Pieces, Part 22 - Hope

We decided to leave immediately, to go somewhere else, and I went with Avani to prepare the horses. We got as far as the stable before I felt a sudden presence behind us and I shifted to the side to see a fist flying through the space my head had been occupying a fraction of a second earlier.

Everything felt like slow motion. I turned, my hand jabbing upwards as the man behind me, colliding with the warm flesh just below his diaphragm. The man let out a pained groan, doubling over as all the air was punched out of his lungs. Avani was turning around as well, surprised by the sudden sound, the door to the stables open just a crack. I reached over, grabbing a hold of his sleeve and pulling him towards me, and he toppled, colliding with my chest. The hand that had emerged from the stable grasped at nothing and the second man stepped out.

"How good of you to joins us again!" I said, as the second man took a fighting stance. "I do hope you're planning on being more cooperative this time around. I am in no mood for games right now."

"A-akash," said Avani quietly, looking between the two thugs on our opposite sides. He was still pressed against me, my arm wrapped around his shoulders in a protective manner.

"Can it, piper," spat out the man I hadn't yet punched. "We're here for you and the girl, so if you come with us nice and easy, maybe we'll let the ginger and your little boyfriend there go unharmed."

"Actually he's my brother, but thanks for confirming you know absolutely nothing about me," I said, flashing him a sarcastic smile. "And you're saying that like you could, in fact, do us some kind of harm. It's funny, I do recall our last meeting implying something else."

"Well this time it ain't only your own hide that needs protecting," the man sneered, his mouth curled up in a sickening grin.

"Akash," said Avani, a little louder this time, his hand gripping my upper arm. I glanced down at him and then followed his line of sight to my other side. He pushed me, suddenly and quite violently, and I staggered backwards a few steps, managing to find my footing before falling down. The first thug had regained his breath and composure, and was throwing punches in the general direction of Avani. None of them were hitting. He was dodging every last strike.

It was almost like a dance, I thought as I watched him, mesmerized. He was swaying, spinning, sidestepping, making it look effortless. Had I looked like this, back in front of the bell tower? It was hard to imagine myself looking as graceful as Avani was at that moment.

An incoming kick pulled me back to the present and I braced myself against it, blocking it with my arms. The second thug let out a small laugh and prepared another kick, which I easily dodged now that I saw it coming. I spun behind him, to get back closer to Avani, to help him, just to see him grab a hold of the arm the thug had tried to punch him with, and sling him over his shoulder. His back hit the ground with a loud "thump" and an "oof". Avani dusted off his hands and looked up to see me staring at him, mouth open. I tried to say something but found no words, as I dodged the punch aimed at the back of my head, tripping the man up as he flew past me with the momentum of his attack. He fell face first into the ground, next to his friend.

"What?" said Avani, an amused smile creeping up on his face as I continued to stare. "You didn't think I could fight too? Who do you think had to always come save your ass when you badmouthed guys twice your size?"

"I..." I said. A grin spread on my face. My brother was so awesome. "That explains the feeling."

"Hm?" said Avani as he hopped over the thugs sprawled on the ground and joined my by my side. "Feeling?"

"I mean, I don't still exactly remember anything about our childhood, about me or you, but I have this feeling," I explained, trying to find the right words to explain it. "That with you everything will be fine, and good in the end. That I'm safe. I guess that's where it comes from."

Avani gave a small laugh and ruffled my hair. It was a bit weird since he was at least five centimeters shorter than me.

The thugs on the ground groaned and shuffled to get back on their feet. I rolled my eyes and scoffed.

"Still hadn't had enough?" I asked. "This would all be so much easier if you stopped trying to hit us and told us what we want to know!"

Instead of answering they lunged forward with a shout. My lips curled into a smile, inside me spreading that satisfying feeling you get when you know you're about to beat someone you've been wanting to beat for a long time. Figuratively or physically.

Two versus two, our fight was basically a brawl. A very one-sided brawl, but still. Avani and I worked amazingly together, dodging attacks, watching each other's backs, blocking hits that would've landed on the other. We were coordinated, in sync, and we were kicking so much ass.

After only a few minutes the two men were back on the ground, groaning again.

"Get some rope," I said, looking disdainfully at the two pathetic, huge men at my feet. A few second later a coil of rope flew towards me and I caught it. Binding the men was fast and easy, them being as out of commission as they were. "Okay then," I said cheerily as I shoved them into a sitting position. "How about you now tell us whatever we need to know?"

The thug that had seem more authoritative glared up at me but then his eyes flickered to something behind me. I turned to look behind me and saw three figures approaching from the direction of the house.

My heart stopped for a second when I saw Rosa and Meera walking over with the third, smaller man. I had been so preoccupied with our own fight I hadn't considered at all where the third man was, and if he'd managed to capture the girls our advantages had dropped to zero.

That line of thinking flew out the proverbial window however, as I noticed that the girls weren't the hostages of the man; the man was the hostage of the girls'.

"Well look at you, catching a fish of your own," I called out. Rosa gave me a thumbs up. "What happened inside?"

"The guy tried to apprehend a witch and a girl with telekinetic powers on his own," said Rosa with a grin. "I'll let you imagine the rest."

As they got to our side she shoved the man and he fell face first into the frozen ground, next to his grunts. Judging my the howl he let out it wasn't a pleasant interaction.

"Great, let's start again," I turned to eye the three men, sufficiently motivated to just punch the men unconscious and leave them in the woods if they proved to be uninformative. We'd spent so much time running away from their bullshit I'd just about had it. "Information. Now."

Apparently my face left no room for objections as the two thugs turned to the smaller man, who swallowed, hard and audible. It was clear by now that the small guy was the boss. I turned my complete attention to him. He squirmed.

"Why are you after me? After us? Who sent you?" asked Meera, stepping forward. Nitya padded behind her and growled at the men. The fox hadn't been far from Meera's side ever since the two were reunited at Custos's place.

The boss looked hesitant for a moment, like he was weighing the consequences of telling to those of not telling. One look at my face and he turned white as a sheet.

"We, we're from the Other Side," he said, quickly. "They sent us to get you back. B-because you left. No one is supposed to leave."

"Who's 'they'?" I asked, annoyed by the man playing the pronoun game.

"The... the Leaders," he said, unsure. "The one's who decide everything, I don't... I don't really..." He frowned as he looked away. "I don't know who they are, I just know what they want me to do."

"And what they want you to do is bring back everyone that leaves?" asked Rosa. "Why?"

"No one is supposed to leave," the man repeated. "And if they do, which they often don't, we're sent here to take them back. They don't often get very far, what with the amnesia and the forest between the river and everything else."

"So everyone who leaves forgets?" I asked. Finally, some new, useful info.

"It's a safety mechanism, a strong magic placed on the river," said the man, stammering. "Everyone who crosses the river loses their memory."

"Do you lose it when you go to the other side, or only when you come to this side?" asked Avani.

"Both," said the man. Avani deflated next to me. I don't know if that information helped him with the guilt he was feeling for being the reason both Meera and I had been gone for three years.

"But that doesn't make sense," said Rosa, thoughtful. "You came from the other side, didn't you? You said it yourself. How have you still got your memory of what you're supposed to do?"

"Well of course we don't lose our memory," said one of the thugs, surprising everyone, most of all the small man. "Because we..."

"Shhhhhh," hissed the boss, and the thug fell quiet. I glared at the man.

"Now is really not the time to get stingy with your information," I said, voice ice cold and just as emotional. The man paled even further.

"We have a boat," said the thug when his boss stayed silent. "It's warded against the magic and when you use it to cross you keep all your memories."

"Well that's convenient," said Meera. "How do we know you're not lying about that?"

The thug shrugged. "I got no reason to lie anymore. I know when I'm defeated, and between the four of you we never had a chance. I really didn't like working there anyhow, so what do I care if you go over and dismantle the whole operation."

"There's some kind of operation?" asked Avani.

"I don't really know what exactly the deal is, because it's pretty secretive and I'm just a muscle grunt," the thug admitted. "All I know is it involves training pipers."

"Again with the pipers," I said. "What exactly are the pipers?" The thug shrugged again.

"I think they're magic, somehow," he said, and then leaned forward. "They can charm people with the playing, or so I've heard."

"That sounds... weird," said Meera, her face scrunching up.

"But not entirely far fetched," said Rosa. "As a person who has a larger than average knowledge about magic, I have to admit that using music for spells doesn't sound that unbelievable." She paused, rubbing a finger on her lips in thought, and then spoke up again. "I think we should go to the Other Side."

"What?" squeaked Meera.

"Why?" asked Avani. His eyes were full of emotion, pain, loss, fear.

"When?" said I. The other two turned to look at me.

"You want to go back?" asked Avani, his hand gripping my elbow. He clearly didn't want me to do that. "Why would you want to go there again? After... after all this time I finally have you back and you..." he trailed off, his eyes downcast. I lifted my hands on his shoulders, and then pressed them to the sides of his face, forcing him to look back up.

"That is exactly why," I told him, my eyes serious. "Because it took us three years to reunite, and I don't want that to happen to anyone ever again. They can't just... just take people, even if they cross the river. So we need to go over there, figure out what's really happening, and then put an end to it."

Avani looked me in the eyes for a long while before nodding, his face determined.

"Alright," he said. "But I'm coming with you."

I grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"So, where's this boat of yours?" asked Rosa, squatting in front of the thugs. The boss visibly flinched when she got close, which really made me wonder what happened inside.

They told us there were several points where one could cross the river. One was very near Corsilva. One was a little more west from where we were. We decided to go west. With the directions we got from the thug, and a third horse - Avani's - added to our party, we quickly started our journey west. Not before going into town to hand the thugs over to the nearest guard station for attempted assault and kidnapping. And arson, best not forget that.

The sun was beginning to set as we reached our destination, and so we decided to stay the night in the nearby village and leave for the river first thing in the morning. Going out in the dark and the middle of the night would be foolish, we didn't know the way on the other side, nor did we know when we could rest again. The river would be there tomorrow, and now that there were no kidnappers after us, the sense of urgency was gone. I did still want to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible, but it would be no good to burst headlong into unknown territory without being prepared.

We got two rooms from the small inn a little ways away from the town, one for the girls and one for Avani and me. We talked quite a bit that night, laying in our respective beds, about many things. I asked him things about our childhood (the best days of his life, so eventful, so fun), and our family (a mother and a father, both living happily in our old hometown). About the things we used to do together (everything). I asked him about what he'd been doing for the past three years (writing books, stories, and trying to forget).

He asked me what I could remember (I couldn't) and what I thought about myself. I had thought about myself a lot, and I told him as much, telling him what kind of person I thought I was. He laughed when I said I knew which fights you fought and which you fought by not fighting. I was always picking fights as I kid, he told me. He had a wistful smile on his lips when he talked about our past. I stared at him from across the room, and smiled as well.

Hours later, when I stared at the ceiling and listened to his soft breathing I thought about what would happen next. Tomorrow we'd dive into the unknown once more, and no one knew what we'd find from the Other Side. But still, as Avani shuffled and mumbled something on the bed next to mine, I couldn't help but feel hopeful.
________________________________________________________

gOD! Oh man. I don't even. I have gigantti in the morning I don't have time for this ending crap. I knew it would be so long, but somehow I managed to write it in ~1.5h.

Good night.

Pie out.

P.S. Your topic is idc "Divide".