Bunch of Carbuncles

Two-Shade Town is your typical stop between your travels. There's not much going on here and the town doesn't really experience rampant crime as a result. 
Thus it becomes increasingly weird how YeeYee ended up in their jail. 
Behind the desk was a law-enforcer. Unlike Cooper from about a week ago, this one had no clue what to do with YeeYee. 
Someone entered the jailhouse, it seems like a courier. "I'm back, Flint." He put his hat on the hanger. "Wind-Way's Town has been completely demolished. Her story checks out." 
Flint brought his fingers to his bridge like he was having a migraine. "That still doesn't make it right to order food without paying."
"I did say I was going to pay afterwards."
"Why are you even on the road? You're too young to all alone."
"I told you, I'm a drifter." YeeYee pointed to her gun inside her holster, on Flint's desk. "And you better not have strange ideas with my gun like Coop did." 
Flint had already grown a few wrinkles on his forehead. This was likely the result of the constant stress he was experiencing. Today would not help him with those either. 
"Let the kid go, Flint. We're not equipped to take her in anyway." The courier shrugged. Even he didn't want to deal with this situation.
Flint got up and started to make his way towards a cabin. He rummaged through it for a few seconds before he came back to his desk. He brought a white knapsack. 
"There are some rations in here, should last you two or three days." He began to calculate for her smaller posture. As soon as he felt a headache come up he stopped. "You know, let's forget today ever happened."
YeeYee walked back from the door. The way she handled herself so expertly, when she was being released from jail, gave her a sense of professionalism.
"And don't go dining and dashing again." Flint opened the door after she gave him a nod. 
Flint escorted YeeYee out. He saw that she was already munching on a few rations.
"What? You didn't let me finish my food at the saloon." 
It was just past noon, but Flint had enough. He went to bed.

YeeYee thought back at the ruins of Wind-Way's Town. There were traces of magic, but most of it was physical destruction.
Aemarich was home to various creatures, some exclusively native to these lands, others similar to those found in Eurika, Faarci, and S'ai. 
If YeeYee was part of the regular folk of the wild west, or part of a nomadic tribe, she'd be more familiar with them. Unfortunately YeeYee grew up in isolation with her mentor. This meant her knowledge was limited to books and word of mouth. 
It has been three days since she got here. Wind-Way's Town is three days walking, or one day on horseback. So the ruins are from at least six days ago. If there was an imminent threat, it should be close to Two-Shade Town.
YeeYee bound the knapsack on her belt. When she was confident it couldn't fall off, she jumped on the roof of a nearby building. 
"Sense..." She tried to give it a shot.
If the law-enforcers caught her now, she would be made out for a troublemaker. 
Normally the sense spell would allow the caster to feel beyond the walls. Her teacher made sure to beat some discipline into her. As a result, this little spell now functions as a town-wide scrying tool. 
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until YeeYee noticed a small group in an alley. There were five people, all men. She decided to check it out. 
She got off the roof. Somewhere between then and now she got a little bit of attention. 
Some of the adults were a bit confused, but the young boys were impressed. They had a sparkle in their eyes that screamed awesome!.
YeeYee gave them a V-sign and tried to play it off cool. But the boys returned a mocking gesture back at her. 
She did not take it well and stomped her foot on the ground. The boys scattered while laughing. 
When she cooled up slightly, she remembered that she had somewhere to be. She should stop wasting time and just go. 

It did not take her more than a minute. Fortunately for her the men were still here. Two were dressed in everyday, common attire, but the other three were hooded. 
Hoods usually indicated the activity of cults. Needless to say, but YeeYee was getting suspicious.
One of the men took notice of her. "Quiet, there's a kid here." It was one of the men dressed in common.
The hooded men looked between each other. One came forward. "I know this looks a little suspicious." The tall, over seven foot tall man, barely brought himself to YeeYee's level. "But we're just merchants selling off some of our surplus food." 
YeeYee looked over the man's shoulder. She cart had indeed vegetables on it. 
"If you need to get rid of it, I could take some. I'm starving." If she had the choice, she would skip her vegetables. Right now she only had those dry rations from Flint with a little bit of xocolatl flavor. 
"These aren't for sale!" The previous man dressed in common spoke up.
"Easy there, I think we have plenty to share. How about this: We give you some of our stock, and we just forget this misunderstanding ever took place?"
She accepted the deal and was about to walk away with a small bag of vegetables. She considered having a bite already, just to be sure.
The tall man, who seemed to be the group's leader, ushered YeeYee to go to the other exit of the alley. 
She did what the man told her to. It's not like she has any reason to doubt him. So with her mouth stuffed she walked deeper into the alley. 
Three men snickered behind her back. Two of the men weren't really into it, but YeeYee did not know that.
Her instincts flared up.
The tall man, now having brandished a sword, tried to decapitate YeeYee. 
He looked at the spectacle. If she dodged it he would find it weird, but understandable. But she didn't dodge it. His sword was motionless, stuck, as if it had struck bedrock. 
No, YeeYee caught his sword in her unoccupied hand. 
"I knew something was off." She turned to meet the guy's eyes. She was unimpressed. "Also the food is poisoned. But my mentor fed me harsher stuff, so this will not take me down."
What kind of mentor would poison his own pupil - is what the tall man was thinking. 
Sky.
The tall man was now looking at the sky. His back was on the sandy floor of Two-Shade Town. 
When did this happen? - The tall man thought to himself. 
He was so occupied with YeeYee that he did not catch the moment she flung him over her shoulder. 
He would get her for this!
But his legs weren't moving.
Then it struck him. His back has been broken, and as a result he has been paralyzed from the waist down.
The other four saw it happen. 
The second hooded man, still taller than YeeYee, tried to launch a spell at her. 
The magic circle already formed, but YeeYee quickly grabbed his arm through the circle.
A nasty elbow landed in his gut. The pain of which was enough to knock him out. 
"Sorry, but I really don't want to fire Six-Shot in this town. You have to be content with this."
Technically she was surrounded. But the two men in common fled in opposing directions. The third hooded man tried to go for a grapple. 
YeeYee launched her body into the man. Both elbow and fist connected with him. The hooded man was sent flying towards the man in common that was now already on the streets. 
She contemplated for a moment and then pulled Six-Shot from her holster to take aim at the last guy. He went around the corner. 
She had doubts if she wanted to kill him or not, so she couldn't fire a shot. Best to pursue him.
The man was not involved in any supernatural shenanigans. He ran like any other regular folk. Which meant she caught up to him in no time.
Before she got to him, she caught glimpse of him breaking a bead. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. She figured it was a communication spell of sorts. 
Her knee connected to the back of his head and he was sent flying.
When he got to his senses, he found YeeYee sitting on his torso. She looked down on him, smug. 
Vile brat - he thought to himself.
"Mind explaining what's going on?"
The angered expression of the man turned into a grin. "You're too late. They're already on their way to this shithole!" 
"Who are?"
"Not who, but what!" He snickered under his breath. "You'll soon see it."
The man put on a brave face, but YeeYee sensed something off.
She got off when she felt a slight spark of magic. The fingers that shattered the bead caught fire. Soon his entire body was burning and he was screaming in agony. 
Whoever did this had to be a master in the arcane arts. This was not easy to do.
But YeeYee had bigger issues on her mind. She had a feeling that what befell Wind-Way’s Town would soon befall Two-Shade Town.