He was breathing on his own.
It was time for her to leave. Slipping the vial back into the sack at her side, she glanced at the stranger one more time. His face looked innocent, and his eyes had seemed kind—at least for the brief moment she had seen them under the water.
“I’m glad you’re alive,” she whispered. “We are close enough to the shipwreck so I’m sure a search party will find you here soon.”
She stood, quickly glancing around her.
Before she had properly checked her back, two hands grabbed her by the shoulders.
“I got her!” a man’s voice called out.
“Don’t let her—” a woman’s voice started to respond, but Aizel had already opened her mouth and started a song.
The song that came to mind was the song that she used to fall asleep. It was not the smartest choice, but she did not have time to think of another. Maybe if she sang it loud enough, she could send these two and any others into a deep sleep.
That was all she needed to dash away.
Her words were cut short almost instantly by a hand clamping over her mouth.
“She’s one of them, alright,” the man’s voice said from behind her.
“—use her voice,” the woman finished her cut-off sentence.
Chapter 7
Aizel struggled against her captors, fighting to breathe through the large hand that remained clamped around her mouth.
“Stop that.” The man shook her. “You aren’t getting away and you don’t have your voice to save you.”
Aizel ignored his frustrated command.
“Quit acting so scared.” The woman stepped into Aizel’s point of view. “She’s not trained. She can’t hurt you.”
It took Aizel a moment to realize she was telling her captor not to be afraid ofher.
“She’s one of them,” the man’s voice continued. “It doesn’t matter if she’s trained. She’s evil and powerful and she’s not wearing one of those spelled necklaces.”
At the mention of the muting necklace, Aizel flung her head back in desperation. She made contact with the lower half of the man’s face and he temporarily loosened his grip.
Taking advantage of his shock, Aizel opened her mouth and bit down hard on one of his chunky fingers. His skin tasted sour in her mouth but she tried not to notice it.
He howled in pain but tightened his grip instead of loosening it.
“See?” he bellowed at his companion. “She is dangerous.”
“She’s unexpected,” the woman countered. “Imagine how pleased they will be with us for finding one.”
“But how are we going to get her back?” The man had pulled his hand from her teeth and tightened his arm around her neck, suffocating her instead of silencing her.
“Get...” Aizel gasped out a word as she clawed at his arm. She tried to repeat her head-butting success, but he managed to keep his skull safely out of her reach. “Get... off.” She hissed out the words with the last of her breath.
“Just because we weren’t prepared for this find, doesn’t mean we can’t deal with it.” The woman approached her and shoved a bundle of twisted rope into Aizel’s open mouth, effectively gagging her.
Aizel whipped her head back and forth to stop them from tying it, but she was no match against two people who were already holding her down.
The only good thing was that the man finally released his tight grip around her neck.
“You sure she can’t do nothin’ now?” he asked, moving his attention to restraining her arms.
