“Kaara, did Rixam assault you?” Arik asked her the next morning.

Kaara’s face contorted in utter bewilderment, “What? No! Why?”

“That’s what I thought, come with me. Those nobles are up to something again.”

“What’s going on?” She asked, crawling out of bed and tying her hair up.

“Anitus and Amaro have been harassing the refugee tent asking for Rixam. When I asked them what they thought they were doing they said that you had been assaulted by Rixam and they were planning to teach him a lesson.”

“Wait-” Kaara’s mind raced, connecting the dots from last night, “They were talking about me?”

“What?”

“They said something about Rixam assaulting someone earlier, but they were keeping the victim’s identity secret or something. I didn’t know it was about me!”

“Why would they think you were assaulted, then?”

“I dunno!”

“Well let’s hurry, the adults are getting involved too.”

The two of them arrived at the scene to see a large crowd of adults gathered around the refugee tent.

“Come on Noxa, come clean and we’ll go easy on you!” Someone shouted from the crowd.

“Honestly, to think that a Malaki got past our defenses. Hiding in sheep’s clothing no less!”

“I say give the ones involved free reign to do as they please. He needs to be made an example of.”

Kaara could not believe what she was hearing. She pushed through the crowd, “Wait a minute! This is a misunderstanding!”

But her words were drowned out by the rabble of the crowd. Kaara could see Rixam on his knees, held down by his neck at the hand of Amaro’s father.

“The accused has several grave charges levied against them, including but not limited to the rape of one of our own, and theft of property. Both charges which would bring death upon the felon who committed the act.”

Kaara felt someone poke her side, turning to see Argo. He handed her Amaro’s katana without a word.

Seeing the look in his eyes, Kaara understood what was going on. Amaro and Anitus had jumped to conclusions, and even if Argo meant to give the sword back it would still be considered theft. It was up to her to save Rixam. She nodded, pushing her way into the center of the crowd, “Stop!”

The crowd fell silent, “You’re looking for your sword right?” Kaara said, tossing it to him, “Maybe look around for it before accusing someone of stealing it.”

She looked at Rixam. There was anger in her gut to see that he still only had one wing. They had scarred him over nothing. They had not bothered to double check with her. They were using her as an excuse to hurt someone. Not once did Amaro come to her or try to console her or ask her about it. What would she have done if it actually had happened? This was not about getting justice for her. It was all about soothing their own egos.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“And maybe ask me what happened before hurting someone on my behalf for something they didn’t do!”

There was a murmur in the crowd. Kadmus turned to his sons, “Is the chief’s daughter the victim?”

The two of them remained silent.

“Answer.” their father said coldly.

“She is.” Amaro said.

“And I’m not a victim! This is a misunderstanding,” Kaara said, “You can ask Shiira if you want, I collapsed because of my own magic! The noxa had nothing to do with it.” Kaara chose to leave the part about Argo rescuing her.

“Ah, but you were not conscious when it happened, so this noxa still could have taken advantage of you before Amaro came along,” Anitus said, “He even admitted it to us last night. Said he got really acquainted with you.”

Another buzzing murmur in the crowd, “The girl is likely attempting to protect him out of some sort of fear or mind control. Devilkind are capable of manipulating the minds of others.” someone said from the crowd.

“That’s not what happened! He said that because we are friends. He helped out wherever he could around the camp, and he was always kind to everyone he met!”

L’Maya stepped from the crowd, “I’ve already told you, Kadmus, this one has done nothing wrong. It seems to me your sons were either misinformed or maliciously lying.”

“Oh? And how do we know it was the fault of my sons?”

“Let’s assume they were misinformed, then.”

“And yet you still assume they are easily fooled.”

Tiksu stepped forward as well, “I can confirm that this one has been helpful around the camp, and they have been friendly with Kaara.”

“Then perhaps we should find the real victim of his deeds.” Kadmus said, “Things like this do not come to light if someone is not guilty of something.”

“No!” Amaro spoke up, “Enough. This is my fault. Let him go, father, we were mistaken.”

Kadmus took his hand off of Rixam’s neck, stepping towards his son, “Then if that’s the case the two of us will have to have a word about this.”

The crowd began to murmur, falling dead silent as Kadmus turned to face them, “Please excuse us. It seems I have one last lesson to teach my children before the ceremony.”

Kaara watched them leave as the crowd dispersed. She wondered what would happen to the two of them. Amaro looked back at her, a look of sincerity in his eyes.

“Thanks for standing up for me.” Rixam said, standing.

“How is your wing?” Arik asked.

“The sword that Xirxus kid cut me with scarred the flesh it touched. Wouldn’t heal or reattach, so unless I wanted to have one wing shorter than the other Shiira said it was best to cut out the dead flesh and hope it regrew on its own.”

“Still, that’s fucked up of him to use a weapon like that to hurt you. Let alone take your wing over a game.”

“This is why I didn’t wanna make a big deal out of it.”

Kaara looked over his shoulder at Argo, “How is your other friend doing?”

“She’s still in the tent. We were on our way to visit her this morning before all this happened.” Argo said.

“I see. Well I say we all walk there together!”

“You don’t have to do that,” Rixam said.

“Well, I wanna do it! Plus, if that rumor is still floating around, some other people in camp might still give you trouble right?”

“But-”

“Let her come along, Rixam. We can trust her,” Argo said, “She’s the reason both Ezo and Lilith are still alive.”

Kaara scratched the back of her head, “Well, I wouldn’t say that.”

Arik hooked an arm around her shoulder, “You don’t gotta be modest Kar-Kar.”

Argo bowed his head, “Thanks for helping us again.”

Kaara bowed her head back, “No, really, it’s nothing. Let’s go see your friend, okay?”