Emeral In Shadow

Slums, Farms, Pain. [#2]

Outside the walls of the city were humble hamlets and families of farms, and poorly built slums full of the poor and diseased.
The King used to station guards to farms in exchange for a discount on food and send contractors out to give the peasants a job building the slums, but in the end neither programs made enough money back and were shut down. Bandits began raiding farms, and quality of life plummeted in the Slums.
Many of the peasants protested against the king, but we're simply denied access to the greater city and ignored, leaving them to fester in anger outside.
Madelief was born a baby of the slums, abandoned by her mother on the doorstep of the Joblin's farm a dreary old place inhabited by two dreary old people Joe and Martha Joblin.
She lived working for her adopted parents, but she didn't mind it either; She knew many kids born in the slums would be forced to enter the same occupation that birthed them;
She knew this help that Joe and Martha often reminded her, and emphasized how lucky she was for it. Madelief agreed, but really hates working all day... Which is why she snuck away during the heat of the day, when her parents gave her a break so she would pass from the sun.
Madelief wearily dropped the scythe she had been swinging all morning beside a shoddy wooden shed on the edge of the wheat field. She located Joe, who dozed under a sackcloth umbrella.
"Pa! I'm heading out for my break, the sun's at its peak!" She called out to Joe, who just barely opened his eyes and leaned forward,
"Alrighty Maddy, just be getting back once you feel it cool off." He paused before continuing, "And remember to stay away from them dirty shack towns!" He added before leaning back down into his seat and letting his eyes close back.
Naturally, Madelief headed straight through the woods that sat at the back of their property straight to the Slums, eyes beaming with excitement. She leaped over rocks and fallen trees with renewed energy, thinking of what awaited her in the Slums; a friend; A breath of fresh air from her monotonous life.
She emerged from the forest after ten minutes or so of sprinting, and scanned over the Slums. Each house was incomplete in different ways, some had roofs but makeshift twig and mud walls, some were practically brick ruins with tarpaulin strung across the top.
As Madelief walked through the Slums, she suddenly felt self-conscious about her clothes, overalls, a dirt-stained wool shirt and a straw hat with a wide brim and a red ribbon. She didn't know if her friend would be dressing up at all, and whether she should have washed up beforehand.
She walked up to a slightly more put together building near the edge of the slums and knocked on the door. The door opened and there he stood, Marijn G. Null, a lithe light blonde haired boy with hazel eyes, and Madelief's one friend. He wore a pair of black worker's pants and a cheaply produced 'synthetic' T-shirt. He smiled brightly and stepped out beside Madelief.
"Hi, Madelief. I can tell you've been working, you look as sore as a stubbed toe!" Marijn said, looking her up and down.
"Yep... What're we doing today?" Madelief asked him, wringing her hands together nervously. She was worried that suddenly it'd get cooler and she'd have to go home.
"Hmm..." Marijn looked up, and then around him, "Maybe the forest? I like going on walks there sometimes." He added.
A smile just tugged at the edges of her lips, which was quite a big expression since usually she had no need to smile. "Sounds fun!"
Marijn let Madelief take the lead, leisurely walking back through the Slums and into the forest she originally had come from.
As they walked, Marijn pointed out different plants to Madelief. They stopped at a few plants with large bunches of tiny white flowers, "Hemlock," Marijn said.
Madelief put out her finger to brush it over the flowers, but Marijn interjected, his face serious,
"Don't touch, or breathe too close to it. Every bit of it is poisonous." He said,
"Sorry, I didn't know it was so dangerous!" Madelief said, "They grow all over in the muckier parts of the farm." She stared down at the plant.
"S'okay. Let's move on." Marijn said, smiling and stepping behind Madelief to let her take the lead again.
Marijn continued to show her different plants as they walked under the shade of the trees, some edible mushrooms and herbs, and many different poisonous plants.
It surprised Madelief that so many plants could easily kill her, cause her so much pain. Belladonna, she thought, had such beautiful purple petals and berries, but could make you seize and see colors with only a small bite.
"And here's a little scuttlebug!" Marijn crouched down and pointed at a small glistening shape moving around in the leaf filter, it moved lazily, as if it was just strolling through the woods like the two of them. Madelief watched it with Marijn for a moment, before the scuttlebug suddenly decided to make an unsteady sprint.
"What happened?" Madelief turned to ask Marijn,
"Not sure, usually they only do that if they sense danger..." He stood up straight, "Hey, do you hear that?" He cocked his ear to the sky.
Madelief strained her ears for a sound,
"Yeah... Like a bee's buzz, but kinda... different?" The sound slowly grew louder into a noise like a high-pitched buzzing and a low-pitched horn played together.
"Sounds like it's coming from..." Marijn listened for another moment, "It sounds like it's coming from the direction of your farm- We should probably check it out." Marijn turned towards the sound and picked up speed, leaving Madelief to follow.
Madelief didn't know if she wanted to hope for a real emergency or not, because if she showed up with someone from the Slums, especially a boy, she would probably be scolded for hours and told by her parents to spend her breaks inside the house instead of out with Marijn.
But perhaps they'd be okay with it if Marijn helped out with whatever was going on.
They emerged out of the woods, to be met with a frightening sight;
A band of a dozen or so shirtless men, wearing cow's skulls and holding crudely made swords and torches high. Bandits.
And they came to take everything they could, burn the rest, and kidnap anyone potentially valuable.
Neither Madelief nor Marijn had actually ever seen Bandits before, only heard stories of their biggest exploits; raiding the large Highfield farm and stealing four daughters and five sons. It was said the skeletons of the sons were found with the flesh devoured off them and the daughters...
Madelief shivered in fear, failing to take in full breaths and turned to Marijn,
"What do we do?" She asked, "We can't just let them take it all!" She couldn't hold herself on her feet, she felt dizzy.
"Calm down, Madelief. We'll figure something out..." Marijn said, suddenly his eyes seemed more intimidating, and his smile melted into a tight straight line.
Madelief lost her balance, and fell into Marijn, who sat down hard.
She knew she was stronger than this, she could power through... She has worked these fields all her life, she should go down protecting them!
But something about Marijn made let her melt into weakness, and trust that he'd sort it out somehow...
Until she saw the wheat field catch fire, something about seeing it made her so mad, she could practically feel it seeping out of and into the air and ground.
Madelief found renewed strength and stood up. "This ain't your fight," She started, as Marijn got up, who just put a finger up to her lips, "I'll fight by your side, that's what friends are for, no?" He said.

The Bandits had only one goal attacking the Joblsland Farm; Loot, Kill, Destroy.
This was their mantra, their motto, their reason for living. They saw youth as only another thing to steal. They split up after reaching the middle of the farm, three going to each field to burn crops and kill livestock, and the rest up to the house to raid it.
Three bandits, one we'll call Scarchest, one Denthead, and one Firespitter. Firespitter tipped a bottle of petrol into his mouth, and then spat it over a torch onto the dry wheat, lighting it quickly. Scarchest went on one side to scout for steal-ables, and Denthead the other.
Firespitter watched the fire burn, black and yellow teeth showing in a smile.
Madelief marched down the side of the wheat field, Marijn following very close behind.
Denthead turned the corner of the field, and saw the two youth. He chuckled and ran forward towards them, reaching out with large gnarled hands.
Madelief realized she didn't have a plan, and for a moment the fear returned, threatening to make her lose balance again.
But she stood strong and waited to make a stand against Denthead, hoping he didn't look as strong as he looked.
Denthead thought they looked pretty easy to grab, and tasty. But suddenly he felt his legs give out under him, and he fell on his face.
Madelief barely noticed Marijn dash forward and launch onto his arms, a shiny knife appeared in his hand, slashing out at the underside of Denthead's knees.
Denthead fell down, and Marijn finished the job with a stern kick to the temples, knocking him out for a good while, if the wound on his leg didn't make him bleed out.
"Where'd you learn that?!" Madelief asked in a quiet but serious tone,
"Sometimes life gets hard in the Slums, you know?" He chuckled nervously a little, and moved forward, brushing off any more questions.
At the end of the field, Madelief snuck forward to the work shed to grab her scythe, while Marijn dealt with Firespitter.
Firespitter watched his glorious creation spread over the field. Soon he joined it, losing the strength in his legs after a sharp pain and being kicked forward into the flames.
It seemed to be going well, two down without even so much as a scratch.
Madelief and Marijn regrouped at the other edge of the field, but soon another bandit sent to scout and burn the other field, we'll call him Hairball, blew a horn that made just the buzzing noise. And within moments most of the bandits had surrounded them, swords all point inward at them, forming a sharp metal circle that tightened as they approached.
Madelief and Marijn stood back to back, knife and scythe. "I'll see ya up above, Marijn." Madelief said, to which Marijn had no reply.
Madelief lifted up her scythe, to give a good fight. When another horn sounded, distracting the bandits.
Madelief looked over to the horn...
The king's guard had come to help, a whole squad of loaded up horses, a miracle that shouldn't have been possible. Madelief felt the fear come back, making her lose her balance again, and sitting unsteadily on the ground. She sighed in relief.
Her farm was saved!

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Madelief concept art,
Made by me with DALL•E by Open.AI