The Slayer

Chapter 14 - ^^

'Love.'

She turned back.

'What?'

'Love' he said again.

She gave him a peculiar expression, confused at the word he had chosen to speak to her first.

'Go back to where you came from' she told the elemental. 'I have my own business.'

She took a step backwards, watching to see what he would do next, but this time he didn't move, and he didn't speak.

'Don't cause any more trouble' Sumaey told him as she turned and walked away, 'I won't be there next time to save you.'

She walked away, leaving him to his fate, leaving him to fend for himself again.

Once she had gone, the elemental spoke another word, a single word.

'Kindness...' he said.

*

*

Sumaey left the creature alone, making her way once more towards the strange town. She found the path again and continued on her way. It was only a few minutes walk from there until she reached the entrance to the town. There was a great sign above the road, welcoming all visitors to the town, and directly beside the long path built within an arm's reach from the water on a long wooden platform, was a railway line. It stretched out of the woods Sumaey had just come from, but leading from a different direction. From where Sumaey stood she could see a tunnel through the foot of the canyon where the tracks followed, to places unknown.

Sumaey considered it only briefly, before turning and looking ahead again.

There were a few strange characters around her, but it was mostly quiet at the entrance to the town. Within however, even from where she stood, Sumaey could see the crowds, jostling for space upon the wooden platforms, some sitting in boats upon the water for more space, some even upon the wicker rooftops of the smaller buildings.

Everyone was laughing and smiling, everyone seemed happy.

'Welcome to the attraction!' a young man on stilts declared to Sumaey, striding up to her. 'Please, laugh and eat and be happy!'

He leant a little too far back, waving his arms comically like a windmill, he toppled backwards towards the ground, only to be caught by several figures who happened to be in the right place at the right time.

'Thank you my friends!' the strange man declared. 'It seems I am in your debt!'

They pushed him back up, the man wobbling precariously as he was lifted into the air once more and back to his feet. Once he was standing again, the crowd cheered, waving at him, many holding tiny little flags brightly coloured high in the air.

'Welcome!' the stilted man said to Sumaey once more as if it was for the first time. 'Welcome to our home!'

As she watched, a second man appeared, falling from somewhere high up and unravelling himself from a great sheet of silk.

'We think you will like it there' the second man told Sumaey, hanging suspended in the air as he grasped the long cloth expertly with strong hands and feet. 'Our home is a wonderful place filled with joy and good food. Please, please experience it.'

Sumaey couldn't help but smile at the two, even laugh a little at their antics.

'What peculiar folk I find here' Sumaey said, first glancing at one man, and then the other.

'Peculiar' said the suspended man, 'but wonderful...'

'And kind...' added the stilted man, producing a bouquet of slightly squashed tulips from the inside of his red velvet jacket.