Bandits- A Markjin FF

Part 31

Mark

   "My fellow bandits. My brothers and sisters who have been shamed, shushed, and shunned." Jb's voice carried its way around the crowd, which had become half its size, as Jinyoung and I searched for a place to sit and listen. The sky was now an autumn red, dawn arriving,"Yesterday villagers snuck into our camp, and destroyed it. They burned everything we had, everything we worked hard to build." His hands created gestures full of anger as Jb slowly increased the volume of his words,"In the beginning they had cast us away from the village, and we accepted that did we not? Did we not?" He demanded after silence had followed his question. A small mutter of 'yes' came from the bandits in response,"After months, sometimes years of pain, we accepted the fact we were not part of the kingdom or village anymore. We accepted the fact that they started a war!"

   Suddenly the muttering had become louder, turning into individual screams of the hatred that filled these broken people. Reaching out blindly I place my hand on top of Jinyoung's. He turned his over to grasp mine tightly. Jb began to pace,"So what did we do to prepare for war? We made weapons, we hunted for food, we learned how to survive!"

"That's right!"

"We showed them they couldn't kill us!"

Jb's eyes shown with the light of the torches and the hate fueling the bandits shouts. He excitedly pointed at the boy who had yelled out,"Exactly! We made our own society, our own kingdom!" A short, sharp, laugh escaped his lips,"We created soldiers, hunters, warriors, bandits. And when we were strong enough, what did we do?" His lips turned into a sinister smile as the crowd shouted back at him,"Rages!" Everyone in the crowd had become static looking up at their leader. Having someone to turn to and lean on in this time of need. That's what Jb was, as he stood tall with a torch in hand, pointed towards the sky,"We made rages! We took everything they took from us. Food, clothes, weapons, everything. But then they started fighting." His voice dropped to a whisper, the bandits going silent,"Yes, they fought. We can't have that can we? So what did we do? We fought back! With no mercy!"

"We killed them!"

  "No mercy for those who shun what was their own!"

"That shut 'em up!"

   Jb's smile fell, and everyone stood still in anticipation,"We fought for a long time. A war that couldn't finish itself. Our forces were equal because our numbers weren't the same. There weren't enough of us that had been shunned." The hand gripping his torch fell to his side, the torch falling to the ground. Jb's feet crushed it to pieces, the ash flying up around him and into the sky,"We were losing, we can't have that can we?" He stepped forward, moving close to the bandits as he stared them down,"We needed more bandits. Reproducing took time, it was out of the question. So to fix our problem, to give us more numbers, we would just have to subtract theirs. We took their children!" The yell left no room for cheers or screams, it was cold, the cold truth. Not sugar coated, and not good.

  "We took all of them, all of them we could find. But it wasn't enough, no, they needed to be trained and taught to become one of us. So us bandits took it upon ourself to sign a treaty, to pause our little war for the time being. But, bandits never play fair." A taunt had made its way into Jb's tone as he locked eyes with everyone he could. When he reached mine I narrowed them, and he looked away,"It wasn't a treaty, it was stalling. We told the king we would stop taking the children if we could still go on rages. We would not harm the people if we could attempt to take their stuff. Bandits don't attempt-" Snickers and chuckles passed through the crowd,"-we take. Though the king didn't need to know that. We told him they could kill us, if they caught us. And what did he do bandits?" Jb leaned in, ear to the crowd as they cried out in sync.