From above the small forest waterfall Lili lay in the grass listening and waiting for a sign. As she had been running through the forest she couldn't help but keep on having a constant feeling of danger. She felt like somebody or something was constantly following her from far behind.
No matter how fast she ran the feeling kept on following her, it felt like some unknown force inside of her kept on warning her about some fastly closing threat, but what threat. She couldn't see anything. What was going on here, who or what was coming? Was anything truly coming?
But down below the waterfall where the armored men had stood arguing some days ago and then ridden off on horseback somewhere. There she had noticed even stronger marks than before. It seemed that multiple men had been using this path to move back and forth.
Was it the presence of those men she was feeling? What had they been doing here deep in the forest anyway? As far as she knew there wasn't anything interesting to be found here in the forest or maybe those men were the wandering knights that old man Al had talked about. Maybe those men were on the lookout for bandits.
Unsure of what was going on with her sense of danger. Lili had now been waiting here for her pursuers to arrive for a good long while, but even after a good few hours she couldn't see anyone arrive at the base of the waterfall.
Was she just going crazy here? Was her self-esteem truly so low after her embarrassing experiences that she had started imagining herself being constantly under some threat?
Seeing the sun again starting to rise over the treetops and a new day begin, Lili felt so bad. She had been gone from home for far too long. She hadn't kept her promise to Terminator and would definitely need to make it up to him somehow.
Deciding to stop waiting for the danger to arrive Lili opened up her leather pouch. And from there she grabbed a piece of hard bread and dipped it in the waterfall to soften it up.
Then instead of eating the bread in a normal manner she instead swallowed it and like so avoided damaging her teeth on the small stones inside the bread.
With her little belly somewhat satisfied, she started to climb the hill behind the waterfall and headed for home. Although her stomach was not happy and she was by now really looking forward to getting to eat her berries and her lovely chicken egg's again. Oh God she was so hungry.
***
Only once the sun started to set once more did she finally catch a glimpse of her home in the distance.
Finally, to her great relief, she had found her way back home. While walking through the forest she had found herself doubting her every step as she wasn't sure if she was even going the right way, but it seemed that her worries were luckily unfounded.
Pushing past the trees and going through the bushes the sight of her home finally started to clear up in her eyes, there in the distance she could clearly see her mothers tomb in plain sight. But how was this possible?
The tall vine-covered fences around her garden should have been blocking most of the view in front of her, it almost looked like the fences were no longer there. Had she come to the wrong house, surely not?
Coming out of the forest to the grassy clearing of her front yard the sight before her immediately made her heart sink in despair. Only the house she called her mothers tomb was somewhat intact with just the door broken down, but everything else was totally destroyed.
The garden and the plain plots of grass all around her home, all were dug up with the dark soil under the ground brought to the surface. All the plants she had so painstakingly cared for were ripped out of the ground and tossed aside like some trash. Her fish trap and her little home of sticks and straws was also destroyed.
And not just those things, but King Washington and his village were in pieces. But at least her wooden spear that Art had called a toothpick still stood up right at the lakeside, but more importantly where was Terminator and his wives? Where was her best friend of many years?
In a panic, she started looking around for signs of her friend. As she searched around she also realized that the tools that her mother had left her were also gone.
The metal pot she had used so many times to make her food was nowhere to be found. Strangely it seemed almost as if someone had come to her home in search of some hidden treasure as everything was either turned over, dug up or just stolen.
But why would anyone think of her home as having any treasures worth taking? Why would anyone come here and do this to her home? What had she done to deserve this?
Then as she came to the back of the house she noticed a trail of many rooster feathers there leading to the forest. With her heart beating like crazy she followed the trail and noticed hoof marks at the edge of the forest where the trail of feathers then ended and a small forest path made by horse hoofs began. Immediately her thoughts went to the 8 armored men she saw that day in the forest.
Those fucking bastards, I knew there was something off about them. Once I get my hands on them they are so gonna pay for this.
Lili wanted to roar out her fury and frustration to the sky and immediately start to follow the trail, but seeing as there was no blood anywhere she decided to halt her rage for now.
Terminator had definitely put up a fearsome fight against those armored men, but in the end he had clearly lost. Obviously, seeing as Terminator had faced such heavily armored men it was to be expected. But maybe the men had been so impressed with Terminators strength that they just took him away to be sold or something.
Thinking of this gave her hope. The men might have horses and a multiple-day head start but there was still a chance that she could find Terminator again.
The only real problem was, what was she going to do once she found him? All she had was one copper coin to buy Terminator back with and she definitely couldnt overpower those men.
But anyway, such things could be taken care of later, now she had more important things to worry about. Turning back towards the house Lili had noticed that all the flowers she had planted around the house in the memory of her mother had been dug up.
Seeing this she couldn't help but worry for her mother's remains. Surely those men wouldn't have touched her mother's remains, why would they?
Running to the broken down doorway Lili hesitated to look inside and enter. Ever since her mothers death, she had not once set foot inside the house as the memory of that time was just too painful for her to face. But seeing no other choice she clenched her small hands into little fists and mustered up the courage to enter.
Noticing the sight before her Lili immediately fell to her knees with tears in her eyes. The house was completely empty, the floorboards were ripped out with the soil and grass now sticking out. Her mother's simple straw bed was destroyed and her mothers remains were gone. Now there truly was nothing left here anymore for her, everything of importance to her was gone.
With tears in her deep blue eyes, Lili gritted her teeth in fury and pulled out the stone knife that was on her hip. Deep down in her heart, she swore that those men were going to pay. No matter how many of them there were or whoever they were, they were going to pay.
In a fury, Lili hit her little fist at the wooden floor under her knees. The impact of the hit made her fist hurt, but she didnt care. She just needed to vent out her fury on something.
One part of her felt like lying down and crying, but she knew that would do no good, she needed to get up and do something. She needed to find Mother and Terminator.
With tears of fury in her eyes Lili stood up and turned to face the outside world. She was about to step out of the doorway but froze as she heard heavy rustlings of the bushes coming from straight ahead of her. Her senses told her that something was coming her way, but she held her ground knife in hand.
A part of her emotional side hoped that it was the armored men coming for her. That would definitely save her the trouble of actually finding the men and then taking revenge. Then again the rational side of her was telling her to run and hide, but in the end, her emotions took hold of her as she prepared herself to face whoever was coming.
Knife in hand she watched as two figures in dirty green cloaks came out of the bushes. Seeing this her rage subsided a little as now she just felt confused. These were the same men from the bar in Einsway what were they doing here?
As the men's eyes fell on her a chill crept up her spine and a stinging pain came to her head warning her of danger. Before she could say anything the shorter of the two dirty-looking men spoke.
"What's this? You trying to lead us astray from your home or something? Why don't you just be a good little girl and lead us to your real home so that we can have a nice civil conversation with your parents? Just trust me when I say that my brother is the finest tracker within these lands and there is no hope of you getting away. So you might as well work with us, and in exchange we won't hurt you."
As the man said this they continued coming closer and closer to her, until they finally came to her broken fence line. Seeing it Lili mustered up her courage and tried to look mean as she pointed her knife at them and yelled.
"Stop right there! Stay back you! I don't know what you are talking about, but you're not welcome here ok! I'm warning you, I will stab you if I have to! Don't underestimate me!"
Standing there the man just smiled smugly as two other men appeared from the forest on both sides of the house. On her left side, she could see that it was the tall thin man with the bow. In worry, she looked at them as the man then spoke again.
"Oh, come on little girly. Theres no reason to be difficult, we are just honest men in need of some coin that I'm sure your noble parents will be happy to give in exchange for your life. Besides we have you surrounded now. So either you lead us to your parents willingly or we do this forcefully. Now what's it going to be, decide girl?"
Lili didn't know why these men thought of her as being some noble worth ransoming off, but she sure as hell wasn't going to surrender to them. If she did so, there simply was no saying what they were going to do to her. Words were one thing, but actions were another.
However seeing as all of them had blades and a much greater reach with them than she had, plus that bow, she wasn't liking her odds here. She definitely wasn't going to be stupid enough to try her luck against all four of them with her shitty stone knife. Right now all she could really do was run for her little life.
Looking around Lili hardly could see any roots of escape, only one path came to her mind. Without a word Lili quickly placed her knife back into its sheath which seemed to make the men's expressions soften up but then to their seeming surprise she turned around and ran inside the house.
Behind her, she could hear the men yell and give chase as she ran towards the fireplace. Though the house was but a small cottage it did have one redeeming factor about it and that was the stone fireplace and the chimney that stood there. She wasn't sure but she figured that she could fit inside that thing thanks to her small size.
Luckily she hadn't used the thing in a long time so there was nothing blocking her way as she crouched slightly down into it and started to climb. The space was tight even for her but she managed to make her way up the thing when suddenly she felt a mans hand grab a hold of her foot.
"Got you!"
The man yelled as he attempted to pull Lili out which was surprisingly hard for him due to the tight space.
With all her might she held on by pressing her one free leg against one side of the chimney as she did the same with her hands. Unable to use her leg to kick at the man's hand holding her leg. Lili went for her knife and dropped it down on the man's exposed forearm.
The knife not having much force behind it and not being all that sharp didnt manage to go far inside the man's forearm, but a pained yell could be definitely heard as her foot was released and the man's hand went away.
"Aaaaahhhhhhrrggghh! That fucking little shit! She fucking stabbed me!" The man yelled in pain as Lili quickly climbed higher so that the men couldn't reach her any more. Above her, she could see a clear path to the roof, but she decided to stay put seeing this as the safest option right now.
Looking down she could see the men one after the other attempt to reach her, but with no success. All of them were just too big to fit inside the chimney, even if they were to take out their blades they might not even reach her. Even the bow wasn't capable of hitting her from down below and the roof was too weak to support the men if they tried to climb it, this being thanks to her not maintaining it for nearly 8 years.
Noticing the men give up on grabbing at her she was finally able to take in a big sigh of relief. Holding herself still inside the chimney she listened and waited for the threat to pass. Down below her inside the house, she could hear a lot of movement. It sounded like the men were up to something. What were they doing she wondered and as she tried to listen to the men but only quiet whispers could be heard.
Stuck inside the chimney for an unknown amount of time Lili took a few sips of water and ate some bread as she waited and watched the sky above turn dark.
Then the sounds below her suddenly became louder. Looking down she noticed that the men were gathering a pile of sticks, leaves and even straws most likely gathered from the roof, all this they were placing right below her, but why.
Not understanding what was going on Lili watched as a burning stick was then tossed into the pile which caused the fire to spread. With smoke hitting her nose, realization set in her. Holy shit they intend to burn me out.
Quickly the fire spread and the smoke rose, forcing Lili to climb up and out of the chimney. Coming out of the chimney she quickly looked around to make sure the coast was clear.
The scenery around her was dark but she could see somewhat in the moonlight and it looked like the path to the lake was clear. Maybe she could use that to get away. After all people in the Dark Ages were not known for their swimming abilities so she could just swim away.
With this in mind, she silently slid down the straw roof and as she was about to land on the ground her eyes caught the sight of one of the men standing against the wall of the house.
With a quick practiced roll of a small gymnastic girl she landed safely on the ground. But the back of her hood was immediately grabbed by the man and she was pulled back against his chest. Desperately she tried to pull away and struggle as the man yelled in excitement.
"Hahahaha! I got her! Hey brothers I got her!"
Unable to pull away Lili quickly untied her cloak and simply slipped out of it and made a mad dash for the lake. To increase her speed she threw her leather pouches away as well, leaving her with nothing except the two-piece clothes and the strap around her leg.
Right behind her, she could hear the man's heavier and faster footsteps coming, she could feel his fingers brush-up against her long hair, but before the man could get any closer she tensed up her leg muscles and jumped into the water.
The impact of her splash made the mud in the lake bed move causing the water to become foggy and it also created the perfect cover for her as she stuck to the bottom and swam. Just a meter behind her she could see the outlines of the man moving in the shallow water searching for her.
Seeing this she picked up her pace and moved deeper into the lake. Lili couldn't help but feel that that encounter had been way too close for comfort. There was no saying what those men would have done if they caught her.
But the chase was not over just yet. Lili needed to get as far away from here as possible. She wasn't sure how she was going to survive from here on out without any of her tools and having to start from zero again, but first things first, she needed to get away and lose these guys off her trail.
No matter what she needed to do this on her own somehow. Just some 4 medieval men weren't going to stop her, no way. She was destined for greatness after all, and besides hadn't she just promised Art that she would stay safe. Already she had broken one promise to Terminator and lost her home because of it, so there just was no way that she could break another promise now.