The one in charge turns around and nods. "Take us to them." He says.
"Not until I have the coin promised. Give me the coin and I will take you to them." the woman demands.
"We will give you the coin after we get the girl. We don't want her to get away -"
"She won't, none of them will." She scoffs. "I slipped in something into their water. They will all be asleep till noon. The money."
The one in charge nods at the Faceless man beside him, who pulls out a bag of coins and hands it to the woman who begins to count them.
~
Miya tiptoes back into the store and rushes around to wake everyone. "Wake up, we have to go."
Ralph was the first to jump up from his sleeping position. He searches first for Kidaya who was still asleep beside him, before turning to Miya.
"We have to leave. Those men are here." Miya says and Ralph didn't need an explanation to understand who the men she is referring to are. He quickly taps Kidaya who sits up. "We need to leave." He says to her and she nods, getting up.
"Where are they?" Sam asks also getting up.
"In front of the building. The woman is with them, we will have to use the backside and hope there is a route there. I knew we couldn't trust that woman."
Sam rushes over and supports Ralph in walking.
~
Leading the way. "As soon as I saw them and confirmed that the girl was the one you described, I had to find a way to keep them and send out the message. Come, they are in the store room." The old woman says. She arrives at the store and opens the door. Carrying up her lantern, "Here they -" The rest of the words was lost in her throat when she turned around and saw none of the children in the room. She turns around her, and turns again.
Seeing the woman turn around in her position, the men quickly rush into the room and meet an empty room.
"Where are they?" The one in charge asks turning to face the woman.
Gulping an empty throat, a bead of sweat suddenly forms on her folded forehead. "They... I left them... I ... The girl..."
Swish! Came the sound from the sword of the man in charge as he slit the woman's neck and blood came running out before her body falls to the floor. "Find the girl! They couldn't have gone far." He says cleaning his sword. The others bow and leave.
~
They ran through the forest, dashing past the leaves and using the moon as a light guide.
"They couldn't have gone far, search everywhere." Came the leader's voice. They were getting close.
"I won't make it." Ralph says as he keeps running with the help of Sam. "I will delay you all. Go on without -"
Kidaya stops running and moves back to meet Sam and Ralph. She turns to his left and also offers her shoulder for him to wrap his hand around her. "We can do it." She says running along with him.
Shaking his head. "We can't Kidaya. I am delaying us, they will catch up with us because of me. You have to -
"Stop telling me to leave you behind and run away alone." She shrieks.
"Shh! You'll let them know our position." Sam warned.
"I do not care. I am tired of everyone always telling me to run away and that they will find me later, but they never do." Kidaya speaks out.
"But if you do not lower your voice you will get us all killed along with you, and I believe I and my brother do not deserve that for helping you all this time," Miya says to her.
"Then you can leave. You and your brother can go without us. Leave."
"Kidaya!" Ralph called more like pleading with her to lower her voice.
Miya scoffs. "Fine, we will. It's not like I fancy the idea of sticking my nose in your business, Spoilt Princess." Miya fired.
"I am not a Princess!"
"But you act like one, and your brother makes you comfortable with that idea that's why you don't even notice all the sacrifices he makes for you." Miya walks back to where Kidaya stood. "I don't know if you realize it but the only reason why he is still on the run is because of you. You are the one those men want, all he needs to do is hand you over to them or run without you, and he will be safe. I would have done it."
Kidaya bends down, picks up a stone, and throws it at Miya furiously.
Miya misses the stone aimed at her. "I said it, spoilt Princess." Miya repeated mockingly.
"That's enough Miya." Sam says.
"You can leave, I and my brother do not need your help," Kidaya says to her.
"Really? Because he is the only one I pity. After all all you do is hide behind him all the time and he takes the blow."
"Miya!" Ralph called this time, his voice raised. "You do not talk to her like that." He warns.
She scoffs. "They are both spoilt. Let's get out of here Sam." She says walking over and pulling her brother away from helping Ralph.
"But the men-"
"They seem to be talking back at me fine, they should use that same energy to escape the men. Like you said, they are more trouble than we know." Miya says still pulling him away.
"But-"
"Do you want to die for her, Sam? Those men are close. It is either we leave now, or die along with her. Let's go." And we that, she and her brother begin to run away.
Ralph sighs. "We need to keep moving." He says.
"I am sorry," Kidaya says looking down. Now that Miya and Sam are gone, she regrets talking the way she had. Two of them had done nothing but help her and Ralph since they met.
Ralph smiles down at her and puts his hand again around her neck. "You don't have to Milady."
"Kidaya. Call me Kidaya. You are my brother." She says looking up at him.
For a second, he was taken aback by her words. But when she smiled, he could do nothing but smile back. "Well, little sister -"
"I didn't say you should add little. I am six." She says.
He heaves, and they smile. The first smile she has seen on him since that night weeks ago. "Well then Sister of six."
She rolls her eyes, then smiles. Her mother would have chastised her if she saw her rolling her eyes right now. Well, Kidaya thought, she wouldn't be here rolling her eyes if her mother was alive. Ralph was all she had now.
"It is definitely going to be stressful having a sister as smart as you. For one, it has left us stranded in the middle of the forest in nowhere, with some men chasing us."
"What do we do?" She asks him because she can also hear the men getting closer.
"We certainly can't outrun them with my leg this way. I say we hide and hope they run past us." So saying, they walk into the darker side of the bush and find a spot to hide. He pointed at a rock for her to hide behind while he hid behind a tree. It was the only thing they could do now.
Soon, the men came into their sight, they all had swords drawn out and ready to aim as they ran past. Ralph sighs when he saw three of them run past where he and Kidaya were hiding. Now all they had to do was wait for some while before - Ralph heard footsteps again, followed by a shadow cast close to where they hid. One of the three men had returned instead of continuing to run like the others. Ralph froze for a moment when he saw him begin to search the bush around him. Slowly, he turned to Kidaya and signaled for her to stay silent, and she nodded in agreement.
The man had been running with his men when he suddenly stopped. The kids couldn't have run this fast especially since the woman from before had told them that one of them had a sprained ankle. It was either they were surprisingly too fast for kids, or they had decided to hide somewhere. Choosing to believe the second one, he turned around and began to search the bush for any sign of the children. They had to be here somewhere, and he intended to find them because that was the only way he could return back to Vianto Empire. He must have the girl or her head. The Leader of the Faceless Men had signaled for her death, not just him, but all over Vianto and its neighboring countries, the Faceless Men were searching.
He had been happy when the old woman had reached out to them and told him she had the girl, but they had been careless, and the girl along with the rest had escaped their grasp. He had to find her, because he needed to return back home. With these thoughts, he continued searching around. He would search the entire forest if that would help, although it would have been easier if he had taken some hounds along with him. They got the job done faster. But who had expected that finding one little girl, would be this hard and time consuming. The girl must have nine lives, but he intended to leave her with none by morning.
Using the light from the moon, he continued his search, heading in the left direction towards a rock ahead of him. The same rock where Kidaya was hiding.