Maya sprinted to catch up with Piv as he marched away towards the village. “Piv! What’s going on? What were those things? What do they want with me?” Maya’s barrage of questions went unanswered as Piv continued, eyes locked straight ahead, and muttering to himself. Piv’s complete disregard for Maya’s predicament was infuriating. She skipped ahead of him and blocked his path. Not a threat, more an interruption. Piv looked up and blinked away his preoccupations. Seeing Maya, a sadness fell over his eyes and weighed heavy on his shoulders.
“Those birds are bad news, young one. They are of the Fylguard, an army, the commander of which is not known for her compassion or kindness. She is ruthless, and determined. I don’t know what she wants with you, but that attack will not be an accident. The Fylguard are calculating, they don’t make mistakes lightly.” Fear mixed with the sadness on his face. “I am sorry, but I cannot risk being associated to you. Think me a coward if you must, but there is too much at stake.”
Maya stepped to the side, strangely convinced by the togi’s selfish honesty. Her own situation was bad enough, there was no need to add someone else’s misery to her list of accomplishments. Maya nodded as she gave way, and held out Piv’s baskets for him to take. The small creature looked a the baskets, then up at Maya’s face and the sorrow in his expression wavered. Piv hesitated, but took the baskets. He went to speak but first let out a groan, as if agonising over a decision.
“Ahh, fine, follow, but quick. There’s a place you can hide, and I can get you food, but after that you’re on your own!”
The kind togi rushed along the dirt path much quicker than his stature would suggest. Maya jogged to keep up, avoiding the flailing baskets, as they careened towards the village.
After a short while, as the buildings came closer and the road became more well worn, Piv left the path and motioned to Maya to follow. He waved his hands for her to stay low as they crept along a hedgerow that lined one of the farms. Their destination became clear, as Maya spotted a building in disrepair in the distance. Isolated by a small overgrown garden, the building sat just out of sight of the road. Piv stopped just shy of the boundary, he turned to Maya and whispered. “Hold here for a moment, let me double check it’s clear.”
Piv edged closer, peering over hedges and round corners, then finally disappearing from view altogether. Maya did her best meerkat impression as she kept watch, waiting for Piv’s return. After a few minutes, with still no word from Piv, Maya’s patience grew thin. She edged forward, craning to see if he was returning. He wasn’t. Frustration won out, and Maya left her post to investigate the missing scout.
Maya squeezed herself through a gap in the overgrown wooden fence and entered the garden. The building itself was actually in better shape than she had previously been able to tell. The roof was covered in thorny vines and fallen leaves, and there was a musty sort of damp smell to the air, but the walls still stood firm, and the windows still had glass in them, mostly. The faded yellow front door hung from only the top hinge, leaving it suspended at an angle that gave a small access to the building.
Maya approached, tiptoeing over the brambles that claimed the garden. A clatter emanated from within, followed quickly by swearing. The language was different, but it was definitely swearing. Maya shoved the loose door to the side and stooped through into a wide entrance hall. The damp smell was thicker and caught in Maya’s throat. As she let go of the door it swung back past its original position and fell off, crashing to the floor. Maya turned in a panic and grimaced at the noise she made. Piv’s voice appeared from behind her. “I thought I told you to wait?”
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Maya spun, wincing “Sorry!” Piv waved the apology away. “No matter, the place is clear, but its in a much worse state than I remembered. Probably a good thing that no-one's been keeping it tidy, I suppose. Less chance of you getting found.” Maya nodded and stepped further in, inspecting the place then turned back to face Piv.
“I appreciate this, but how am I going to get home if I stay here?” Piv sighed, “I don’t think you understand. The Fylguard have eyes everywhere, and you have pink hair. If you just go wandering around town, they will catch up with you, and that would not likely end well. Just lay low for a couple of days. I’ll bring you food, and water. There is a well out the back, but I wouldn’t trust it for water without clearing it first.”
Still perturbed by the notion that in this world, Maya’s pink hair was more outlandish than a talking monkey, it took her slightly longer than it should to process the rest of Piv’s instructions. Piv stared at Maya’s blank face, “OK?” Maya tucked a wave of her apparently noticeable hair behind her ear and nodded. Piv responded in kind, but without the hair tucking, and then turned to leave. As he clambered over the collapsed door, he faced Maya, “I’ll pop back with some stuff just after sundown. Good luck.” Before Maya could respond, Piv exited the building and scampered away.
Maya turned her attentions to her new surroundings. The fairly large entrance hall had a wooden staircase opposite the gap where the front door should have been, and two doorways, one each facing left and right. Maya picked left and ventured through to explore. The room contained a large wooden table and a long bench either side, a dining room of sorts. The cabinet against the outer wall was beaten and very clearly had been looted long before. From the dining room another doorway led to the right, towards the back of the house, but was home to an archway of brambles. A white tuft of fur hung from the thorns near the bottom of the arch. Maya carefully pushed through, sustaining very few cuts in the process.
This next room was clearly the kitchen, counters spread along the back wall all the way to a door that lead out to the back of the house. A sink sat under the window by the door, but it had no taps. There was also nothing by the way of appliance, broken or otherwise in the whole room, apart from a wide stove, like the fancy double one her aunt had. In fact, she would have been very jealous, as this one was bigger, and even more retro than hers.
Maya’s tour of the house continued into the afternoon. She discovered empty bookshelves and a damp overgrown pair of armchairs by the fireplace, in a living room through the right entrance hall doorway. Upstairs there were two massive bedrooms, not quite as overgrown as downstairs. One even had a bed frame that still looked decent, but no mattress. Outside Maya found the well, and small wood store, as well as a workbench and some rusted tools hidden in the brambles.
Happy that she had the measure of the place, Maya ventured to the dining room. She wiped debris and plant matter from the table and a bench and sat herself down. Maya lifted her Grandpa’s backpack up onto the table and let out a long sigh. No longer occupied by exploration, the emotions of the day came fast and strong. Determined not to lose herself to despair, Maya decided to further investigate the contents of the backpack that everyone else deemed so interesting.
Reaching in, Maya pulled yet another blue vial from the void. Realising care was of the utmost importance, Maya shifted the bag on to the bench beside her and lay the vial gently on the table. Maya delved once again, and once again pulled out a blue vial. Within moments Maya had retrieved four blue vials, three red, two oranges, one yellow and two with very different shades of green. Following the vials, Maya pulled out a old fashioned iron key, almost comically large, on a large metal ring. Next out of the bag was a jacket. Too big for Maya to wear fashionably, but it might come in handy. Lastly came a strange roll of leather tied with a cord.
Maya shifted along the bench to a clear part of the table, untied the cord, and lay the roll out. Secured within its folds, Maya found a set of metal tools with glossy wooden handles. The implements looked like no set of tools she had ever seen before. One of them looked like a tea strainer, another more resembled the shape of a plastic kazoo she had as a kid. And a third was as though two forks had been spliced together perpendicularly, creating a sort of cross of prongs. As Maya sat there, puzzling over their purpose, she heard movement in the hall.