Snippet #2427219

The mayor's eyes opened as Keeflo adjusted the bandages on his shoulder. Keeflo hoped that Loy-Qui was in a state of shock so he couldn't feel the pain. The mayor coughed.

"...Someone saved me," He said, smiling wearily. "And it's a beast-man of all things..." The man coughed again, this time raining blood on his robes. Did the force of the explosion crack a rib? "The boy was wrong. They are not bandits," The Yutan man continued. "They blew up the tower because of what's... inside... but they cannot get it." He rose his hand to his collar and carefully pulled out an old, brass key. With another cough his hand drifted down, still clutching the object, until it met Keeflo's. "...They cannot get it..." He repeated, releasing the key for the beast-man to take. Keeflo closed his hand around the key, gripping it tightly.

"...I've lived in this village for the last sixty years... my entire life, and I've never left it." Loy-Qui whispered as he leaned his head back again to stare up at the stars. "Now I know I'll die in it too..."

Feeling slightly dizzy from his own blood loss, Keeflo felt at a loss of what to do. The key was definitely something of great importance, but the orca beast-man didn't know what to do with it. Should he hide it somewhere? Should he use it to take whatever it was that the key helped protect to a safer place?

The storyteller from earlier had downed a tengu nearby and the tengu confessed they were after a chest of sorts. If it was a chest, perhaps the tengus would be able to take it to their home and devise their own key for it. This thing was obviously important to the mayor, important enough that he would trust the key to it to a complete stranger.

Like the ocean, life was comprised of many currents. Swim in one current and it could bring you to a school of fish, swim in another and it could bring you to a bunch of sharks. Before you jumped in a current you often didn't know where it was going to take you. Keeflo had to choose which current he was going to swim in.

Some people came out of the village and headed for a hiding place in the woods. "Over here, over here! Your mayor needs help!" Keeflo called to them.

The two men, three women, and child came over. "Do any of you know where to find a doctor? He's in pretty bad condition."

"I just saw Fensho at his house gathering his medicines and tools," one of the women said.

"I'm going to get him. Stay here and help the beast-man," said a man.

Relieved that a doctor was on the way, Keeflo closed his eyes as a wave of dizziness washed over him. "Let me see that back of yours, beast-man. It looks like you need a bandage, too," said the women who saw the doctor. She managed to wrap a strip of cloth around his wound.

"I have to go to the city again. I'll trust the mayor to you," Keeflo said and began to walk back into the fray.

It was harder to walk into Poyo than out of it. He had to push against the crowds. But eventually he reached the center where the volunteers from earlier were grouped. One even jumped down already. "The mayor entrusted me with a key to open whatever's down there," Keeflo said softly so only the group could hear him. "I think we should bring it to safety."