II
Hiro
was abruptly awoken from a dream that would, in light of everything
but the most recent of conversations, have seemed utterly bizarre, by
the smell of a vile paste on a leaf thrust under his nose. His eyes
fluttered open into an instant grimace, changing to a look of
surprise as Rei unceremoniously shoved the leaf into his mouth.
The
taste was as bad as the aroma, but Rei's command to "Chew" was
too forceful to ignore. With surprising rapidity, warmth spread to
the entirety of his body, and he felt mobility returning to his
cramped and weary limbs. "Wow.. that stuff really works; can't
say that it's a party for the senses, but I must admit it gets the
job done." Hiro smiled through a taste-induced shudder, a smile
returned by Rei, who sat at a polite distance turning the logs on the
makeshift campfire. "Yes. Water, Leiraoula root and a few drops of
Quiverallian vinegar on a Guar leaf is far from the most palatable
substance to stomach, but the potion is quite the healer." Rei
resisted the temptation to laugh at the remaining grimace on Hiro's
face. "On the subject of water, please.. In the name of the Goddess
give me some water. With the taste of that potion I feel as if I've
been eating ashes!" Rei passed him the bottle from his pack,
resuming her prodding of the fire. After almost draining the canteen
of its contents Hiro passed it back to her. "So… what was that
favour you wanted?" Rei looked at him, opening her mouth to
speak.
Without warning her eyes narrowed. "Damn I thought that
we would have had more time than this!" Her breath was a low
frustrated growl. Hiro looked at her questioningly. "Your village
friends saw me take Kira over when we were fighting the plant.
Needless to say, I expect they think I am some sort of sorcerer. I
shall never fathom why you humanoid species are always so paranoid
when it comes to things you cannot comprehend. I was hoping that we
would have enough time for you to peacefully return to the village
with Kira and explain; that was the favour, but..." Her voice
trailed off into a quietly repeated "Damn".
Hiro
stood up alongside her, able to steady himself now. "I'll go talk
to them now" he offered. "They'll listen to me" Rei shook her
head. "No. We'll both go. I have a plan.. of sorts.. But Kira
will need your protection if they don't believe me. Ok? " Hiro
nodded grimly. The first stone was hurled at them before they even
cleared the cave, one overzealous villager setting off the others. A
high-pitched shout pierced the angry yells of the would-be stoners,
and they stopped. It was Kimiko, who having seen Hiro ordered a
cease-fire, at least temporarily. Rei walked calmly towards her,
intent on explaining, but was cut off before her first word by a
violent slap from Kimiko. Rei resisted the instinctive impulse to
defend herself. "How dare you!" Shouted Kimiko. "How Dare You!
Not only do you try to kill us, but then you abduct my son… And to
think I let you into my home.. a Witch.. in my house! Begone
evil-doer!" Angry jeers accompanied her every word. Hiro could see
more stones being readied. "Enough!" Everybody froze, looking at
him, including Rei. "Enough.. Listen mother.. Listen all of you!"
He turned to look at each of them in turn. "This girl.. this.. this
'Witch' as you name her, saved my life." Sarcastic jeers were
silenced with a glare. "Yes, she may have 'kidnapped' me, and
yes she may have been there when the plant attacked us, and yes she
does have extraordinary powers, But.. consider this. How many of you
do you think would be here now to condemn her, had she not been
there? How many of you would be grieving now? I know you would have
cause for tears mother. And so I say, if this woman is guilty of
anything, it is only of being afraid to reveal herself, because of
just this sort of barbaric superstition! If any of you wish to harm
her, then you will have to go through me first!" There were quiet
murmurs of agreement amongst many of the villagers, until one shouted
out "She has bewitched him. Listen to him sing her praises, he's
under her spell. She truly is a witch. Stone her!" Against
even Kimiko's protests, Hiro was seized and held fast by several
men as the others advanced on Rei. I hoped it wouldn't come to
this. But Kira must survive.. Whatever the cost. As the first,
and then progressively more stones were flung at her, Rei began to
glow purple. A barrier of darkness enveloped her like a bubble, and
the stones merely bounced off. Violet eyes shining, swirls of energy
began to form in her palms. Instinctively the villagers shrank back,
though they still surrounded her. But the energy, and the
barrier dissipated into purple smoke. No.. Not now! There was
a brief, and blindingly bright flash of light, and Rei was gone. In
her place was Kira, who fell to the ground, unconscious. The
villagers continued, stirred into an angry, unseeing mob. To them
Kira was a witch, whatever form she decided to take. "Stone Kira..
Stone the witch! KILL HER! KILL HER!"
The pummelling
of the rocks had awoken her and now, not knowing what to do, or why
she was suddenly hated, all Kira could do was curl into a ball on the
ground. "Stop… please stop.. Why are you doing this?.. Hiro
please.. I need you.. Where are you? HIRO?!" Hiro heard her cries
of pain, heard her calling for him, and something animal inside him
snapped. His left elbow connected brutally with one of the men's
faces, and as he spun around Hiro brought his other fist into a
second captor's jaw in an uppercut, sending him reeling to the
ground. He head-butted a third man that had been holding him, and ran
to Kira's aid. He stood between Kira and the villagers, arms spread
wide, and the hail of rocks stopped. "Look at her! Look what you've
done to her..!" Kira could be heard sobbing quietly behind him. She
was literally shaking in fear and barely dared to raise her head
enough to look at the villagers around her. Even when she finally
did, she didn't have the courage to look them in the eye. Kira's
body was covered in mud and blood and bruises, and her face was
streaked where tears had cleaned the dirt away. Hiro glanced over his
shoulder at her, and the hard edge to his face softened in
compassion. He turned to face them once more. "Look at her!.. She's
no witch. She's nothing but a frightened girl who was trying to
protect you all.. and this is how you thank her?!" Hiro's voice
lowered from its angered crescendo to a quieter note, but the cold
rage remained. "You should all be disgusted with yourselves. Some
of you have even known her since she was a child! How could you turn
on her like this?!" Kimiko walked up to him, tears
running down her own cheeks. "Y..You're right.. you're right
Hiro.. how could we be ruled by terror like this? Kira… Kira I'm
so sorry." Kimiko's apology sounded pathetically inadequate even
to her own ears. There were floods of other, similar shared
sentiments from the other villagers as Hiro helped a bruised Kira to
her feet.
Without warning Kira let go of Hiro and ran. Several villagers made a move to follow her, but Hiro shook his head. "I'll go, she wont want to talk to anyone, perhaps not even me.." Hiro glared once more at the villagers, adding a coldly spoken "Well, I hope you're proud of yourselves, you almost killed an guiltless woman!" before running after her.
