With the small army of red-headed villagers advancing on them, Marco and Reina had few precious seconds to act.
"Marco, use your speed to take out the archers," Reina whispered. "I'll disable the large one. We can make it to the carriage if we act quickly."
"What about our horses?" he asked as he gripped his sword tightly. "We still haven't traded them for new ones. They'll drop before they get us to the next town."
"We'll make do!" she hissed. But after a moment, she swore and added. "You're right. What do we do, then?"
"Reason with them?" He sheathed his sword and held his hands up. "Sir Connor–"
The large man spit. "I ain't no sir."
"Connor," Marco replied. "I think there's a misunderstanding here. We just came to buy something. This person stole it from us. We only want to get it back and be on our way."
"That's the problem, lad. Ya didn't do the sale our way. All sales on them docks gotta get our approval."
He regarded Marco with a casual attitude, leaning on his harpoon as if they were having a small chat. But his twin sons behind him had arrows nocked and pointed at Marco.
Marco kept his hands up and tried his best to smile.
"I'm sorry, we didn't know that. We meant no disrespect. We can leave your village immediately and you can obviously deal with the thief however you like."
Said thief was just coming to, and was in the beginning stages of rolling over from their face-first position on the ground. The old Connor flashed Marco a grin that was missing its two front teeth.
"Of course we can. But see lad, I gotta do something with ya. Us Connors don't take well to your kind coming into our village and stirring up trouble."
"My kind?"
"Heroes," said Chuck from the side. The little soldier gave Marco's Hero Seal a darting glance.
"Quiet, Dougal boy!" snapped one of the twin Connors.
Chuck deflated, shrinking behind Marco.
Marco took the cue to shield him. "What do you have against Heroes?"
"Everything!" the other twin chimed in.
"All ya'll do is make trouble wherever you go," the first twin said. "You burn our farms with your fancy magic, arrest people for trying to make a living, and then you expect us to bow down and say thanks!"
"Maybe we oughta show him how we say thanks," the second twin said as he pulled his bowstring.
"Or maybe you should cease this foolishness!" Reina said as she stormed over to Marco's side. "I am Princess Reina Irelios. Your princess. And I order you to let us pass."
"Ya can try and enforce that order, princess," the old Connor said. Then he lifted his harpoon and started twirling it around lazily. "But yer daddy ain't got no say here."
Reina made eye contact with Marco. He could see the mix of incredulity and defeat that plagued her. Then she looked down at Chuck, the only soldier from her father's army in the whole village.
Marco took a deep breath, calling upon the Everlasting Flame inside him. The burning sensation spread to his legs as he planted his feet firmly on the ground.
But a rabble of voices behind him told him that time was up. The large group of Connors had joined the conversation, holding up their swords, axes, and spoons.
"What happened, papa?" asked a woman at the front of the group. The way she held her shovel made it clear she was itching for a chance to introduce it to Marco's face.
"We got ourselves a Hero and a princess!" the old Connor shouted to his clan. "And like usual, they been stirring up trouble."
Amid the angry shouts and protests, the old Connor used his harpoon to point to Marco, Reina, and the thief. The thief sat up and adjusted the sack on their head so that they could see through the eyeholes once more. When they did, they jumped up, clearly not expecting to be surrounded by a gang of angry farmers.
"Marco," Reina tugged at his sleeve and whispered.
"I'm way ahead of you," he replied. With his flame-given strength, he figured he could grab her and dash away before the Connors knew what hit them. He just needed a good distraction. "All due respect, great Connor family, isn't it worse that this thief dared to commit robbery in your village?"
The thief panicked when they heard that, tripped, and fell over. This drew quite a bit of attention. Marco inched closer to Reina.
"He's right."
"Don't say a Hero's right!"
"But he is right!"
Whoever admitted Marco was right got smacked with a spoon, causing them to wheel around and shout.
"We can't have people stealing on our land!"
"I bet it was them Dougal folk!"
"String 'em all up!"
More yells joined in agreement and protest. Weapons started swinging for emphasis. Even the twins let down their bows to join in the debate. Marco looked past them, plotting out his escape route.
"Can't trust a Hero!"
"Dougal did it, I tell ya!"
"Shut it, all a' ya'll!"
The old Connor started shouting and waving his harpoon to bring his family to order. The moment he took his eyes off Marco, he sprung into action.
He grabbed Reina by the hand and pulled her to him. Before she knew it, he was carrying her princess style. He saw the twins stride over to the rest of the family, leaving a clear path.
Marco took a few steps forward, but stopped when he felt a hand gently caress his chest. He looked down to see Reina looking every which way. One of her hands tightly clutched the box of Julia's cream, but the other was rubbing against him as it searched for something stable.
"Marco, what are you…?"
They locked eyes. Marco found himself thinking that he never realized how truly clear Reina's blue eyes were, like clean water running through a peaceful brook.
Then something slammed into him from behind.
"Oof!"
The light grunt came from the thief. Marco turned to find them wobbling as they backed away from him.
"They're tryin' to get away!"
Marco looked at the source of the yell, a skinny Connor man holding a sword, and then back at the thief. Through their sack, the thief was staring at his chest. At Reina, actually.
"Get 'em!"
The Connors quickly organized into a horde that charged the outsiders.
"Ugh, hey! Marco!"
He felt a pull, and suddenly the thief was holding Julia's box in one hand and a vial of a purple potion in the other. They threw the vial down as they jogged backwards.
"Stop hi–"
Reina's command was cut short by the explosion of the potion. Despite coming in such a small package, the purple liquid erupted into a thick cloud of gas. It filled the immediate area, and also filled Marco's sight with purple. He could barely see Reina, let alone the other people around him.
"No!" he cried out as he ran forward. It didn't take long for him to escape the cloud, but when he did it was too late. He was on top of the hill once more. There were the same docks, the same village, and a purple cloud of ornery yells around him. But the thief was long gone.
"Now what?"
"You put me down, firstly!"
The hand that was gently touching his chest earlier was now smacking it. Reina practically jumped out of his arms and started pacing.
"That accursed thief!" she growled. "I'll behead him myself when I...How are we going to catch him!?"
"I can help with that!"
The chipper offer of help came from Chuck, who seemed to have a talent for appearing right next to Marco. Reina waved him away.
"Leave us, child. I am in no mood for games."
"It ain't a game. I can help! You need a place to stay tonight, anyway, right?"
"Oh no," Reina rounded on him. "We are not staying in this gods-forsaken village overnight!"
"Reina, we have to," Marco put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. "Look."
He pointed his rejected hand towards the purple vapor. Several Connor folk were stumbling out of it. They looked around as they emerged, looking confused and ready to kill something.
"My family will hide you from the Connors no problem!" Chuck said.
"Fine..." Reina said as she rubbed her temples. "Lead the way."
"Please," Marco added.
"Yes sir!"
With a salute, Chuck led the march away from the cloud of Connors. Well, he and Marco marched. Reina stomped and uttered complaints the whole way.