The Hunter Becomes The Hunted

Chapter 9

The man hoisted you up by your collar before ushering you out, his large calloused hands pressing against your shoulders as he pushed you out of the temple.

"Who locked you in there?" the man questioned as he closed the temple door behind him.

"I-I don't know, I just..."

"You mean to tell me that you have no clue who your enemies are? The enemies that will not hesitate to bar the door if you were in a room with a dangerous animal?" the man questioned as his eyes narrowed under the curtain of ebony hair that was hiding some of his face to you.

"I'm sorry, no I do not," you shook your head.

The two of you turned a corner to see a group of five individuals standing there, their eyes all on you two.

"You mentioned you own the tavern down the road? We have an injured man," the next to you questioned as he raised a thick brow.

You nodded and hurried down the stairs, hurrying down the road with the rest behind you.

Your parents were overjoyed upon seeing six people trailing behind you, all of them looking as if they need a few days rest. Hanzo - as you learned his name on the way back from his battered brother moaning it - simply tossed them a nice-sized sack of coins to which your father snatched up before it could hit the floor.

You lead them up the creaking ladder, and to your surprise, the large man in heavy armor somehow managed to climb up it without breaking it. You quickly lead them down the hallway and opened up two of the rooms, debating if you should just open up one more room for the injured brother until Hanzo carried his brother into one of the rooms and laid his down on the bed.

"Do you wish for another room?" you murmured the question.

The five looked around to each other before Hanzo shook his head.
"Two rooms will do," he muttered as he shrugged off his bow and tattered quiver from his shoulder.

"Would you like a wax candle? A lantern? A Bible and cross and rosary for the night so any of you may pray?" you offered as you looked down the hallway at the few trunks lined up against the wall.

"A few wax candles and lanterns, we have our own talismans," the old woman smiled at you from under her white bangs.

You nodded and trekked down the hall, you could hear the rest file into the other room that was unoccupied, leaving the brothers in the other room.

Producing the heavy lead key from your apron, you opened the farthest right chest and retrieved three metal lanterns all with newly replaced candles inside. You reached back in and took two small boxes of tinder matches and slipped them into the pocket of your apron before locking the chest closed. You then unlocked the middle chest and slipped six small wac candles from the full chest and bunched them into your arms before slipping them into some of your many other pockets on your apron.

You placed the three metal lanterns on top of the chests, locking the center chest. You slipped a few matches from one of the tinderboxes and quickly flicked it across the rough metal surface of one the lantern, striking a small flame that lit the freshly coated wickers in all three lanterns. You walked into the two rooms, placing one lantern down on the empty dresser by the door and placed the box of tinder matches next to it for the first room and then the rest on top of the empty dresser in the other room. You produced the last tinderbox and placed it down next to the lantern before placing all six candles next to the lantern, but not touching as to keep the candles from melting on the wood.

"Do you need anything? Food? Bandages? Water and rags?" you asked Hanzo.

"Water and rags. We have our own bandages," he huffed as he reached into his pocket and produced a roll of clean bandages wrapped up neatly into a coil.