Difference between revisions of "Kal"

Latest revision as of 21:11, 4 July 2023

I don't rightly know where I came from. I was brought up by the Tanner family. Pa Tanner used to tell stories of how he was running cage traps and when he went to check the trap line, there I was, sitting up in one of the cages just as proud as a yearling fox for figuring out how to get to the treat inside.

The Tanners raised me as one of their own. They didn't have to do that but they never said as much and they always treated me like one of them. Still I knew it wasn't always easy with me and I tried to make the burden of me as light as I could. I helped Pa and the twins with the trap lines. I wasn't good at the remembering the lines without a map, Lila was always best at that and she teased me something awful every time I got that wrong but there was always a smile behind her jabs. Lila never meant anything by it. Loucel did. Lou got the "big tit" of the twins. Not sure if that is even a real thing but however it works, Lou was half a head taller than Lil and a good forty pounds of muscle into the game. Lou was made of stone, inside and out. Lil couldn't finish a catch that needed to be put down, that just wasn't in her, but Lou, she could stare down the cutest whelp, one that wasn't even hurt and wasn't worth keeping and she could put a basher right between their puppy dog eyes. Pa was proud of how cold she could do that but I could tell that he was also a little concerned by it.

When the Musketoons came, we didn't get any warning. They were just everywhere. They had squads at all of the trails and a big column at both the roads. There must have been a hundred of them or more, and two big billy-carts sitting by. They rounded everyone up, house by house and drove us all into the square like sheep. There was a feller on horseback, not a billy but a proper war-horse and he started shouting off names. We didn't know how to react to that but as he said the names, his goons started pulling people out of the crowd and shouting for them to point the name out to them. If they didn't answer and started crying or something they got a fist or a boot and they would pick someone else but if they looked hard or acted like they didn't want to say, the soldiers put a shot right through their head, right in front of everyone. They didn't warn them or tell the children not to look, they just blew brains right there.

They found their names and people were scared of what was going to happen to them. We saw them load them into the carts and the carts filled up fast. Lil was close to me and she pulled on my arm and whispered close.

"Rabbit, what if the carts aren't the ones they are killing. What if they are the ones they are leaving alive."

I didn't have time to answer her. Either someone else heard that or someone else figured it out at the same time, but it threw a panic in the crowd. It was like a wave breaking and all kinds of folks surged against the line and tried to bolt. Once that picked up the gunshots started screaming and I knew Lil was right.

A human stampede is not a pretty sight. For what it is worth, it got the better of the Musketoons, at least for a little while. Some got out and some soldiers got stomped, but a lot of other folk got stomped as well and the guns went to work right quick. All I could think of was Lil. I did my best to keep sight of her but Lil was always faster than me. I saw her get blocked in and she went up like a starling, just bounded over the top of somebody like a gazelle. I heard the shot behind me and I saw her go down much less graceful.

At the sight of that my eyes went red. I didn't care who or what was between us, the sea of people was getting parted by my fists. I hurt some people who deserved it and I am ashamed to say I hurt some people who didn't, but I got to Lil.

She was up again, but her face was a purple bruise and her left side was painted red from a hole in her lung. She was teetering, about to fall again so I scooped her up and made for the trees like a bull with his tail on fire.

Seems like the Musketoons run in squads of five, or at least that is how many of them stepped out of the trees to meet me. They didn't ask me to surrender and I didnt offer. I hit one of them with my shoulder and pushed him into the tree as hard as I could. I felt a hard poke on my shoulder and the wet sensation of a fresh wound. When I looked down I saw a splintered branch stuck in the meat of me. It took me half a heartbeat to understand that I had shoved the soldier onto it and it was poking through the soldier's chest on its way to my arm.

I pulled off the branch and tried to keep going, use the confusion of the moment to get some distance. I felt a sword dig into my back leg but it wasn't deep enough to stop me. I thought to myself "Maybe I can get to some cover." Then I heard the snap of the muskets behind me.

I felt one chip off my pelvis and burrow a line through my guts. A second one shattered my shoulderblade and Lil slipped in my grip. I tried to stop it but my arm didn't do what I wanted anymore. The third one i didn't hear. I just saw the cone of blood spray out of my face. I was unconscious before I hit the ground.

I shouldn't have woke up. By all rights I should be off in the clouds learning songs and getting used to my new wings. My first question was "Am I dead?" but that got answered right quick. Dead don't hurt this much. I tried to turn my head, look for Lil, but the pain was excruciating and I went black again. When I came back around, there was someone hovering over me. It was that spooky elf with the crazy ears.