Self-conscious of her exposed flesh she grabbed the top ties of her nightshirt and tied them shut. "Ah, when I first got captured… I got whipped for trying to fight back. Can I get some real clothes please?" the nightshirt might go down to her knees, but it was thin and loose, the back was cut and had ties probably to help with the dressing of patients too impaired to dress themselves. She was no longer unconscious though, and now it felt too revealing. Suddenly she was embarrassed about having been seen by all these strange boys and men without any proper clothes. It was more than she'd had to wear the last few weeks and what she had been wearing when she was brought here, but still... Who had dressed her? Earlier she had no room in her mind for thoughts of embarrassment or properness, now was a different story though. Thankfully her request was granted quickly and without question.
"Of course. And I can do you one better, while you eat, we'll get the washtub in the other room filled up for you." Master Robin replied. The plate that Murin handed her was piled high with food, but she ate it all and downed a glass of milk. She felt like she devoured it in minutes yet when she was done the tub was already full of hot water. The clothes she was given consisted of plain brown wool pants and a thick green cotton shirt, both a few sizes too big. Because of this, she was given some rope to tie up her pants and she used a piece of it to tie back her matted wet hair. Feeling better and more confident now she asked if she could stay a while to learn to fight and kill demons as the warriors here did. She knew it must sound odd, but she was a fighter and she really didn't want to face her parents.
The old man paused looking troubled then gently said: "That's a very big decision to make, I think you ought to go home and think it over with your family, you do have one don't you?"
"Well, yes. But my sister, she's still down there and it's all my fault. I can't just do nothing. How could I ever face my parents after what, after all, that's happened?" she confessed guiltily.
"Why would you think it was your fault? You couldn't have prevented it."
"But I could have... if I'd listened to my parents. It was my idea, I wanted to explore, and knew our parents wouldn't let us. So, when my father was leaving for a voyage out to sea, we told my mother we were going with our father and told him we'd be staying with her. Instead, we spent days wandering the woods. It was all my fault we got captured. If I hadn't insisted on exploring, it never would have happened. Then… then I left her there. She'd have never left me. I promised her I'd get help and I'd come back for her." She was tearing up again and she wiped her face muttering an apology.
"I'm sorry that happened to you dear, but you couldn't have known what would happen, or you wouldn't have done it. We will look for the demons and your sister, but the best thing you can do is comfort your parents, fighting takes years of practice and hard work though I heard you got lucky and killed a few yourself?" she nodded. "You were there for a while, weren't you?" she nodded again. "Why didn't they just kill you? Not to be rude but in my experience, they kill on sight or save people for food, and they have little tolerance for people willing to fight back, why were they keeping you and your sister alive?
"To help build their army." She spat with disgust and clutched her knees to her stomach feeling suddenly sick.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"They're using girls like us to build an army of hybrids." She spoke soft and detached.
"Human hybrids?" he asked in disgusted surprise. She just nodded and shuttered. He looked stricken and couldn't look at her. She never should have said anything. She wouldn't have if he hadn't reminded her so much of her grandfather that had passed away right before they moved here. She rolled over and stared at the wall, not wanting to talk to anyone, anymore.
~ Chapter 3: Searching for Answers - Part:2 ~Takal~
Takal sat on the cot on the other side of the wall as the girl, thinking about what she had told Master Robin. Her earlier words ran through his mind "at least twenty years or so..." he felt like he was going to be sick as he thought back to the day his mother was taken from him by those retched beasts 18 years ago. What if she hadn't been eaten as he had always believed? What if she'd been forced to... he couldn't finish that thought.
They had found the torn-up, eaten remains of his father but no trace of his mother. Could she still be alive somewhere held captive after all these years? He didn't want to believe it, that fate would be worse than death. He couldn't bear to think that she could have been out there all this time and he never even looked. He hated it, but the more he lay there and thought, the more things pointed to her story being true. When the demons attacked his home they went after his mother when she fought they knocked her out and bound her. When his older brother ran over to help, they killed him too. They tore his limbs off and shared his meat as he watched through the crack in the cabinet door.
Most of the men in the army were survivors of similar attacks, vary few females were ever left. He along with many of the men had attributed that to girls being more likely to scream, giving away their position combined with their inability to defend themselves. They had found a few girls in the wreckage of attacks, but now that he thought of it, they were either really young or quite old.
The little girls were given to orphanages in the towns nearest where they were found. Some of the old women stayed with them and helped by cooking or cleaning. Others went to live in one of the towns where it was safe. The demons hadn't attacked a town since the coastal city massacre after the queen was killed. With no more demons being born, their numbers dwindled and so did the attacks. Yet… in many of the towns, they visited for trade in the last few years, complaints and worry over girls being abducted have been on the rise. But no one had ever suspected the demons of that crime. And why would they, no remains were found and everyone knows that demons don't kidnap people, they eat them.
He had always suspected the demons of being smarter than they let on. When he had voiced his theories when he was younger people just told him he had quite the imagination or that he was getting paranoid. What if they were just as intelligent as humans? What else has their enemy been keeping from them? Just the thought of it made a shiver run down his spine.