My fingers felt the ridges of the cobble road. An imposing crowd surrounded me - various shades of red, white, black and yellow against dull urban olive-green. Only the mouths clamouring unintelligibly were discernible, the faces blur. Now and then a undecipherable cry would pierce through the muffled cacophony. The air was thick with the scent of iron - blood?
A podgy mustachio parted the crowd and came up front. His right hand brandished a kitchen knife stained with dripping red liquid. He raised his head to reveal a stern expression. His lips parted but no sound came forth. The crowd's stature shot up, blanketing me in darkness. The chatter became whispers. The mouths formed evil grins, white and suspended in the blackness. Mustachio continued pacing forward. His speech grew more audible.
"Get up... Get up... Get up!"
My body wasn't as responsive as it usually was. My limbs were shorter than they usually appeared. I was clothed in pink, complete with white apron. Locks of black hair tumbled down my head. I stared around myself, stupefied. The crowd was soft, but echoed the man's call for me to rise. I must be dreaming. No, I refuse to believe it! I can't be back here!
… but, but if I really am back here, where is he? Where is he? Please, please appear quickly. I groped about in the pitch black, searching for the man. The man, who would suddenly leap forth, and protect me. Who would cover me from any hurt. Who would stand up for me whenever he could. Who never thought evil of me.
But no such man burst out of the darkness. No such man leapt forth in golden splendour. Instead there was the sound of flesh and bone on cobble. A collapsed figure materialised behind mustachio. Kino... the real Kino!
Mustachio suddenly struck forward, his right hand swiping my face surprisingly gently. Instinctively I lunged back, my agility restored. In one move I avoided his weapon and punched him square in the face. The impact sent him flying backwards into the black crowd. My hands on autopilot reached for my holsters. I drew my Woodsman.
"Kino!" Hermes' tinny voice came from behind me. Had it not been for Hermes, muscle memory would have depressed the trigger. I came to terms with my mind once again. The world as I knew slowly began to reform itself as something more comprehensible. It was a starry night out in a grassy plain. Tall brightly-lit spires of a modern city stood aloft at the horizon. A meagre campfire burnt much closer by. Joseph laid supine, groaning in a heap just in front of me.
The pouch of cool river water offered little respite to the throbbing, stinging pain. My spectacles' lenses didn't shatter, thankfully, but the frame was contorted beyond usability. Earlier attempts to coax it back into shape only broke it apart, so my view was permanently a blurry soup of colours.
"Great. So I'm finally as blind as you claim," I spitefully muttered.
Kino continued staring incredulously at my black left eye, her body slumped and mouth agape. Hermes stood nearby, unsure of what came over its mistress.
"I-I'm unsure of what to say," Kino finally managed to stutter, her voice quivering.
"Oh?"
"Well, I can't exactly apologise for my punch. That was muscle memory."
I decided not to remark on her wit also being second nature.
"... I will speak," Kino's tone was sombre.
"Yes, I hid much from you. I don't divulge even when necessary, and will even hurt others to my own benefit. The reason... was because you looked much alike another person I knew. A person that saved me from murderous... people. He jumped right in front of me to take my place just before I felt the hard steel meant for myself. Ha ha, we only knew each other for about the third day. Yet he sacrificed himself for some hapless stranger from an unfamiliar place."
"It's true. Kino speaks of Kino, my previous rider," Hermes chirped in. The seated lady smiled gently at her stead, and continued.
"A khaki overcoat, round metal-rimmed glasses of the yesteryear, brown hair, white shirt, dark maroon belt, off-green slacks and brown boots. Very nondescript, moderately weathered gear. He was only a greenhorn traveller, his mother shared...
"My parents ran the town's inn, so we got sojourners from all over the world. Daydreaming about places beyond the ramparts was my favourite past time. Enough to become delinquent. Guaranteed me a trip the Correction Facility when 'I was ready'.
"My parents never managed to remove my yearning to see more. To inculcate the desire for a stable living in a steady profession. I thought very lightly of it. Of losing my longing for the unseen world. Of being forcefully moulded into another successful innkeeper's wife in a thriving, bustling city made of smiles. Then I met Kino.
"Kino, the first and only Kino I've ever encountered. He dropped over at our inn as did every other visitor. Booked a room for three days. He was all smiles and happiness too. My heart felt a tinge, sunk just a bit. Perhaps everyone in the world smiled too. Smiled without a wish for bigger things.
Then that night when I sent him a change of fresh linen, he suddenly changed into a perplexed man. He was mildly suspicious of everyone in the city, he confided in a whisper. To me, an innocuous child who couldn't care for anything but daydreaming he muttered: 'At least you've wishes to hide behind.'
"His words didn't sink in very much, the thick-headed girl I was. The next day he made me guide him around the city. He smiled a lot whenever greeted by passing townsfolk, but I could tell the cheer was for show. He wanted to visit the Correction Facility, but I told him that I hadn't any idea what it is, or where it could be. I offered to ask one of the ubiquitous Expert Adults. All clad in their distinctive suits and top hats, patrolling with walking sticks, ever ready to help Mr and Mrs Citizen. Kino however declined.
"He began sharing on his escapades. There were few as he only began his travels, but perilous. He always seemed to pull through, though. A scrape or two, but otherwise intact. He spoke of lawless lands, imposing idiosyncrasies, and malicious marauders. That in his travels it wasn't all smiles and warmth, and that one formed their own bulwark against whatever came hurling along."
"When lemons give you life, make life-aid."
"Life and lemons make lemonade, dear Hermes."
"Same thing."
"Our lunch at the central park was the most interesting I had ever had. Even until today. He spoke of recreation, of squanders, excess and exploitation. Concepts never mentioned in class or at home. Foreign and bizarre, yet disturbingly likely if we didn't assume a world full of smiles. That vested interest, malice and sloth exist.
"I shrank inside, horrified that the world was such a cold, unforgiving place. Kino saw through me. He then moved on to how one pulled through. He began building hope, and restored warmth into myself. Scary tales became warm, touching and even comical. Quite effortlessly he built a wondrous skyscraper in his image in this deprived child's mind: Behold, all you had ever imagined God to be, manifested in person. I felt a trust I never knew grow towards him. A trust that would allow me to share deep, dark secrets.
"As we approached home however he put on his smiley facade again, becoming equivalent to everyone else once more. I begged of him to tell me more throughout dinner and when I walked him back up to his room. I wanted to drag him away. I wanted to ask him the myriad questions I had repressed. He merely smiled, and wished me good night before closing his door. Those were his last words to me."
Kino paused to take a deep breath. She brushed her face with her gloved hands, and finally regained some composure to continue her tale.
"... the next day, he found me in dire trouble and leapt to take my place as the executed. Hermes and I managed to flee... and it was never a smooth ride but we got where we are today. Through all that though, next to Master's teachings, I will always remember Kino's journey. How he had eked out a living against the odds, and how I could too, without having to resolve to cowering behind fake smiles.
"Alike a deity, I held him high. He introduced me, taught me and enlightened me on the world. He was a flying fortress gracing the different cities and nations of the world. A bastion of sanity and an exemplar of might. An ideal, to be approached but never achieved. Aside from the actual survival skills, he gave me what I needed to start and keep travelling."
Kino's head lowered, and I heard her laugh in a low pitch to herself. She then stood up, bearing a demented expression barely visible due to my blur vision.
"And you had to defile everything. You were like his second coming, replete with identical outfit and complete with bloody torso. But it was as if he became decadent during his stay in Paradise. I could have removed any trace of your existence, but I persisted, hoping blindly that the innate Kino would arise like a phoenix from its ashes. Time after time you proved beyond doubt that there was no such reincarnation. You cannot even take care of yourself but decide to wander out of your city with a death wish. You don't have enough money or supplies on yourself. You so willingly and naïvely walk into trouble. And to top it off you are still so oblivious towards everything."
She sauntered around the campfire slowly, her limbs slack but her dishevelling fixed glare levelled at me. I had tensed up through her increasingly menacing speech, but I now also felt her intent to murder, and rose to my feet. Her twisted smile pried open and her hand slithered towards her waist.
"That's right, run. The best strategy is the one on retreat," her voice wavered before she laughed slowly.
I immediately turned and ran, nearly tripping up over everything the uneven slope had to offer, blind as I was. After a good minute or two I thought I was a good distance away, where I couldn't hear her disturbing laughter, but a bang burst through the quiet night and a stream of hot air whizzed past my right cheek indicated that I was well within her hunting ground.
"Maybe Kino's still in there! Maybe Kino just needs to be put in a pinch to wake up! I'll be the one pinching you awake, Kino!" a manic voice rose into the dark moonless night.
I ran until I arrived at a wood - perhaps I would have better luck in there? Yet another bullet streamed past, almost grazing against my cheek this time. I've no choice - it's do or die. I ran straight into the darkness under the trees, arms up to protect my exposed eyes from branches and undergrowth. Through the crunching, squelching and breathing I heard Kino laugh, and scream out maniacally: "You are defective!"