10 I'll take her

FIRE CLAN – VILLAGE OF SAUI - VENTU 152

"Please have mercy, we have nothing to give ya, barely have enough to hold the winter, just spare our lives!! I... I know! Just take our last daughter. She ain't old, only five, but with a bit more food, she'll soon be real pretty, ya can see that already. She's gonna worth more that our grains, promise! Just take her and leave us alone, please!"

Saui village was very near the north-west fire wall, and, even worse, very near a breach that led to the grey zone between the wind and fire clan. In that grey zone was the territory of the black wheels, one of the most influential sellswords group. They were not the biggest, but they were fierce, skilled, and organized. Normally, the black wheels had enough money with their contracts to not bother with the village, but today, they had decided that they needed more training, or more food, or maybe just more fun. They hadn't killed many so far, simply threatening most of them, but that family did not want to take any chances. They didn't have enough to feed their eight children anyway, so might as well use that daughter's life to save everyone else.

As they said that, they pushed her forward. The little girl should have been frightened, but she just kept her head down, her eyes showing nothing other than indifference. The mercenaries looked at the her and then at each other. Their chief slightly nodded and told to the parents. "Alright."

Another one put a knee on the floor, smiled, and said : "Come, girl".

The little girl, who did not understand what was happening in the slightest, went forward. She didn't like the blood on the men's faces and clothes - it smelled horrible - but her mother pushed her hastily, and she knew she had better to obey her. She didn't feel any hostility from those men, and she was used to going with the motion anyway.

The sellsword patted her head. "Good, good. Now come here." He took her into his arms, buried her face into his chest, and held tight. His chief raised a brow, but he only replied "What? I hate children's cries, they're shrill, I'll take her out." The chief smirked but didn't add anything. Then, his eyes turned cold as he looked at the parents that had just started to feel and show relief. His voice was full of anger and disdain, as he said "A fire clan member with no loyalty does not deserve to live."

They all drew their sword. From outside, the little girl heard screams. She covered her ears. She couldn't think about anything else than how loud those screams were. She hated high pitched noise. She shook her head and balanced herself until the screaming stopped. Then the man holding her put her down. She was young, but she was not stupid, she guessed what had just happened. She wanted to cry, yet no tears came. She only trembled a bit.

The chief looked down at her. "Your parents were right, you might be useful to us. Now, be a good girl and we won't hurt you."

She should be terrified now, she knew it. She should be devastated. So why didn't she feel anything special, aside some shallow discomfort? They had killed mum and dad, she knew. All of her brothers and sisters, too. Everything she knew. Well, she also knew she would leave them soon anyway, they kept repeating it, "Hope ya're gonna be old enough soon, so we can sell you off and be rid of ya."

Actually, she didn't want to think about it too much, so she just nodded her head to answer the big man. "How did they call you?", he asked. She tilted her head. " 'You there' ?". He smirked at her answer. "Aye, we'll find you a better name. Now let's go, hope you can walk long."

There had been so much noise in Saui village before. Children playing, children crying, parents screaming, drunken people singing... Now everything was calm. She liked it better that way, even if the atmosphere was a bit eerie.

The closest breach was very far away, mum and dad had said, so "it was no use to try and see the grey zone the bad guys came from". However, to her surprise, the sun was barely up when they reached it.

She was exhausted, but if they left her behind, she would be eaten by a wolf or a monster, she knew, so she kept walking. Even through her tiredness, she was excited to see what was beyond the wall. She had heard there were people dying from hunger or blood loss at every corner, that they were flames all around, ashes and shit. Her brothers used to threaten her with sending her there.

Would it be that terrible?

...

They had been right, for the most part. However, once they reached what the big man had called 'her new home', it was very different. Sure, it was still all ash grey, it was still hot and freezing, but it was much more... clean, in a sense. There were houses, for a start. Stone houses, not like the wooden ones there were in the village, or the tents and shelters she had seen up until now in the zone.

The houses were scattered around the territory, with different walls of different heights, with some paths in between but mostly platforms at different levels. It looked like a giant playground.

The big man – their chief – and the man that had taken her - Erebos, he had said - entered a house and made her and all the others follow. They sat in a circle and she was placed at the back. She was quite happy, at least she hadn't been put in the center with everyone watching her. She didn't know what she was supposed to do, no one had told her, so she just stayed there and waited.

After a brief exchange she didn't grasp, the chief said. "What ought we do with the girl? Any idea?"

Erebos answered straight away. "I'll take her." The chief looked surprised. "I thought you didn't want to take anyone in. You hate children."

"I know, but there's something about her. She's calm, she's attentive, and she barely blinked when you killed her whole family. I think I quite like her. Also, the idea of a legacy is quite good. Especially a legacy with Belmont as a family name."

The chief raised a brow. "You're that sure she'll win that place?"

The man smirked. "I'm your brother, you should know. I wouldn't even think about raising her if I wasn't convinced she'd beat them all."

The chief nodded. "Alright. Osmur, Ryan, Bratnis, you have more competition now." He then turned to his brother. "She's two years younger than the others, Erebos, so she better be as good as you think she'll be."

Erebos nodded, then other subjects were brought. Long hours had passed when he came back to the little girl, who was still wide awake. "Come, I'm taking a bet on you, don't make me regret it."

She looked at him with her big amber eyes. "What do I need to do?"

He smiled at her. "If you do everything as I say, you'll become my only daughter and heir here in the grey zones. You'll be powerful and feared. And outside, you'll be Lord Belmont's only daughter and heir. You'll be a noble with influence. Your parents were right, you might become real pretty. Plenty of those highborn folks will set their eyes on you, and you'll kill just as many."