"Rancid, wake up." A familiar voice whispers.
Someone slaps him in the face. Rancid tries to move, but he can't feel his arms or legs. He blinks at Farron, who is crouching in front of him.
"What are you doing here?" Rancid whispers, checking to see if any of the hunters are around. Is Maver, still awake? What if Farron gets caught?
"I'm going to break you out." Farron scoffs, "What's it look like?"
"What about the hunters?" He asks. "Don't worry about me, just leave before someone comes out."
"It's fine."
Rancid stiffens at Mavers' voice. So he is awake, then.
"Jack and the others are asleep. Since I'm already chained out here, I'm on guard duty." Maver snorts, "He's an asshole, but he's a smart asshole, unfortunately."
"You're not going to give us away?" Farron asks in disbelief, wide eyes glancing at Rancid.
"No. What Jack did wasn't right." He says, a dark edge to his voice. "You should go check on your brother."
Farron nods in agreement.
"How is he?" Rancid asks.
"He's alive." Farron sighs. "Your mother is pissed. She's blaming you-"
"Of course she is." Rancid cuts him off with a huff, "Everyone apparently is."
Maver awkwardly clears his throat.
"Shh." Farron says, his eyes straying to the chains. "Let's do this quickly."
"Use my sword." Maver gestures to the strap on his hip.
Farron shuffles over, his feet quiet in the gravel, and grabs the blade. "Damn, this is nice." He whispers. He gets into a stable stance and swings the heavy sword down on the chain.
Clang!
"Hurry, before they wake up!" Maver orders. "Jack is a light sleeper."
Clang!
Clang!
"It's not working!" Farron cries, "I'm not strong-"
The flap to the tent opens and Jack steps out, his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Another gutter rat, huh?" He chuckles as he rubs the sleep from his eyes.
Farron freezes, his eyes wide with fear, "I don't wanna lose my hands." He whispers.
Jack laughs, "Pathetic." He grabs the sword from Farron's hands, "Really Maver? You're helping them?"
"That's enough, Jack!" He replies, "They're just kids!"
"Kids who don't listen!" His leader shouts back. "We're demon hunters, for fucks sake! They think they can steal and defy me?!"
Jack raises the sword above Farron's head who trembles before him.
"No!" Rancid screams, "Leave hi-"
BOOM
The ground shakes beneath them, and a cloud of smoke rises in the air. Jack turns to look at it, forgetting all about the boys.
"What was that?" Maver gapes.
Screams of agony reach their ears as people run away from the area of crisis.
"Demons! We're under attack!"
"Demons?" Jack murmurs, his eyes wide with excitement. "Haha, it's just my lucky day, isn't it!"
Jari and Corey come out and when they see what's happening, Jari goes to wake the others while Corey grabs his axe.
"Unchain me!" Maver shouts. "Jack, we have to help!"
"Of course we do." Jack laughs, as the other hunters come out, strapped and ready for battle. "Thanks for the extra weapon, Mav." To the others he says, "Let's move out!"
"But what about-"
Jack cuts Jari off by shoving her forward, "I said move."
The priestess shoots a helpless look back at the three guys, but continues.
"I have to go to Folly," Farron says, brows furrowed in frustration.
"It's fine, go!" Rancid doesn't hesitate to tell him, "Take Palik and mom with you! Please!" He begs with wide eyes.
Farron bites his lip, hard enough to draw blood, "O-okay!" He gives a firm nod, and pushes to his feet. He doesn't look back as he runs in the direction of his home.
"You're very selfless." Maver says, staring in the direction the young man had disappeared.
"Why'd you do all that?" Rancid asks. "You've just signed your death warrant."
"Did I?" He chuckles. "I couldn't just stand by and do that to you or your brother."
"So what?" He scoffs, "Someone else did it anyway. You didn't help anyone, and even got yourself killed for it. What was the point?"
"I guess you're right."
There's a moment of doomed silence and then a crack.
Maver dislocates his thumbs and slips from the cuffs. He stands in front of Rancid and puts his didgets back into place. He pulls a pin from his pocket and sticks it in the key hole of the cuffs on Rancid's wrists.
Rancid can't help but wonder why he didn't do that sooner.
"Go find your group and get out of here." He says. "I think a demon horde is attacking your village."
"What about you?" Rancid stands and stretches his arms and wrists. The numbness quickly fades away.
"I've got to go get my sword back." Maver grins.
So cool.
"Right. Thanks I guess."
They split off into different directions, the hunter going after his leader, and Rancid towards his family's shed.
Screams echo from all sides as the village is burned and the people killed by demons, but Rancid ignores it all. He already failed his brother once, he will do everything in his power to not do it again.
He throws the door to the one room shed open, waking up his mother. She sits up, her face scrunched up in annoyance, her brown hair sweat slicked against her neck.
"What is your-"
"Demon horde is attacking!" He says, cutting her off. He scans the room and finds Palik laying on his bed mat. His skin is pale and sweaty, a thin blanket over the lower half of his body.
"What?" Her eyes widen. She jumps up, her legs shaking as she starts to rummage around the junk near the door.
Rancid moves to Palik's side, he still hasn't woken.
"Wake up," He checks his brother's pulse and is relieved to feel it. He picks Palik up and throws him over his shoulder.
"We don't have time for that, we have to go!" Rancid urges when he realizes his mother is packing away miscellaneous stuff.
"Shut up! I-I need this," She begins to mutter under her breath.
A scream comes from right outside.