Hideout

"No! Don't!" screamed Kiyu as she watched Laki being taken away by the men. She was beside herself, like a ghost outside her body.

"Get up," she screamed to her body. "After them!"

But nothing happened. Nothing stirred inside her. Darkness settled around her, obscuring her vision with each passing moment. All strength drained from her body and keeping her eyes open hurt.

In the next moment, she squinted her eyes and heard voices reaching her ears.

"I tell you! The sword pierced her shoulder!" a voice right next to her shouted, "That's not normal!"

"Quiet, I think she's waking up." said another, but older voice.

She wrenched her eyes open and recognized two shadowy figures above her. One figure was taller than the second by several heads.

"Ugh!" She tried to sit up and felt a pain run through her entire body. But she did not give in and stretched her back, sitting up.

"Where am I?" she asked in confusion, pressing a hand to her forehead that felt like she had received a good whack with a hammer.

"You're safe," the older voice said, moving away from Kiyu. "At least for now."

Her vision returned bit by bit and the shadowy figures took on a more detailed form.

"You guys?" she exclaimed, upset as she recognized the two in front of her. She tried to crawl backwards, but her body punished her with a sharp pain that once again made its way through her entire body.

"The thieves!" she shouted in disgust. An incredible rage built up inside her and made her whole body tremble.

It was their fault that Laki and she got into this situation. If they hadn't grabbed the money, Laki and she would have...

< Kiyu >

Kiyu could guess what Cheryu was getting at. There was no point in getting her worked up over what might have been and would have been. She took a deep breath and calmed down a bit.

"Oh, you've calmed down." the older man replied. "Good, I was afraid you were going to do something stupid that would open up your wounds."

Kiyu hadn't even thought of that before she glanced at her right shoulder, which was bandaged. Had the two of them saved her?

"Why did you save me?" she murmured and with incomprehension.

The two looked at each other in silence before the boy took over the conversation.

"We've seen you fight the guards of Tānlán that greasy slimeball." Both admiration for Kiyu and contempt for Tānlán resonated in his words.

"You dealt out well, as I saw, but there were just too many of them," he continued. "After they left you for dead, I picked you up and brought you to Toras. Toras is an excellent healer, you must know." he finished his summary, pointing to the older man next to him.

"I.... understand." she whispered, still a bit confused. Mixed emotions wrestled inside her. On the one hand, she was still angry that they had stolen from Laki and her, but on the other hand, they had also saved her life.

"And where am I?" she asked. After all, she had to find and save Laki as soon as possible!

"You are in our smuggler's hideout," Toras replied, putting some herbs to the side. "Here, Tānlán's men can't find you, and we've had enough time to take care of you in peace."

"I guess.... I have you to thank..." whispered, looking at the boy.

"Zhèngyi," he replied. "And since not for. Anyone who messes with that miserable bastard is a friend of ours."

Zhèngyi looked down at the ground and was silent for a moment before he started again.

"You know... that miserable slave driver isn't the city ruler of Jarifa. But in lord Xianzhu's absence, he takes advantage of his position. Only lord Xianzhu's rules still keep him somewhat in check."

"This city before his arrival had riches for all and no one had to fear. But in the absence of his master, he made living here hell. Anyone who does not obey the laws he kills or locks away forever. He takes everything he wants and when he wants it. Anyone who refuses.... well, you've experienced it firsthand."

Kiyu noticed Zhèngyi's entire body tense up, and he shook. Before Kiyu could even get to a question, he turned away and left the room they were in.

"Don't hold it against him," Toras jumped in. "He was a happy, simple boy until that bastard of a city ruler arrived here and robbed him of his parents."

Toras, who had always kept a friendly face until now, now had a scowl on his face. "We hold a grudge against Tānlán."

"Did he do something to you, too?" asked Kiyu, out of curiosity. Somewhat she feared that the question might upset her counterpart.

"Let's not talk about Tānlán anymore for now," he replied. "You need to rest some more and regain your strength. When you can get up, come and join us, we'll stay in hiding for now."

Toras had also left the room, leaving Kiyu alone.

For Kiyu, the whole thing was a lot of information that she first had to process. Guards of Tānlán captured Laki while they left Kiyu behind dead. Thanks to Cheryu and Toras, she had survived with no long-term damage, and now she had run into two people who seemed to have a deep grudge against the city ruler Tānlán.

She moved into a mediation position, crossing her legs as she did so.

'How does it look, Ryu? Is there anything we can do to speed this up?'

<With your powers, that shouldn't be a problem> he replied.

Without wasting time, Kiyu focused on the wound on her shoulder, which was the worst of all her wounds. Her energy flow built up and flowed through her shoulder, making the skin and everything inside her body coalesce as if no one pierced it.

Toras had done a good job of both stopping the bleeding and cleansing her body. But as she treated her wound, she felt this wound would leave a scar.

But as long as it was only her own body, she could live with it. A scar on Laki's body, however, she would never have been able to forgive.

It took her a few seconds, in which her wound had closed, and apart from the scar there was no residual evidence of an injury.

As a test, she pressed once with a little more force against her right shoulder and felt no more pain.

'Good, that's done.' Determined, she straightened up and headed for the door of the room.

An enormous room stretched out before her, with several corridors leading away from it, some of which seemed to go on forever. But what surprised her most was that the walls here were not all wood, as in the small hospital room, but made of.... Earth?

"Are we underground?" she asked into the room in wonder.

"You can move again already?" Both Toras and Zhèngyi, who were both sitting at a plain wooden table, looked at her with widened eyes and open mouths.

"How is that possible?" they both uttered in disbelief.

"Hm" Kiyu just shrugged her shoulders. "Good self-healing, I guess."

She was grateful to them both for their help, but she was adamant about not revealing the exact circumstances of her powers. That Zhèngyi had seen her fight was already more than enough.

"But say.... we are underground?" The thought wouldn't let her go, and only intensified the more she looked around.

"Yes, our secret hideout is underground in the park." replied Zhèngyi.

'Secret hideout? Oh, that's right, they are crooks and therefore wanted men.'

"Well, now that you seem to be recovered.... what are your plans now, Kiyu?"

"You know my name?" she replied in surprise. "How do you know that?" She couldn't remember introducing herself by name.

"The other girl screamed your name just before you jumped into the sword," he explained. "They took her with them."

"I know!" she cursed. "He had already tried to buy her that afternoon, in the marketplace. We refused, of course."

She was silent for a moment before looking Zhèngyi full of anger in the eyes.

"What am I up to, you ask? I'm going to get my sister back and teach that bum a lesson."

"And how do you envision that? You lost to his men, if you remember again." he announced to her, as if she didn't already know the result. "And those were just his simple foot soldiers. That greasy slimeball himself is weak, but he hired spiritformers to do his bidding for him. As you are now, you don't stand a chance."

Anger spread through Kiyu. This was not what she wanted to hear. She didn't care how many would stand in her way. At any price, she would free Laki.

But she also knew that she could not give her life like that.

"So what do you propose?" she asked without losing herself further in emotional thought processes.