~Chapter 3~
Several hyena riders charged through the country side. Among them was the Mecarne Temp, who rode on his hyena he named Kelvin. He had a purple tint to his metallic looking flesh.
The group sought to intimidate people into handing over their belongings... but people were becoming bolder. They weren't as scared of their crew anymore. Temp had a fairly meager take that day.
The group eyed some farmland as a potential target. As he rode a long he saw a red streak whizz through the sky. Temp stopped in place and looked to see what it could possibly be.
He looked and saw a red sparrow shooting through the air over the farmland. What was one of them doing here on the ground? Temp took a scope from his bag for a closer look.
He recognized the rider, it was one of those kids. The ones who fought Ekor and the other bandits before. When he looked to the ground near her she saw the rest of the kids building a barn together. With as strong as those kids were, Temp didn't dare trifle with them on his own.
Temp rode towards the cave Ekor's crew had been staying at. The other bandits in their crew came in, presenting their take for the day to Ekor.
The rotund man, Ekor sat back against the cave wall, sharpening his axe as the booty for the day was left in front of him. Everyone could tell he was agitated at how little it was. A hand shaped burn scar disgraced the side of his face.
"Cook and Chill won't be happy we haven't made our quota." Ekor grumbled to himself. There was anger in his voice, but also a twinge of fear. He knew what came with failure.
Temp leaned his slender frame against the cave wall next to Ekor, "Things have been getting more difficult for us lately."
"It's those kids!" Ekor shouted from his gut, "Ever since we ran into those kids, people haven't been treating us with the respect we deserve."
Temp rolled his eyes, he was seriously considering ditching this gang. Of course none of the others would ever leave, they were terrified. Not of Ekor but of Cook and Chill.
Everyone heard of how they treated traitors in the past. Cook has literally cooked people alive as punishment, and Chill would freeze them and break apart their body piece by piece. Terrible ways to die.
Of course Temp didn't have to worry about that. As an Mecarne he wasn't affected by the heat or cold. Those tactics wouldn't work on him.
"We can't keep being soft." Ekor announced to the gang, "We've got to show them why they should be scared. If we maim or kill a few people that'll send the message."
Temp raised his brows at the idea. Up until now Ekor generally tried to avoid actually hurting people. He would just scare them. As soon as people turned up hurt or dead, their bounty would go up quickly. The authorities would relentlessly pursue you then. Ekor was desperate to get back into Cook and Chill's good graces.
Temp didn't want to hurt anyone. Not seriously. Then he remembered the kids back at that farm.
"You know," Temp began, "I saw those kids who caused us all that trouble on the way here. If we put them in their place, things could turn around for us."
Ekor nodded exuberantly, "That's a good idea Temp! This is why you're my right hand man!"
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Cecil watched the reconstruction of the barn from their home, Wilvur had anticipated it'd take a few weeks or so to repair it, but at the rate the kids were going, it'd be finished in the next few days.
The sun fell and they called it quits for the day. They would continue in the morning. The children all retired to the guest house for the night.
But Cecil couldn't sleep. She had a feeling about Corri. A question she just had to ask, but was scared to. She stepped outside their home and went to the guest house. She paced out there for a few minutes before reluctantly knocking.
Ruben promptly opened the door, startling Cecil. The Densius gave her a rocky smile, "Hi there."
"Hi... Is Corri awake?"
Cecil heard footsteps and the young Corri came into view, "What's up?" She asked.
"May I talk to you about something?" Cecil asked, partially regretting it as soon as she had.
"Sure."
Corri followed Cecil into the house quietly. Wilvur, Joe and Meg were all asleep upstairs. Cecil lit a few candles so they weren't completely in the dark.
"What didja want to talk to me about?" Corri asked.
Cecil began, "Yes. I wanted to ask... Is your-"
Cecil stopped herself. She wasn't completely sure if she wanted to know. She exhaled and turned her attention to her family photos on display, "I want you to take a look at these."
Corri gave her a perplexed look, she probably thought it odd that Cecil would fetch her just to look at family photos. But she went along with it. The photos were all taken at different times, photos of this quality weren't cheap to have painted. It was usually only for special occasions. The two looked at the photos under candlelight.
There was a picture of the family, while Meg was still a baby. Cecil was sitting at the center of the frame with her daughter in her arms, with Wilvur and Joe at her sides. There was another picture of Joe and Cecil's wedding, Wilvur had more of his hair back then.
A third picture featured a younger Wilvur, Cecil when she was a kid, and another red-haired girl. She looked deadly serious, she hated posing for pictures.
"Who's that?" Corri asked.
"My older sister, Bonnie." Cecil said with some bitterness. She hoped Corri would recognize her.
"Where is she?" Corri asked.
"I'm not sure. Fifteen years ago she took off with some good for nothing guy and never came back." Cecil said.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Corri said.
Cecil shrugged as if to suggest she was over it. She gathered up the courage to ask, "What was your mother like Corri?"
"My mom? I don't know anything about her. My dad refuses to tell me anything at all." Corri said bitterly.
Cecil swallowed hard, "Your dad... his name is Razan. Isn't it?"
Corri turned to Cecil abruptly, "Yeah! How do you know-"
Corri paused and looked back to the photos of Bonnie very closely.
Corri and Bonnie's features were similar. It was more than just the red hair. Bonnie's face wasn't as round as Corri's but the resemblance was undeniable. Bonnie had a rounded nose just like Aero did. Cecil noticed the resemblance before, and now Corri recognized it as well.
Corri and Cecil looked to each other and said nothing. But they both knew. 367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdfLLlXNiFI
