"Kai, why don't you accompany our visitors to breakfast? I doubt you've had breakfast when guiding Mr. Rowe to the abbey."
The idea of breakfast was rather tempting; Kai hadn't eaten yet and the very idea of the thought made his stomach gurgle quietly in anticipation. Still, he was rather irked by the fact that Phile wanted away with him, but complied with her request nevertheless. He had been to the abbey a few times before, and knew where the dining hall was. As he set of towards it, he ushered for the small redhead and her mentor to follow.
It wasn't long before they arrived at the dining hall. Smells of freshly cooked breakfast wafted from the kitchen and up Kai's nostrils; what did it matter if he gained no knowledge about Flynn and his origins when the alternative was breakfast? Kai sat himself down promptly and ravenously began to devour the food in front of him. The breakfast wasn't particularly lavish, it consisted of buttered toast, a couple of sausages and baked potatoes, but it tasted good enough and would sustain Kai for a while. Despite the speed of his eating, Kai wasn't eating at all messily. Lute playing and farming had made him good at making simple, repeated movements, which was odd, considering Kai's clumsiness in many other tasks.
It was hardly long before Kai had finished his entire plate and wiping breadcrumbs from the side of his mouth. He turned his head to the window and peered out. There wasn't anything special outside, but the position of the sun in the sky told Kai that the rest of his family had probably all got up and were wondering where he was. Perhaps he should pop back to tell them about the morning's hectic goings-on. He felt rather rude about not having spoken to the pair Phile had sent him off with, but his family were probably fretting about him, particularly Alice. Kai pushed his plate to one side and stood up.
"Sorry to leave you so soon," Kai began, "But my family have no idea about my whereabouts, and I ought to tell them."
With that, Kai hurried off at a brisk walk through the back of the abbey so he wouldn't disturb Phile and Flynn.
Kai decided to take a shortcut home. It involved walking through some woods on the edge of town through which there was no path, but Kai had memorised the route to his house. Twigs and dry leaves crackled beneath his feet as he trampled over them, interrupted by the occasional soft thud when there was nothing to crackle beneath his feet. However, when he came to a patch where there was nothing but soft earth beneath his feet, the crackling persisted, almost mimicking his footsteps. He stopped for a moment, and the crackling stopped as well. He could hear a quiet sound like a thin piece of wood creaking gently, just like a bow being drawn... Kai realised almost too late, and as he began to move to the side, an arrow sailed from the foliage before him and drove right through his left shoulder. Had he moved any later, the arrow would have pierced his trachea and killed him instantly. A loudly shouted obscenity escaped Kai's mouth before he wrenched the arrow from his shoulder. Fortunately, Kai had developed a rather high threshold for pain after multiple incidents such as being gored by a bull and kicked in the head by a stallion (which might well explain some other things). He charged towards where the arrow had come from and ran headlong into a man lurking behind a bush. Kai bowled the man right over, causing his bow to fly from his hand and his arrows to spill from his quiver. The man quickly tried to draw a dagger on Kai, but a swift and forceful kick to the head staggered him. A couple more had him unconscious. Kai knelt down to get a better look at the man who had attempted to assassinate him. Kai had no idea why anyone would want him dead; he was just an insignificant and inoffensive farmhand. The man was dressed like a soldier, but his armour wasn't that of the Akharian military. Instead, the Eagle of Gar was emblazoned into his breastplate. Was this man just seeking to kill for sport, or was something bigger taking place? What if more troops were to follow him? What if Gar had broken its oath and now sought to invade Akhar? If so, Ley was in grave danger. Kai used the soldier's dagger to stab him through both ankles so that he wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon, and began to hobble back to the abbey, trying not to sway too much and clutching his wounded shoulder.
Now that the adrenaline was fading, the pain in Kai's shoulder became much more intense. The arrow had not only managed to dislocate his shoulder but break it as well. As if that wasn't enough, the arrow had been barbed, meaning Kai had done even more damage to his blood vessels after wrenching it out, causing him to bleed an amount that you wouldn't expect to come from a shoulder.
By the time Kai had got back to the abbey he was beginning to lose his balance and felt rather light headed. This time he had come to the main entrance, since he now had every intention of disrupting Phile. Surely Flynn could wait a while, his shoulders were both as they should be and he wasn't bleeding at all. Kai once again opened the abbey's doors, only this time with far less gusto.
"Miss Mooooooortimeeeeer..." Kai croaked, trying to lighten the situation, although he doubted it would make anyone less concerned, as he had a large hole through his shoulder and his right hand and sleeve were bathed with blood.
As he stood there, a quiet clopping noise began to resound inside his head, slowly growing louder and louder. It wasn't the most threatening of sounds, but it was easily enough to disgruntle Kai.