Chapter 24

My first thought was that it was the monster, and I nearly freaked out and ran, but quickly realized it was a person wearing a red cloak and peeking out from behind a tree. They were pretty short, too. A kid?

"Hey! Are you lost?" I called out.

They jumped, startled, and hid behind the tree, but stuck out clearly from one side.

"Um, I can still see you. I can take you back to Mapleharrow if you need and... It's going to be dark soon." I yelled again.

I almost said something about a monster, but didn't want to scare them if it really was a kid. Instead, they gave up on trying to hide and took off running along the edge of the tree line to the north.

"Wait! It's dangerous!" I called after them.

They didn't listen and disappeared into the woods. That was not the way back to the town. Dammit! I ran after them.

"Kid! That's not the way to the town! If you're scared of me, I'm not a bad person, I promise!" I kept shouting while running through the woods in the direction I last saw them.

As I ran, I made sure to keep the mountain on my left so I wouldn't get turned around if it got dark, but I couldn't see this damn kid at all. I stopped to listen to my surroundings. Other than some birds, the wind through the trees, and the faint sounds of the waterfall in the distance, there was nothing. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't just leave them wandering around in the woods where there might be a monster. But at the same time, I was running all over this forest, yelling and drawing attention, yet I hadn't seen any signs of a one at all. Either way, this damn kid!

I started forward again just as I saw something move to my right. I turned and saw someone else with the kid, and dressed the same. Due to the cloaks, the only thing I could tell about them was that they were both female. This new person was taller, though. Only a few inches shorter than me. How had they both gotten there without me noticing?

Their cloaks draped over their bodies to cover nearly every part of them. All I could see was their mouths and noses. The little one hugged the larger one at her side.

"Who are you?" The taller one asked.

Something about this situation was making me nervous. They came from nowhere, they were dressed weird, and there was a tension in the air that felt... dangerous. Was this the kids guardian? She asked who I was. I really didn't want to give my real name again, though. I had thought of a few I liked on the way to the town, so I guess now was the time to pick one.

"Sam, nice to meet you," I said.

It sounded simple and inconspicuous. There was a pause. The little one moved a bit, but other than that, neither of them did anything.

"What were you doing?" She asked next.

Was this an interrogation?

"Looking for wood," I responded.

Another pause. Again, no indication of their intentions.

"Were you looking for anything other than wood?" She asked.

Evidence of a monster or trees to chop down. Wouldn't have been disappointed if I spotted any small game, either. Nothing noteworthy, though.

"No. Not really."

The kid moved again. Actually, paying closer attention, it was more like a twitch. Was she nervous?

"Why were you chasing a child through the woods?" She asked.

"What!? Well... when you say it like that... I was just trying to help. I had no other intentions." I stammered.

A pause, before she continued with another question.

"Why are you so deep in the woods?"

"Trying to find fallen branches and sticks. The townspeople picked the shallow areas clean. Why are you so deep in the woods?"

A pause again. She ignored my question as she continued, which annoyed me quite a bit. This wasn't fair.

"Have you not heard there's a monster in these woods?"

"A monster? I had no idea. If that's true, why are you here?" I said sarcastically.

The kid twitched again, and I noticed she was tugging on the taller one's sleeve after certain questions. Something was up. She continued.

"Answer seriously. Where are you from?"

I thought I should probably keep a consistent story, but I wanted answers from her, too.

"I'm a refugee from the north. I'm trying to get far away from the war, and this seemed like a nice, quiet town. Are you from around here?"

Another tug during the pause. I realized what was happening. I was pretty confident that the little one was able to tell when I was lying and was relaying it to the taller one by pulling her sleeve. I had to test it out.

"When I arrived here, I saw a poster for a missing child, and thought it might be her, so I wanted to bring her back." I lied.

She tugged. The taller one tilted her head slightly, likely confused by the voluntary information. I continued.

"Actually, to be honest, I'm a bandit and was intending to kidnap her and ransom her back to her parents." I lied.

Thankfully, she tugged again; otherwise, that one would've been bad.

"Why would you say something like that? You're clearly not a bandit." The taller one said.

So confident that I wasn't. Even though I admitted to it and would've given her every excuse to attack or run, she didn't even seem to be worried about it.

"I'm more capable than I look. On the way here, I killed 3 mawhogs on my own."

A tug. What? Wow, it was accurate.

"OK, maybe not alone, but I could've done it alone."

Another tug. What!?

"Well... I could've probably handled... 2 of them alone... if they were spaced out."

No tug. Yeah, that's right.

"Stop rambling. We don't care about anything other than the questions." The taller one said.

The little one tugged. Huh? Even to her own ally? … Maybe I could get something out of this if I could get her talking. Before I could try, the taller one asked another.

"Just tell me who you really are? Are you dangerous? Will you bring danger to us?"

"... If I answer. You have to answer some questions for me. Deal?"

"Fine." She responded

Could I answer in a vague enough way that wouldn't trigger her lie detector?

"I'm from a land far away, not even on this continent, that you've probably never heard of. I'm not currently a danger to anyone, and I have no intention of bringing danger to anyone. Are you out here because you're hiding from people?"

No tug. I celebrated in my head. This was kinda fun. She asked another, but she also answered my question without elaborating at all.

"Yes to your question. You're not currently a danger to anyone. So you could be a danger to us if you wanted. Are you a powerful mage or...-"

She paused to look me up and down, and I felt insulted before I even heard what she had to say.

She continued, "-a surprisingly talented warrior?"

"Hey! Surprisingly? I'll have you know I was trained by the best, and probably fought stronger opponents than you have."

No tug.

"Oh, really? Didn't you say you could barely beat 2 mawhogs? Have you fought a real battle with your life on the line?" She looked up at me, revealing her face with a smug expression, and put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, I have. I fought the strongest and most talented swordsmen, while he had 2 radiant arms, and I had a regular steel sword. And. I. Won." I clearly stated my words at the end to make my point.

I saw the look on her face go from smug doubt, to confusion, to surprise as the pull from the smaller girl never came. I smiled smugly back at her. My turn.

"What about you? Ever had a serious battle with your life on the line?"

"Y-yes!"

The way she said it, I didn't even need the lie detector, but the smaller girl tugged her sleeve anyway. I made sure to smile at her extra smugly. She finally realized I had found out how their gimmick worked and turned to the smaller girl.

"Hey! Whose side are you on?!"

"Does that mean I'm stronger than you?" I teased further.

She turned back to me and looked angry. The smaller one started to giggle.

"Absolutely not! You probably just got lucky or used a cheap trick." She said.

Yeah, pretty much. I wasn't going to let her know that, though. Just had to make sure I didn't lie.

I looked down at her with a disappointed expression. "I thought you might be strong, but you think that luck and cheap tricks have that much sway between two highly skilled people? Maybe you're not as great as you think if you can't even properly evaluate your opponent's strength."

The little girl started laughing. The taller one looked between us repeatedly with a look of astonishment.

The little one spoke for the first time. "I told you! He said he was a good person, and he wasn't lying. You should've been nicer to him."

"Good!? He should be executed! Executed! He's insufferable! Give me the order!" The taller one shouted.

I seized the opportunity given to me. "No matter how many times you tried, you would never be able to execute me. Hahaha!"

Again, she looked at the smaller girl to see if I was lying, who, in turn, shrugged when there was no twitch.

"You really think you can protect her on your own out here if you're even weaker than a guy who struggled against some mawhogs?" I continued.

"Yes!" She said it with confidence, but the smaller one twitched.

She turned to the smaller one and kept going.

"No, I can! I know I can. You don't have to worry."

Another twitch.

She seemed hurt by that, but I'm pretty sure it was her own thoughts and self-doubt. She continued again.

"... I swear, I'll give my life to protect you. Even if I'm not confident I can win, I'll do everything within my power to try."

There was no twitch.

The smaller girl smiled at her with sad eyes before speaking.

"I know. Don't worry. Even if you don't think you can protect me, I think you can."

Ah... crap. I didn't know it was that serious, and I went too far. Now there was an awkward silence hanging heavy in the air.

"Um, my name is William. I'm also hiding from people, and ... I'm not actually an amazingly talented fighter or anything like that."

The small girl nodded to the older one, and she got a confused look on her face.

"Huh? Then how did you make those claims without lying?"

"It's complicated."

No twitch. They looked at each other. The smaller one grabbed the older one's hand and pulled her a few extra feet away, where they started talking in whispers with each other. I overheard a few words. The smaller one wanted to do something, but the older one seemed strongly against it. Eventually, they parted, and the older girl stomped back over to me with the smaller one smiling behind her.

She held out her hand for me to shake. "Katsumi."