The Collectors

Anya and Avery turned to look at the door in tandem. Avery was surprised, and Anya was immediately wary. No one visited them. Ever. It simply didn't happen, they were too far out of the way and had nothing worth visiting for.

Anya drew her knife -- it wasn't much of a weapon, but it made her feel better -- and stood behind the door while Avery went to open it. Being behind the door, she couldn't see whoever was on the other side, but she saw Avery's reaction. He grinned, and it looked like he reached out to shake the hand of whoever had knocked.

"Kerel! Wasn't expecting to see you here. Come in, come in." Avery stepped to the side, waving the person beyond the door to come inside. A broad shouldered man with blond hair stepped inside, glancing around. He seemed a little bit out of breath.

The man, upon seeing Anya, raised a hand. "If you wouldn't mind putting the knife down, lass." She looked down at the hunting knife she was still holding, before nodding and sheathing it. "I'll have to skip the pleasantries, Avery. We got a runner from Thynen, with a warning. The Collectors are coming around."

Thynen was the next village over from Manot, though there wasn't often much communication between the two. The exception was, apparently, regarding something like the Collectors.

The Collectors were one of the ways Lord Terin, the ruler of the territory Manot was within, gathered capital. They were, essentially, sanctioned bandits. They came through every few years, taking essentially whatever they wanted from villagers and ransacking any unoccupied buildings. It was standard procedure for the adjacent villages to notify those nearby, so people could take precautions. The last time the Collectors had been through Manot, Anya's parents and uncle had handled it -- but that wasn't an option anymore.

Avery sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Thanks for taking the trouble to come tell us, Kerel. I'm sure you have your tavern to worry about, but if you wouldn't mind, do you have any advice for us?"

"Of course, I wouldn't have just left you out to dry, especially since this will be the first time you have to deal with it on on your own. Fundamentally, you'll have to decide what you'd rather lose. The Collectors always take something, and this cottage isn't out of the way enough that they'd simply miss it. If you stay, they'll use your age as an excuse to do whatever they like, which will probably mean much harsher loses to you two than any of the rest of us in Manot. If you aren't here, they'll ransack the place, and leave."

Anya spoke up, still to the side of the door. "So what should we... do?"

"If I were you, I'd hide my valuables, and hunker down somewhere. The cottage will be assumed to be unoccupied, they'll grab anything easily lying around, maybe break a table or two, and leave. If you stay, it's hard to determine what would happen."

Anya frowned slightly. Fundamentally, she didn't like the idea of just letting these glorified brigands run rampant through their home. Part of her briefly wondered how Terin kept the territory running if the way he gathered income was through uncontrolled bandits every few years, but she filed that thought away for later. For the moment, she really should focus on the matter at hand. Even if she didn't like the idea of leaving the cottage, it did seem more advisable than staying and just hoping the Collectors wouldn't loot them even harder, seeing that they were essentially children.

It looked like Avery was similarly lamenting leaving the cottage to be looted, but had come to a similar conclusion. "The tavern has a cellar, right? Could the two of us," He gestured to himself and Anya, "stay down there for a bit? Just until the Collectors have passed by?"

"Course you can. If you hadn't brought it up, I might've suggested it myself. No Collectors will be going into the cellar, so you'll be safe there. I'm going to head back down to Manot, I have to make some preparations so the tavern doesn't lose too much money, but you should gather some things, and make your way down as soon as possible."

"Will do, Kerel. Thanks for the help." Kerel nodded, and stepped away from the cottage door, which Avery closed. He turned and looked at Anya, and took a deep breath.

"Sorry, I know you probably don't want to be trapped in a wine cellar while people are ransacking our home, but-"

"No, it's fine." She cut him off. "I think leaving is the smarter move, and if left to my own devices, I would've simply run into the forest. This is probably better, even if I don't like it." He nodded in response, then walked off into the cottage to presumably gather some stuff he didn't want being stolen. She went to grab some things as well.

There wasn't much here that was actually valuable -- sentimentally or monetarily -- so she just grabbed some things that would at least be useful. Her dagger, a coil of rope, dried meat, other assorted things she stuffed in a small bag. She was standing in front of the door, waiting for Avery, not long after.

Avery walked over before too long. He had a pack, similar to hers, and there was a sword at his side. She looked at the sword, then at him, and raised an eyebrow. She felt that was enough to get across her feelings.

"My father gave it to me. Was teaching me how to use it, before..." He shrugged slightly. "Didn't want it being taken while we were out."

"Fair enough. Shall we?" She waved towards the door.

"Let's."

They started down the path to Manot.