Soul of Magic (Soul of Magic Book 1)

FOUR

Kyra groaned as she woke up to a maddening headache and a motion sensation that didn't quite sit well with her stomach. The headache was due to the fact that she had been knocked out cold in a very unfriendly manner and the sensation because she was in a cart; actually, a cage in a cart would be more appropriate for that description.

Kyra sat up and realised that her hand wasn't bound like she had expected and her satchel was placed next to her. Apparently, her captors weren't worried about her escaping skills, which were next to none, truth be told.

And speaking of her captors, Dragur and his rich master were sitting on each of the horses that pulled the cart, chatting away without any mind for their captive. From what Kyra could hear, she deduced that they were haggling over what best her selling price should be and to whom they would make the most profit.

"Hey, you can't do this to me!" she shouted at them. "I'm a human being, for the Creator’s sake. This is against the law of humanity."

"But you’re not human, witch,” the rich man returned at her, snarling maliciously. "A monster, that's what you are. You should be grateful we’ve even kept you alive this long."

"Let me go this very second or I swear you'll regret it," she said again as she tried to put on her most threatening attitude. "I'm a powerful witch and you already had a taste of what I'm capable of. I can make you vomit your innards, or command the ground to swallow you whole."

She would have gone on to list the different 'things' she was capable of, most of which she was digging up from storybooks she’d read as a child, if not that Dragur suddenly brought the cart to a stop with a long sigh. "Look, girl," he said in his usual booming voice as he got down from his horse and faced her squarely. "If you could do even a semblance of what you claimed, you'd be doing it, not talking about it. Now, keep your tongue to yourself or I swear I'll cut it off."

Kyra quickly backed away to the far side of the cage at his statement, covering her mouth with both her hands. She hadn't known Dragur for long, but if there was something that she was as sure as hell about, it was that the burly man didn't make empty threats.

"Good," he finally said after watching her for a while, smiling as he mounted his horse and the cart began to move again.

Kyra brought her satchel to herself and began to search through it, a triumphant smile on her face as she found the coin pouches. "Look boys, I have money," she said, shaking the pouches in her hands so that they can hear the coins jingle. "Tell me how much you want and I'll pay it, I'll buy myself from your hands. Just tell me what you want."

"You're prepared to give us anything?" the rich man asked as he suddenly brought his hands to stroke his chin in thought.

"Anything," she replied quickly.

Before Kyra could understand what was going on, the rich man had commanded Dragur to stop the cart and he dragged her out and up against a tree.

"Wait!" she shouted as she realised what he had in mind. "I wasn't talking about that, you pig!"

"Well witch, you promised anything," he returned with a large smirk.

The rich man was strong; in fact, he was surprisingly very strong for someone of his rich man status who had a hellion-looking man to do his bidding. But Kyra was fierce too. As he tried to force himself on her, she fought back with all her strength, scratching and kicking and screaming. But when Dragur decided to help his master bind her hands, Kyra knew that the fight was lost to her.

Just as she was about to lose hope, the rich man suddenly went flying to the ground as someone threw him aside. It was a boy, not so much older than Kyra herself. He wasn't very tall, but definitely taller than Kyra, sporting a blonde hair that was almost reaching his shoulders and he had black eyes that were now filled with anger at Dragur and his master. He wore long brown loose travelling trousers, a blue shirt which he rolled at the sleeves and a brown leather jacket like a breastplate over his shirt. He had a leather travelling backpack with him but it was already on the ground as he faced both men squarely. He also happened to be very handsome, although Kyra chastised herself for noticing that in such a heated moment.

"What do you rascals think you're doing?" he asked with unrestrained fury. "Taking advantage of an innocent girl?"

"She's a witch," returned the rich man with equal fury. "My witch."

"And so what?" the boy replied, much to Kyra's surprise; he was actually defending her even after knowing what she was. "Witch or not, she's a human being and you should have respected her."

"Step aside, boy,” warned the rich man, murder now in his eyes. “I’m not someone that you want to cross, believe me.

"And neither am I," the boy returned and as if it was an invitation, Dragur charged.

The burly man unsheathed his wicked-looking axe from the strap on his back and swung at the boy. But the latter reacted just in time as he rolled underneath the swing, unsheathing his own sword, a long slender blade with a leather grip dotted with jade stones ending in a golden base, from his hip. He got back to his feet with the agility of a cat and raced at Dragur, bringing up his sword just as the other brought his axe down again.

Surprisingly, the boy's hand didn't even shake as the weapons clashed, the sword quickly moving again before Dragur could even recover from the impact. The sword and axe clashed again and again in the sun, both wielders not relenting in their efforts to best each other, and neither making much progress.

All of a sudden, the boy moved on the offensive, hitting the axe again and again as he turned on a deadly axis. With each strike, Dragur grunted louder, almost as if his strength was waning. And then the boy struck again and the axe flew out of Dragur's hands, embedding itself firmly in a tree very far from the fight.

"How!" Dragur gasped, surprise clearly etched on his face as the boy gave him a turning kick to the head and he fell to the ground, effectively knocked out cold.

The rich man groaned in frustration at the result of the fight and he made to attack the boy from behind with a dagger. But Kyra intervened just in time, jumping on his back just as he was about to move.

"Get off me, you wench!" he shouted and easily sent her flying off his back, resulting in a pained cry from Kyra as she landed on her own.

Fortunately, that was enough to get the boy's attention and he jumped in with a punch to the rich man's face. He kept punching until the man was on his knees, breathing heavily like a dog before its s*******r. The boy held his neck in his choke and began to squeeze.

"Do it. Kill me," said the rich man with a defiant look on his face, but the fear was evident in his eyes.

"No," the boy surprisingly replied as he let go of his neck. "I'll show you what you couldn't show others, mercy."

But just as the man was about to stand up, the boy turned back and hit him in the head with the base of his sword, knocking him out too.

"You should be more careful," he said to Kyra as he helped her up. "There are many dangerous men out there, you know. And not all of them we can easily dispatch of."

She gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks,” she said before suddenly kicking out, catching him right in the groin.

The boy's eyes widened on contact; his reaction more as a result of surprise than pain. He fell unceremoniously to the ground as he groaned and Kyra quickly grabbed her satchel from the cart and ran away. She was definitely in agreement with the boy’s logic. She should be careful, especially of handsome boys that appear out of nowhere to save damsels in distress.