"Is it still okay? Don't worry, we'll be there soon," said Villiano and waited until Ghiauna had caught up with him. Panting from the exertion, she stopped next to him and took a short breath.
Her bravery to endure the pain impressed him. He had one for her the night before
Built a splint that alleviated the pain, but not completely eliminated it. Still, she had stubbornly refused his offer to wear her. They had been up all morning now
on the way and she didn’t let it show that she was walking on crutches through the forest with a sprained, severely swollen foot.
"And you are sure that this ... what was his name again?" Asked Ghiauna as she hobbled on.
"Guiseppe," added Villiano.
"Exactly ... You are sure that this Guiseppe can take the canai from me? After all, they are magical objects. I do not believe that they have been sealed with a spell that means that they can only be removed by whoever has put them on - because only a few people get a bond and this would certainly never have made it - but there could still be difficulties. ""Trust me, he can do it! - Oh, there we are."
They stopped and looked at the city that stretched before them. Jissele was not very tall, on the edge there were mostly two-story shabby tiled roof houses with occasional clotheslines, and an old barn could be seen a little to one side. In the center of the city, a market square was built around a fountain, where the traders loudly offered their goods.
"Come on!" Mumbled Villiano and crept in the shadow of the houses towards the city, "but stay behind me. They could still be looking for me."
She paused: "We are looking for you?"
"Yeah. When I bumped into you yesterday, a couple of soldiers were after me. Chased me across the woods, those bastards after they caught me trying to take away a sack of apples - I'm a thief, you know "That doesn't usually happen to me."
A thief, she thought to herself. Shirai has always hated stealing, even when it was often the only way to get hold of food.Ghiauna followed him in silence as he set off. Carefully he chose secluded and quiet alleys - if the people saw them, they would surely pounce on the two of the hated cat people and enslave them or throw them in a dungeon. Often times they had to hide behind carts and the like when patrolling soldiers marched by.
It took a while for them to reach their destination. The barn looked even shabbier up close than from a distance. It was crooked, moss lichen grew up the walls and the locks that bolted the main gate were rusted. She looked like she had to be in at any moment
collapse. Nevertheless, Ghiauna ran after him as he walked around the barn and opened a door on the right side, which was almost invisible due to the heavy moss.
Villiano had barely entered when one heard a cry of joy.
"Villiano! Check it out, he's back!"
"Did you expect anything else, Aristide?, "he grinned cockily and ruffled the short brown hair of the little Neko who had come running towards him.
Three more Neko emerged from the shadows.
"We thought the soldiers got you," said one of them; it seemed the only one
To be girls in the group. With watery blue eyes and a slightly trembling voice, she continued and brushed a strand of straw blonde from her face: "I ... - we were so worried about you because you didn't show up ..."
Another patted her shoulder encouragingly from behind. "Don't start crying right away, Maya, he's back."
"Yes ... it's okay again," she said and smiled timidly, "thank you, Guiseppe."
When his name was mentioned, Ghiauna pricked up his ears. She eyed him carefully - the dark skin color, the black, shiny hair, his greenish-brown eyes - but she didn't notice anything about him that would have given her any information about how or with what he could remove the canai from her."Exactly, you don't always have to cry when I don't show up!" Added Villiano.
"Tell me, who did you bring us with you, Vill?" The third spoke up for the first time. His voice sounded rather deep, and he was a bit taller than the others; he had to be the oldest of the group. With gray-blue eyes he peered under his green shimmering head of hair at Ghiauna, who had been completely forgotten in the hustle and bustle of greetings.
"Oh, I forgot, Khai. This is Ghiauna," Villiano explained hastily, pointing at her with his thumb. "I met her yesterday in the forest ..." he looked for the right words, "... when she was on the run from her slave drivers. Sprained her ankle in the process."
"You were a slave? Then you must have been through a lot," Maya said sympathetically.
"... may be," Ghiauna replied dismissively.
"And what are you going to do now?"
She looked up and for a brief moment her yellow eyes shone longingly in the dark."I want to go home. To Sanderith."
Everyone stared at her in disbelief. "You ... you come from Sanderith?" Stammered Guiseppe.
"You have made up your mind," said Khai soberly and crossed his arms in front of his body, "The desert land is down in the south, we are here in the north-west."
"Maybe, but I can do it! Somebody is waiting for me in Sanderith, I've given them my word to come back and nothing will stop me from doing that!" She hissed at him.
Villiano took the floor and said soothingly: "Yes, yes, but before you can set off, I would suggest that Guiseppe first remove the Canai. What do you think, Guiseppe, can you do it?"
The Neko threw himself proudly in the chest. "If it's nothing else, give me some time, then you'll get rid of the parts!"

They sat in the group in silence.
Maya had set about supplying Ghiauna's foot with healing herbs. There was a loud growl of the stomach. "I'm hungry," said little Aristide.He looked over at Villiano with wide eyes. "Didn't you bring us anything to eat?"
"The soldiers almost caught me yesterday, so I couldn't bring anything with me."
"But ... what should we eat now?"
"How about some straw?" Khai replied sullenly and tossed him a handful.
"Uh, that doesn't taste good!"
Maya suppressed a giggle when Ghiauna turned to her.
"How is he going to do it," she nodded over to Guiseppe, "how is he going to take the rings off me?"
"Don't worry about that. Guiseppe is an excellent blacksmith, he knows such things very well!"
"He's a blacksmith?"
"Yes," Maya nodded in confirmation, "you can't tell by looking at him, but he has a knack for it."
"And what do you need a blacksmith for? People will certainly not buy his weapons from him!"
"You know," intervened Guiseppe, who had noticed that they were just talking about him, "with us everyone has their specific tasks.Khai and Villiano are our two "master thieves". They provide us with food and whatever else we need, in return they often need my weapons - be it to break a lock or just to keep the soldiers at bay. Maya is responsible for cooking. And Aristide ... "he paused.
"Well, Aristide is responsible for eating everything up again," added Villiano and laughed.
As if in agreement, the kid's stomach began to growl again.
"I'm going to get something to eat now," he said with a grim expression, jumped down from a bale of straw and marched towards the door.
"Take care that nobody catches you," Maya called after him, "and be back before sunset, okay?"
Villiano and Guiseppe exchanged annoyed looks.
"Don't worry too much, nothing will happen!"
She looked at the floor in dismay. "... well ... you are right ..."
"Exactly and now please move a little to the side so I can prove my skills to this suspicious lady!"Guiseppe sat down behind Ghiauna and warned her: "It might hurt a little, but that's normal - so don't worry."
"I don't mind - go ahead."
He heated up the neck ring a little, then set about using a few tools to break through the outermost layer. Immediately afterwards, small lightning bolts began to flash from the ring.
"Aha, now we have it in a moment ..." he muttered to himself and started the next tool.
As if he wanted to stand up against it, the steel glowed blue - Ghiauna felt a hellish pain shot through her head, as if someone wanted to blind her with a hot iron - and fell to the ground with a clatter of the two other rings.
Now she was finally free.

"He's still not back," Maya said restlessly as she re-entered the barn. She had just been looking around, hoping to meet Aristide.
"Now I'm really starting to worry, it's almost midnight ...""He's been on the road for almost six and a half hours now," Ghiauna remarked, looking up. Her ears twitched - hadn't there just been a sound?
"I suggest we go look for him!"
"Okay. Vill and I are searching the city," Khai commanded and ruffled his hair, "Guiseppe, you look around for him in the forest! Maya, you stay here with Ghiauna, if he is still back ..."
He got no further, because suddenly the barn door was broken into with a loud crash.
In front of it stood half a dozen soldiers and in their midst -
"Aristide!"
The little one turned to one of the soldiers and said: "Look, here we are!"
The five Neko stood stunned, petrified, they couldn't believe what was happening.
"Aristide! What's that supposed to mean?", Villiano yelled at him when he came running towards her.
He proudly held out a wad of money.
"Look, they gave me that because I told them where we live!"
"You betrayed us ?!"
Tears came to little Neko's eyes."But ... we can all get a lot of that to eat!
Then we don't have to be hungry anymore! "
"Where you are going now, you won't be hungry anyway," said one of the soldiers,
who had stepped behind him. With a sweeping gesture, he took out a knife and cut Aristide's throat. A gush of dark red blood spurted out and spilled onto the wad of money in his hands before collapsing and out of lifeless eyes up to them
stared.
"NEEEEIIIIIN !!!!!," shrieked Maya.
"Kill the mangy cats!" Ordered the soldier and suddenly they stormed into the little barn.
"You filthy murderer!" Roared Villiano in anger and