Us Against Them (William)

[Harbor]

Beryl locked herself in a cupboard when the fighting started. She waited as long as possible before hiding—she hated hiding—and gathered as many things to eat as she could find, letting herself into shops and evacuated houses as if they belonged to her. But then she found a house right on the edge between the ones on the edge of the city which had all been left, and those closer to the inside which were more protected. She didn’t think houses with people still inside them would particularly welcome a ragamuffin like her into their home. But if they found her footprints in their high cupboard later she didn’t care.



But her hearing got the better of her. Beryl frequently heard things which aroused her attention enough to completely derail her intentions. She heard a child crying an hour after the sounds of fighting had entered the city and then reached her house, several hours since she’d locked herself into the cabinet, and cursing herself she crawled out, peeked onto the street, and threw herself between the flailing knees and legs and swords that were out there.



There was a young woman, wrapped in rags, fetched up against a building not far from the house Beryl had taken refuge inside. Beryl hurried, dodging, over to the woman and heaved her over, finding beneath her the source of the crying she’d heard. A tiny boy, not nine months old yet, lay wrapped in equally thin cloth in her cooling arms. Beryl sighed, wound the boy into her own arms, and hurried her way back into the house she’d claimed.



And there she climbed up over the counter, and the sink, and back into her cupboard. She brought an ages-old knife with her, just in case, and prayed they weren’t found by the invading soldiers looking for food to steal. This was her city—she could steal whatever from it she wanted. They had no right.



But then she heard them banging on the door. She’d braced it shut with a host of chairs, but they were adults and they were men, and she knew they’d force their ways eventually. Men always did, didn’t they?

[Nandon]

William stood in the middle of the troops pounding on the door, They had to get off this street, This killing zone. In the house perhaps they could fortify it somewhat...There where around fifteen of them including himself...That would be enough to hold this small house right? Maybe...

William sighed as he braced his shoulder again against the door, And with the combined might of the two soldiers on each side they finally broke the door down and stormed in, Swords at the ready.

William glanced around before ordering the men upstairs to clear it while he surveyed the bottom floor.

[Harbor]

Beryl curled her legs and toes in even tighter to herself as she heard them breaking their way in. She'd been living all right before the war started getting snarly outside the city walls. Couldn't they just have left them alone? She knew they didn't like the king but the king had never done anything to her, or at least not personally. And what right did the king's bad behavior give them to break into houses like this? Never mind the fact that she had done it; this was her city, she had the right. Besides she'd needed to. They were adults, they could find their own houses. She only ever go the scraps.

The infant she'd salvaged out of the chaos whimpered, and she tried to hug him closer without squashing them both. She could tolerate a little squashing but he didn't understand and he'd fuss for it. Tightening her fingers around the generations-old knife in her right hand, she held it up and out of the baby's way, high so she could slash it down in an instant if someone touched her cupboard door.

It sounded like there were a lot of them. She heard their heavy boots stomping up to the second floor and tried to shift so the baby could sit more comfortably against her chest, but the cupboard was low and she thumped her head on the next one up, and the baby suddenly started to cry.

Beryl cursed. She knew a lot of good ones, too, from living among the least cultured of people. She pressed a firm hand over his small open mouth but he continued crying through her fingers and she couldn't well stop his crying when all this hiding and noise was what had started it in the first place. Knowing they'd find them for certain now she tightened her grip on the knife and scowled outward.

[Nandon]

William had his back turned to the cupboard as he surveyed the home they had appropriated for their use. He nodded slightly in a satisfactory way before reaching to his waterskin at his hip and taking a drink. He sighed slightly as his parched throat was mended somewhat then replaced the skin.

He whirled around quickly at the sound of the thump and his hand instantly went to the sword at his side, He then heard a babies cry and the hand went away, It was just a harmless babe. What possible threat could it bring? However it did sound like it needed help.

Heavy boots tramped around upstairs as the men continued to search while william stepped over to the Cupboard the crying came from, He placed a hand on the handle and slowly moved to open it.

[Harbor]

Beryl heard him coming closer, heard the thuds of his heavy soldier boots, which tended to deliver such effective kicks when they felt the need to, and felt her insides darkening. She wanted to hurt these invaders for coming into what home she'd managed to pick and scrape out of the city she'd been born into, but knew that her ability to harm people was greatly hampered by her diminutive side. Few other eight-year-olds could fit in a cupboard like this, and certainly not sharing it with a squirmy infant.

She saw the crack of the cupboard opening. Well, might as well use as much surprise as possible--it was one of her favorite advantages, and one she rarely found out of her reach. She stuck a foot out and slammed it into the door to kick it open, slashing back and forth with the old knife in an effort to cut off anything she could.

[Nandon]

William blinked and staggered back as the door slammed into his unprotected face, This however most likely saved him from a more severe wound as the dagger slashed through the space he had occupied only nanoseconds before, He continued to back pedal as the child with the knife appeared and slashed at him.

Boots above suddenly made for the stairs as they heard the commotion down below.

[Harbor]

Beryl slashed the knife down and across a few more times, warding him away even as he backed up a step. She'd gotten him in the face with the cabinet door; good. As he was reeling away from that Beryl clambered down from the cabinet--she'd been rustled, it was no longer safe--and ran along the countertop toward the stairs. If the men up there hadn't heard anything yet she'd be able to slip past them and away. The man down here was between her and the splintered door.

But the baby was screaming now and the men came thundering down. Beryl's feet skidded out from under her as she caught herself between sprinting into them, and bolted back toward the sink area. The window above the sink was rotted in the frame. She might be able to shove it out. Beryl scrambled onto the counter, the infant clutched to her chest.

[Nandon]

William recovered himself to chase after the girl as she sprinted towards the sink, He would not allow her to escape and warn the soldiers that they where here...That is if they didnt already know.

Two soldiers appeared at the bottom of the stairs and seemed dumbfounded to see William chasing after a child who was holding a knife and a younger child.

He would catch up to her with his longer strides and try to grab her by the arm holding the knife, So that way she couldn't stab him.

[Harbor]

Beryl was one foot in the sink and about to throw her weight against the old window when his hand closed around her forearm. He put her off balance and she slipped, starting to shriek in the hopes he'd let her go if she did, and stumbled until she was one knee in the sink instead of one foot. She kicked until she was at least sitting in the basin, thrashing at him, twisting her arm every way she could think of. She was getting slow. Or maybe it was just because she was carrying the baby.

"You let go-a me or I swear by all the rats on all the docks I'ma chop every one of your bloody fingers off and shove them up your bunghole one by one I'ma kick your face out the back of your head an you'll be lookin into the past I did it so hard."

She kept up the stream of threats and abuse as long as he had his dirty hand wrapped around her arm. If he laid even a wayward eye on the boy she'd decided was hers she'd pop her fingers through both his eyes.

[Nandon]

William continued to hold on with grim determination, Weathering the storm of abuses before finally he put a finger to his mouth, A silent gesture to be quiet, Hoping to have at the very least caught her off guard enough to stop her speach for the moment he spoke quickly.

"Would you like some food?" William asked simply to her. His calm green eyes staring at her.

[Harbor]

Beryl froze. What made him think that one gesture was gonna make her do? But by then she'd realized she'd already done it, and sank into a sullen glower. But she kept her feet straight out at him to discourage him from coming any closer.

"Do I look like someone who can afford to turn down food?" she griped at last, suspicious. "Where'd you steal it from?" Why carry your own food if you could just take it from the people you were overrunning anyway?

Beryl's eyes flicked sideways at the men who had come bumbling down the stairs. They stared right back at her. She hated them all.

[Nandon]

William smirked slightly as he drew away, Reaching for a good sized pouch at his belt. He beckoned the girl over and walked over to a chair, Then opened the pouch to reveal half a loaf of bread and some cheese. He set that down on the chair, Then walked over to the men. Speaking to them softly for a moment they would quickly move to cover any and all openings in the house.

"I carry my own food because I do not want to steal...If you are taking over a city you dont want to anger the inhabitants or else you have a riot on your hands...And at this point? The war just needs to be over...Are you thirsty?" William asked in a off handed manor after he answered her question.

[Harbor]

"If you don't want to anger anybody you far too late for that," she growled. "You and your men come in and start killing people like they're all just dead branches in your way and you're trying to build a road. We wasn't doing anything to you before you locked us all in here and started breaking things. Most of us're just trying to scudge a living and you--" There he went talking again. Thirsty? She glared at him.

But she'd been in the cabinet cramped and hot for hours. Yes she was thirsty. "Not for whatever you're drinking." Probably wine or some other spirits.

But he set the food aside and moved away from it. Since he'd let her keep the knife Beryl scuttled out of the damned sink and across the counter, half-hiding behind it as she snatched at the bread and whacked both it and the cheese in half. The boy she held to her thin chest whimpered, so she rolled up some of the soft bits of the bread, chewed them to a paste, then poked them between his lips and hoped he wouldn't choke. She didn't have anything else to give him.

While the knight was over mumbling with her friend Beryl tucked the bread and cheese into her arm with the baby and quick-stepped toward the door, reaching for the knob.

[Nandon]

"Good then you can have some water." William said and then turned. "You cannot leave." He said in a matter o fact tone. "There is a war going on out there, If you go out there. Armed as you are...You will die." William spoke. "But, if you stay here, You will be treated well, Protected. And fed...Ill let you make your choice...But think about that baby in your arms...If you die, Who will protect him or her?" William then walked over to the counter and leaned against it. Waiting for her to make her choice.

[Harbor]

Beryl wished she could spit rocks at him, she was so frustrated with her predicament. "I'm not sure I want the company of men who are hiding in an abandoned house instead of helping their fellows." She hitched the babe up closer to her. "Besides no one's looking to hurt children. They're not fighting us."

The men who had come down from upstairs had left again. She wasn't sure she was pleased about that or not. On one hand she felt less as though it was multiple men against her, but then again she couldn't see them to keep track of them either. Regardless, the strange knight had a valid point, so she side-stepped away from the door and the chairs she'd barricaded it with, sinking into a corner of the room where she could keep an eye on him and keep any more soldiers from sneaking up on her.

[Nandon]

"We have wounded, And we need a short respite before we can return to the fight." William explained, He remained in his location. But his eyes followed her.

He reached to his hip and withdrew a waterskin he then held it out to her. But made no move to take it to her. "Its water...It may taste a bit leathery because it has been in the bag for awhile now...But it is still water...Come, Drink." William said simply.

"What is your name child? I am William Shay."

[Harbor]

Well that was an acceptable reason to stop in the house for a while, she supposed. However she was still determined to loathe him and all the rest of them. They were the invaders. They were the mean ones. She wasn't going to admit that he might be right. Nor was she going to stand up again when she'd already found herself a nice little spot to wedge into. She could find or steal her own water if she had to. "You keep your water," she muttered. The babe she held against her fussed, so she peeled off a bit more bread for him to suck on. She didn't have anything better she could give him, nor did she know a safe place she could get it. This house might have it if she searched, but that meant getting up and coming closer to the knight, which she absolutely did not want to do.

"Beryl," she answered, sour and still uncomfortable and still overall unhappy. "I don't know this one's name; I'll have to make one up. I found him under a dead woman outside a couple hours ago."

It sounded quieter outside, like the fighting had mostly moved on. Beryl shifted, peeking over the edge of a cracked window pane, and wished she could better see the street.

[Nandon]

William sighed and pushed himself off the counter and placed the waterskin on the chair where he had earlier set the bread, He then returned to the counter and tilted his head, He noticed too the sound of the fighting moving on.

"Where is your family?"

[Harbor]

"Don't have any anymore," she said blandly, as close to polite as anything she had said thus far. She eased onto her knees, blinking out toward the street as best she could from there. "Born poor and stayed poor, people looked after me and kept dying on me. Eventually I took care of myself." She stood. The street looked clear enough. Beryl adjusted the infant on her hip, crept to the door, and eased it open a slice, peering out. She thought she could make it to another empty house without being seen if she went fast. She opened the door and started out.

[Nandon]

William suddenly pushed himself off of the counter to pull her away from the door.

"I cannot allow you to leave, If you where to run to a group of empire soldiers and tell them we where here, That would spell our death. No. You will stay here." William said once again in his matter o fact tone