Vanya kept Taru’s sword closer to her as she observed every corner of her surroundings. She was a good distance away from Chief Han, Carmin, and the rest of the men who had started beating some of the Ravagers for answers.

She couldn’t stomach some of their cries but it made her even more nervous to think that she had not seen Rhohaz or Taru for about an hour now. She spotted Taru’s men doing their best to extinguish one flame at a time even though none of the houses were salvageable. They were all bled dry leaving only the brick intact and everything else scorched.

She sighed deeply as her eyes scanned the area again when she noticed the council building that was hidden in the shadows had a faint light moving from within.

She gasped and ran to Carmin and Chief Han to try and get their attention. But they only ignored her to continue questioning the men kneeling in front of them.

Vanya’s words fell on deaf ears. She was considered a nuisance and pushed away.

She looked to the building once more hiding in the night before she mustered up her courage with Taru’s sword in hand to go look over it herself.

She climbed the hills carving a path out to the top where the council building sat. Vanya recognized the path after a point realizing it was the same one she took when Rhohaz first led her and Joan to their first council meeting. Oh, how things had changed. Her heart was detesting Rhohaz after that day at the council but now she was worried sick not knowing where he was.

She crept closer to the building when she began hearing voices. Her body immediately ducked down and crawled to a corner hiding herself in a dried-up bush.

The moonlight showed over the area coloring everything in a shade of gray. She crawled till she found the corner wall of the building and used it as a guide to go follow till she found a smaller back entrance that was unlocked and ajar.

Her eyes peeked through while she held her breath wrapping her fingers over the hilt of her sword. The glow from within the council building was faint. She couldn’t really see anything till she crept inside and moved to see that half of her vision was being blocked by a large board covering the back entrance.

Her eyes picked up on the glow from within as she entered. She finally began to see a fire lit in the middle of the hall with two men around it. A figure appeared from a corner making her duck down once more. She immediately picked up on Anton who walked towards something on the floor and kicked it hard a few times before crouching down to whisper something.

The other two men laughed at whatever Anton said and proceeded to kick it harder in Anton’s direction.

“How stupid of you to think we would leave this place if you offered us money,” Anton spoke making his voice echo throughout the circular building.

Vanya crept under the seat Carmin usually sat in to get a better view of what was happening.

“Did you really think any amount of money would suffice not killing you scum off the earth?!”

Vanya watched as the men stopped kicking and moved away revealing a person. Their hands and legs were tied while they lay on the ground and spat out blood before hissing, “We did not harm anyone!”

Vanya’s eyes widened in shock as her knees buckled hearing he was. It was Rhohaz with an unrecognizable bloodied face eating the sand beneath him while he heaved to breathe. Despite the damage to his body, his eyes ripped through with a glare at Anton, not letting his head lower to his bully.

Her grip on her sword tightened and her legs were ready to run out to slash the men but she held back seeing the men circling Rhohaz as if to pounce on him.

Anton crouched once more to shove Rhohaz’s face to the ground as if to cut off his air.

“Tell me now, leader of Shalom. How do you feel knowing your people will meet the same fate as yours, burnt to death in such a familiar place?” Anton whispered.

Rhohaz spat blood out to glare at Anton and whispered back, “Not if I kill you first.”

Anton shoved Rhohaz’s face again to shout back, “How will you do that when you can’t even use your magic to free yourself, idiot?!”

Just then, they heard the sound of metal being drawn cut air. Rhohaz lifted his head along with Anton in confusion before they all turned around to find Vanya standing there with her sword in her hand and pointing at Anton.

“Release him now!” she shouted.

Anton jumped to his feet, his dagger in his palm, pointing back at her, “Oh darling, I was wondering where you were all this time.”

“Stop talking and release him!” Vanya shouted back.

Anton smirked placing his hands on his hips to retort, “Or what? Are you going to fight with your little sword?”

Rhohaz watched as Vanya’s eyes darkened and she took her first steps towards Anton. “No,” Rhohaz barely got a whisper out seeing her suddenly start walking then running at Anton.

Before Vanya could land her blow she was diverted by the sword of one of Anton’s men. She fought back having the two men coming at her with their weapons. Rhohaz watched as she kept up well before she lost her step and fell to the ground as one of them thrashed their sword on hers and the other kicked her from the side.

“No!” Rhohaz blurted while unable to move his body, his limbs tied and his face still planted on the ground. He painfully watched Vanya lose her grip on her sword and let go making the man with the sword swing her weapon away from her. He turned around to lift his blade ready to drive it through her body when Rhohaz’s eyes rimmed gold and the man fell on his back defying the laws of physics.

Vanya took the opportunity to kick the other away and gain her footing. She glided to her sword and secured it once more.

With the two men attacking her out cold, she turned ready to charge at Anton. But she froze seeing him kneeling behind Rhohaz, a dagger to Rhohaz’s neck waiting for her to lay her eyes on him.

“One more step and he’s bleeding to death right in front of your eyes, darling,” Anton spoke deeply.

Vanya stopped on her heels unable to decide. Rhohaz, covered in blood, his lips bleeding and his face smothered in mud looked up at her in plea. She had never seen him so destroyed before. Her heart dropped.

“Get up!” Anton dragged Rhohaz up and cut the ropes tying Rhohaz's ankles together while Vanya watched them not knowing what to do.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Where do you think you are going?” Vanya asked suddenly as she took a step in front daring herself to push Anton.

Anton immediately brought the dagger back to Rhohaz’s throat while Vanya circled them with her shoulders apart and her head held high.

Rhohaz wondered what her plan was for she looked confident as if she was hiding a trick up her sleeves all this time.

“Stop! Stop right there–” Anton shouted.

“What? Are you suddenly scared of my little sword now?” Vanya retorted with a smirk crossing her face.

Anton gritted his teeth in disgust, “I’m not scared of you–”

“But you seem like it. Didn’t expect it, did you?” Vanya pressed on taking a step closer, “Didn’t expect a weak little girl to kick your men down?”

Anton hissed, “I’ll have you both killed if you take even one step closer–”

“Go for it! Isn’t that what you came here for in the first place?!”

Rhohaz saw the anger radiating through her eyes. She was taunting Anton and she was winning.

“Stop right there!” Anton kept repeating when Vanya’s eyes locked Rhohaz’s and she gave a confident nod at him. He immediately lifted his foot that was tied to the other only a few moments ago and kicked Anton’s shin hard.

Anton cried in pain as his dagger grazed past Rhohaz’s throat and he fell to the ground.

Vanya pulled Rhohaz aside to immediately get to Anton pointing her sword at his throat while he looked up realizing she’d outsmated him with little to no effort.

“Kill me then!” he shouted at her while she considered it.

It even had Rhohaz doubting her for a moment before while her sword tipped in thought. A moment later she moved the metal away to kick Anton a few times in the stomach and leave him weeping on the ground.

“I’m not a monster like you,” she spat on his face disgusted.

She walked to Rhohaz freeing him from the rope tying his wrists. She gathered the rest to tie up Anton and his men with their backs to each other while Rhohaz attempted to help her but was told to go sit in a corner. Before leaving them she looked at Anton, moaning in pain once more. The anger in her overwhelmed her and she released it by kicking Anton once more where it hurt the most.

“Come on,” she said, making her way to Rhohaz. And for the first time, she saw him up close. His eyes wilting and his breath slow and unsteady.

She looked away before she broke down in tears. She had to be strong till she could bring him to shelter.

Rhohaz stopped her catching her wrist. Assuming he was going to ask about leaving Anton and his men behind, Vanya immediately replied saying, “I will let Chief Han know they are here. His men will take care of them.”

But Rhohaz opened his mouth to interject before he stopped and nodded in agreement. He waivered for a moment thinking if he should say it. But it was too late. Vanya noticed him lose his balance right away. Her hand reached him to catch him in time before his knees gave in and he fell to her shoulder unconscious.

***

Dawn opened its wings to the new day. The fire running through Shalom had been extinguished while the majority of the villagers were finally out of hiding and into the cold empty terrain seeing the sight of their scorched homes in front of their eyes.

The blacked brick walls looked haunting in the bare light, roofless and uninhabiting. Roza walked through the once quaint and peaceful village of hers to see the lifeless ruins greeting her coldly.

Joan and Tilly had managed to find a part of Tilly’s home still untouched by the fire as they collected blankets and leftover food to pass out to the crowd slowly gathering at the center of the village.

Clara, the infirmary nurse, had managed to keep her workplace safe and secure. She was being questioned by the council members as she grunted about how using magic to cloak the infirmary making it disappear to the naked eye at these desperate times ever meant she broke the rules. Roza had obviously joined to defend her as soon as she got wind of it.

Tilly waddled next to Joan handing out the blankets when Joan pushed herself to finally ask, “Why…why didn’t you save the village? I heard from Roza that you healed me every morning. She said you needed to attain a high level of skill to keep healing someone every day, if not you would have fallen ill, your body lifeless. Why did you not save the village?”

Joan was baffled. Yet Tilly only looked to her calmly to say, “Precisely, my dear. I no longer have the ability to save such a large village from the fire without ultimately ending my life. Rhohaz and I came to a conclusion minutes before we all headed into the caves. We planned to use our powers to contain the fire for as long as Timmie’s message would reach Elioth and we’d receive help. He and I did our best not to bleed ourselves dry and leave you all stranded with no help.”

Joan listened understanding that her worldview of the tribes with magical powers was quite narrow. It seemed so simple to her but there was much more to consider.

The sun finally began to appear adding a touch of warmth to the dreadful morning.

Vanya had managed to drag Rhohaz to a quieter area while she found him some water and held his hand hoping his pulse would get better over time.

It was Taru who found them limping out of the council hall right before dawn and agreed to let Vanya take care of Rhohaz while Taru alerted his father and the rest of his men about the leader of the Ravagers’ capture.

Vanya sighed deeply looking at Rhohaz peacefully laying there as if he was finally getting a good night's sleep after days of fighting an unseen battle.

She waited and waited while guilt took over her each minute. This was all her doing and she was the reason Rhohaz might not wake.

“It’s not your fault,” his shaky voice startled her as she turned to see his pale eyes gazing at her. Those pale eyes she missed were finally looking at her.

She leapt forward to fall into his arms surprising him, wrapping her arms around his neck to hug him closer.

“You–are–choking–” he managed to make a sound before Vanya gasped and released him to apologize for restricting his airway.

“I’m sorry, I…I was just glad you are okay,” she said as her eyes started to brim with tears.

“I’m doing much better than before,” he said in a cheery tone although his voice remained light and tired.

She came closer to him, let her hand run through his hair before she caught herself and pulled her hand back to say, “Sorry, I… never mind. I’ll let the others know you are awake.”

“No…,” he caught her wrist before she could run away from him, “...Can you stay with me for a moment? Just one moment.”

Vanya nodded to sit beside him while he continued to gently hold on to her wrist.

“I wished you would have stayed back in Elioth,” he said almost in a whisper.

“I couldn’t. How could I after knowing everyone was in danger–”

“But you shouldn’t have come inside the council hall like that. That was reckless–”

“As if you had a better idea to free yourself. The last I remember I was the one that saved you,” Vanya ended on a high note making Rhohaz chuckle. She felt relieved seeing him laugh. It seemed so far-fetched to want to see that smile.

“I didn’t think I would see you swing a sword so well. I guess we all have secrets then,” his words made Vanya gulp but he waved his hand to ease her mind and continued, “You don’t have to explain. I’m glad I am in good hands.”

Vanya peered in before retorting, “You should be.”

Rhohaz laughed again and lightly pushed Vanya as if to urge her to stop commenting.

“I’m glad you are still okay speaking with me after last morning,” Vanya said pinching herself for possibly ruining the mood.

Rhohaz raised his brows in question before he nodded his head and answered, “Oh yes, your mistake.”

“My mistake? You said it was our mistake!” Vanya argued.

“Ha! Please, it wasn’t a mistake and you know it,” he retorted right away.

“How’d you know that?” Vanya said it right back before she found Rhohaz leaning into her.

She gulped as she gazed at his lips parting and inching closer by the minute. He looked at her frozen in time before he smirked and fell back to say, “You’d never make a mistake so perfect like that.”