Shimokawa

Just feeling her touching his hands made him smile a little - she really was a pretty little thing. Very soft hands. Cute. The more he thought about it, the better it made him feel about getting her out of camp - even after he'd been near killed for it.

"Ah, don't worry about it," he huffs, trying to smile a little broader for her. He would go quiet, letting the doctors continue to mend him. It would only be after the finished up and left them that he'd speak again.

"I ain't worth fretting over - once I can move again, I'll split. Can't stay here; all it'll take is someone here to know I'm with my brothers and they'll either throw me back to 'em, kill me or jail me. And I'm NOT going to the river prison."

The man let out a sound that was a cross of a scoff and a chuckle at her remark, trying to adjust where he lay a little bit now that he was half mummified. Talk about stiff.

"I dunno... maybe Quying. Can't be that hard to find some grunt work somewhere and keep my head down for a while. Can't say I like it, but it's better than being dead."

He went quiet a bit, eventually letting his eyes settle on the girl. She really was something. He was still trying to figure it out. "... what're you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home?"

As the trio neared the village, of course in the company of the Hizashi warriors, Wuppo looked down at what at one time might have been a bustling center of commerce. As a general rule, Wuppo would avoid human villages. In the ogre's experience, humans were almost never hospitable, and would much sooner unsheathe a sword or nock an arrow than ask the ogre his name. But, this was Wuppo's 'normal'. He'd rarely ever experienced anything else, so going into the village with Kojuro was not as daunting of a task as one might have thought it would be for him.

Wuppo nodded. "Otta make plan, an' den you'z point Wuppo at dem bandits! Otta get bucket, an' Wuppo put what left of bandits in bucket for him to carry back to him house."

As they got nearer to the town of Shimokawa, Kojuro turned to the messenger with a new task. "Sanzaemon, ride on ahead to the town, and warn the abbot of the temple we will be impinging upon his hospitality. I want the town magistrate, the woman who was captured, and any other reliable witnesses brought to the temple to meet me there. Tell the magistrate that he will need to get his people to make ready enough rice for thirty men and food for twenty horses. The Hizashi clan will reimburse him later for any resources he uses on our behalf."

While Sanzaemon went off ahead to relay these plans, Kojuro halted and wheeled his horse around to address Wuppo and Rena. If he could read Wuppo correctly, he wasn't exactly looking forward to heading into a human town, and perhaps Rena wasn't either. Past reactions to Wuppo hadn't exactly been favourable, and while the people around Kiyonai city and the mountains knew that doing any harm to Wuppo was forbidden, Shimokawa was a different matter altogether. "Wuppo, Rena, I think it would be best if you did not come into the town. I'll have most of the men make camp outside, and you can stay with them. Keeping your presence as low key as possible might give us an advantage against the bandits, and it would save the townsfolk getting worked up. Its up for both of you to decide though." He smiled at Wuppo, "You'll get plenty of chance to put bandits in a bucket, I assure you, my friend."

Kojuro proceeded onto the town, taking only five of the men with him. The rest would be ordered to find some secluded place to make camp where the bandits wouldn't be easily alerted to their presence. There was no point in giving them unnecessary warning. They headed through the town towards the main temple. They would make it their base in the town should they need to stay any length of time.

When Kojuro and his men would enter the town it would become even more clear to them how much the bandits had left the town in ruins. Cart full of good had been destroyed and the stains of crushed fruits and vegetables were still apparent on the cobble stones. Some houses showed marks of fire and others had been partly destroyed. broken wood was piled on high in one of the corners of an open clearing, showing that the villagers had already tried to clear the mess that had been made.

Even before they were close to the temple, Izumi was already waiting. She had rushed herself there after she had been summoned. When Kojuro's name had been mentioned her father had made sure she would not make him wait. It was a great opportunity for their family, her father had said. Maybe something good would come from this bandit attack after all, he had said. She sight. Her hair had been done up in a very elegant bun with a white lily on one side, the sigil of their family. She was dressed in a simple light blue kimono with a white obi. Overal she had been made to dress very lightly colored, so she would appear elegant and pure to the very important Kojuro. She was unsure what her father was planning this time.

The Magistrate would soon make his way to the temple as well. Two of his caretakers were with him, supporting the old men that needed a stick to support his weight at all times. He would make his way up the steps slowly, needing a rest after every few steps. He was very old and had led the village well in all the way of his service. Everyone had thought he would have retired years ago, but the stubborn kind man seemed to wish to do his job until the day he would die. When he finally reached the top of the stairs she would bow her head deep towards him. "I am glad you could make it, Magistrate." she would say with deep respect.

When Kojuro got close enough to them to be greeted, she would bow even deeper to him. The Magistrates caretakers would do the same and even the Magistrate himself gave as a deep a bow as his old bones would allow him. "It is a great honor to be visited by someone of your stature, Kojuro-sama." the old man would say would a slight crack in his voice as he spoke. "I am, however, sad that it only happened when our village had been reduced to such a dire state."

Izumi would follow them inside, staying far in the back as was her place. She followed the direction and took her place in the back of the room, sitting in seiza until she would be spoken to.

The magistrate would sit down on a stool as his bones were too brittle to sit on the tatami floor no longer. Even then he needed help to even sit down and grunted slowly as his bottom hit the stool. Once she was settled his caregivers would also stay back and let the two of them talk.

"Yes, yes, the attack. As it happened we were taken by surprise by the attack. We had heard reports of some happening, but all of those were far away from our peaceful establishment. They entered through the front gates, destroyed most of the market stalls that were out there. Took food and other supplies. Then they decided that it wasn't enough and set fire to a few houses, raped the woman and even some children. It was unfortunate." she paused a moment, smacking his lips together as his mouth had become incredible dry from talking and coughed once to clear out his lungs. "The count of the death was set to 5, of which one was only a small child. There are 11 heavily injured and about 42 with minor injuries. The damage to the properties I would say is sustainable and easily repaired, but still, add up to a sufficient amount of money.The raid itself seemed to have last about 15-20 minutes." he paused again. Izumi wondered what the old men was thinking about. He had to at some point admid to why the attack happened, and why the village was so badly defended.

"I am very sad to say that the attack did not get repelled by our guards. You see, my Lord, all our veteran guards and able young warriors were summoned by your uncle to go to war. I am not blaming him and understand his decision completely, but we were left with undisciplined young boys to do the duty of protecting our city. There have been reports that some of those boys had been spotted among the bandits that raided our town. I wish I could deny their claims, but it seems that all those boys have vanished from the town right before the attacks started. I am afraid they got baited into greed and joined up with them. Our city was left without any protection. Any man who was willing to defend their family has died for it and it took to long for us to mobilize the military. By the time word reached us, the attack had already been finished."

She sighed. This must be hard for the old men. He had always protected his village and she had never heard of such big damage or deaths coming to anyone here. And because of the decision of others he had now been brought into this situation.

When it came for her to talk she would stand up and bow once again, she would take a few steps forward to it would be easier for Kojuro to see her face and so she didn't have to talk quite as hard. She also wanted to make sure the Magistrate would be able to hear her words.
"Of course, my Lord. I was at that very same market to gather some supplies for my family. I like to sometimes go down to that part of the town to speak with the less fortunate among us. Their way of living warms my heart. The raid came unexpected for anyone and their horses were fast. There was no time to react. I don't remember much of how it happened, but at one point a little girl was being chased by one of the men. I.." she paused, realizing it wasn't very ladylike what she was to admit she had done. "I threw an orange at one of them, hoping to distract him. It worked, but their attention became focused on me. They decided I would be worth a good ransom and took me along. I believe this to be the only reason that I was the only one taken. Because I looked the part of the daughter of someone wealthy."

"They took me their camp, but I am afraid I can't lead you there. I was in a cart unable to see anything. All I know is that the road seemed to be rough, not a general road one would take. And if I had to estimate the time it took us to get there I would say about 20 minutes. The size of the group seemed to be around a total of 50-60 if I had to make a guess. All of them were armed and most were wearing face masks, so I am afraid it would be hard for me to describe them. I was only there for a few hours and nothing was done to me during that time." She swallowed, the next part would be the hardest. She would need to talk about how she escaped, but she didn't want anyone to find out that Souma was actually in the hospital of this town right now.

"One of the bandits took mercy on me. He made an excuse to let me use the bathroom behind a tree. He told me that he never became a bandit to hurt anyone and that he wouldn't sit tight waiting for them to do unspeakable things to me. He just wanted to eat, that was all. He cut me loose and told me to run, so that is what I did. I followed a river that he told me to follow and somehow I ended up back in the village. I don't know what happened to him after that." The river was probably the biggest clue in the story, a way that might lead them to find them. Izumi hoped it was enough to distract them of Souma. Either that, or that the lordling would take mercy on him for saving her despite the risks for himself.

"I hope that gives you enough information, my Lord." she stood up, bowed again and would walk back to her place in the back of the room.

Souma would, indeed, be brought in as requested - though likely with some much needed help. He looked like he'd received quite a brutal attack, bandaged in a number of places and limping off one knee that was swollen. But he would arrive and offer a low dip of his head to the lord that had shown up in this place - keeping his eyes down.

Deep down? This was bad and he was nervous - if they figured out that he was of the bandits that raided the village, he wasn't likely to receive any leniency despite his good deed to see the girl released.

Souma didn't really want to look the man in the eye, and would keep his head down after he was granted a low seat. At least it took the strain off his knee, and once again he dipped his head low in a proper respect for the man - hoping that it would be sufficient enough reason to avoid looking to him. The only time he cared for dealing with people of authority.

"I was traveling. You know, I just... go where the wind takes me. It took me through the forest, but I didn't get through unscathed. I ended up getting attacked by a group of vagabonds that were waiting in the trees. I fought back - I didn't have anything to lose save my sword, but I wasn't about to let these guys just take what I had or the clothes on my back or my horse.

"I remember managing to haul myself back into the saddle when I got a chance and just rode, but... I don't know how long I rode, or what direction. I was in alot of pain, and could hardly move. I know I fell out of the saddle at one point, but I barely remember hitting the ground. The next thing I knew, I was in this village and a very nice girl was looking over me."

Oh, jeez - where to and from?

"Ahh, I just came through the, uh, the fort on the edge of Kiyonai. I was just wandering off the beaten path - going wherever, like I said. I didn't see a camp - there were just a number of them that popped up out of the trees. I know I was near the river; it was a sound I kept near. It's hard to get lost when you can find a river, and they usually run to a village in the end.

"I'm not sure I could find my way back to where they ambushed me - I was scrambling hard after fighting just to get away before they killed me, and it's just... lots of trees. There were, uh... 6. Maybe 7 of them. I know most of 'em had daggers and knives. A couple of them had swords, one pike - I'm sure he probably took it off a soldier somewhere. Hell, who knows how many of their weapons were stolen?"