Chapter 3:

Grayson

Hours later, we continued to wade through the abundant underbrush in the forest. As we walked, strange noises surrounded us, somewhat like bird songs, but a bit different. Thin strands of light filtered through the trees, and every now and then, rustling could be heard from the brush in front of us. To say the atmosphere made me uneasy would be an understatement. This place was alien, and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The brush all looked different too, an observation I made as we walked, or rather, stumbled along. Out of nowhere, a small animal dashed past us from a nearby bush, eliciting a shriek from Izumi. Danya immediately started scanning our surroundings, searching for threats.

"What was that?" Izumi shrilled, holding tightly to my jacket.

"I don't know. A rabbit?" I remarked. It had moved too quickly to catch any sort of decent look at it, let alone a good idea of what it was.

"No," Izumi insisted. "It did not look like a rabbit."

"I agree with miss Shiro." Danya added. "That most certainly was not a rabbit. I've hunted too many to ever mistake one for anything else."

"Are you sure?" I asked, gingerly removing Izumi's hands from my jacket.

"I am sure!" Izumi squeaked. "It was not a rabbit!"

I shrugged, continuing forward. It could've been a rabbit... or nearly any other woodland creature, real or fantasy. It could also be something completely different, I couldn't tell. I dismissed it as unimportant. Izumi though was still freaking out, judging by her fidgeting.

"Let it go." I instructed, a bit annoyed now. Her anxiety was starting to wear down my nerve.

"I can't." Izumi said, shivering. "Something is seriously weird here, wherever here is."

"I feel like we went over this already." I answered testily.

"Well..." Danya piped up. "She isn't wrong." I opened my mouth to reply, but stopped short of actually saying anything.

Suddenly, the had trees opened up, to reveal a large field, apparently farmland. It was desolate and brown, with dead plant matter strewn across it. There were bales of golden grain stacked around the edges of the field, bound by thick, coarse rope. In the distance, across the field, I could see a house of some sort. There was smoke rising from its tall, brick chimney, but aside from that, there was not much of anything in sight. It appeared that we had stumbled upon a farm.

"Looks like there are at least people around here." Izumi said, lips pursed. "That's a good sign." Danya looked at her.

"Depends on if they're friendly or not."

"No shit, really?" Izumi replied testily. I coughed loudly.

"Let's get over there. Whoever's there will hopefully tell us just where we are, and maybe give us some directions, or something." I interrupted. I abruptly started walking again, with Izumi and Danya quickly falling into step behind me, working to keep up. As we moved through the harvested field, I noticed a distinct lack of farming equipment. The crops, upon closer inspection, looked somewhat like a cross between wheat and corn. I also noticed, as we closed in, that the house was made out of an odd wood, presumably that of the half-circle trees. We walked on closer in silence, when suddenly, a man nearly flew out of a door in the side of the house. He wore simple clothes, in varying shades of brown, and had dark brown hair. His features were somewhat handsome, but seemed a bit worn, like old leather. He quickly attempted to stand from his position, lying on the ground, but two men had followed him through the door in heavy metal armor, and one planted his foot on the man's chest. The other man then brought a sword to the plain man's neck, mouth moving as he said something inaudible to me I could faintly hear laughing from what I assumed was the man's companion, and made a snap decision.

"Izumi! Danya! Cover me!" I called, as I started running to the man's aid.

"Sir!" Danya called from behind me, jogging after me. I couldn't hear Izumi, but I assumed she was following me as well. The men, hearing our calls, turned in our direction, and one reached for the sword at his side. It never left its sheath, as a boom from behind and to the right of me echoed. A bullet sent dust flying as it hit the ground behind them, one of the men with little more than a stump left on his shoulders. He fell over with a sickening thud, and the other man paled.

"Good hit!" I called. I was nearly upon the remaining man, who growled, drawing his sword. A pistol appeared almost as if by magic in my hands, and I fired twice, aiming for his knees. I hit both, blowing them out the back of his legs, and the man collapsed into a ball, a scream leaving his lips at the sudden pain. I rushed over to where the man had fallen, placing the barrel of my pistos an inch above the man's throat. His eyes widened in confusion and his scream turned to a whimper. He made no further attempt to move.

"Demon, stay back!" The man screamed, in a broken, weird kind of basic. It was hard to understand, but it was unmistakable. The armored man noticed the state of his comrade to its full extent. He visibly paled, and his angry expression quickly lost it's edge.

"Why are you attacking this man?" I yelled back. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Izumi rushing towards the man they were attacking. Danya, meanwhile, seemed to be in soldier mode, as she barged into the house, searching for further threats. She quickly disappeared inside, the tip of her rifle scanning back and forth.

"This man owes the guild of Tarin for their protection." The armored man answered, quivering. His eyes were dark with fear and pain, as he slowly processed what had just happened.

"I owe nothing!" The man retaliated from behind me, where Izumi was attending to his wounds. His accent was much easier to understand, what some might call british at one point, though still not completely comprehensible. I noticed now that he had several cuts down his arms, which ran red as he shifted in place. His finger pointed unerring to the man at my feet.

"You took everything, even my daughter. There's nothing left! It's because of you that I have nothing more to give!" My eyes went dark at the peasant's declaration.

"Is that right?" I asked, eyes hard. I exuded a deadly calm, terrifying enough so that even Izumi shivered involuntarily.

"Please!" The man pleaded. I slowly traced the line of his jaw with my pistol.

"Give me one good reason you shouldn't die right now". The man's skin couldn't be paler, as his mouth gaped.

"I-I-I," He stuttered. I stood straight, and scoffed, looking down at him with harsh eyes.

"I don't like that answer. Try again."

"I can tell you where we keep the slaves!" He blurted out.

"Slaves?" I growled. My muscles visibly tensed, and I wanted nothing more than to obliterate the man on the spot.

"Yes..." The man cowered, pushing his head into the dirt. "We keep any slaves we get in a warehouse in Saten. We keep them there to-" Suddenly, a streak of red flashed by me. The stock of Izumi's PDW connected with the man's temple, instantly rendering him unconscious. I stood there impassively, breathing heavily and trying to push the thought of murder out of my mind.

"Gray?" I opened my eyes to Izumi's face, filled with worry, as she looked up at me, only a few feet away.

"Damn." I muttered, dropping my pistols. They audibly clattered. I continued taking deep breaths. A few moments later, I slowly stopped seeing red around the edge of my vision.

"Sorry to stop the fun." It was said jokingly, but Izumi's voice was filled with worry.

"I know." I turned to the remaining man, causing Izumi to back away slightly, though she seemed reluctant. "Hey you, what's your name?"

"Wilson." The man said humbly. His voice was unsteady, but not fearful. Izumi had taken the man's overshirt, and used strips it to bandage up his arms, and though crude, it seemed to be working, at least for now. "Thank you for standing up to those thugs."

"Don't thank us yet, we aren't done." I said, sighing. " Or, rather, Izumi and Danya aren't. Wilson, can you lead her to this warehouse if it's nearby? I'll keep watch here, and besides, I need to deal with this." I gingerly tapped the unconscious man with the tip of my boot.

"What Are you planning?" Izumi cocked her head in confusion.

"Well... " I sighed. "You and her are going to try and figure out what the hell is going on, and hopefully get WIlson's daughter back. " I turned to Wilson. "Just how many guards do you think are going to be there, if any?" Wilson grasped his chin in thought for a moment, before answering me.

"This is just a guess, but between one and four counts. Three, if I had to decide.

"Ummm... what is a count?" Izumi asked. Wilson cocked his head at her. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but instead, he shrugged, and held up four fingers.

"This is a count." Me and Izumi both looked at his gestured hand.

"Four?" Izumi asked. Wilson looked back at her.

"Four?" He looked in between Izumi and his hand questionably. "You mean a count." I couldn't help it, as I quickly began nervously laughing.

"Well this is going to be a problem." Izumi's eyes went wide, before she too broke out laughing, much to our friend's confusion.

"What is it?" Wilson, asked, confused.

"Nevermind. Apparently, there are gonna be some communication breaks between us. Just ignore those, best you can." Wilson nodded.

"You certainly are strange." He muttered quietly. Izumi nodded.

"You don't even know the half of it. "

"Right," I turned to face Izumi better.

"You two should be fine right? A dozen doesn't seem like too much of a problem. I mean, you do have that thing." I gestured to the boxy weapon currently swinging near her hips.

"Yeah, a dozen shouldn't be much of an issue." She confirmed haughtily, patting her Scion lovingly.

"C'mon." She waved to Wilson. "Let's go get your daughter back, shall we?" Her looked momentarily conflicted for some reason, before simply nodding. He was taking this rather well, all things considered. "Danya!" Several moments passed, before the young woman poked her head out of a second story window.

"Yes, miss Shiro?"

"C'mon, we've got something to do." Danya looked to me immediately, and I nodded. Shrugging, she vaulted out of the window, landing on the ground and rolling, tucking her rifle into her stomach. Wilson stood, looking at her in shock as she stood straight, brushing herself off. Izumi scowled.

"Showoff." Danya shrugged again.

"It was faster." I shook my head at the girl's blunt response. Wilson, now over his moment of shock, coughed, bringing our attention back to him.

"Yes, well,um, we'll be going, shall we? Please follow me?" He asked, bowing. Danya and Izumi looked back to me, but I just stood there, impassively. Izumi shrugged, and looked back at Wilson. His eyes shone with curiosity, and she nodded her assent. He beckoned them to follow him, and they complied, trotting after him towards a rough dirt road across the house from us. I slowed my breathing again, closing my eyes, and wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into.