Mohawk Men Are After Me

~•~

Lucy hated this village.

It had been a week after she and her father moved to Dovish, and she's already sick of this place.

No phones nor any kind of electronics, much less wifi or even a signal, she absolutely hated it.

She tried to clear her mind as she scrubbed a pot for cooking. The thing was as dirty as the boots of her father when he would come home from the village bar, drunk and dirty. Her soft hands were getting a bit calloused from all the work.

Damn. She cursed in her head, she had scrubbed her hand on accident, the red skin was glaring at her.

She missed the city, lively with lights and the buzzing of people who talked and gossiped.

Dovish— a village within a kingdom, hidden from the world and heavily protected by the government.

The Kingdom of Incognita was a state secret.

She didn't know why.

Lucy and her father managed to move here because of her late mother—who had been born and raised in incognita.

The people knew of the outside world, but were forbidden to go out.

Somehow Lucy's mother had miraculously succeeded in getting out. But she died the following year.

But once the government found out that her mother had a child, she and her father were moved to Incognita, in this hell of a village called Dovish.

She heard the door to the cottage open, the cold night wind entered the house. Her father was home.

Lucy walked towards her father to take off his coat with her wet hands—she had not bothered to dry them—as her father wiped his boots on the newly cleaned floor. He smelled strongly of beer.

"Hey." He called, sitting down on the sofa, Lucy ignored him.

"You're a lady now right? Act like one and massage my feet," Her father ordered, raising his smelly feet to his daughter. Lucy's father was a tall man with dirty blonde hair much like Lucy's, and dark blue eyes. He was on a chubby side.

Lucy rolled her green eyes at this. Eyes that she had inherited from her mother.

"Daddy, I'm twelve."

That's what she thought, she wasn't a lady–yet.

He didn't answer. Lucy looked closer, he had fallen asleep.

She stood up and stirred the hearth embers, where a pot of stew was cooking. The smell wafted around the room.

Her father had become the richest man in the village. Incognita was where just five dollars could buy a whole house! Lucy's father indulged on this. It saddened Lucy of how her sweet father turned into this horrible, greedy and smelly man.

After dinner, Lucy went to her room.

She gazed at the blue teddybear that sat on her bed. Maddie. She had a little scratch on her nose for some reason, Lucy probably got Maddie from her mother. Her father always changes the subject when Lucy asks about her, but she knew it within her heart, either her mother gave her Maddie or someone else did. It had to be someone who loved her. She could feel the love from deep inside the bear, imprinted on the fluff.

That was another thing, she could intensely feel emotions, from people and from things that were important for some. Her father still loved her, but once they moved into this place, he didn't show it much unlike before.

Although feeling emotions were a good thing, she had never thought of it that way. Lucy didn't need to feel what the others were feeling, that was the only good thing about this place. Less people, less headaches.

Cuddling Maddie as she laid down on her bed, the soft light of the waning moon draped over her body. The night had just begun.

~•~

Tap. Tap.

She jolted up to the sound. There was a constant knocking on the cottage door, she was certain that her father would get it. He ought to be sober now.

Tap. Tap.

That's not knocking, she thought, her drowsy eyes drifted over her window, a boy of thirteen to fourteen years of age, wearing a cloak that was one with the night.

He had a pair of bright blue eyes that stared at her. Lucy swore that she saw his right eye flicker to a red colour, no, it seemed like it was bleeding from the inside.

Those blue eyes were enchanting, they were the brightest that a blue could be. She couldn't help being lost in those eyes; so familiar, yet strange.

Lucy stared at the boy's eyes while the boy unconsciously took a step back.

The knocking on the door to the cottage got louder and harsher. This interrupted her thoughts.

She fought the urge to scream. The boy hinted for her to open the window and let him in.

Lucy didn't feel any nervousness nor negative intent from him, so she wasted no time in opening the window.

"Who are you?" She asked, but the boy only stared at her, it seemed as though he was about to cry.

She jumped at the sound of the door being busted. Footsteps could be heard all around the cottage as her father's yells were heard.

Lucy immediately got up from bed in a rush to lock the door. The cottage was filled with unknown people, her skin tingled as their bad intentions filled the air.

The boy immediately grabbed her wrist as she was pulled, she managed to grab Maddie with her free hand.

She and the boy jumped out of the window. As they jumped, she caught a glimpse of someone opening the door to her room. She and the boy were on the run now. The people who had broken in were probably men that her father had made fun of. She silently cursed her father at the thought.

Lucy looked ahead, she and the boy were heading to the forest. She felt the uncomfortable feeling of mud on her bare feet and the twigs of trees she had run into on her scalp. The autumn cold was almost unbearable but she still did her best not to shiver. She held onto Maddie's hand, the bit of warmth lifted her spirits.

The boy wasn't shivering at all. He just kept running, who was this boy? Lucy couldn't help but wonder. Where was he taking her?

Lucy could hear the sounds of the strangers who had broken in close behind them. Lucy looked behind and saw three men in mohawks, clad in black, and swords on hand.

Lucy squeaked in fright as she tripped on a rock. The boy hoisted her up and carried her on his back. She could feel the hammering of his heart through his dark cloak. His emotions were mixed and swirling madly. Poor Lucy's head ached from their wild confusion.

The boy came to a stop on the edge of a cliff and set her down as gently as he could. Lucy looked down, it was dark and deep, the bottom could not be seen, though the moon shone brightly from above. She gulped.

"Jump." The boy said, taking out a dagger, as though the situation was the most natural thing ever.

"What?" The mohawk men were coming to a close, Lucy began to tremble.

"Are you deaf? Jump!" The boy yelled as he rushed, dagger in hand, towards the men. They clashed together and a violent fight began.

Sarcastic. At least I know one thing about him.

Lucy shut her eyes, hugging Maddie tightly, she took a step towards the edge of the cliff. she could trust him. She knew from her experiences that real emotions don't lie. She knew she could trust him.

She felt the air cradling her. She prepared for the worst. Her heartbeat was as loud as thunder, she couldn't see what was happening. Everything was going too fast for her twelve year old mind to process.

~•~

16 years ago

"Forget about me! Just go!" She yelled, for the first time in my life I was frozen in place, I was afraid and I didn't know what to do. She looked at me teary eyed, she had a stain of dirt in her cheeks.

"No! Never!" My throat was sore and the bruises stung. Smoke filled my nose. I coughed, the plain was painted with blood and a heavy feeling of guilt that weighted on me was almost unbearable.

"I never thought that this was going to happen. I'm sorry, Ellie, we need to do this over again! When we meet, let me know my duty..." She smiled and pointed at me, a blast of light covered my vision and the pain slowly ceased.

"No!"

~•~

Present time

"Is she awake?"

Lucy opened her eyes slowly, squinting at the light.

When at last she could focus her eyes on her surroundings, the first thing she saw was a man before her. She recognized him as Beak, the owner of the bar just across the cottage, where her father spent most of his nights drinking.

He was a tall and muscular man, black hair, dark brown eyes, and a smile that all the ladies loved. Lucy had seen both the married and unmarried women of the village enter his bar from the living room window. The women, she knew, often went to Beak's bar either to get their husbands or simply fawn over Beak.

She looked around her. She was in a strange room, there were torches on each side of the room. Behind Beak was a door; the only door in the room.

There were three others in the room: two men and the boy before.

Seeing the boy, she let out a relieved sigh, she almost certain that the boy would get caught, or worse, killed by the men in mohawks. It seemed, she mused, there was more to him than she had thought.

"Welcome back Miss Lucy!" One of the men cried, he was bright and cheery and he appeared to be in his twenty's. So was the man who stood beside him, his eyes alight as he looked at her.

"Who are you?" Lucy asked.

The man was so shocked that he did not know what to do. Or at lest that was what Lucy felt, she puzzled by that shocked look.

"Ahem." Beak coughed," Miss Lucy, this is Harold and his brother Dreg. They both served you as tellers. You may have forgotten them, but you surely wouldn't have forgot Sir E–"

"Eludo." The boy cut him off, he had a spiteful gaze on Beak. Lucy thought that this was rude.

Dreg and Harold looked almost exactly the same. They had soft brown hair and eyes, although Harold had a darker skin color than Dreg's.

"I don't know him."

Lucy was unsure of what to say next. She had so many questions. What were tellers? And what was she doing here?

What about her father?

"Where am I?" She asked at length. She was hopeful that her father would have lived, he had an iron backbone. She knew that he wouldn't give in to people. She sat up.

"You're in the hideout, our secret place. This used to be one lively underground headquarters. But when–nevermind." Beak coughed, his eyes were looking anywhere but at her, she raised her eyebrow. She felt sadness pour out from the men and boy. Especially the boy.

"What happened? What are tellers?" Her fingers glided over the blanket she was sitting on and she suddenly remembered something. "Where's Maddie?"

"One question at a time please. The bear is right here." Eludo raised Maddie with his hand and gave it to her.

Lucy rejoiced at the familiar warmth of her teddybear. She smiled at the ever growing love she felt from it.

"We have those too." Harold said showing his torso, and on his side was a cute blue faded bear. Lucy's shocked gaze fell on the bear, which looked exactly like Maddie. As Beak showed his on his nape, and Harold's brother Dreg, who had been quite the whole time, shyly raised his shirt to reveal a bear on the same place of Harold's. Only Eludo didn't show.

Lucy's eyes fell expectantly on Eludo, who simply stood his ground, silent and watching.

"I'm reincarnated," he told her. "My mark is gone, and so is yours."

"Really? Where was it?" Her eyes lit up at the last, she guessed all the places. Eludo stayed silent and crossed his arms.

"We don't know, Miss. Only Eludo had the privilege of seeing it." Beak answered for Eludo, as much as that sounded so odd, Lucy realized something.

Did he just–?

"I'm reincarnated?" This was big. Bigger than anything she could remember. All her life she didn't know. Other reincarnated people had memories of their past life, so why didn't she?

Well that was a way to know you're the same person as someone who lived in the past.

"Quite possibly." Eludo rolled his eyes. Her eyebrows twitched, why was he so annoying? She wondered. And why won't he tell her where her mark had been. Could it be that the mark was somewhere embarrassing? That wouldn't make sense, he was a boy and she was a girl, why would he have the only privilege to see her mark?

"Okay, enough of this, we have serious matters at hand." Beak raised his voice, he laid out his hand to Lucy, which she gratefully took, everyone sat in a circle.

"Unnamed found out, his men are all over the village, I've had no sign of Halcyon." Said Eludo.

Lucy stayed silent.

"This is bad," Beak muttered. "He might try to start another war like before."

"That won't be such a problem. Now that we have Miss Lucy all we have to do is gather all the survivors from before," Harold said enthusiastically as brother nodded beside him.

"Excuse me, but war? Why am I even here?" Lucy couldn't help but speak up.

"Can you still fight, miss?" Beak asked.

"No, look at me! If I ever so much as take a step in a war, I'll die quicker than a swing of your swords!"

"I'll train her," Eludo said suddenly, raising his hand up without even once looking at Lucy.

Everyone nodded. They didn't have a sense of insecurity in their faces. It was as if they knew he was the best person on the job.

"Train? What do you mean?" Lucy inquired curiously.

"Ever wonder why the government keep us a secret?" Eludo asked her mysteriously, his finger pointing upwards as he spoke.

Before Lucy could shake her head no, a spark appeared on the tip of his finger, and out came a small fire.

She didn't speak, she stared foolishly at the fire hovering on Eludo's finger.

"Actually no, but that's one of the reasons? Why didn't–"

"This meeting is concluded," he said. He waved his hand and the fire of the torches was immediately put out. Lucy could obviously see that he did that just to look cool.

"Let's go. And don't worry about your father," he added to Lucy. "He's safe. I'll tell you everything you need to know."

~•~

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