In the far corner of her former home, Lili sat in complete darkness chained to the fire iron that had branded her as a slave. The chain was only a couple of meters long and the fire iron was only slightly buried in the ground between the broken floorboards.
The 4 hooded men or the 4 brothers of Kane as they had called themselves during their short introduction were all sitting close to the fireplace with their backs turned to her. They seemed to have completely forgotten her existence as they just kept on talking amongst one another and eating whatever small rations they had.
She to her own surprise was handed her cloak back and her two leather pouches with the bread still inside which she was now eating.
The thought of escaping had constantly been on her mind, she might be able to unbind the chain from around the fire iron and then sneak outside without the 4 brothers noticing anything, but after what had happened she didn't anymore have the guts to do that. Besides her left arm was still unresponsive and her body felt weak.
Right now what she needed was some rest and time to heal and grow stronger. Despite their brothers cruel burning of her skin with their star-shaped slave brand, they hadn't done anything else to her. They still didn't believe her, but at least for now, it seemed that she would be safe. What did the future hold for her that she did not know?
Finishing up the last of her bread Lili wrapped herself tightly in her cloak and lay down on her right side so as not to damage her left. She kept a constant watch on the men, not trusting them to not do something to her, but soon her eyes started to close as the exhaustion of the day came to her.
As midnight came around the whole house fell into silence with the brothers falling asleep just like Lili. Only the crackling of the fire could be heard.
Deep in her sleep, Lili was suddenly disturbed by the feeling of a familiar presence close by. The presence was not far, she could feel it, standing there just by the door.
Eyes flying open Lili saw it. There at the door, lit only slightly by the light of the fireplaces was a familiar-looking young face that did not bring Lili much hope but great confusion as she couldn't help but say quietly in her confusion.
"Robin?"
Seemingly hearing this the teenage boy Robin smiled and placed a finger on his lips and did a quiet. "Shush"
Pushing herself into a sitting position she could see that the boy had not come unprepared as he held a short bow in his left hand and a quiver full of arrows at his right side.
She watched as Robin quietly started to sneak inside the house. Each of his steps made the wooden floorboards beneath him creek alarming Lili.
She tried to wave her one good arm to wave him away before he awoke the sleeping brothers. But it was no use as the boy just happily waved back to her, clearly not understanding her meaning.
Lili felt sweat forming on her face as she watched Robin walking past the brothers, he was almost at the fire iron. His hand almost touched the thing when Lili then noticed one of the brothers move.
She could see that it was the tall thin man, his back was fully turned towards her when he then spoke and said.
"Don't even think about it, Lili. You can't escape from me, my eyes are sharp as an owl and my ears are like that of an rabbits."
Both Robin and Lili stayed still and held their breath not daring to make a sound. Then the man turned around lazily towards the source of the sound. He looked at Robin and then turned to her who was still sitting where she had been for the whole night.
Seemingly confused by this the man couldn't help but say.
"Lili? Wait who are you?"
With eyes wide Lili watched as Robin looked directly at the man, then back at her. His eyes seemed to be saying.
Oh shit, I fucked up.
Then he turned back towards the man, pulled out an arrow from his quiver and took aim. The thin man was about to move, but then Robin spoke in his undeveloped tone of voice.
"Don't move or I'll shoot. I just want the girl, that's all."
Hearing this Lili felt thankful to the boy. Did she actually manage to make a second friend while out on her short trip? The thought of this made her feel warm inside, but she didn't make a single move. Robins plan had obviously failed and now he was in big trouble, although he did not seem to realize this himself just yet.
All the brothers were now awake and on their knees just waiting for their moment to strike. They said nothing as Robin then slowly started to move towards Lili. His hands were already shaking from pulling on the bowstring for too long.
Lili bit her lip softly and mustered up the courage to yell.
"No Robin! Get out of here! You can't beat them, they are too strong!"
As he heard this Robin's eyes went to Lili for but a moment and in that time the thin and muscular man already stood up.
Turning back towards the men Robin yelled to them.
"Hey, don't move! I, I'm warning you! I know how to use this thing! I happen to be the second-best hunter in my village after my father!"
The thin man raised his hands up and said.
"Wow there son, be careful at what you point that thing at, you might hurt someone."
In response Robin said.
"Yeah, that's the point."
Then Lili noticed the furthest man from her move his hands to his waist where his daggers were.
Robin noticed this also and in but an instant the man tossed his dagger and Robin shot his bow. In that split second Robin managed to bend his body to the right, just barely causing the dagger to fly right past him.
The small hooded man on the other hand wasn't so lucky as the arrow struck his upper right chest but didn't pierce it. The man let out a loud pained yell.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!"
Seizing this opportunity the 3 other brothers charged at Robin. Tossing his bow aside Robin backed away against the house corner while pulling out a knife from his waist.
From Robins front, the thin man came but hesitated as Robin sliced at the air in front of him. To his right the fat man came then but hesitated as well, only managing to gain Robin's attention for a split second.
That split second was enough time for the muscular man to close in. Robin sliced at the man but his hand was grabbed by the man.
Robin tried to pull his knife hand back but was too late as the muscular man sent a powerful right fist straight into Robins face.
Lili gasped in shock and watched as Robin fell hard against the wooden Wall and slid down to the floor.
Lili could help but facepalm as she saw this. The boy definitely had some skill, but in the end, it was a foolish plan. She couldn't help but wonder why couldn't the boy have just gone to get help or why didn't he have help to begin with.
The thin man and the muscular man grabbed a hold of Robin and carried him next to the fireplace, while the fat man attended to their short brother.
Seemingly without much thought the fat man pulled the arrow out of his short brother with brute force. The short man screamed in pain as the fat man took a look at the arrow and said.
"I didn't get it out. Shit! Hey, brothers we have a problem, I didn't get the arrowhead out! What are we gonna do now?"
Hearing this the two other brothers expressions suddenly turned to rage. The thin man took out his own dagger and looked at half-conscious Robin as he said.
"An eye for an eye it is then. Time to die hunters boy!"
Hearing this Lili immediately yelled to them.
"No wait!"
To her relief, the thin man stopped and turned to look at her as he said.
"What is it, girl?"
Lifting up her one good hand Lili said.
"I can help your brother. I have small hands, I can get that arrowhead out and save your brother. Just don't kill Robin, please."
Lili wasn't sure but she figured that these brothers probably knew nothing about treating wounds. Sure she wasn't a doctor or anything, but the least she could do was pull the arrowhead out, clean the wound with the men's alcohol and then bandage the man up.
Seemingly thinking on her proposal the thin man put his dagger away and then said.
"Do it then."
Getting up to her feet Lili quickly made her way to the small man who was clearly in the pain. Luckily he wasn't far as otherwise, her chain wouldn't have let her reach him.
Coming to the man's side Lili looked to the fat man and said.
"Hold him still this is going to hurt."
Crouching down to the small man's side, Lili couldn't help but feel nervous, not for the man's safety but for Robins. Right now the fate of an innocent young teenage boy basically rested in her single working little hand.
Sticking her fingers close together she pushed slowly down into the man's open wound so as not to damage the flesh inside.
The man let out a pained yell but didn't struggle too much to Lilis relief as her little hand fully sank into the wound which caused it to rip open slightly more.
The man was clearly in excruciating pain as Lili then felt the hard intact arrow head inside. To remove it safely so as not to damage the man's flesh even more, Lili placed her fingers on the sharp ends of the arrowhead and then pulled it out.
Seeing the bloody thing in her hand Lili breathed a big sigh of relief and then turned to the men next to the fire and said.
"Quickly give me some strong alcohol to wash the wound and some clean cloth."
Hearing this the thin man let go of Robin leaving him in the muscular man's hands as he then did as she said.
There was no clean cloth so Lili had to have a long thin piece of her cloak cut seeing as it was probably the cleanest piece of clothing around, thanks to her not constantly sweating like the men had been while chasing her.
This situation was not what she wanted but at least now her cloak wouldn't be hanging so far in the ground as before, however it was still dragging along the ground.
Nonetheless, she managed to clean the wound and place the cloth over it. Although if there was still something that could cause an infection she wouldn't know about it until later.
Feeling satisfied with her own work and seeing her patient still alive she turned to the thin man and said.
"See, all better now. Now you can let Robin go free."
The thin man just smiled at her and went to pull out the fire iron and released Lili's chain from around it. Then he put it back over the fire and said.
"And why would I do that? The boy still needs to pay and as it so happens we still have a spare slave collar with us. Hahaha!"
Hearing this Lili could see Robins eyes widen in horror, but as his eyes landed on her he put on a brave face and said.
"Don't worry about me, Lili. At least now well be together and I'll be able to protect you."
After that girlish-sounding yells of pain could be heard echoing through the dark forest as the teenage boy Robin kept on screaming as Lili held his head in her lap to comfort the boy.
And, just like that Robin ended up joining Lili in their new life of slavery under the 4 brothers of Kein.