A few days later, Remure villagers continue to clean up from the bandit attack. Burnt skeleton remains of houses, creek under gravity’s pressure. Crop fields smolder, covered with ash, making them all inedible. Studier structures suffer roof collapses and large holes from large weapons wielded by some bandits. Near the center, villagers raise logs and cover them with canopy leaves to create temporarily shelters. Others help to make some of the sturdy structures usable for severely injured individuals.
Finn’s house, the least damaged structure, sits across from the tents. Some villages work to repair the roof and the outer walls. Inside, the ceiling’s patched with flat wood planks, held together with long nails. A few older kids sweep the debris towards the wall, ready for their collection. Villages open up space, placing blankets ready to house villagers injured from the attack. Up on the second floor, Finn walks to the end of the hallway, knocking on the last door on the left. A female voice calls for him to come in. Finn enters the room and Theresa looks up from her place at the bedside.
“Oh Mr. Finn, come to check on him?” Theresa asks.
“Yes, how is he doing?” Finn asks back.
On the bed in front of her, Axel rests on the bed. Most of the room remained untouched except for some scorch marks on the ceiling and walls. Bandages wrap around both of Axel’s arms, and forehead. A few bruises cover the left side of his mouth and just above his eye. Next to the bed, a washbowl lays with a few bloody clothes hanging from it. Theresa moves her hand down both of Axel’s legs.
“He is still asleep.” Theresa says.
Finn approaches the rocking chair in the corner and takes a seat. “The sleep will do him some good, how about his condition.”
Theresa wipes Axel’s forehead with a wet handkerchief. “His fever is lowering. I did all I could to heal him. However, some of the wounds concern me, they did not heal completely.”
“Really? Now that you mentioned it, Raull’s attacks gave off a weird feeling. I wonder…” Finn trails off his mind lost in deep thought.
“How about our visitor?"
“You mean Ryo?” Finn snaps back to reality from her question. “He is helping with the rebuilding, however it seems a wall has come up between him and the villagers. They are on edge.”
"They should be after what we witness. You don't think-"
Finn stands up and places his hand on Theresa’s shoulder. “You should take a break and go outside. The kids are probably missing your company. I will take watch now.”
Theresa smiles with a small nod. He gets to her feet, bows to Finn, and exits through the door, closing it behind her. From his pocket Finn takes out two small smooth stones. He rotates them around in the palm of his left hand. Axel shifts in his sleep, catching Finn’s attention. One of the large bruises shows from his arm to the top left corner of his chest. With the door still shut, Finn leans down, placing one of the stones on the center of Axel’s chest. He takes Theresa spot in the chair, resting his body and eyes.
A few hours later, Axel awakens from his sleep. His fever broken but pain echoes around his head. The pain travels up and down both sides of his body, but most of it subsided. Still groggy, he lifts himself up into a sitting position. Refocusing, he notices Finn still in a seat next to his bed. Finn gets up to his feet.
“How do you feel?” He asks.
“Better than before, I think.” He swings his feet out from under the blankets, ready to get up.
Finn moves in front of him and places his hand behind his back.
“You still need rest; you were in very rough shape after the battle,” Finn says.
Axel jumps to his feet, ignoring any pain from his quick movements. “I cannot just sit here. I need to see what happened. The village needs me now. I need to help.” He pushes past Finn already exiting the door.
“Just like his father…maybe too much like him.” Finn walks out into the hallway. Faint voices from below traveling up to his ears. They grow louder into a small commotion.
Downstairs, the front door hangs open. A man in armor padding comes in, leaving the crowd outside behind. Everyone inside stops working, their attention falls onto the man. He approaches Finn, leaning to his right, whispering in his ear. From behind Axel approaches a man, confused.
“Who is that?” He asks.
“We sent someone to the nearby town, we hope that maybe they can help with supplies.” The man answers back.
A grim expression clouds Finn’s face when the man is done talking. Exasperation takes over with his attention now towards the crowd. “It seems our neighbor’s have cut us off. They refuse to offer and assistance we might need.” Finn shares with them.
Next moment, two other men come in out of breath. "We just came back from another town. They said they can't help us either."
A woman steps out. “What? Why?! We have been on good terms with everyone in the area!"
“We are almost out of any reserve supplies we had. We will not be able to survive when their used.” Another adds on.
“I won’t stand for this!” Axel’s voice rises above the crowd’s murmurs. “I'm going to find out what's going on!”
He stomps off the front door but a man grabs him by the shoulder. “Axel wait, if there is a reason for it, acting now you could make the situation worst.”
“He is right my boy.” Finn adds. “With the reason unclear there could be more to it.”
Axel shakes the man’s grip off. Out of the corner of his eye, he catches Ryo’s figure appearing from the crowd.
“I am not going to abandon this place like my father did! This village needs those supplies and one way or another we will get them!” He takes off, slamming his shoulder into Ryo. For a split moment, Ryo catches the anger in Axel’s face.
Ryo turns to see Axel disappear under the tree line. Finn comes up beside him, worried. “Oh my, he is like his father quick to act without even thinking.”
Ryo looks at Finn without a word.
“Ah. Axel's father helped the village a lot, until one day he just disappeared. I took care of him in his father’s place as a favor. However, I fear anger and resentment towards his father may lead him down a dangerous path.” Finn explains to him.
Without saying a word, Ryo picks up a rustled sword leaning up against the wall. He bows slightly, following Axel’s path out of the house.
Axel pushes through the brush, jumping over fallen trees and breaks through small branches in his way. He finally comes across a wide pathway used by carriages and foot traffic. At his side, a sword hangs from his belt. Glancing both ways, he tries to follow the trampled grass towards a village in the distance. Reaching an open field, Axel steadies himself ready to confront whoever gets in his way. Taking the first step, a blur passes in front of his face, startling him. In the ground at his feet a rusted bronze sword sticks up from the dirt.
Axel turns to see Ryo sitting on a fall tree stump. A slight breeze rustle the trees around him and Ryo slowly gets to his feet. At his side, another bronze sword hangs down. Anger simmers in Axel’s mind, causing him to draw his own sword.
“Are you trying to stop me or kill me?!” He shouts at him.
Ryo’s lack of expression makes it hard to ready any thoughts. Instead, Ryo gets into a battle stance, raising his own sword up.
“When are you going to stop acting like a child?” His tone causes a tightness to constrict Axel’s chest.
“Out of my way!” Axel charges at Ryo, his sword raised about his head.
Predicting all of Axel’s movements, Ryo dodges all of Axel’s attack. He swiftly moves his feet around deflecting at sending a lot of the attacks back at Axel with repelling force. After a few minutes of relentless attacking, a tiredness washes over Axel. Each attack becomes weaker and barely fazes Ryo, until finally he finds an opening slamming his body into Axel. The wind knocked out of him, Axel flies backwards, landing hard onto the ground.
“D-dammit.” He struggles to gasp in air. Some of his wounds reopen, staining his bandages red.
Ryo stands over him, his sword now to Axel’s throat, the cold steel mere inches from his skin.
“If that is all your training has done for you then its pathetic. Unable to land a hit on me? As you are now, you are no help to that village.” A coldness from Ryo’s eyes grips Axel’s whole body in a frozen fear. “Now tell me. Are you ready to die?”
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