"Ruzo!" Tsugi staggered to his feet and ran into the forest. "Ruzo!" The dog quietly whimpered as he limped toward Tsugi, but didn't seem to have any life threatening injuries. Tsugi knelt down to embrace Ruzo. "I'm glad you're ok." Tsugi exhaled in relief and buried his face into Ruzo's furry scruff. "We have to save everyone else."
Tsugi hurriedly picked up the sack by the door and ran to the back room first. The woman shivered weakly, lying in her own pool of blood on the table, her legs hung over the side of the table as blood trickled down from between her legs.
Tsugi quickly dropped the sack onto the floor and carefully grabbed the woman from the table and placed her on the floor. Her curly brown hair frayed and knotted, her face bruised, body covered in red welts, ribs broken and bruised, blood smeared across her face and chest, while blood was still seeping out from the knife in her collarbone.
"K-k-kill...kill...m-me." She pleaded as tears welled up in her eyes and overflowed down her temples. "Pl-please." She gasped and cried. "Kill...me." Tsugi embraced her gently, pulling her head into his shoulder. "P-lease. Kill...me." She begged in a faint whisper to his ear.
He quietly pulled his knife from his boot and placed the tip to the back of her neck. In one quick movement he dove the razor sharp blade into the base of her neck and up into her brain making the death as quick and as painless as possible. Her body went limp and he carefully placed her on the floor.
His heart was heavy, and his shoulders were tense. He walked over to the hanging boy and sliced the intestine tied around the boy's neck, catching him as he fell and placed him gently onto the floor. He slowly stood up, grabbed the bag and walked out to treat the surviving victims.
He opened the bag and grabbed clean clothes and medicinal herbs. He placed the herbs in his mouth and chewed on it as he walked over and picked the locks on the chains and gently laid everyone on the ground.
They were all malnourished and emaciated with their ribs and vertebrae protruding. He spat out the herbs and rubbed it into the open wounds, and dressed them into his clothes. They were slightly too small for the grown women, but were enormous for the little ones.
"Ruzo, guard them." The dog walked over and laid in the middle of the room. Tsugi ran back to the village as fast as he could.
Tsugi approached an old man on the outskirts of the wall, who was turning off the lantern outside of his house. Faint chit chatter could still be heard from the village."Excuse me, but do you know of a place where I can buy a wagon?"
The old man looked at the young Tsugi, covered in blood stained clothes, "I have an old wagon you buy."
"Great." Tsugi reached into the sack and pulled out a small satchel of clinking coins. "Is ten verns enough?"
The old man's eyes widened in shock. "It's old and worn down and I can't sell you my horse, just five verns is more than enough." He led Tsugi toward the barn.
"Is it ok if I trouble you to rent your barn for the night?"
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"As long as you don't mind sleeping on hay, you can stay as long as you need."
"Thank you so much!" Tsugi said bowing his head respectfully.
"That wagon there." The old man pointed to an old wooden wagon sitting beside the barn.
"May I trouble you for some hot boiled water, fresh towels and blankets?"
"I will have them prepared for you."
"Thank you so much." Tsugi handed him two merls (twenty verns is equal to one merl).
"This is way too much, young master." He exclaimed.
"It's for your hospitality and flexibility for helping me at my time of need."
"Thank you." The old man bowed his head and returned to his house.
Tsugi grabbed the wagon and ran back into the woods. He got back promptly and checked on the victims, but they still lay motionless in the same spot. Their pupils were dilated, an indication that they were drugged.
Tsugi wrapped the three dead bodies in the back room, loaded them onto the wagon and moved a little further into the forest. He started digging into the ground with a stick he had picked up. The cold dirt was soft and moved with ease so Tsugi dropped the stick and started digging with his hands to be able to move mounds of dirt faster than a small stick could.
***
"Rest now." He bowed to the three mounds of dirt before turning his back and returned to the hut.
He carried the surviving victims and loaded them onto the wagon, one by one.
"Ruzo, climb." The dog jumped onto the wagon and laid down. Tsugi pulled on the wagon and headed back to the village.
Upon entering the barn, the old man had already prepared a big pail of warm water, some linen sat on top of the piles of hay, and a small fire was made in one of the empty stalls with a big kettle of boiling water and pot of hot soup.
Tsugi pulled the wagon into the barn and shut the big open doors. There were six stalls, but only one horse was in the barn. Tsugi laid hay down around the fire, close enough to be able to stay warm, but not close enough to catch on fire.
He then proceeded to carry the victims and laid them down around the warm fire. Carefully he undressed them one by one and with a towel, dipped into the warm pail of water, he wiped them from head to toe, examining each wound.
He took the pot of soup off the stove and poured them into the bowls that were left in the corner of the stall. He added more water into the empty pot and boiled some medicine.
He began the long process of treating the wounds on their bodies, by wrapping what needed to be wrapped to prevent exposure and infection, and splinting broken bones after any realignment if needed.
After he finished, he dressed them and slowly fed them medicine and food. Very weak and barely conscious, the victims stir, shake and wince at every touch, but he did his best to be as gentle as he could to show them he meant no harm. Still too weak to eat much or even notice their surroundings, they had once again fallen into a deep slumber.
He then cleaned and redressed the wound on Ruzo's shoulder.
"I should've focused more on healing when I had the chance. If I did, maybe I would've been able to heal you all by now and that woman would still be alive." He mumbled to Ruzo. The dog just looked at him with tired eyes, licked him in the face and laid his head into Tsugi's lap. Tsugi rubbed Ruzo's head and leaned back onto the wooden stall.
His body was heavy and fatigued, ached and tensed as if he was being crushed under the weight of a dragon. He stared into the fire, listening to it crackle and pop, his vision began to blur and he fell into a deep slumber.
An unintelligible scream startled Tsugi and he kicked awake. He leapt to his feet in a flash and drew out his daggers.