Chương 159: 156. Wishful Thinking

~ Maisy ~ ~ Mr Kigeir's home ~ It should be early morning around now and ten year old Maisy was sleeping. Or at least she was supposed to be. But for some reason, she hadn't been able to get even a little amount of sleep until now. Yesterday evening, she had been playing outside Mr Kigeir's home with her new best friend Elsie when she heard a villager running through the street while shouting that the first longhouse block was completed.

She didn't know what it meant at the time and she had forgotten about it until dinner time. Then Mr Kigeir had told all of them that it was the new building which was being made by the baron of the village at the northern edge of the village. And everyone who was homeless would have to live there now. Including her and Timmy. She had been so surprised by that news, that she had forgotten to breathe for a moment. She had looked at Elsie who had also been gazing back at her with wet eyes.

Would she really have to leave her first and only friend now? Timmy had also tugged at her sleeves to confirm it from her, and she had reluctantly nodded at him, making him sniffle as well. She gave a deep sigh which didn't have any place in a ten year old's life. But she already knew that good times didn't last for people like her. At least she had made good memories with her new friend. Perhaps she could even visit her in the future to play...

Then she had to blink a few times to stop tears from falling from her eyes too. Then Elsie had started shouting at her parents that why couldn't they keep living at their home anymore? But Mr Kigeir had explained to them that it was the baron's order. When Maisy glanced at him, it seemed like he didn't want them to go away either. But why would that be? She and Timmy were not his children, and he had already helped them a lot by giving them a roof over their heads.

Wouldn't he want to live with his own family from now on? Wouldn't he want to send the orphans away from his home, when he didn't have to keep them there anymore? Then she glanced at Elsie's mother, but she also seemed to have her eyes wet. But how could that be? Why would she be sad? Maisy didn't understand it at all.

Later, when she had gone to sleep in the small room on the upper floor along with her little brother Timmy, she had thought that she would be able to fall asleep easily, just like every day, since she was so tired after playing, and had a belly full of food and a warm place to sleep. But it hadn't worked at all. Since then she had been continuously thinking about the days when she and Timmy lived on the streets, searching for food in the garbage piles.

And how their lives had changed since they had started to live in an actual wooden house. Even her aunt's hut, where they had lived after their parents had died, was only made of mud and sticks, and it wasn't nearly as warm or comfortable as Mr Kigeir's house. And when the scary bandits had attacked the village a few days ago, Mr Kigeir and his family had tried their best to protect all the children, including Timmy and her.

She had been so scared at that time, thinking that the bandits would finally take her away from her home, but it was this family which had tried to protect them, before that huge guard had arrived and chased away the bandits. Couldn't Timmy and her just keep living here...? But good times didn't last for orphans like them, did they? Since then, she had been tossing and turning while trying to sleep, but sleep hadn't come to her tonight. At all.

To distract her mind, she had even tried to imagine how it would feel to fly on the unicorn which Elsie now claimed lived in the attic of the house, but it hadn't worked either. Not that she had ever seen that unicorn till now, even if Elsie was certain that it lived there. Timmy had also been having a fitful sleep. He kept waking up again and again, asking if they really had to leave this house. Maisy had tried to console him, but she didn't really know how to do that.

And every time her eight year old brother went to sleep, he had clutched her in fear, probably dreaming of the times when they had to hide from the bandits hoping they wouldn't kidnap them. Or maybe he was thinking about the time they had to fight with a dog for the same piece of half-rotten bread which all of them had found in the garbage at the same time. But she hoped that he would be able to sleep a little, even if she was unable to.

He was her only family in the world, and she didn't want to see him crying when they had to leave. He was the only one who mattered to her in this world. But no, that wasn't correct anymore, was it? Since she had come to live with this family, she had started to enjoy the time playing games with Elsie, or telling about a new word she had learned to Timmy or even to Elsie's little brother.

She had even enjoyed the times when Mr Kigeir's older son Leif - who was much older than her and Elsie - used to tell them about how he worked as a laborer in the north and the new plants or bugs he had found there. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. She gazed at the window in the east. It wouldn't be long before the sky started to brighten.

That meant it was only a few more hours before they had to leave their only friends as well as the newfound family who had taken care of them for the past month. She hugged Timmy close again, hoping that the morning would never come again.

~ Hyola ~ ~ Inside the stonecutters' hut at the limestone quarry ~ Hyola was sitting in front of a food stall in the market square of Cinran, while Calubo was standing next to her and talking with the vendor to buy a couple of grilled skewered meat sticks for them. She was looking at him with wonder. How did she ever meet someone caring like him? Once Calubo had paid for the meat, he turned to her with a grin, and offered one of the sticks to her.

She smiled back at him, and after taking the stick from him, she ate the first cube of meat which was covered with some kind of sauce made by the vendor - and it was so juicy and tasty! She couldn't even remember when was the last time she had eaten anything which tasted so good. And she loved eating it, and wanted to have even more of it! But she simply didn't have the money to buy it. She didn't think that as a slave, she had ever been paid for her labor other than by room and board.

Maybe Calubo would have some more money to buy a few more meat sticks. But wait. How would he have the money? He was also a slave like her at the quarry now. Then how were they here in Cinran? Suddenly she heard the sound of someone shouting in surprise. What was that? She looked around him but only saw the crowd of people with indistinct faces. Who was shouting? And how was she in Cinran? She was supposed to be hungry and cold at the quarry. Right, the quarry!

Someone shouted again in alarm, and right after that, she heard the sound of steel striking steel, with someone else screaming in pain. What was happening? She was starting to get scared now. Why were people fighting at the market? And why couldn't she see them? She was getting more and more nervous by the moment, but suddenly her eyes opened up.

She found herself gazing at the wooden branches and planks from their damaged wagon, which were barely held together by some rope - inside one of the stonecutters hut at the quarry. Right. That was a dream. A wonderful dream, certainly, but only a dream. Calubo hadn't been at the quarry for more than a week now. She didn't even know if he was still alive or if those bastards had killed him.

Then she heard the sound of steel striking something followed by the sound of someone screaming in pain again, and she realized that something was very wrong. She looked around and saw that by now the other stonecutters inside the hut had started to wake up as well. They all looked at each other, and it didn't take long for them to realize that there was some fighting going on outside their hut. Immediately, she stood up, and poked her head outside the loose plank which functioned as the door of the hut.

And she saw that near the fire burning outside, there were a lot more bandits wearing heavy fur coats now, but for some reason they seemed to be fighting amongst themselves. Soon, another woman who was staying in that hut with her, gently pushed her aside, and walked outside the door to see what was happening, with Hyola following behind her. It was still dark outside, but she knew that sunrise couldn't be far away now.

But in the faint light of the moon along with the fire, she saw that there were nearly a dozen bandits at the quarry right now. Did that mean Nokozal had returned? Was Calubo back too? But why were they fighting among themselves? She tried to look at the bandits' faces, to see if she recognized any of them, but it was very difficult with how much they were moving around. Although she did see one bandit who was huge. That must be Nokozal. She gave a deep sigh.

So they were back after all, and the Goddess hadn't listened to her prayers to let a bakkore eat that bastard as an evening snack. But why were they trying to kill each other? It didn't make any sense! And for some reason they were only fighting among themselves, while ignoring the stonecutters who had gathered around to watch at a safe distance. Now that she had adjusted to the situation a little, she noticed that one of the bandits was already dead near the fire. It seemed like he was killed while sleeping!

Who were these new bandits then? Did they just want to take all the stonecutters as their own slaves now? Or would they turn to kill all of them as well, after they were done with the bandits? She tried to look carefully to understand what was happening, and saw that three of the bandits - likely the ones who were already at the quarry - were standing right next to each other, while the six other bandits, including the huge guy - who must be the new arrivals - were slowly moving around, probably to surround them.

But was that really Nokozal? It was hard to tell in the flickering light of the fire, but the huge guy didn't look like that bastard for some reason. Right at that moment, she saw one of the original bandits of the quarry look towards the stonecutters. Before she realized what was happening, he ran directly towards her, and putting a sword to her neck, he moved behind her.

She screamed loudly in fear, thinking she was going to die immediately, but it seemed like the bandit wasn't interested in killing her, for now anyway.

"Get back!" the bandit with the sword to her neck shouted at the new arrivals from behind her.

"Move back, or I will send her to the Goddess right now!" What was happening? Why was this happening to her? Hyola was scared out of her mind by now, and had started crying in fear. She didn't know what to do or what to even think. Why couldn't she have been in Cinran along with Calubo? Why was her life always like this...? She couldn't help but keep crying, while praying to the Goddess to save her life.