Greenfield Village

They only spared one in three houses. The rest were rubble, ash and ember now. Smoke still rose in windy clumps, but they weren't burning on anything of substance. Just the last lingering hint of fire, playing out the motions on anything that would burn. The two entered the village.

They walked in tandem for once, one filled with a sense of anxiety and disgust, the other feeling only curiosity and a small sense of loss. The path had led them to a deserted street, perhaps the main one but it would be impossible to know. Burned buildings didn't look to distinct, so all there was to go off of was a slight sense of size.

It reminded her of her own home, or at least what it was now. The feeling she got staring at the sword in the vault had returned. She hated it.

"What happened here?" Her voice shook as she looked at the ruined possession scattered in the ruins. What might've been a lovely green dress caught her eye, the blackened cloth peeking out from beneath a beam. "Was it an accident or... " her voice trailed off. She knew it wasn't.
The Devil said nothing. They just stared at the partial village around them in silence. They crouched down in a once-house, and picked up two leather shoes. They were in good shape, all things considered. Varied black scorch marks and a missing chunk near the big toe, but in good shape all things considered. They put them on and walked back to Aria.

Aria couldn't believe it. "Are you kidding me? You're stealing things now, of all times!"

"There are still residual embers in the house. These shoes still might've burnt up if I did not rescue them. And besides, there is no point wasting them."

She was about to tear them a new one when she spotted a small glint near one of the intact buildings. Shifting her gaze, she recognized the metal glint of a shotgun. There was a shaky hand holding it that tensed suddenly. 

With a jolt of cold horror she tackled the Devil behind the now shoe-less ruined house just as a deadly bang was sounded, and something nicked the wooden post near where they were standing. She spotted the splinters as they fell to the floor, a large chunk blown from the stump of wood. 
That shot was followed by a storm of others. Probably three other shotguns, and perhaps a hunting rifle by Aria's reckoning. The shots hit the ruins they were huddling behind, hitting loose hinges and stone debris, but they didn't hit close to them. Maybe these were warning shots. 
The Devil observed the sound and thundering of bullets with curiosity, and perhaps a little unease.

The initial barrage wound down until there was a deafening silence on the street.

"Get out of our town you damn bandit heathens!" a rough voice called from the direction of the intact house. Aria peeked her head round the corner, and observed it must be a small inn. The voice had come from a squat man with a bulbous red nose and the ghost of straw coloured hair on his head. In his arms he held a single barrel shotgun. Another three also carried shotguns pointing their direction as they popped out the windows of the inn, and, as Aria suspected, one even carried a worn hunting rifle. 
They people holding the weapons didn't look best pleased, but there was a hint of doubt to them too.

"We aren't bandits! Just travellers on the road to Oldroots." Her voice shook, which she was glad of. Maybe these villagers would have pity on them.

"Then you've picked a bad time to come to Greenfield stranger. Clear out before they come round again!"

Almost on cue, Aria heard footsteps and laughter nearby. Her stomach clenched in restless fear. Bandits! The locals shut the windows with a loud crash!
They'd steered clear of her and Aura's cabin, too scared to come near the mountain. But Aria had heard stories of mountain bandits. Their merciless greed as they ravaged any town or traveler they could overpower. She hadn't thought much when Old Morgan had mentioned them, thinking he was some paranoid old man. But the scorched village around her was enough to fill her with cold dread at the sound of their voices.
While the red nosed man had a rough voice and harsh tone, she knew that fear lay beneath it. She knew he was just a scared man trying to defend himself and his village. But the cold sadistic laughter drawing near had nothing human about it. It was primal and crude, like a howl of a beast, lost in the ecstasy of its own kill. The dread built into a tapping of her knee, then a shaking of her entire body until it became too much. She grabbed the Devil by the arm and ran away from the voices, towards the inn.

"Hey! What are you doing! Get away from here!" He had the gun pointed and ready, his finger shaking on the trigger.

"Please, let us in!" Primal fear bled in her voice. Aria hadn't thought much of the danger of her journey. She'd been fueled on rage and worry at the beginning, and after the time she'd spent travelling with the Devil on a long road, she'd almost thought the trip would be mundane. But the first shot from that shotgun had shocked her back into reality. They were on a deadly journey. She didn't know if the Devil could die or even be hurt, but she still feared her own death! 
And so she fled to the inn before her, where there were people she could understand. Scared people, like her.

They reached the door with no shots fired. The man with the red nose looked like he was going to object, but with the animal laughter drawing near, he relented and let them in, shutting the door behind them.

It was dead silent, bar from the crying of babies in another room. The man moved to the side of the door, and he pointed rather violently for them to do the same. He inched it open, and peeked out. The voices came closer, perhaps arriving where Aria had been. They jeered and taunted the people in the building, asking what all that noise was about. They spat and threatened, but they came no closer. Eventually, with no response incoming, the voice slowly shifted further away. Everyone in the room listened with morbid anticipation as the voices became quieter and quieter, until they were nothing. The man  slumped over with no emotion other than pure relief. After a bit of just leaning there, he seemed to recover himself, and got back to the tough guy act.

"You happy now? Almost got yourself killed, and it ain't even noon. You could've run in any other direction, but you decided to run at the guys with guns! Lucky I'm such a nice guy, and didn't decide to blow your head off. Damn travellers. You're almost as bad as that other one."

Aria got her first full look of the room. crowded beyond belief, the only free space was near the windows and doors, where the other gunslingers stood. Among the crowd were people of all ages. The old and the young alike sat knees up side by side on the floor. Many seemed to be shepherds, others just their husbands or wives. She didn't see any babies and such, but judging from the relentless wails in the other room, that was where they were keeping the children. There seemed to be more rooms up a set of stairs to the left, maybe rooms you could rent usually.
There was a persistent feeling of gloom clinging to the room. Some watched them with a nervous animosity, others just stared at the floorboards, as if they had done all they could and had given up trying more.
The man looked at her,  as if expecting she said something.

"Sorry for charging you." 

"Don't say sorry you idiot! Say thank you and I'll say you're welcome."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." He glanced at the figure hooded in robes beside her.

"He doesn't speak much, sorry." she quickly explained. "But he's also thankful for your kindness."

"I am?" they asked under their breath.

"Shut it."  she hissed even quieter, then gave a thankful smile to the man.

He seemed to have noticed her shaking hands, because suddenly his voice softened. "You hungry?"

She nodded. She hadn't eaten since last night. She'd planned to eat something on the way to Greenfield, but the sudden smoke rushed their progress. It would also be good to eat at towns as often as they could. She only had so much food in her sack, and despite her experience as a hunter, Aura had always been better at it. Sharper eyes she always said, but Aria had told her it was God's gift to her, after making her so bad at cooking.

He led them to the right corner of the room, and called for someone named Mags to get them some bread and cheese. She got out the coins she'd found at the Keep, and though he denied them at first, eventually he took the money gingerly.

"Well, my name's David. What are yours?"

"I'm Aria." 

"After your hair, I presume." He nodded at her forehead, where a strand of her silver hair had come loose from under her wrap. 

She tucked it away suddenly. It wasn't as important as keeping the Devil hidden, but her hair would still draw attention with its odd colour. It's why she kept it in a bun, wrapped under some cloth. "Yes".

"And his?"

"De... Derick." Luckily he didn't seem suspicious of her stuttering, and her lack of creativity went unnoticed. Still she wanted to change the subject, and ask a burning question she had.

“Why’d this happen?”

He grabbed a bottle of something from a nearby shelf and took a long gulp. He set it down on a table and sighed. “You know anything about the bandit’s round here honey?”

Remembering the old man's words. “Well Old Richard Morgan said they’re led by a guy named Large Man, and they’re a bit of a problem around here.”

“Good to know Dick Morgan's still harassing the travelers. But I'm afraid to say that's the understatement of the century kid. They're more predators than vermin. The smaller villages and farms around here have to pay them ‘tribute’ or get raided, and any traveller that can walk away from them unscathed either have God’s favour or the Devil’s luck. Large Man is a Monster by himself, but his Captains wreak havoc from here to Oldroots.” His voice was laced with sorrow. “Usually we pay them off with some food, money and bullets from the blacksmith. We’ve been paying them that for years, and they were happy with it. But then, this morning that Abo and Dulii showed up and asked for more than we could give. They wanted most of our food and all our bullets. We told em’ we couldn’t pay. They did this.”

“Didn’t you fight back?” she asked, looking at the shotgun in his arms.

“What, and end up like Will Jackieson. He took a potshot at Abo while he was tearing down the village hall. Haven’t seen him since. Have heard from him since, though. On account of all the screaming.”

“Why did they tear down the village hall?”

“Well they looted it first, and I guess they wanted to send a message. And besides, they didn’t tear it down, he did. Abo can bend metal with his bare hands.” He took another swig from his bottle while he let that sink in. "Anyway, no one else wanted to end up like Jackieson, so we all holed up in here. We got six guns in this village, more than any other place round' here, and five of em' are here with us. The bandits don't want the trouble, so they left us in here while they pillaged everything outside."

"Where are they now? We didn't see any outside except that small group."

"Got everything they thought they were gonna get I suppose. They're some houses down by the river and up further in the meadows, so that's where they'll be." Another swig. "Take my advice kid. Get out while you can. The two of you can sneak out without drawing their attention. Go back down the way you came and circle round the East side of the forest. Those bandits came from the West, probably from their camp in Kuujja, so the East should be pretty robber free."

"But what about you all?"

"What about us?"

"Are you gonna be okay?" She looked at the defeated lot in the room. Nobody was paying attention to their conversation. In fact  many of them weren't paying attention to anything. They just kept staring at the walls or floor. Only the gunslingers by the windows had any sort of drive, and that only amounted to peeking out into the street now and then.

"Of course we aren't. You seen our village outside. Things aren't gonna be good for a while."

"So, what are you going to do. Sneak out like us?"

"Too many of us for that. No, it's safer to stay in a group. We'll probably stay in here until they leave. After that, I don't know. Some might stay to rebuild, others'll probably go start over in Newfield to the North."

"And you, David?"

He finished the bottle. "I don't know." he admitted. "Don't you worry about it. Just eat up and get out of here." An older woman, who she assumed was named Mags, came round with their food and some water. She ate eagerly, reducing the contents of her plate to nothing. The Devil however, just stared at theirs.

"Aren't you gonna eat, boy?" Mags said

"Oh, he doesn't eat." Aria said. "Or drink." she added quickly, remembering his full glass. She promptly made a mental note to think of these excuses beforehand. Why couldn't she have just said the thing from yesterday!

"He doesn't eat, or drink?" David said. "How is he alive?"

"He prays a lot." She made a mental note to whack herself on the head when she had the chance.

She thought David would respond, but he didn't. He just stared at the door, fiddling his shotgun absently. She offered him the Devil's food, and he took it to some old folks on the other side of the room. 
Aria was thinking now. About a lot of things. The kindness David had shown her, and the wicked voices from outside. She thought of her home. The Devil still said nothing. Apparently the 'shut it'  was still in effect. She studied the hidden sword on their back and thought of splitting trees and harnessing the wind. When David eventually made his way back, she had decided.

"We're gonna help you with these bandits." The moment the words were out her mouth, she realized how stupid she sounded. She couldn't wield that sword like they could. What help would she be. The Devil would probably be even more useless.
As if to say this silently, the Devil cocked their head with an emotion that can only be described as incredulous.

David didn't look surprised as she thought he'd be. Instead he pursed his lips tightly, as if he'd been expecting this. "I thought you were smarter than that Aria. I knew you were some do-gooder, sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. Go back down where you came from, and don't look back."

Despite her hindsight and his advice, she couldn't back out now. She wouldn't let herself back out now. "It wasn't a question. I said we're gonna do it. With your blessing or not." She'd felt a twinge of pride when he called her a 'do-gooder'. After yesterday's robbery, she'd been feeling a small gnawing guilt at the pit of her stomach. Just because she's fighting the Knights doesn't mean she can't be good, and she had to prove that to herself.
She stared him down with determination. 

He mulled over her words, trying to judge if she was truly serious. He sighed and put his hand to his forehead. "We can't help you if you go down this road. But if you mean what you say, there's someone else I can point you to. Look for a house sign with 'Eye-of-the-Sun' on it. Behind it there's a field with a stone shed. In that stone shed is a traveller, like you. An Ironslinger from out South. Got some score to settle with the bandits. He'll only be in there for a bit longer, so if your going you better go now."

The two slunk out of the bar door.