Outside the tent Urho and her brothers were standing awkwardly. Urho was too distraught to say anyhing to them and they didn't know what do with him. A snowball whizzed past Urho's ear and landed in the middle of the three of them. They all looked to see where it came from.
"Did you just come here to stand?" 32A shouted while walking towards them.
"Urho doesn't want to do anything." One of them said.
"I don't really feel like doing anything either. It doesn't feel safe out here." Another one said.
"I completely understand. I didn't think you'd want to be outside at all anymore. But nobody is going to come here at daytime and we're prepared now so nobody will try anything with us. I know it." 32A assured looked at the people volunteering to stand ground around the area.
"I guess you're right."
"Of course I'm right. But what are the names of you other two? I want to know you better." 32A said.
"Valo." One of them replied.
"Arvo." The remaining one replied.
"Nice to know you, Valo and Arvo." 32A said as politely as she could and then crouched next to Urho.
"Do you not even want to talk with Valo and Arvo anymore?" She asked him.
"I do still want to talk and play with them." Urho answered.
"But not right now? Does it not feel right currently?"
"I feel better now." Urho said and sounded better than he had earlier.
"That's good. But I have a little question."
"What is it?"
"Which one of you threw that snowball at me the other night?" 32A asked.
"It was Arvo." Valo said.
"What? No, it was you!" Arvo said back.
"Oh, so it was both of you?" 32A asked jokingly.
"Okay, it was me!" Valo said.
"There you go. I respect honesty. But I also believe in fairness so..." 32A said and took a snowball that she was hiding behind her back and smashed in on Valo's cranium.
"Hey!" Valo complained.
"You started it. But if you want some revenge, feel welcome to try." 32A said, hoping that Valo would go along.
She then rolled up another snowball and threw one at Arvo's chest, who then did the exact same back. While getting snowballs thrown at her, 32A glanced at Urho to see if he seemed to be in a better mood. When she saw him rolling up a snowball and laughing, she knew that she succeeded.
When 32A was playing with the siblings, time passed surprisingly quickly. Her intention was to get Urho in a happier mood while also keeping an eye on them all, but her eternally juvenile side ended up having the best time instead, and it was a much needed distraction for her that helped her get her mind away from all of her worries. However, eventually it had to end when Ilkka's voice called for them from the entrance of the tent.
"Okay, everybody. Time to get inside! We have things to do today!" Ilkka shouted.
"Well, you should listen to him. Time to go back in." 32A said and turned to walk to the tent after wiping her clothes clean from all the snow.
She then felt one last snowball hit the back of her head.
"Hey! That was cheap! But seriously now, we should get in." She said and continued to walk inside.
60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKYecEotx0
Inside the tent 32A saw Ilkka and Saku looking all business, and when they saw her get inside, they looked at her like they wanted to say something.
"Go to your mother. I have something I need to take care of." 32A said to the brothers who did as told.
She then walked to Ilkka and Saku who were very serious.
"So. At some point we should go look for the killers. And I mean soon. Before the dark at least. We don't want them to come around a second time." Saku said.
"Absolutely. We still remember the direction that they came from. We still have a couple of hours of daytime. That helps us dig through the houses better." 32A said back.
"And if you find anyone, let the others know. Be careful, be quiet and be ready." Ilkka added.
"Let's not waste time then. We won't solve the problem by talking." Saku said and pushed the other two aside, felt the revolver in his pocket and walked towards the exit.
The other two followed him. 32A made sure not to look at anyone while walking out.
"So, the tracks came from that direction. Let's hope that the bastards are still there." Saku said outside the tent.
"It's possible that they've moved on from this area. But I wouldn't count on it." Ilkka guessed.
"I doubt it. At that bike storage, the bastard tried to take us out, and he didn't get what he wanted." 32A added.
"And you think these people won't stand for that?" Ilkka asked.
"I don't know how they think, but we shouldn't rest easy until we know that they won't be a problem. So let's get going." 32A said and started going to where she remembered the tracks coming from.
60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUllZmdw2T9
After some walking, they came to where 32A and Saku gave up the last time. There were some two story houses surrounding them.
"No tracks or prints anywhere. These people haven't been in this area today. Either they stay inside during daytime hours or they're not in this area at all." Ilkka guessed.
"Maybe two should investigate these houses and one goes deeper into the town?" Saku suggested.
"Whoever goes alone will have to stay close enough to hear us though." Ilkka added.
"Or maybe we can go deeper into town and if we don't find any tracks, we work our way back from there to here." 32A suggested.
"But when do we know when is a good time to turn back?" Ilkka asked.
"If searching behind every door is our approach, they'll get to strike again several times before we actually find them." Saku said with frustration.
"Then maybe that shouldn't be our approach. We shouldn't seek them. We should let them come to us." 32A suggested.
"I'm not sure about that. What if we're not in the right area and they sneak past us?" Ilkka asked.
"The last two times that they showed up, they made their presence known from afar. We'll hear them coming. So when we hear the violin, we just go towards the sound. They probably think of it as a scare tactic. They expect us to hide when we hear the violin, just like we did back there in the bike storage. They won't expect us to come to them." 32A reasoned.
"I can see the sense in that. If we catch them tonight, it's done. If we try to look for them, who knows how many times they'll strike?" Saku added.
"But until we start hearing music, we can search what we can here. We shouldn't be out here in the open by the time they come around." 32A suggested.
"That's probably the best approach that we have right now. I don't think we've dug through these buildings for items to sell yet anyway, so this is unknown territory for us." Ilkka said.
"Let's get started then. But let's stay close." 32A said and went to walk to one of the nearby houses but before she could go far, Ilkka stopped her by grabbing her arm.
"What?" 32A asked.
"Did you tell Urho not to follow you?" Ilkka asked.
"No. Should I have?"
"When we went for that night patrol, he wanted to come with you. I don't want him to play hero and try anything here."
"And back then I told him that he doesn't have to try to impress anyone. I'm sure he understood." 32A reassured.
"He better have. And if not, then at least I hope Suvi keeps him in check." Ilkka said.
"Yeah. Now let's do what we came to do." 32A said and stepped inside one of the houses where the door wasn't busted open, but still unable to close.
"We should all get in different houses. Shout if you need help or anything." Ilkka said to the other two.
"Yeah. That's a good idea." Saku said and went to search another nearby house.
32A searched through the house quietly and carefully. She found things in some rooms that might be worth something in a trade, but that was not what she was here for, so she didn't care.
"Doesn't look like anyone's been in here in years. But that might be what they want want me to think. I have no weapons at all. I need to be cautious and ready to bolt." She thought to herself.
When searching one room, she found a rusty cleaver in a kitchen drawer.
"This might be useful. Although Ilkka already taught me that I'm not really good with a knife, it still has to be better than nothing." She said quietly.
She knocked the blade on the edge of a table and the blade broke into three pieces.
"Maybe I should get it back in its old shape if I can." She said and took the three pieces of the broken blade.
She held them close and used her ability on them. The three pieces got stuck together and the rust started to go away from the blade. After a few seconds, all of the rust was gone. The blade was still dirty, but in good condition.
"Now it's more useful. I've never wished to use a weapon of any kind, but I hope this blade will be deep under somebody's skin tonight. For the protection of my own." She said while looking at the cleaver.
She took a couple of practise swings with it and heard the sound it made when cutting the air.
"Feel welcome to try, violinists." She said with conviction.
She went to search another room and once again saw no signs of recent life there. She did however find a note on a desk that got her attention. She picked it up and read it quietly.
"I don't deserve to be alive. It should have been me. It's me who they're after. A family of three was just slaughtered because of me. It was me who led these people to them. I thought that these people had given up on me and stopped pursuing me. I walked along the highway for three days without stopping to even sleep. I only stopped when this family of three convinced me to rest for a few days after they saw the state that I'm in. I shouldn't have listened. I should have kept running. These monsters have killed too many innocent people specifically because of me. But there is no way I can get rid of them myself. Best I can do is keep running further west until I come to the shore and maybe find a boat. They won't be able to know where I went if I do that. If you're reading this, leave this area. If they're not here already, they'll probably soon be, and they'll be looking for me. If you hear violins, hide." The note said.
"Was this written by the same person who wrote the note in the bike storage? How many of these notes did that guy leave behind? Either way, the note must be talking about the same gang. That one also mentioned the violins and that they hurt innocents. And I already saw that they're willing to shoot a defenseless little boy in the dark of night. We'll do what this writer has yet to do. Nobody else will be hurt by these people anymore." 32A said.
60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZkjKY4fwFx
She spent the rest of the daylight hours searching other nearby houses and found no signs of life. Once it was dark, she looked through a window to look into the other houses. In the house on the opposite side she saw Saku staring down the barrel of his revolver, seemingly bored. A stroke of a violin then came from outside, from Saku's direction. 32A heard it, and so did Saku, who instantly straightened up. Saku ran down the stairs and exited the house that he was in, and 32A did the same. They met outside where Ilkka then also joined them.
"We all heard it. It came from there!" Ilkka said and pointed to where the sound came from.
Before anyone could take a step into any direction, the sound of the violin continued from that direction, now playing a melody.
"Let's not waste any time, let's go!" Saku said loudly.
They all started to run towards the sound, but then the music stopped. Then music started paying from a different direction, the direction where 32A came from. They all noticed that the music was coming from up high.
"There's many of them." Ilkka pointed out.
The music that came from the direction of 32A's building went quiet, and the music coming from Saku's building started again. It also came from up high.
"What do we do? Do we split up?" 32A asked.
"No. No way. That's when they'll get us." Ilkka answered.
"How did they get so close without us noticing?" Saku wondered.
Before anyone could answer, music started coming from yet another direction, but this was on ground level. Then the music started playing from the two other directions again, and three violins were playing a melody in harmony. Saku pointed his gun to where the ground level music was coming from. The music was coming closer, but nobody saw anyone. Saku started running towards the sound.
"Saku! Don't go there!" Ilkka shouted.
A loud bang was heard from one of the roofs and Saku fell on the ground.
"Saku!" Ilkka just shouted and was ready to run towards his friend on the ground until he and 32A heard a gun being loaded behind them.
"Stop right where you are." A voice said from behind.
Ilkka did as told. 32A didn't even get a chance to try to make a move because of how the gunshot spooked her. 32A and Ilkka didn't even turn around, and after a few seconds of listening to the music get closer to them, they saw appear from behind a corner a man sitting on a kicksled and playing a violin while being pushed forward by a masked man that 32A recognized from the bike storage.
"I'm sorry that you got dragged into this. We didn't come here for you. We came here for him." The man sitting on the kicksled said and pointed at Saku's dead body on the ground.
32A looked around and above her and saw a sharpshooter on two of the roofs around them.
"Who the Hell are you?" Ilkka asked.
"You mean who are we anymore?"
"What?"
"You of course don't understand what we are doing and why. Let's just say that we just got one more off our list." The ominous seated man explained.
"It was Saku who you were after?" Ilkka asked.
"Oh, you know him by his first name? Did you consider him a brother?" The man asked.
Ilkka didn't answer at all, and neither did 32A.
"So that's how it is." The sitting man commented.
"I recognize that skinny maiden there." The pusher of the kicksled pointed out.
"Oh do you now? Is she who ran you off the last time?" The sitting man asked.
"The very same." The pusher answered.
"What do you want from us? If you only wanted Saku, you got what you wanted!" 32A shouted at them.
"He wasn't the only one who we wanted. The other one is still on the run somewhere here. We still have to find him. But we don't leave witnesses behind. Sorry." The sitting man said back.
"What did you even want Saku for?" Ilkka asked.
"Oh, you want to know? You want to know why we do what we do? Well, let me tell you why! He was a coward who left me to die! I was in the same unit with him. We were as close as brothers. All of us in that unit were! But when it was time to fight, he didn't want to fight along with his brothers. He wanted to surrender because he was scared of the larger numbers of the enemy. The rest of us wanted to fight to our last breath because we knew that we could win. But this man here didn't have as much faith. He insisted that we surrender. And we trusted him. He told us that the enemy would spare us. They didn't. Those rebel bastards didn't show any mercy. We were on our knees with out hands up and they just gunned us down. Every one of us. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately for me, I survived. I can no longer feel anything below my belt, but I survived. I passed out from the pain, and when I woke up, I saw my brothers laying there dead. Checking on them was the first thing I did, but I didn't find this man anywhere. I figured that he must have survived too, but ran away. He didn't even check on me, or any of us. He just ran away as soon as he got up. I swore that I'd get this coward myself and make sure that he stays down this time. I crawled out of there and retreated to the New Tower's remaining territory where I met these men. They had also been let down by cowards and traitors. We agreed to help each other until we have all gotten what we wanted and put the cowards and traitors down. We made a list and we asked around to find out where each of the people on our list had gone. It wasn't easy. Took us this long to get this coward here and there's still a few more names on our list." The sitting man explained.
"So you think Saku left you because he didn't care about you?" 32A asked.
"If he did care, he would have at least checked on us and found out that I was still alive!"
"He told me himself how much he regretted what he did that day. Even after all this time, he still remembered how it went down. It was one of the first things he told me. He told me that forgetting about you would be a great insult, and he will always remember his brothers, and yes, he did call you brothers. Look at his jacket and look at the names on it." 32A said.
The pusher took the jacket from Saku's dead body and handed it to the sitting man who looked at the names on it. He recognized his own name in there and let out a sound of rage. He pulled a gun from his pocket and shot Saku's dead body five times.
"Throw the coward in the river! Let that be his final resting site." The sitting man said.
The pusher let go of the kicksled and grabbed Saku's body by the hands and dragged it away, disappearing behind a corner.
"So is this what you've dedicated your life to? What does this accomplish?" 32A asked.
"You shut your mouth, whore!" The sitting man shouted at 32A and tried to shoot her, but the clip was empty.
32A tried to bolt, but the man behind her grabbed her and prevented her from moving. She struggled but realised that she can't go anywhere, so she calmed down.
"You don't know what it's like! I know that killing the cowards and traitors won't bring my brothers back, but it will give me peace of mind. I have to do this or I'll live with the pain of my loss for all my life." The sitting man explained.
"I do know what it's like. My hero and first friend was taken from me, and for ten years I wanted nothing more than to find her. For the past ten years I remembered what the man who took her looked like and I hated him for all of that time. When I found the man who took her from me, I wanted to kill him. So I got someone to do it for me. It didn't help me at all. The fact that he's dead now doesn't make me feel any better. I've tried to move on and forget, but I can't. Getting revenge didn't accomplish anything. Even if you get every name on your list, you'll still be as miserable as you are now." 32A argued.
"Don't provoke him." Ilkka said.
"No, the bitch has a point." The sitting man said and started thinking.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWXfeWGDOS
Everybody was tense and quiet for a moment and wondered what he would say next.
"No matter how many names I cross off this list, I still feel the same as I did when we started this. I've gotten no satisfaction from any of the kills that were important to me." The sitting man said.
"Me neither, brother." The man holding 32A added.
"What on earth are we even still doing?" The sitting man wondered out loud.
"Getting second thoughts?" The man holding 32A asked.
"Get over here, brother. Let the bitch go." The sitting man commanded.
The man did as told and let go of 32A and put his weapon away. He walked to the kicksled and faced the sitting man.
"Give me your weapon." The sitting man said.
"Of course, brother." The other man said and did as told.
"How do you feel about all of this?" The sitting man asked calmly while looking at the gun in his hand.
"I don't know, brother."
"I didn't know either. I do know now."
"You want to say more about it?"
"No. I don't think it's necessary." The sitting man answered, and then shot his brother in the throat with his own gun.
Blood flew from the shot man's mouth to the sitting man's face. His eyes were wide open when he took two steps back and then fell on his back and stopped moving.
"Hmph. Still nothing." The sitting man said, and then put the barrel of the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
32A and Ilkka were not moving, as they were still aware of the two riflemen on the roofs. The man whose job was to push the kicksled returned from his body dumping trip and saw what had happened.
"What the Hell did you do?" He asked angrily.
"We didn't do anything. He did it himself." Ilkka replied calmly.
Then the two men on the roofs threw down their rifles to the ground.
"He's telling the truth. We saw it happen!" One of the men on the roofs shouted down.
"Then it's over." The sled pusher said.
"Over?" 32A asked curiously.
"We made a pact. If one of us decides to quit, we all quit."
"So you'll end your sick manhunt?" 32A asked.
"Yeah." The sled pusher just replied calmly, took his weapon and put it on the ground, and then took his violin from his back and put it down as well.
Two more violins fell from the roofs, and the men on the rooftops got off the roofs. The two riflemen came out of the houses unarmed and regrouped with the third one, and then they all disappeared behind a corner as quickly as they appeared.
"Are you all right?" Ilkka asked 32A.
"I'm fine." 32A answered calmly.
"You think they're actually done?"
"Even if they're not, we can be prepared. They left their weapons for us."
"Would be a good idea to take them. We should still always remain ready." Ilkka said.
They both walked to the bodies and the pile of weapons and violins and tried to avoid looking at the bodies.
"Do you think people can change for the better if other people are good to them?" 32A asked.
"Of course they can, but they often don't." Ilkka answered.
"Is it bad that on some level I felt bad for the man who was just holding me hostage? Being betrayed like that by someone he called brother."
"These were both evil people simply for being on this quest of theirs."
"I know. I found this note. Somebody who these people were after had witnessed all the terrible things that these people did. But even so, I could bring both of these men back to life if I wanted to."
"Don't. We have our own people to take care of. We don't need killers around."
"I was thinking the same. That's why I asked if you think people can change."
"Thoughtfulness is a good thing, but not all people deserve it." Ilkka said and picked up one of the rifles and put in on his back with the sling that was on it.
He also took the handgun from the ground and put it under his belt. 32A also took one of the rifles and put it on her back. She then looked at the violins.
"Our people, especially the young ones will never be able to hear the sound of a violin and think of anything other than these people." She commented.
"The violins might still be valuable trade items. We should take them." Ilkka added.
32A then realised something once she had gotten over the situation.
"I might still be able to save Saku!" She said when she realised.
She started jogging to where she remembered the body was dragged to. The trail of Saku's blood was clearly visible on the snow, and she followed it. Ilkka followed her a few paces behind. The trail led to a bridge that crosses the river of Lapuanjoki and the trail ended at the bridge.
"It ends here. Don't tell me they..." 32A said in exhaustion once she got to the bridge.
She looked down from the bridge at the frozen river. There was a hole in the ice that was seemingly created by a strong impact.
"I might be able to get him up." 32A said.
"Don't even think about it." Ilkka said once he caught up.
"Why not?"
"The water under the ice is still flowing. He's gone with the flow now. You'd freeze to death or drown before you'd find him."
"I see. So. He's gone now then." 32A said.
"There was nothing we could have done to prevent this. They were after him and they were not going to stop until they got him."
"Maybe. He seemed to be a good person, even if he had thoughts that I disagreed with and felt a bit intimidating."
"He was. It's a shame, but at least something was gained from this trip."
"Yeah. We can at least tell everyone that they don't have to worry about the killers anymore." 32A said and took her hands off the railing of the bridge.
60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlRoXR3uNsM
They walked back to the tent and kept looking behind them, still not confident that the outside is safe. They got to the tent without issues and the light coming from the tent was a welcome sight. They stepped through the flap that leads in. 32A had a disappointed look on her face.
"Where's Saku?" Tarmo shouted from the back.
"They got him!" Ilkka shouted back and many people in the tent gasped.
"But it wasn't for nothing. Those people won't bother us anymore." Ilkka said and showed the new weapons and violins he had.
A collective sigh of relief was heard.60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwe1orjgsYy
32A looked around and in the corner of her eye she saw that Urho was reading a piece of paper. Next to Urho was 32A's bottle opened and uncorked. 32A instantly got upset and ran to him.
"You! Put that thing back in the bottle! Who gave you permission to touch it?" She almost shouted at him as she walked up to him.
She took the note from his hand and made sure not to look at the text as she rolled it up and put it in the bottle.
"Sorry!" Urho said, sounding scared.
32A didn't say anything. She just held the bottle close to her heart. She then glared at Urho angrily.
"Don't touch it again. It's a very personal thing for me." She said seriously.
"Okay, I won't. Sorry." Urho said sincerely.
32A was quiet for a moment while hugging the bottle.
"It's fine. You didn't know." She said with her eys closed, still hugging the bottle.
"So... Did they get Saku?" Urho asked.
"Yes... They did." 32A answered, thinking for a second if she should tell the cold truth.
"What happened?"
"The evil people ambushed us. They shot Saku, just like they shot you, but I couldn't save him. I failed." 32A said and now just held the bottle in her right hand.
"You failed?"
"I can't save everyone. That may be disappointing to hear but it's the truth."
"I understand."
"But you won't have to worry about those evil people anymore. They put their weapons down and we have those weapons now. They left without anything in their hands. At first there was five of these people. By the time they left, only three remained. You don't have to be scared anymore. But we must still always be ready."
"I wasn't scared." Urho insisted.
"Were you not?" 32A asked, seeing through the facade.
"Okay, I was. I was scared the entire time you weren't here. When I saw you come back, I was no longer scared, until you got angry."
"Oh. I'm sorry if I scared you. It's just that... This thing is very important to me, and I won't even allow myself to read it. I'm not angry. But just don't touch this thing again."
"I won't. Sorry again."
"It's fine. Now I have something to talk with Ilkka, so I'll see you later." 32A said and playfully scratched Urho's hair with her fingernails before turning around.
She met with Ilkka by the water barrels where Ilkka was washing the new gun.
"You saw how badly I did out there. I still need to learn to fight." 32A said.
"I know. I'm going to the roof after I'm done with this. You can follow me there."
"I'll just go ahead." 32A said.
She put her bottle down on the ground in a spot where nobody sleeps, and then stepped out of the tent.
60Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSmudi9VCg
At Ilkka's usual roof, 32A sat down on the top and watched the glowing tent.
"There's nothing I could have done. He ran face first into trouble. All of us were confused. I still feel so guilty about it." 32A said while feeling her new cleaver in her hands.
"Ilkka said that the boys were scared of him, and I know that Suvi didn't like him. Still, nobody deserves a sudden end like that." She continued
She then heard the sound of the panel opening behind her and didn't even check who it was. Ilkka sat down on his usual spot. He took his trumpet and started playing music with it while looking into the dark sky. 32A listened to the music and thought of all the people who are no longer in her life. While looking at the little light down at the ground, she thought of the situation that she's in.
"After everything that happened these past two days. I feel responsibility for these people. Suvi trusts me. Tarmo trusts me. Ilkka probably trusts me. Valo and Arvo seem to like me. Urho adores me. And even Saku trusted me. I belong here." She thought to herself in her mind.
Once Ilkka stopped playing the music and put his instrument down, he had something to mention.
"This morning I talked with the traders, as I speak their language somewhat passably. I also heard you speaking with them. Something interesting is happening over there in their land." Ilkka said.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
