer he saw Arisa was working on the roof. She was fixing the hole. When Keith neared the roof to she put down her hammer. ‘This is my way of thanking you and your family’ she yelled down to him smiling, then she went back to hammering tiles back into the wooden foundation. Keith was amazed. Arisa sure had many talents he figured. Then he went to the barn to do his own chores.

Later that afternoon Keith and his parents were all outside. They called Arisa down to have a drink with them. She was working very hard after all. She looked up and put her tools down. She leaned forward to the edge of the roof and... jumped. She landed perfectly on her feet. She patted the dust off her jeans and came towards the corner of the garden were the lemonade was served.

Arisa was about to get up to get the tools from the roof, after what had been an unusually peaceful drink. She usually didn’t have the peace to drink without rushing herself. She had to admit that it was quite nice for a change. Before she left, she froze and turned around.  She heard footsteps nearing the farm. Hearing the hard steps, it was more than one person and they didn’t come to have a friendly talk. Arisa cursed. ‘There are soldiers nearing your farm. Decide now if you can fight or flee!’, she yelled Mr farmer seemed to immediately understand the graveness of the situation and took his wife inside. Arisa could see Keith freeze on the spot. She clenched her teeth. He would get himself killed this way. Before however she should yell at him too, a man in bright red armour approached the farm. He was a general, judging by the dark flag pained on his chest plate. He had brought three of his soldiers with him as backup. As the soldier spotted Arisa he called out to her. ‘We thought we would find you here. We did a bit of asking around in Westhollow and guess what? Those merchants were right.’ The general unfolded a piece of paper and held it in the air. ‘We are ordered by the King himself to take you into custody. Any form of hindrance or struggle will be seen as an act of defiance. We have the permission to kill you.’ Arisa clenched her jaw even tighter. She couldn’t take the fight out here. One of the soldiers might take Keith as a target too, especially if he went running now. She sighed. This would get real messy, unless…

Keith was frozen. He stood still and couldn’t move. What was going on? He had seen the soldiers before of course whenever they tried to find him for the school, but he had never seen a general of Akuma’s army in person. Whatever Arisa had done must be serious. Suddenly Arisa moved. She acted quick as lightning and pulled a short sharp sword out of her backpack. She dashed into the forest yelling crude insults at the soldiers who followed her into the woods. Keith slowly regained control of his body again. Did she always carry that sword around with her? Suddenly he realized something else: she went into the forest all by herself! There were multiple attackers on her tail, he had to do something to help her. He rushed into the forest, not thinking about anything else. He saw Arisa fighting four soldiers at once. Once she spotted Keith, she yelled at him: ‘Leave now! I can deal with them. You’ll only be in my way!’ Keith was shocked, and a bit scared. He had never been in such a fight before! He had once thrown some punches in a bar in Westhollow, but had never seen two people fight each other with long razor-sharp blades. He kept his distance and hid behind a big pile of rocks. Arisa bravely fought on. She was now surrounded by the four soldiers. She blocked each of their hits with her sword. Suddenly she dodged one of the blades as it flung over her head. She struck the attacking guard in his stomach when his guard was down. The guard fell down, his uniform dyed red in the blade Arisa’s blade had hit him deep in the stomach. Keith watched in horror as the soldier fell over waiving in pain. Did she just kill him? Was Arisa capable of killing people in cold blood?! Suddenly the wounded soldier went still. His body started shaking and turned to ashes, leaving an empty uniform behind. That was no-...what was he? Keith didn’t understand what he had just seen. Somehow both Arisa and the remaining soldiers were unaffected by this strange sight. The three remaining soldiers were enraged. Arisa had taken out one of their comrades. They gave each other a quick look before attacking all simultaneously. Arisa was now surrounded and attacked by three people at the same time. Even though all soldiers leaped towards her, Keith couldn’t find a single trace of fear or panic in Arisa’s eyes. She dodged the first soldier, used her sword to block the second attack, but got the third soldier grazed her arm. Arisa yelled in pain and anger and focussed her attention on attacking one of the soldiers in a wild frenzy. The man tried to block Arisa’s barrage of attacks, while the other two gazed in amazement by Arisa’s speed. For a moment they forgot to help their comrade who was caught the heat of battle. That one moment alone was enough for Arisa to create an opening in the soldier’s defence and strike him down.
‘Two down, two to go’ Keith heard Arisa mumble. The second soldier also started shaking and turned into ashes, just like his comrade before him had done. The remaining soldiers now knew they were no match for Arisa by themselves. They had to end this quickly. One got angry and tried to face Arisa head on by dashing towards her holding his sword pointed at her heart. As the soldier approached, Arisa blocked his attack rather than dodging it. This was not something the soldier had expected. The next moment Arisa and the soldier were in a fierce fight of swords. The sound of sword slashes and metal filled the air. Both were determined to create an opening to kill the other. The soldier grinned; Arisa had made the first mistake. He found an opening and aimed for her heart, but Arisa was faster than he had anticipated. She blocked his sword with a heavy swing. The sound of breaking metal filled the forest. The soldier who had closed his eyes in reflex now found himself with half a blade in his hand. Arisa had smashed his sword in two! The other half landed a meter behind him. This was Arisa’s chance. While the soldier was still stunned, she quickly struck and stabbed him. This soldier also turned to ash, just like his comrades. Only one soldier was still standing, the general. Arisa tried to find him, but she could not see him. Suddenly he attacked from behind and hit Arisa in the back. Arisa remained standing though and quickly recovered and turned around to block his second strike.