Chapter Twenty Two
1129 Words
“What?”
The girl with the dark features blinked twice. This had never happened before. By now the human standing before her should be writhing in pain as they faced their worst fear. Instead, the human was looking back at her with a quirked eyebrow.
He was immune.
But immunes were extinct or so Roselidah had thought.
“My Prince, catch!”
Roselidah’s eyes widened a fraction as she watched a sword being tossed to the human before her. She had not missed the green substance that appeared to be melted on the tip of the sword. She snorted, they should have done the same around the sharp edges of the weaponry. That would have been more efficient. Luke lurched forward and grabbed the sword. After successfully catching it, he flitted his eyes to Tony who was currently wielding his own sword. Luke suddenly felt himself reverberate with rage; these heartless creatures had killed his men and were holding his brother captive.
And they killed mother.
“Where is my brother?”
Silence.
“I will not spare you witch! Where is my brother?”
Roselidah stifled a yawn, she cussed her brother Rupert for putting her on this task. Oh well, it was about time she met her demise, she had roamed the earth long enough.
“Last warning- “
“Oh be quiet human! Do you not know anything about being a warrior in the field? Shall I teach you a thing or two? A bluff is considered a sign of weakness- “
“Well I am not bluffing!”
“Then why are my men and I still alive?”
“What men?”
Roselidah swirled around and swiftly scanned her surroundings. Sure enough, her three friends were on the ground. She quietly whimpered before slowly approaching them. Their faces were ghastly white and there were dark veins protruding from the bases of their necks. Roselidah immediately spotted the green substance on each of her mages. Daniel had been right about humans, they were crude and unfeeling. Slowly she crouched next to Samuel. He had been very good to her over the seasons. How he had adored his flamed arrows. Samuel had been like a brother to her.
“If you had shown the same tenderness to my men perhaps I would have returned the favor…”
“He was not targeting anyone!”
“But he killed my men all the same!”
“He was blind you fool! He always felt disgruntled by this fact and we always let him help where he could!”
Roselidah turned to face a heaving Luke. The tension in the air was palpable. Tony watched the two nervously. He was aware that they needed the girl to lead them to Prince Baric but Prince Luke seemed livid. Tony had never seen such hate in someone before.
“And you let my men die in order to protect your friend’s ego. How noble of you…”
Roselidah flinched. The words had been drawled out in such a cold demeanor that Roselidah had hitched her breath. For a moment she almost regretted her deeds but…wasn’t this how it had always been? Mages pitted against humans? Roselidah was aware of Tamara’s wishes to bring the two sides together and at some point she had considered this to be an exceptional idea but now, now she was convinced that Daniel had been right all along. The bad blood that ran between the creatures was too profound to dissipate.
“Well then, there is no point sparing me…Plunge your sword through me…I rather enjoyed Samuel’s company, he always did make me laugh.”
In one fluid moment, Luke made his way to Roselidah and upon reaching her, he drew his sword and pointed the glistening tip at the base of her neck. Roselidah stood her ground, staring brazenly at Luke.
“You act as if we know no loss while you carry the weight of despair on your shoulders. You have reduced humans to a forted kingdom where they live as prisoners. Our children cannot play in these woods lest they come across your kind and lose their young lives. Our men can no longer hunt in these woods because your kind is always hunting them. And our women? Some have died without stepping beyond those walls. We live in fear every single moment of our lives, do you have any idea what that is like?”
Roselidah fought a smile, the Prince thought they were the ones living as prisoners.
“Trust me when I say, I wish we could trade places…”
It all happened so fast. Tony screamed as a fusion of a beast and a human grabbed him from behind, dipped its hand into his chest and pulled out his heart. From somewhere behind the bushes, Lawrence let out a high-pitched shriek.
“Take cover!”
Roselidah disarmed Luke and shoved him towards the mass of bushes. She then proceeded to approach the creature which was currently greedily devouring Tony’s heart. Luke stood transfixed on the ground.
What was happening?
“Not in our territory…”
The creature stopped assaulting its meal and turned to view the witch. It huffed upon seeing her and returned to its task. Roselidah swallowed back her annoyance. According to Tamara, members of the realm could not kill fellow magical creatures in the event that they needed their help in future. Territories had been drawn and the ancient parley had been conducted. But the creature had not upheld the laws. This was not its territory. Releasing a warrior cry, Roselidah thrust the sword towards the oblivious creature and sprang midair to plunge it into the creature’s heart. The creature slowly turned to examine the cause of its impending demise. It moved its elongated, hairy fingers to caress its wounded heart. Upon seeing the green substance, it began panicking. Roselidah landed gracefully on her feet and stretched her hand to catch the free-falling sword.
A wolf whistle escaped Lawrence’s throat. He hoped that the scary lady had not caught wind of it. The creature moved blindly towards where Luke was standing rooted to the ground. Lawrence held his breath as he watched the creature trotting towards Chi’s prince. He had to do something, but what? He was no warrior, he was not even brave. The reason he was here in the first place was because of the girl.
And without Luke, the girl was as good as dead.
Luke knew he had to move. He just couldn’t. So he stood there awaiting his death.
- Writer
