B.L.A.Q

Chapter 4

The team had believed William when he said the village was destroyed, but they hadn't expected the sight before them. Being huntsman, they were used to seeing destruction, but this was something else entirely. As they stood at the front entrance to Hyland they could see some of the buildings still smoldering from what looked to have been intense fires. Roofs had caved in, the streets were littered with debris and there were a few bodies strewn about. There were no signs of life anywhere. Many of the houses had the doors broken off of the hinges or were missing entirely. The village itself was set up into two rows of houses and small shops on either side of the main road. It was the only road in the entire village. Being fauness meant they had a heightened sense of smell so they made sure to cover their faces to try and help with the smell of smoke and rotting corpses that hadn't been buried. As they came to what looked like it used to be the village square, they could see a statue that had been knocked over. William walked over to it and knelt by the head "This statue was of the founder of Hyland. Helen Hyland founded this village over a hundred years ago after she left her own village. She wanted a place to call her own, where she could build a place for hard working people to feel safe and live in peace. If she could see this place now, she would be heartbroken." He got up and turned back towards BLAQ. "It doesn't look like anyone has returned yet so maybe they're still in the cave. It's not far from here. We can get there shortly but the only way there is to go through the village." Len looked at him and asked "Is there any chance that the bandits could have found them in the caves? You've been gone for almost a week. What stopped them from following the rest of the villagers?" William looked at him and said "Only people born in this village know where the caves are. The only way to find them would be if someone led them there, but no one in this village would ever do such a thing. This village was built on trust and integrity. I would like to hurry and get back to them. Follow me." He turned and began walking towards the back of the village where the forest was even denser than the woods they had just spent the last day and night walking through. Bai, Len and Ace followed him, but Qin had stopped to pick something up. It was a little rag doll with a bit of blood spattered across it. She gripped it tightly and stuck it in her pack before she hurried to catch up with the others. They struggled for about two hours to get through the thick brush and huge trees. Getting scratched by the thorny bushes and having to dodge the low hanging branches, Len understood why none of the bandits would even consider following the villagers. Ace, being the biggest, had the most problems. He didn't have to be standing next to him to hear him cursing and muttering under his breath. He tripped and a tree root and landed with a loud thud "Ow. Dammit are we almost there?" He asked William. William turned around and replied "Just a bit further. Maybe another ten minutes of this then we'll come to a little stream and we follow that north for a mile and we'll be there." He turned back and kept walking. "Oh great," Ace stated "I've gotten more scratches from these bushes than I ever got in any battle." Qin, who was in front of him turned to him with a smirk "Aww what's wrong big bear? A few bushes to tough for you?" Ace growled as he looked at her. She barely had a scratch on her. It was easier for her to maneuver through everything since she was the smallest. They made it the rest of the way through the forest then stumbled onto a riverbank. "Oh yes. Thank you we finally made it" said Ace as he stumbled through the last of the bushes, "I thought we were lost." Bai looked around at their surroundings. The riverbank was narrow, but they could at least walk it if they walked in a straight line. "Ok everyone. Quick water break then we're moving again." They all stopped at the edge of the water to drink and refill their canteens. William led them upstream for a bit before they came to a waterfall in the side of a cliff. "We're here" said WIlliam as he stared at the waterfall "It's just through there." He was pointing at the waterfall when an object came soaring from his right. It hit Bai in the shoulder and he barely flinched. He looked down and noticed it was a rock. Len chuckled "Was that a rock? Why didn't you dodge it?" Bai looked back at him "Because it was a rock. I guess they know we're here." William shouted "Stop! Don't attack them. They're not the enemy. They came to help us." He was waving towards the direction the rock came from. A few seconds later they heard a voice shouting back "William? Is that you? We thought you died out there." A group of men had come walking from behind the trees. They had makeshift spears made from rakes brooms and tree branches. Bai noticed a boy of about 16 or 17 watching him intently. He had a rock in his hand so he assumed he was the one who threw the first one. "I did almost die before I found them," said William gesturing toward the team "They saved my life and they said they could help us. What are you all doing out here?" The one who spoke earlier stepped forward "We were keeping a lookout for bandits and grimm. We needed to keep everyone safe." The man looked at the team and Bai stepped forward to introduce himself "My name is Bai Blackweld and this is my team. As he said, we're here to help." The man stuck out his hand "I'm Biggs, and this is my motley crew of security" he said gesturing at the men behind him. Qin and Len exchanged looks as they looked at the men. They noticed that most of them had seen too many winters, or too few, and wondered what would happen if bandits actually had followed them. BIggs nodded toward the waterfall "Hugo is inside with everyone else. He's been waiting for you to come back so I'm sure he'll be glad you brought help." William looked at the waterfall then back to Biggs "Is everyone ok in there?' Biggs gave him an incredulous look "No. We're running low on food and we have a lot of injured people. Some of them might not make it. Maybe seeing that help is here will help lift some spirits. We need to get back to guard duty." Biggs turned back to the forest and the rest of them followed him. The boy who threw the rock shot a look of disappointment at Bai, like he was upset that his rock did nothing to hurt the lion fauness before turning to catch up with his guard. Bai turned back to William "Lead the way." They walked toward the waterfall and noticed a small path leading behind it. They followed it inside to find a huge cave. There were torches lining the walls leading deeper into the caves. They came to a large cavern full of people. Some of them were huddled into small groups talking amongst themselves while others were sitting alone against a wall. It was quiet for the most part, except for the few whispers between the groups, a few people coughing and others crying and sobbing silently at the predicament the were in. Along the back wall lay a row of injured people. The number of people left did not match the size of the village they had left so Bai assumed that the casualties were heavy. Ace looked around at the people. There wasn't a single young person there. They had seriously lost almost every able bodied person in the village. They were truly defenseless. Qin looked at him "Are you ok?" Ace looked at her, his trademark grin long gone, and shook his head "This just reminds me of my grandparents. Sick and injured and not a hope in the world to survive. It just brings back bad memories that's all." She put her hand on his shoulder "Except these people do have a chance to survive. WE are that chance Ace." He looked at her in surprise. She had never been this caring toward him before. He smiled softly "Thanks ki-" he stopped himself "Thanks Qin." They walked further into the cave and William called out "Hugo! I'm back. I've brought help." A man looked up from one of the groups toward the back and stood up. "William. It's so good to see you again. I'm glad you're ok." Hugo stumbled forward and hugged William tightly. He looked at BLAQ and drew himself up to his full height. "Hello. My name is Hugo Hyland, the village chief. You'll have to excuse to poor accommodations, but as I'm sure William explained to you, this is the best we could do for now." Bai stepped forward to introduce himself and his team "I'm Bai. This is Len, Ace and Qin" he gestured toward the others who nodded "We understand your granddaughter was taken during the attack?" Hugo looked sadly at him "Yes. She tried to reason with the leader of the bandits. To talk to him and explain that we didn't have anything worth taking and that we are defenseless and too fragile to fight. Honestly, I'm glad she was taken instead of killed but I can't imagine what she could be enduring right now." He shuddered at this last part. Bai put his hand on the man's shoulder "Don't worry sir. We can find the bandits for you and your granddaughter as well" he looked around at the other people in the cave "In the meantime you have injured people and are in need of food right? We can also help with that as well." He nodded at Ace and Len and Len went over to the wounded to start tending they're wounds and Ace turned to leave the cave explaining that the ingredients he had would not be enough to feed everyone there and he would need to go hunting. Bai looked at William and asked him to accompany Ace since he knew the area better. William looked a little taken aback, "I can't defend myself if we run into trouble. I would be more of a hindrance to him than a help." Bai simply told him "Well it's a good thing you'll have Ace to watch your back. Just don't stray to far from him." William whimpered and followed Ace. Qin piped up "What should I do?" Bai looked around the cave and smiled at her, "What it is you do best little sister. Use you charm and try to lift some spirits. I'm going to continue this conversation with Hugo." He turned back to the chief with a wide smile on his face. He turned and led the chief to a corner of the cave. Qin, being left alone, looked around the cave at the people. She noticed a group of kids playing with some broken toys and branches in another part of the cave. She fished the rag doll that she found back at the village and tried her best to clean it up. She thought she did a halfway decent job. "Well, here goes nothing" she sighed as she walked over to the kids.