“Hi, little girl.” I smile politely. “You scared me. I thought you were going to attack me. Well not you, but I thought that you were someone else.” She takes a few steps towards me as I squat to the ground and reach my hand forward. Her wet nose gently brushes the palm of my hand. Until her head pears up and she sprints away as fast as she can. Huh?
That is weird. I jump up and wipe my hand clean on my shorts. “Finally, I have the privacy and honor to kill you, little sunshine.” Someone snorts. I don’t have a chance to turn around. A small, but sharp knife is being pressed against my throat. It isn’t a dagger. It is too short. It feels more like a pocketknife. I don’t have to look behind me to see who is pushing a knife against my throat. The tattoos on Delilah’s hands betray her.
Think, Eliane.
Think fast.
She is using her left hand. I move fast, grabbing her left arm with my right hand, I turn myself around. I stand eye in eye with the punkie, black haired girl. My head makes me see her double and holding her tightly keeps me in balance. Tattoos cover her arm, and her septum nose piercing catches my attention. She is a bit taller than me, but she acts tougher than I believe she is. I heard she is a shadow wielder, but apparently she decided to attack this ‘little sunshine’ with my own move.
“Wrong move, you bitch,” I sneer at her. I kick my knee into her groin, causing her to cramp together. A huff leaves her throat. Adrenaline rushes through me and the sun burns in myneck. The pain of earlier is nowhere to be found at this moment. Shadow appears from around the tree, moving towards us. I throw her own knife towards her, landing next to her head. Delilah stands up straight again, and because I was distracted by the shadows crawling up my shoulders, she punches straight into my nose. Something warm and liquid drips down into my mouth, tasting like iron.
Blood.
The shadows cover her as I duck to avoid her next punch. Darkness surrounds us and I can’t see a thing. Luckily I am a light wielder. A ball of light floats above my hand as I step deeper into the shadows. My blood boils and my heartbeat pounds in my ears. I can’t hear clearly anymore. My hands grab my dagger, and I wrap my fist around it, dragging it out. I can feel the blood trickle down as I hold the knife of my dagger too tight. I probably made a cut, but I don’t care. It hurts, but it is the good type of pain, the type of pain that makes me forget. I hold the dagger by its handle and hold in front of me as the other hand leads me into the shadows. A shadow runs towards me and Delilah throws out a kick. She kicks hard, but I defend myself. I block her kick with my chin.
And fuck that hurts.
Our chins bump together in a chin lock. I trust forward, slice with my dagger towards her arm. She reaches for her back, taking a sword out of the darkness. How did she get a sword? She doesn’t sleep with that, right? She makes a sidestep and stabs forwards. My dagger isn’t as strong as a sword, but I push back. I block her. I grab the sword with my right hand that is already bleeding and push it away. Streaks of red blood drip down the sword as I push it away. I stand very close to her, and I give her face an elbow jab. Her face shoots in the other direction and I take the arm with the sword and cross it to her back. She drops the sword in impotence. A twig breaks and Delilah andI turn our heads in surprise. The shadows disappear as fast as they appeared. My mouth drops.
“Kailey?” Delilah reacts, faster than I can realize who is standing in front of us. I don’t lose my grip, and I push my dagger to Delilah’s throat as she is distracted.
“Don’t kill her,” Kailey squeaks.
I don’t loosen the pressure on the dagger.
“Please,” Kailey whimpers.
“I am not the one who attacked first, Kailey.”
Her soft smile disappears and so does the hope in her eyes. I swallow, deciding if letting her live will do any better than killing her. “But I don’t kill people. Not even if they deserve it,” I whisper. I can’t kill them. I let go of the grip and Delilah breaks loose. She bolts away as she grabs her throat. Shadows surround her as she blurs in the distance. Kailey runs towards me and she hugs me tightly.
“Thank you,” she whispers with tears in her eyes. It takes her a few moments before she continues talking. “She was my first love.” I let out a sigh and try to smile.
“I didn’t know,” I answer, my mouth hanging open as blood rushes out all kinds of parts of my body. Blood still rustles in my ear, and I doubt whether I did good by fighting her, by letting her go, by hurting her and not killing her afterwards. Conflicting thoughts run through my mind. I need to calm myself. The throbbing pulse in my head continues and I feel the swelling on my face grow. Kailey pushes me a few inches away to look at me.
“Now tell me what the fuck happened to your face,” she demands. I shrug my shoulders, and I try to distract myself from the pain rumbling through me.
Think of good memories, Eliane.
I can hear Da talking to me as I close my eyes and try to steady my breathing. ‘You’re a lover who is born to fight. It is the most beautiful thing about you. It makes you human and special.’Even though Kailey is my friend, I don’t want to show her my weaknesses. Not yet at least.
Chapter 14
Braxton
The wet grass mushes under my feet. Stamping through the forest I let out a low growl. The king wrote some real nonsense on the message and put it in an even more ridiculous small cylinder that took me 15 minutes to open.
As soon as I heard Eliane scream last night, I swung the door open and attempted to follow her. Before I could even set a foot outside, a needle pinched into my leg and everything went black. I passed out as fast as I jumped up to look for Eliane in the first place. The next thing I know is that I woke up under a tree in the Fosia forest. Of course I tried reaching her, but that didn’t work. I can feel her shimmer in my mind somewhere, but she is too far to reach. Maybe she isn’t even awake yet and she still lies somewhere in the cold mud. The thought makes me ball my fist and clench my jaw. I don’t really understand why she was kidnapped and why I was only drugged. I look at my feet, pushing the bushes away. I haven’t seen anyone yet, and I am hoping I can keep it that way. I need to get some food and create a base place first. Or I just need to find her, but finding her in the next hour seems impossible. This might take longer than aday. Luckily, I am already wearing my sparring clothes. Before I wanted to follow her, I changed my clothes. Black thick pants protect my legs, and a black long sleeve hugs my chest. I carry a sword on my back, but for now that is my only weapon. I sweep the rough stubble on my chin and brush my fingers through my knotted hair. Twigs crack under my heavy shoes, my feet dragging me towards a tent in the distance. I saw it ten minutes ago, climbing a tree to scan my surroundings. This forest looks amazing, but it can’t cheer me up right now. It is the forest they write in books about, the kind of books Eliane likes to read. I try to erase the frown between my brows with my fingers. I push the thought about her away and focus on the most important thing right now. Survive the day and find her after. I orientate as I walk around, grabbing some berries from the bush that grow them and throw them in my mouth. There are weeping willows and other pretty trees all around me, but for now there is no water to be seen. Flowers grow on the ground beside me. I don’t know all the names, but I can recognize a few. Daisies, poppies, forget me nots, and a tree with pink prunus flowers. My heart feels like it is pounding out of my chest, memories bursting into my little cabin like a tsunami with no brakes to press.
The pink prunus tree was my mother’s favorite.
My mom’s favorite.
She would always carry a flower in her hair like there was no dirt in the air.
Heat covers my face, and I clench my jaw tightly. I can hear my teeth grinding together. The tent comes more in sight, my legs speeding up as I can almost smell the odor of fresh sharpened swords. I ignore the chirping sounds of birds and the butterflies flying in front of me. My body tingles as I focus on my one and only goal for now. I march further through the forest and everything else stops. I am the only one moving, ignoringthe background sounds, my ears sizzling, hoping I don’t cross anyone. My eyes focused, gaze straight forward.
I will fight if I have to.
