Jane, Warrior of Decura Chapter 36

Consequences

One year ago, Locke stared up at the glittering stars through the window of his family's carriage. He'd been in Etin city's lower quarter all day looking for the perfect gift for his beloved Suzy. Despite spending hours searching through several market places, Locke had been unable to find anything he felt was worthy of her love. Locke glanced down at the light blue scarf folded over his lap and smiled. Suzy had presented it to him several days ago, apparently she spent days making it herself. “She really is something else” he thought after letting out a happy sigh. “I'll have to try finding the perfect gift for her again tomorrow.”

Once he was through the upper quarter's gates, Locke ordered his driver to hasten the journey home. He really wanted to see Suzy's beautiful blue eyes again. The second he arrived at his father's mansion, Locke put Suzy's scarf on and leaped from the carriage. He took a moment to take in the scenery of his home's small but beautiful front garden. Sure, the Mason residence wasn't the fanciest or the largest of homes, easily the smallest mansion in the upper quarter, but it did house the most important thing in Locke's life, family.

Suddenly, the mansion's front door slowly opened and an absolutely stunning woman stepped outside. “Locke!” she called out in glee as the wind played with her silky brown hair. “Welcome home!”

Locke immediately darted towards the woman at top speed. “Suzy!” he cried back with the biggest smile on his face as he wrapped his arms around his beloved and planted a gentle kiss on her lips. “Were you waiting by the door for me?”

Suzy let out a little giggle before giving Locke's nose a gentle poke with her finger. “Maybe” she said before returning Locke's kiss with one of her own. “Or maybe I just think you deserve a warm welcome every time you return home.”

Locke blushed a little as he rubbed the back of his head. “Thanks love” he muttered while averting his eyes shyly. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

“Like you don't know” Suzy giggled while remembering her life on the streets. A life filled with pain, loss and torment that only ended when a kind lesser noble offered her a roof to live under. “Come on, I've prepared your favorite meal for dinner. It's the least I can do for my savior.” As Suzy led an eager Locke inside, a lone man watched from across the street, subtly counting the small number of knights protecting the mansion with a smirk on his face.

Early next morning, before the sun had even began to peak over the horizon, Locke was awoken from his peaceful slumber by the sound of battle cries and weapons clashing. After quickly sitting up, Locke glanced over to see Suzy, still sleeping beside him.

Suddenly, a loud blood-curdled scream from deeper within the mansion caused Locke to leap out of his blankets and quickly lock his bedroom's door. It didn't stay locked for long though when someone suddenly started to hack their way through the wooden door with an axe.

Acting fast, Locke sprinted back to Suzy, who had just started to open her eyes as Locke reached her. “Suzy, wake up! We have to go!” he shouted while gently shaking his wife “Please Suzy!”

“Locke...?” Suzy muttered, unable to see clearly thanks to her tired eyes. “W-what's going on?”

Locke opened his mouth the answer her, but was cut off when he felt a strong hand grasp his shoulder tightly. Before Locke even had a chance to see who had grabbed him, he was yanked away from the bed. “Come 'ere you upper class scum!” a gruff voice growled.

Suzy, having snapped out of her drowsiness, called out to Locke as she reached for him. Locke tried to do the same, but something hard collided with the back of his head, instantly knocking him to the floor. A second later, he was dragged out of the room by his leg as two more men rushed past him to seize Suzy.

“Leave her alone!” Locke roared before glancing up at his attacker, spotting a burly man sneering down at him. “Why are you doing this?!?”

The man's sneer shifted into a smirk. “Because it's time you stuck up nobles learn your place” he growled. “Just like the Rooftop Runner, we're standing up to you rich pricks.” The man continued to roughly drag Locke along the floor until they reached the mansion's main foyer. Locke tried to break free from the man's grasp, but his poor strength did little against the intruder's huge muscles.

Completely at his attacker's mercy, Locke could do nothing as the strong man used a thick rope to tie him to a chair. “Please, just stop” Locke begged.

“Locke, what's going on?” a familiar female voice drew Locke's attention to his right and he instantly spotted his mother and father, both tied to chairs. “Who are these people?”

“Mother! Father!” Locke shouted, only to be immediately silenced when the burly man struck him in the face with a strong backhand.

“Shut your mouth!” the man snarled. “Or I'll shut it, permanently!”

“Please, let my son go” Locke's father pleaded. “Whatever this is about, I'm sure if we just talk we can work something out.”

The man let out a little chuckle. “Oh don't worry” he snickered as two of his companions dragged a motionless Suzy into the room, tying her to the chair directly across from Locke. “We'll work something out.” The man signaled to his four fellow thugs with a thumbs up. “Alright boys, take anything and everything that looks valuable and load it in the carriage.”

As the five brutes got to work tearing the Mason residence apart, Locke managed to shake off his daze. His eyes widened when he spotted a hopefully unconscious Suzy sitting across from him. “Suzy! Suzy!” he shouted as blood trickled from his mouth. “What the hell did you do to Suzy you bastards?!?”

The intruders ignored Locke's yelling as they continued to destroy everything around them in their search. “We should have done this months ago” one of them chuckled after finding a valuable looking vase.

“The Rooftop Runner's got the right idea” another man said before yanking a large painting off the wall. “We can make a fortune off of this stuff.”

“Maybe if we find him we can split the gains on his next raid” a third man said while scratching his chin. “Together we could probably become the riches people in Etin city.”

It only took the ruffians ten minutes to load their carriage with valuables. Locke's parents had been begging them to leave the entire time, but to no avail. Locke on the other hand had kept calling out to Suzy, asking if she was alright.

After doing one last sweep of the place, the apparent leader of the men returned to the foyer holding Locke's light blue scarf. “Just to show you rich pricks we aren't completely free of compassion...” he said before throwing the scarf at Locke's feet. When Locke tried to retrieve it with his feet, the man punched him in the stomach. “I suppose you can at least keep that. Not that it really matters anyway.” The leader called over his companions and pointed to Locke's parents. “You know what to do.”

Locke's father asked the intruders one more time to leave. The answer he got was a knife to the neck.

“No!” Locke's mother screamed before being stabbed in the same way.

Seeing his parent's quickly bleeding to death put Locke into shock, he wanted to scream but nothing came out of his mouth. “Why is this happening to us?” he thought as tears ran down his face. “What did we do to deserve this?” Locke suddenly snapped out of his shock when he spotted one of the men walk toward Suzy while readying a sword. “Wait! Please wait!” he begged while trying to shuffle forward. “Don't hurt her! Suzy! Suzy!”

Locke's pleading was suddenly cut off when the intruder's leader rammed a knife into Locke's stomach. “No witnesses” he snickered as his companion separated Suzy's head from her neck in a single swing. As blood erupted from Locke's mouth, the leader put his foot on Locke's shoulder and pushed him over onto his back. “This will show you nobles what happens to hoarders. The Rooftop Runner is only the beginning. We're the end.” After giving Locke's bleeding stomach a strong kick, he crouched down and prepared to ram his dagger into the wounded man's head.

However, one of his companions shouting drew the leader's attention toward the front of the mansion, and the fifty Gigan knights seizing his friends. “Damn it!” he growled before running out of Locke's sight.

With all the pain he was in, Locke could do nothing but lay on the floor bleeding. “S-S-Suzy...” he groaned, his blood-filled mouth not letting him say much else. “Suzy... Suzy...” Locke tried to turn toward his deceased wife, but unfortunately he couldn't overcome his pain and was only able to spot the light blue scarf Suzy had made for him mere seconds before blacking out.

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Back in the present, as flames began to erupt from the warehouse's roof, Locke unleashed a barrage of sword strikes at Austell. “Your fault!” he grunted through his teeth as a few of his attacks managed to break through Austell's defenses, leaving several small cuts on the Runner's arms. “It's all your fault!” A swift kick from Locke scored a direct hit on Austell's stomach, sending him reeling backwards and opened his guard. “You're mine” Locke thought as a deranged grin appeared on his face. “This is for my family!” Locke lunged forward and thrust both his blades toward Austell's exposed torso.

Suddenly, a large iron wall came crashing down in between both fighters, landing directly on Locke's weapons, shattering them and severely damaging the roof. “What?” Locke and Austell gasped together before quickly realizing it wasn't a wall in between path, but an enormous armored hand.

“Austell!” the eighty-foot Jane shouted as her other hand penetrated the thin cloud of smoke that had surrounded the warehouse. “Get on!”

Thanks to the intense heat and crumbling roof, Austell quickly got over the shock of seeing the silhouette of a gigantic woman looming over him and leaped onto Jane's palm.

“Nooooo!” Locke roared as he watched Austell and both of Jane's huge hands disappear through the smoke. As more and more patches of flame began to erupt from the warehouse, Locke turned to search for an escape route, a smirk appearing on his face when he noticed a small gap in the flames. Unfortunately, the second he took one step forward, the roof beneath him gave way and he plummeted into the burning building.

Austell and Jane watched the entire warehouse began to collapse into a pile of rubble and flames. “You ok?” Jane asked after gently lifting her palm up so she and Austell were eye level.

“I've been through worse” Austell replied before glancing back to the destroyed warehouse with sad eyes. “I'll live...” After remaining silent for a few moments, Austell's eyes suddenly widened and he spun back toward Jane's head. “Marie?!? Is she alright?”

Jane gave Austell a quick nod. “She is” she said as her body began to slowly shrink down. “Let's go see her.” Once she was small enough, Jane placed Austell on the ground before continuing to shrink until she stood at her default seven and a half feet.

Not two seconds after feeling his feet touch the ground, Austell was greeted by a teary-eyed Marie, who threw herself into the Runner's side so hard he almost toppled over. “Austell!” Marie cried out while burying her face into Austell's leg.

Austell gave Marie's head a gentle pat. “Hey kid” he said. “You're not hurt anywhere are you?”

“That's what I should be asking you” Marie growled after giving Austell's leg a good thump.

“Easy, easy” Austell joked while overplaying the effectiveness of Marie's punch. When Marie went back to hugging him, Austell glanced up at Jane's smiling face. “That was quite the handy trick. I guess the rumors about a giant appearing in the city the other day were true.”

A big grin appeared on Jane's face as she rubbed the back of her head. “Believe it or not, but I used to be a lot bigger” she said, surprising both Austell and Marie. “Now then, we'd better get back. I left the rest of the children with my friends and I bet they're all sitting around worrying about us.”

“Then we'd best not keep them waiting” Austell said after nodding.

“I'm afraid you're not going anyway, Rooftop Runner” a familiar voice declared.

Jane, Austell and Marie all turned to find Adam Gigan smirking at them while a grand total of seventy knights surrounded him, all with their swords ready. “It seems fortune favors me on this night Rooftop Runner” he chuckled. “We got here just in time. Knights, seize him.”

As Austell grit his teeth and pushed Marie behind him, Jane stepped in between him and Adam, causing the knights to stop. “Wait a second” she said before throwing her arms out. “Austell wasn't the one who tried to kill you. It was somebody impersonating him.”

Adam raised an eyebrow and signaled his knights to stand down. “Excuse me?” he growled. “There was a second Runner?”

Jane nodded. “He was the one behind the attempt on your life and the massacre the other week” she explained. “Austell had nothing to do with that, you have my word.”

“I see...” Adam mumbled to himself. “And where is the impostor?” A smile crept onto Adam's face as Jane glanced back to the burning pile of rubble. “So, he's dead then. That makes this a little easier.” Adam raised his hand again. “Knights, seize the Runner.”

“Wait, didn't you hear me?” Jane asked after throwing her arms out again.

“Of course I did” Adam said before pointing at Austell. “And I do believe you. But that doesn't excuse the last two years that man has robbed my home and the homes of the other nobles. He will face the consequences for his foolish crusade.” When Jane didn't move, Adam crossed his arms. “Oh? You're defending him now?”

“Can't you forgive Austell?” Jane begged. “He did help take down the man who tried to kill you.”

Adam narrowed his eyes. “So... You don't care about William anymore” he said, causing Jane to gasp. “You're going to throw his life away for someone you don't even know? Get out of the way or William faces the noose, tomorrow.”

Jane's eyes fell to the ground. “Will...” she muttered before glancing back to see Marie's frightened eyes. “I... I don't...”

Austell looked up at Jane's defeated face before glancing back to Marie. “Marie... I'm sorry but can I ask you something?” he whispered softly before crouching down and giving the child a hug. “Pretty please?”

“O-of course Austell” Marie assured in a concerned tone. “Ask me anything.”

Austell remained silent for a few moments as his gaze fell upon the still burning rubble.

“It's all your fault!” Locke's voice echoed in Austell's mind. “For my family... For my wife... I will end you!”

Austell released his hold on Marie and stood. “Marie, I need you to tell the others... I love you all and... And I'm sorry...”

Confused, Marie tilted her head. “Sorry about what?” she asked. Austell answered by removing his cloak and wrapping it around the little girl like a blanket. “Austell what are you...?”

After giving Marie one last smile, Austell turned and walked passed Jane. “I surrender” he declared while keeping his eyes fixed on Adam.

“Austell?!?” Jane gasped as Marie fell to her knees in shock and a glee-filled grin appeared on Adam's face. “What are you doing?”

“What's right” Austell replied before smiling up at Jane. “No one else is going to die because of me. Please, forget about me and go free your friend.”

“But-” was all Jane had time to say before Austell put his hand on the back of her shoulder.

“Just promise me one thing” he said. “Find the kids a good home. Please.” Austell's serious expression removed most of Jane's concern and she nodded back, causing Austell to let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I knew you were a kind person.” Austell removed his hand from Jane's shoulder and walked toward Adam. “Well what are you waiting for?” he asked the noble and his knights. “An invitation?”

“Cocky little...” Adam growled under his breath. “Take him away.” As several Gigan knights seized Austell, Adam turned his attention toward what was left of the burning warehouse. “The rest of you, put those fires out and search the rubble.”

As Austell was pulled away by four knights, he tried to glance back to Jane and Marie one last time, only to find his vision blocked by several more knights.

“You're amazing Austell!” a teary-eyed Marie roared at the top of her lungs, instantly restoring the Runner's smile. “You're my hero!”

When the knights taking Austell away disappeared around a corner, Jane crouched down and put her hand on Marie's shoulder. “You can let it all out” she said after noticing the little girl struggling to hold back her tears.

Marie instantly burst into tears and latched onto Jane. “I don't want him to go!” she wept, her tears running down Jane's top.

“I know” Jane whispered while gently returning Marie's hug with one of her own. “I know...”