The cart rolled out slowly through the streets and the people watching did not bat an eye. They all glared at the cart pulled by two horses with so much hate.
"Go away, you devils!" A man yelled.
"Tomoko, I pray you rot in hell you hell possessed mother killer!" Another man, an egg seller in front of his stall yelled.
He had in his hand a little bucket, half filled with eggs and then, he threw one at the cart.
"Egg throw!!!" A little boy beside him screamed excitedly as he went straight and took out an egg.
Instantly, he swung his little arm and the egg sailed through one of the girds of the cage like cart and landed on the head of one of the occupants.
Suddenly, a pair of little carouseled hands came up and gripped the girds, a young face lurking within as he stuck his mouth out and started spitting out the cart.
This response seemed to have agitated the crowd of onlookers as they all started reaching for anything within their reach.
Straws, mud, stones, more eggs? You can name them all.
Everyone directed their swings at the cart, throwing directly at it and each time one scored through, they would all cheer.
It had become a game to them clearly but their actions did not seem to help. Instead, more little hands and faces peered through the girds, hissing, spitting, cursing and making faces.
Suddenly, an egg landed on someone away from the cart and it was brought to a halt. Now, everyone became quiet except the already provoked children still daring them to make their moves.
It was the driver, an old man with a bald head. His name was Mojito. It was rumoured that he himself had been a delinquent who rose up to the ranks of what is known as 'THE ENFORCER.'
He was responsible for transporting these little nuisances to the camp of Kataguri where they were expected to be reformed. But everyone feared him.
It was hard to tell which features were more scary.
He wore a very long black robe with an even longer jacket. His head was bald and one of his eyes was covered with a whitish filt. It was rumoured he had been bitten by a snake-tailed monster there. His boots, though worn out, had spikes behind them and he wore black gloves. The man reeked of alcohol, sweat and blood and has never been seen without mud stains on his body.
Mojito jumped down from the cart, and from under his seat, he grabbed a club as he scanned the area.
He made his way back around the cart and instantly, the children ceased, looking at him like they were awaiting some sort of instruction.
At this point, Mojito was reading the crowd when suddenly, he wheeled around and struck out with his club against the grid.
"Ahhh!!!
It had caught one of the fingers and instantly, all the hands were pulled back inside and faces withdrawn.
"Yeahhhhhh!!! Away with the devils!" The crowd cheered again.
Mojito walked back to his seat, dropped the club under and climbed onto it and wheeled away like nothing had just happened.
He was whistling a tone as he did so while the crowd kept on cheering.
"Raji, let me see. Just let me see." The little boy said to his whimpering friend.
Raji was lying down, curled into a ball as he hid his hands out of sight.
"Raji..." He called yet again, still reaching.
There were twelve children in the cart. Nine boys and three girls. All young and starving, either from physical hunger or psychological hunger.
They all had shackles in their hands as the chains were all linked to each other.
The floor of the cart where they were was covered with straw and this stuck to their bodies. It was noticed that everyone of them wore mostly rags except two.
A young girl who dressed in more refined clothes and a boy, who looked every inch like an aristocrat.
The girl was only a few bindings from Raji and she seemed to have grown tired of listening to his painful mewlings.
"You, move closer, I need to get to him." She said to a little boy beside her.
"Why?" He demanded.
"Now, you idiot! Don't you see that he needs help?" She demanded.
The little boy she was talking to glanced at her from head to toe and then looked in the way of Raji.
"Whatever, Princess." He muttered and then started moving.
This allowed her to scoot over to where Raji was and she looked him over.
"Hey, Raji, right? Can I see your hands?" She demanded.
He still would not bulge. He simply continued with what he was doing making her grow impatient.
SMACK!!!
She had suddenly slapped him across the face, realization dawning on him as he looked at her through teary eyes.
"Good. Now I have your attention, can I see your hands?" She demanded.
"H-here. It hurts." He said as he brought his hands forward slowly. They were trembling rapidly.
The girl looked him over and then checked his hands.
The bones had been badly hurt, some even broken making her wonder just how cruel Mojito was as a person.
"I need to keep them in one place then maybe when we arrive, someone might look at them." She said as she reached for the helm of her outfit as she tore through it.
"Oohhh, Princess is not scared that her pretty dress will get ruined." Someone said,
"Maybe, daddy would get her another one." Another taunted.
"Daddy, has she got daddy in camp?" Someone asked cluelessly.
"Probably a new one!" Someone added and everyone started laughing.
But she was unfazed.
She had her mind set on what she was doing as she had torn out enough to serve as a makeshift blanket of sorts. This she took in her hands as she started wrapping them carefully around his hands.
Raji flinched but it seemed he was comforted by the fact that she was helping him so he stayed put.
Seeing now that their taunting was not making any impact on her, the other children decided to channel their energy elsewhere.
The boy at the extreme. The one who clearly was an aristocrat seemed like more fun to them as they started glancing at him.
"Who is he?" Someone asked.
"Clearly privileged." Another supplied.
"I know this one. He is that crazy boy who killed his mother and brother." Someone said,
"Wait, that is him? He doesn't seem like much." One added.
"He is the one, alright. I heard he's possessed by some evil demon. They say he gets stronger when possessed and can do a lot of harm." The one who had spoken before about who he was said.
"You keep hearing a lot of things, Aram." A little girl chided.
"What are you insinuating, Melos? That I'm a liar?" Aram demanded.
"Not necessarily but I did hear that his father said it was a monster who killed everyone. He just didn't do anything." Melos retorted.
"I think I believe Aram. If monsters did kill his family, then why is his father sending him away? Clearly, he killed them!" Raji's friend from earlier said.
"Thank you, Chikin. The girl still wants to believe the fables being told. But I tell you all, this boy is evil." Aram said.
The ones close to the boy started turning their gazes at him as they seemed to be realising that he probably was an epitome of evil himself.
"He's not even moving. Just staring there with his eyes open." Another said.
"Look at his eyes, look at their colour. That's the devil's colour. And you know what we should do to the devils?" Aram demanded.
He was clearly trying to exert dominance and insert himself as a leader above all. Well, whatever it was that had told him he could pull that off was clearly right.
Everyone seemed to be listening to what he had to say and even now, his words had covered every other theory.
"We kill the devil." Chikin said.
"Or we could take his eyes out." Another boy that had been quiet, identified as Junta said.
"Well, you know what I think, I think that we should make sure his evil ends here and..." Aram was talking when someone interrupted him.
"And then what?" The girl that had been attending the Raji demanded.
Everyone turned their attention towards her as they looked at her. Probably, the fact she had played nurse to one of them had given her some sort of elevation because no one would dare speak to her now.
"No one was speaking to you, Princess." Aram said.
Suddenly, she lunged at him and even before he would recollect himself, she had managed to circle around his stomach with her legs, and then had her shackles right under his neck as she brought him to surrender. They were both on the straw struggling.
"Fight!"
"Fight!!"
"Fight!!!"
The other children cheered.
Seeing he was losing, he decided to tap out.
"Fine. I give up." Aram yelled and she let go as she pushed away from him.
She made her way to the aristocrat where he sat and sat down beside him.
"No one touches him." She declared.
Meanwhile, all along, Mojito was smiling as he led them on. During his time, he had been one of the few who survived the drive to Kataguri.
"Smart girl." He muttered under his breath as he continued whistling.