Restock (Chapter 9)

By now, there was little food, and we would have to restock soon. But it meant being found. We had to decide what we were going to do.
"Now that we are all here, I believe that it is time to figure out
what we are to do." Faalan started.
"Skip the talking and get to the point." Kaija complained.
"Well, we are almost out of food and water, and we have to leave the safety of the treehouse. We will be found, and the question is, are we going to fight, then come back here or fight and run away, never to come back here?" I said quietly.
"If we come back here after we fight, there is the possibility that the villagers will track us down and have the knights attack us. If we run and travel constantly, there is the danger of running out of supplies or being killed by robbers and thugs." Faalan added.
"I think we should travel." Kaija stated simply.
"Why, pray tell?" Faalan questioned.
"Because if we travel, we won't end up holed up in this treehouse after getting supplies. That would cut off any possible route to escape. At least in the wild we will be able run from the enemy."
"He has a point." I mumbled, unsure of which choice to go for. I knew one choice had to be chosen. They were both dangerous and risky. The question was which one to go for.
"Then we will travel." Faalan decided, ending the discussion. I was slightly annoyed that I didn't really get a chance to put in my input, but I couldn't argue, since that would probably have been my choice had I thought about it more.
"Uh... Guys?" I called after them, as they were leaving to get their things. I didn't need to bring anything because, as I thought guiltily, the boys provided for me and protected me. I never really needed to anything, even on previous travels, because I didn't have much in the first place, and the boys had always carried all the stuff. I felt a little bad about it, but it just happened.
"Yes?" Faalan said, turning around.
"I don't know about you, but I really need some new clothes." It was true, I really needed some new things to wear. During the weeks I had been here, I hadn't been able to obtain new clothing and was still wearing the same clothes I had worn when I first arrived in the past. There were now tears and rips in them and the seams were beginning to weaken and stretch. Plus, it didn't really fit in with times. I would stick out like a sore thumb if I kept wearing what I was.
"Oh... Forgot about that..." murmured Faalan, looking at his feet.
"I have nothing that you could possibly wear. I left all of my clothing in the cave when we ran away from...you know." Kaija said, looking around in random directions, avoiding my eyes.
clothing." he managed to choke out. "Or maybe my mother's clothing as well." It seemed talking about his mother was less painful than talking about "Well...I suppose you could try Kh-" Faalan started, but his voice broke off. Trying again, "Kh-khan-na's clothing." It seemed that he was more comfortable talking about his mother than Khanna. But of course, he had lost Khanna more recently than he had lost his mother.
"Thank you... I will wear whatever you can provide for me." I said finally, after a moment of trying to choose the right words. Faalan said nothing, walking to and opening the door to the room dedicated to his mother and began to rummage through boxes. Clouds of dust flew into the air, causing the boy to sneeze several times. Kaija stood outside of the door, looking inside, unsure of how he could help. I just waited inside the room near the door, trying to get in the way. Finally, he pulled out a dress and a pair of sandals.
"You can try these one. My mother wore this when she traveled." he said, not looking at my eyes.
"Thanks... But I thought you said that wearing no shoes was better!" I objected, though I took the clothing and shoes from his arms.
"I did, but these....they're different. My mother was the one who told me not to wear shoes. Yet she wore these constantly. I believe that there is something special in them. Except I don't know what it is, since my feet most definitely will not fit inside them. I thought that maybe your feet would." he said, words pouring out of his mouth.
"Alright. Whatever you say... I'll try them." I mumbled before slipping out of the room and going into another. I really didn't know what the real purpose of the room was, but it was there, so I used it.
Then, closing the door, I slipped off my old clothing and tried on the new clothing. The dress fit well, though the length of the dress was a little strange, considering it only went up to be knees. But it was clean clothing, so I couldn't complain.
After much consideration, I decided to keep my old shorts; I wasn't comfortable wearing skirts or dresses without some form of pants.
Then came the shoes. The leather sandals were cool against my skin and did not rub irritatingly, as I thought they would. As I stood up, I felt a normal stream of energy rush up through my feet. Perhaps this was why Faalan's mother wore these. But the question was why were these shoes able to transfer the earth's energy through them when no other shoes were able to?
Finally, I slipped on the side belt with my lyre and the pouch with my flute and opened the door to see Kaija and Faalan waiting expectantly. Beside the two boys was a single sack. My guess was that Faalan had his things all tucked away underneath his cape. I still couldn't figure out where all that stuff went, but it was there.
"Wow... You look good..." Kaija complimented.
"Uh... Thanks..." I murmured, blushing slightly. for I'd never had a boy compliment me on clothing before. Faalan said nothing, only giving a sad, but approving nod.
"So now we leave." Kaija declared, turning away and begining to walk to the edge of the balcony. I followed suit, and Faalan joined us after a moment. He closed his eyes and there was a tingle that came from the ground before the three of us began to float up from the balcony. Then, we moved from the balcony and descended, landing gently on the ground.
"Getting better, Faalan." I remarked quietly, noticing how his skills had gotten better. I used to get bruises from the landings, but now I just landed gently on my feet.
"Thank you." he replied softly.
We walked in silence. I couldn't figure out how long it took, but it seemed like hours. But when we finally neared a village, Faalan looked into my eyes and I knew what he wanted from me. I pulled the lyre out from my side and lightly strummed the strings, checking to see if any were broken. I had to make sure that the music didn't affect Faalan and Kaija when we went in.
As we walked into the streets, the villagers seemed to bear a strong resentment against us. They clearly recognized Faalan, since I heard one of the villagers mutter something about a demon child. The villagers began to close in and their intentions did not seem good, for some began to pull out daggers.
Letting the lyre draw me in a little, I began to play a soft, soothing melody. This was the easy part. What was hard was having to make sure it didn't affect my companions. This took much concentration, and my lips pressed into a thin line.
The whole process of making sure the music didn't affect them was a little complicated. In a way, I could see as the sound waves and I guess, magic waves flowed out from the instrument of choice. It wasn't really visible, but I could sense them. In my mind, I had to create an invisible barrier of willpower surrounding the people I didn't want affected so that only the sound waves would reach them and not the magic waves. The magic waves either would be absorbed into the barrier or bounce off the barrier. I wasn't really sure why some were absorbed and some weren't, but it worked at protecting the ones I wanted to protect.
In my sub-conscious, I could see that the villagers had stopped moving and had began to fall asleep. Some tried to fight it, but failed, collapsing to the ground.
Continuing to move through the streets, Faalan and Kaija picked up neccesary equipment and food while I played. They left money, which was fair enough. The only thing that worried me was that there was always the
possibility of encountering a deaf person. This could prove to be dangerous, since my music could not affect people who didn't listen. I could always play loud enough for people to hear it through their covered ears, but I couldn't make the hearing impaired be able to hear.
I was nervous, and occasionally, my fingers would slip a string, creating a sour note and causing some people to stir from their magic induced sleep. This only made me more jittery. I was truly glad when we left.
I replaced the lyre in its place by my side and looked down, unsure of what to do now, both in the now sense and the future sense. I didn't know how to help with the situation now, and I didn't know how I would be getting back to my time either. When I looked up, Faalan and Kaija were looking at me worriedly.
"Are you alright?" Kaija asked, his eyes full of concern.
"I'm fine, thank you. I'm just...unsure of what to do." I mumbled.
"What do you mean, unsure?" Faalan questioned.
"I don't know what to do to help now. Also, this isn't my time. I don't know if I can even get back to my time."
Faalan sighed and moved his hand to his forehead. He shook his head a little before putting his hand down and looking at me again.
"Well, let's try to not worry about that for now. What we do need to worry about is the knights after us. I mean, me." Faalan said, trying to comfort me. It didn't really work. But I put on a smile and tried to ignore my inner turmoil.
"That's true, I guess." I agreed, nodding slightly.
"We should get moving..." Kaija muttered. We nodded our consent and began to walk.
"The knights will eventually hear of our little trip to the village and will come here after us." Faalan said, his words almost lost to the wind.
"Will you fight them, Faalan?" I asked worried. But I didn't need to ask. I already knew.
"Yes." he said determinedly.
I had been worried about this for quite sometime, though I tried not to think about it. I knew he was a murderer in my own time, known for killing thousands. Quickly, I pushed my thoughts away, hoping that Faalan hadn't heard it in my head. Looking at him, I watched for any change of expression. There was none. I inwardly, I gave sigh of
relief.
If he had heard it, I might have changed the course of history. Even so, I didn't want him to kill thousands of people. Faalan was most likely bent on revenge of Khanna's death. He probably would kill anyone who tried to attack him that was one of those who wanted him exterminated. That included the knights and the villagers. But he
hadn't killed the villagers when we were in the village. Though, with a jolt, he did have a rather cold expression on his face. Apparently, my sub-conscious had kept the image of his angry, determined face when we were in the village and chose to bring it up now. Wonderful.

AN: Fwee! Boring chapter, but it leads to a more interesting one!