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ILIAS VAN PAYNE

About a week had passed since the hidden gear was revealed. The tensions were high after that, but it had mostly died since then. All seven of us ended up staying and seeing our promise through.

Enough time had passed that most of the timber we needed to build the wall was collected. We only needed about fifty or so more logs and the plan was to begin construction tomorrow.

I had been doing most of the transporting of the logs from the forest to the village. Stone Free's earth hands were useful in moving large and heavy pieces of timber over short distances.

"Big brother, again, again," Kodomo, the child that had been clinging to my back, cheered. "Give us a ride again."

A brigade of children had been following me, finding my jynx mesmerizing.

"Again? How many times have you ridden the logs?"

They giggled. "Can we show you our secret base?"

"You should've asked when I wasn't busy. I have to work now. Everyone is relying on me to move these trees around."

"Aww."

"You can give me a tour of your secret base the next time we have free time. Promise me that?"

The children all nodded.

When I first started summoning the earth hands to transport the logs, a crowd gathered to watch me. If I were in their shoes, I would've been nosy too. These people probably had little understanding of jynx so what I was doing were miracles.

They were soon chased off by the twins, who ordered them to get back to work.

The kids, however, had no work to do. So they just sat at the edge of the village watching me. Seeing as it would do no harm, I let them ride the logs as the earth hands carrying them travelled back and forth to the village.

There were about eighteen children in total that followed me to the forest. We gathered around a sizeable log and I had them sit in an orderly fashion while holding the person in front of them.

"Is everyone locked in?" I asked enthusiastically.

"Yes!"

I cupped a hand around my ear. "What? I don't hear any energy. It sounds like you don't want to ride."

"Yes! Go! Do it again!"

"Alright then." I lifted the log using Stone Free and had them carry it to the village. "Go! Go! Go!"

The log carrying the children was filled with fading giggles as it made its way to the village. "Weeeeee!"

The rest of the free hands carried much more than one log and trailed behind the children.

Mondatta approached me, embedding the axe she was carrying into a tree. "For a kid yourself, you're pretty good with kids."

"Jaime and I grew up with good childhoods. These kids don't. I just want to add joy to our situation."

"Keep at it. The woodcutters are working harder when they hear the children laugh." She drank from her waterskin. "You plan on having kids?"

"Hopefully, and why are you asking a twelve-year-old that question?"

"How old was your mother when she had you?"

"Twenty."

"So you have about eight years. However, you certainly seem popular. Maybe you'll have one by the time you're sixteen."

I leaned against the tree she was leaning on. "What about you? Do you have kids?"

Mondatta laughed at the question. "You think someone in my field of work has kids?"

"You do plan on settling down someday, don't you?"

"Who doesn't? When I get too tired of life on the road, I wish to retire to a peaceful farming town just like this one. But I don't see myself having kids. I'm unable to."

Mondatta hadn't told anyone this. It sounded serious, but her demeanour never changed. Even her voice sounded the same.

"Do you know the requirements of acquiring a Stand?"

"Of course."

She nodded. "You perform a ritual to summon a Stand that manifests into your deepest fear. You must defeat it in battle if you want to tame it. If you fail to defeat the Stand in battle, it'll take a part of you as a sacrifice." Zenyatta materialized in front of us. "It took me two tries to beat Zenyatta. When I lost the first time, the part of me it took was my womb."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Stands were still fairly new when I acquired Zenyatta. I knew the risks I was taking and took them anyway. This is what I've got to live with. You can't grow by clinging to your mistakes. It'll turn to regret that'll consume you from the inside out."

So she's accepted her reality and moved on? That's good for her.

"Mondatta, have you ever thought of adopting a kid? There are a lot of orphans out there."

"No, but you do mention a good point."

The kids returned but I managed to convince them to go home for now and take a nap.

They didn't want to at first and Mondatta had to keep them entertained by letting them bounce on Zenyatta's bubbles. However, they raced home when I told them I was able to perform jynx because I took lots of rests.

Technically, I wasn't lying about that. I just wanted to move all the logs to the village as fast as possible.

With a little tweaking, I managed to get the earth hands to move on their own. Two of them would stay in the forest and wait for the woodcutters to stack logs onto them. Once the weight limit was reached, it would begin to make its way here.

Since the process was now automatic, I stayed in the village, making sure to check on the Stone Free hands every now and then.

The older of the village kids that were my age nervously went up to me and asked me to teach them about jynx. I didn't really have much to do and I needed a refresher, so I explained the basics to them.

The girls tried to flirt by pressing themselves onto me but were scared off when Jaime showed up. Her gazing presence caused them to flee.

"What's up?" I asked.

"We're going hunting again. For deer this time. I was wondering if you wanted to come."

"I'm the one moving all the timber to the village." I pointed to a pair of hands travelling across the ground. "I've got to stay close, so maybe next time."

Jaime nodded. "Okay, we'll be back by sundown."

When she left, I heard the twins giggling nearby. They were helping the blacksmith make nails.

"You two are pretty cute, aren't you?" Roxy said. "You're like a married couple."

"Yeah, but Jaime's the husband," Roxanne laughed as she plunged a sizzling nail into the water. "She's pretty protective of you."

"How so?" I asked.

"Don't you ever wonder why girls only approach you when she's not around?"

"That was a regular occurrence back in our village too." I took off my hat and fixed my hair. "Hey, can I ask you two a question?"

Suddenly, it was like I was falling. But not towards the ground—towards the twins. The falling sensation stopped just as I was about to hit them. It took me a moment to find my balance.

"What was that?"

"That was my ability—Death Magnetic." Roxy set out a chair and shoved me into sitting down. "What's the question?"

"How did you two develop your alchemy?"

"Oh, I thought it was going to be another type of question," Roxy said. "It wasn't really anything special. When I came up with Death Magnetic, it was for practical use. I didn't want to walk over to grab something, so I developed an ability that would let me pull objects towards me."

"Did you plan for it to be used for fighting?"

"Not really. I just got creative with it when me and Sis started adventuring."

"What about you, Roxanne?"

She was using the bellow to make the fire hotter. "There's a training academy in our hometown of Roa. I joined it and the masters told me I was gifted. But what I lacked was reaction time. No matter what, I wasn't fast enough to make use of openings or defend myself."

"So you developed Re-Flex to compensate."

"Exactly. It sounds like you took our advice of picking an ability. What have you come up with?"

"Nothing's coming to mind. It's like my nickname all over again. When I became a State Jynxist, I couldn't think of an alias. The king had to pick it for me."

Roxanne searched the area. "I don't think the king is here to help you come up with an ability."

"I was thinking of one."

"Let's hear it."

"I was thinking of an ability that lets me borrow other people's abilities. I thought up of limitations. I can only have three slots available; the people whose abilities I want must consent; I can give away the abilities to others; and I can replace abilities if the slots are full but I can't get back the ability I erase."

"So as an example, if me, Roxy, and Tony agree, you can use our abilities? And you and the original owner can use the abilities at the same time?"

"Almost. The problem is, the limitations I have are still not enough."

"That's true. Your idea is pretty powerful, you'd need a lot of limitations to make it possible."

"There is one limitation I figured out that could work." I paused for a moment. "The process is the same. We make a contract, but instead of borrowing the ability, I take it."

"Yeah, I don't think anyone is going to agree to that."

"That's not the full limitation. The contract is only activated once the original user dies and I learn of their death. Once those requirements are met, their abilities become mine."

Roxy nodded. "Those limitations sound fairer."

"But I don't know if this is an ability I want to have. Enemies aren't going to agree to the contract, so it has to be friends. Which means I can only grow stronger when I lose them. I don't think that's an ability I want to have."

Roxanne patted my shoulder. "If you ever go through with this ability, let me know. I'll agree to your contract."

I turned around to face her. "You can't."

"It's okay. If I'm going to die, I want to die helping a friend out. And with my ability, a part of me will continue to live with you."

Just then, the alarm in the middle of the village began to sound. It took us a moment to realize what was happening. The twins dropped what they were doing to put on their gear while I immediately hovered and used a gust of wind to propel me to the well.

"Bandits?" I questioned. "Where?"

Ritsu was ringing the alarm. "I saw a group of around forty people marching down the road. But I'm not sure if they're bandits."

"What?"

"Listen, Ilias, they weren't on any horses. Half of them are bleeding to death. There are women and children with them."

"They're not bandits, they're people from another village. And you say they were bleeding? They were probably attacked by the bandits."

"So they're leading them here?!" Ritsu exclaimed.

Roxy and Roxanne arrived, questioning what was happening. I ordered them to meet the refugees and bring them here.

The woodcutters arrived brandishing their axes. Askeladd's sword was already drawn and Zenyatta was floating beside Mondatta.

"Bandits?" Tony questioned as he drew his pistol. "Where?"

"No, refugees from another village that were attacked by bandits. That's my guess."

"Which means they were probably followed."

Askeladd pointed towards the refugees. "No, they're smart enough not to leave tracks behind. Look at them. The ones at the end of the pack are dragging branches with thick leaves to stir up their tracks."

A girl's voice echoed from the nearby woods. "Bandits! Bandits!" she screamed. I knew that voice. It was Jaime's. She and the hunters leapt out of the woods, stopping a bit to look for where we were. "Bandits down the road!"

I grabbed her shoulders. "Jaime, calm down. They're just villagers coming here for help."

She moved my hands away. "No, not them. About a league from here was a group of about seven bandits. They had an eagle emblem on their armour."

That information stirred up the villagers. They were sheep who had just heard a coyote's laugh.

"It's fairly obvious those bandits are looking for those people," Askeladd mentioned. "They're going to come here so we have to hide them. But if these are our bandits, they're going to use some sort of disguise because they can't afford to kill us yet. They could've raided us when Hanzo overheard them. But they're waiting until we harvest the crops so they don't have to do any hard labour. If it's The Eagles, they're only going to show up to investigate."

"Let's hide them in the cellar," Hanzo suggested.

"No, it's too small."

"What about the woods where we hunt?" Jaime asked.

"We can hide a handful there and pass them off as hunters," Tony said. "But any more and the tracks will tell their numbers."

"We can't hide them in the eastern forest," Mondatta explained. "Yes, they can pass off as woodcutters, but it's too open."

The entire village was gathered around the bell at this point. I searched around and found Kodomo clinging to his mother. I went up to him and knelt to match his height.

"Hey, do you remember me?" I asked.

"Yeah, you're Big Brother Wizard."

I chuckled at that nickname. "Good. You and your friends told me you wanted to show me your secret base. What kind of base is it?"

"It's a cave."

I pointed to the refugees being ushered to us by the twins. "Is it big enough to fit all of our new friends?"

He nodded innocently.

"Can you give us a tour of it now? How far is it from here?"

"Not that far. We sing The Master's Talisman while we walk and we usually sing it three times before we get there."

I turned to Askeladd. "Let's hide them there for now."

He pulled on his hood before barking orders. "Alright, all of you, go to your posts and pretend it's a normal day. Kikori, take your men and bring the timber that's still in the forest here. Tend to the fields. Go fish in the lake. Cook food and get drunk. They're only here to investigate, so we can't let them find us suspicious." He turned to us. "Ilias and Jaime, take them to the cave."

Toshi stood up, quivering. "I'll stay with the newcomers and try to comfort them. I can patch up the injured."

"Thank you, Toshi. Please do that. The rest of us sentinels will hide in the cellar. Now, go!"

The villagers rushed off to their stations and they were quick to make it look like nothing was wrong. We explained to the refugees where we were taking them and surprisingly, they were quick to follow our instructions.

"Jaime," I said as Kodomo clung to my back. "Your ears will give you away."

She pulled up her hood. "Ilias, are you scared?"

"Are you?"

"I'm terrified."

"Good. That means you aren't stupid."

"I'm not stupid."

"I know, but we make stupid mistakes if we act fearless."

Kodomo was singing his song as he directed us to the secret base. The cave was a gaping mouth in the middle of the forest floor. The climb down wasn't steep and the ground became level about twenty feet below the surface.

The newcomers were able to fit inside with no problem. I transformed five of my gates into orbs of light and left them here.

"Stay here until one of us comes back," I told Toshi.

He nodded and began tending to the injured.

Jaime and I hurried back to the village with the child and found everyone acting normal. We burst into one of the huts empty huts and laid low just as a figure descended the main road.

The figure crept up to the village slowly. It was a peddler with a cart full of inventory being pulled by a stallion. The villagers stared at him with frozen stares.

"I-I'm scared," the Kodomo cried.

Jaime picked him up, bouncing him up and down. "It's okay. There's nothing to be scared of."

He buried his face into her torso.

Ritsu approached the peddler. "Welcome. We don't get any visitors."

"I'm not a visitor. I'm here to do business. Do any of you want to buy anything? Come and take a look at my cart."

Villagers began surrounding the cart. "We can't promise anything. Our harvest was bad last year, so we don't have much money to spare."

The peddler studied the surroundings. He was especially interested in the ground. "What about this year?"

"It's looking to be pretty good," Ritsu answered.

"How long until you harvest your crops?"

"About two months."

The peddler glanced at the field. "It looks like it should be ready in just over a month."

"For normal crops, yeah. But see that lake over there? It's a labyrinth. The extra mana makes em' bigger. So we harvest it a bit later to get a bigger yield."

"Ah. I see." He turned to the numerous piles of logs scattered at the outskirts of the village. "What are those for?"

"We're planning on expanding. Building more huts and whatnot. We're also planning on building a pen to start raising livestock."

"Pigs are especially good. You can feed them anything. I'd feed them the wheat stalks after your harvest."

Ritsu continued to keep the peddler entertained while villagers came to inspect his cart. Some of them even made trades with the peddler.

"Do you think he's a bandit?" Jaime asked.

"Without a doubt. Just look at him. He's too muscular to be a peddler. He talks like a fighter. That cart must've been stolen from the other village. But the horse is the biggest red flag. It's a strong stallion and it's growing restless being attached to the cart. If this man were a real peddler, his horse would be weak with a long mane or it'd be a donkey."

The peddler was here until sundown, trading and making talk with the farmers. I was sure all of them believed he was a peddler. Except for Ritsu who was smart enough to convince the bandit into believing the harvest would be in two months.

He bought us an extra fortnight.

Once he left, the hunters went to scout the surrounding area to make sure the bandits were gone. Once it was verified that they were, we brought the refugees back to the village and gathered them in the common lodge.

The building was even more cramped with an extra forty bodies. Space was made for the newcomers while the villagers stayed outside, listening through the open door and windows.

Askeladd banged his cup on the table to summon attention to him. He then spoke out in a comforting whisper. "Pick a leader to speak out for all of you."

A man with a fiery birthmark on his temple stepped up. "I know the most, so I guess I'll talk."

"What's your name, friend?"

"Hinan."

"What happened?"

"We were attacked during the night. By bandits. Right after we harvested our rice. The weather was bad last year. No rains and a long drought. We had nothing and we relied on our rice for income. So we fought back. But we were slaughtered. All of us."

"How many of you were there?"

"There were eighty-four of us. But only we remain. Forty of us were slaughtered. Six died while we escaped into the woods. Four died on the way here. And the others, we don't know what happened to them." He began to weep. "My wife, she was speared down. And my infant son. They speared him in his crib and carried him as if he were on a skewer. They were both killed by a man with two right hands."

Akira stroked his chin. "Where is your village?"

"Two days east from here."

"Two right hands?" Hanzo scoffed. "There was a man with two right hands when I overheard the Eagles."

"I'm so sorry for your loss. All of you." Askeladd took a moment. "How many bandits were there?"

"Around fifty."

"Fifty—" He ordered Mondatta to grab the wanted posters. "Do you remember any symbols on the bandits?"

"An eagle soaring through the skies."

"The Eagles." Askeladd showed them the posters. "Any of them look familiar?"

Hinan pointed to the poster that featured Montgomery Gucci. "Him. I saw him. Not the other three though."

I leaned into Askeladd's ear. "It looks like Messina, Florence, and Vienna really are only out to get the guys from this village."

"It seems so." The knight turned to the newcomers. "How many did you kill?"

"We don't know. Maybe three at most."

The seven of us sentinels gathered in the corner.

"What do we do?" Tony questioned. "We can't send these refugees away. They'll die on the road. Or worse, they'll be found by the bandits and executed."

Mondatta jumped in. "Yeah, but what about the villagers? Do you really think they're eager for new mouths to feed? We'll have to build houses for them too and we don't have the resources for that."

"They can stay here in the lodge," Roxy mentioned. "We can lay out straw on the floor."

"But what comes after? Look at them. They are children, women, and elders. Only a handful of them are men, young ones at that. When we leave, will the villagers really let them stay here?"

"They might want to go back to their village and restart."

"They're in no shape to do that. Their best bet at surviving is to stay here."

"We'll get there when we get there," Askeladd said. "But right now, they're staying here. It's wrong to send them out and we need every man we can afford." The knight turned to the villagers and newcomers. "You're welcome to stay here."

The refugees sobbed with relief, thanking us for our generosity. The villagers, however, protested. "They're just living off of our labour!" "We don't have enough room." "They almost got us killed!"

"Quiet! All of you!" Askeladd ordered. "They are staying, that's the end of that. You are complaining because we don't have enough people tending the crops. Now we do. You are complaining because we don't have enough people building the wall. Now we do. These people are in the same boat as you and you would be on your knees if you were in their position. Selfishness and greed will tear us apart—and the bandits will strike when we're at our weakest. If we think about everyone, each individual is protected. But if you only think about the individual, you will destroy yourselves. If the seven of us fight the bandits, it's not enough. If this village fights them, it's not enough. If these newcomers fight them, it's not enough. But together—all of us. We stand a chance. And even then, it may not be enough. There's still a good chance that we'll all die, but at least we'll give the fuckers a fight."

There were no protests against Askeladd's decision. At the end of the night, the village grew bigger.