Pursuit

A roar of praise greeted Hanabi when she returned to the village. She did her best to hide her exhaustion, to maintain the persona of the folk hero.

"I can't believe you waited this long to use that spell!" a villager whose name Hanabi couldn't remember said. "We never had anything to worry about!"

"Come to me and say that again later," she replied. "After you've smelled the aftermath."

The villager's face fell and Hanabi slapped him on the back to return his spirit.

"Don't be like that! You're right, we won! Now who has a drink for a beautiful woman?"

"Martoh's got some stashed away," Taro said. The smile on his lips was twisted in relief and disgust as he watched the forest. The correct expression to make when witnessing such a horrific spell.

"Care to join me while I pick it up? I plan to check on Luci and the others as well."

"I'll leave that to you. I don't want to celebrate until Lady Kyomi and Lady Yahime return."

"Then you'll only have to wait a little longer. I'm sure those two—"

"HELP!"

The breathless squeaky voice barely reached over the celebrating villagers.

"Nyu?"

Taro and Hanabi ran to her, catching her before she collapsed.

"What's wrong? Why aren't you with Mother and the others?"

"Hu…mans… searching for… others."

"Take care of her!" Hanabi yelled behind her. Her heart was in her stomach and she was in a full sprint before hearing a response.

"How could they do this?"

Her voice cracked and her pointed nails drew blood from her palms. How had she been so distracted, wasted time toying with the humans while the village was being burned behind her?

"Luci!"

She screamed for the girl as she checked the bodies. She didn't recognize most of them, only Tapper and Mochi.

"Oh, Mochi," she whispered. "Another month and… No. Get it together. This isn't the first time. I need to find Luci."

She turned the corner.

A guttural howl rose from Hanabi's throat when she saw Billia's house ablaze. The door was missing from its hinges and the burning furniture had been splintered well before the fire. But there were no bodies. She checked inside just to be sure. Empty.

***

"My feet hurt…" Hachiko whined.

"Just bear with it for now," Lucinda whispered back. "Someone will come for us soon."

Lucinda could only pray she was right. She'd reached Billia's before the humans tried to evacuate. They'd been caught just as they were leaving.

"What if they don't?"

"They will. Lady Hanabi, Lady Yahime, and Lady Kyomi are the strongest, remember? Aren't you a Lady Hanabi supporter like me?"

The boy's steps gained some pep.

"You're right! She'll come for us, for sure!"

"Don't lie to the boy," Billia hissed. "Better to prepare the boy than give him false hope."

Tied together by their ankles, Billia's ducklings waddled behind her. The youngest tripped, yanking the family back down the steep mountain.

"Get up!" The masked kidnapper who'd stabbed Tapper and Mochi yelled. He grabbed the duckling with his clawed hand and shoved the duckling onto its feet. "Slow us down again and we'll be eating water fowl for dinner."

Wide eyed, the duckling scurried to its siblings. The oldest pulled them under their wing and together the fluffy children hiked behind their mother.

"Maybe you should look after your own children first, Billia."

The young hen's head hung in defeat. Lucinda didn't blame her. Nothing was worse for a mother than not being able to protect their child. But it was important to kindle their hope if they wanted to survive.

A sudden scuffle at the rear of the formation stopped everyone in their tracks.

"I-I'll do anything! Just l-let the children go!"

Rikki thrashed and yanked at the rope tied around her wrists. It didn't move the thick muscled human leading her and he dragged her across the ground when she collapsed.

"No! Not again! I w-won't lose them again!"

The masked man who'd killed Mochi stomped to the rear of the group grabbing the rabbit girl, Vibby, by the ears along the way.

"Shut yer hole!" Globs of saliva wet the little girl's face and her screams of terror lowered to a whimper.

"Let her go!"

The man crouched in front of Rikki and held Vibby in front of her. "One more peep out of you and you'll be watching this one's body tumble down the mountain."

Rikki fell silent and slumped in resignation.

"That goes for the rest of you, too! Each time one of you acts up or even breathes wrong, we kill the person next to ya. So keep your traps shut and keep marchin!"

The man threw Vibby to the ground and laughed as her tiny white body bounced on the ground. She stopped abruptly when her head cracked against a patch of large rocks. The amusement faded from his eyes and scoffed to himself as blood pooled around her motionless body.

Lucinda sank her teeth into her lip to resist running to the girl. How could they?! She could still see Vibby's tiny chest moving, so there was at least hope. So why were they leaving her?

"Don't even think about it," the man said when he passed Lucinda on his way to the front. "Go for the girl and the mutt next to you is next."

Lucinda yanked Hachiko to her side, shielding the boy with her arm.

"I'm so sorry, Vibby."

***

Hanabi was out of breath by the time she made it a quarter way up the mountain. When was the last time she'd been out of breath climbing a mountain?

"They can't have gotten much further," she mumbled. "The children will have slowed them down."

The blood drained from her face.

"Vibby!"

Chest tight, she ran to the rabbit's side. The girl was still breathing, though barely, and she twitched at Hanabi's touch.

"Those sons of… Stay with me, Vibby."

Hanabi wrapped Vibby in water magic and poured her mana into it. The girl twitched but remained unconscious.

"Come on little one, wake up. Wake up!"

The clear water glowed green and tiny tendrils prodded Vibby's red-stained body. The majority traveled to the back of her head where the rocks had cut a wide gash. It was a slow process and with each passing moment Hanabi's anxiety grew. What if something had happened to the others? What if one of the other children was bleeding out? She tried her best to stifle the thoughts. It was more important to do what she could in the moment than worry about hypotheticals.

"Lady Hanabi?"

Vibby's red eyes squinted open. Her voice was weak and muffled by the water encasing her. What mattered was she would live.

"I'm right here, Vibby. Just give me another minute to close the cut on your head."

The little rabbit shook her head.

"No… You have to save them. Before they get over the mountain."

"Don't worry. I'll save them. So just focus on being a tough girl like Lady Kyomi, alright?"

Vibby's face scrunched and she groaned as Hanabi's magic pulled the skin on the back of her head together.

"They said they were going to sell us."

Sell them? Hanabi hadn't been to the empire in centuries. Were Exiled servants common? She remembered the bodies at the abandoned bandit camp.

Hanabi knew human depravity. More than one of the young girls had been rescued during the initial journey, empty shells of the vibrant souls they'd been before being captured. Beaten, violated, tortured; no species was as disgusting as the humans were.

"Don't worry about that right now," Hanabi remembered saying the same thing when she'd rescued Luci as a child. "I won't let anything else happen to you."

The words did their job, and when the water around Vibby splashed away she was already asleep. There wasn't time to take the girl back to the village. The best she could do was tuck the girl away between the rocks and pray Taro and the others found her.