Jamie woke to a burning sensation on her wrist. Great, chained to a brick wall in a jail cell. I guess I can check this off my fantasy adventure checklist. NOT!

Her cheeks puffed up as she released a sigh of utter disbelief. Stay focus. The good news is that I'm still alive. I need to send a message to Master Edwards and then figure out how to get out of here.

"Master Edwards?"

"I'm in the middle of something Jamie." Master Edwards replied, grimacing with pain.

"I'm in trouble."

"What?"

She heard heavy uneven footsteps approaching.

"Look I don't have time. I'm captured."

Jamie looked up to see a very well-fed man, he had an expensive-looking silver hook for hand. Despite his size, his hobble took him to her in no time as he carried a wooden pail. The pail carried a mysterious liquid.

Does he think I'm still unconscious? She squinted and yelled at the man, “Don’t splash me, I’m awake!”

If the man could hear, he didn’t act like it. The ice-cold water jolted every cell in her body. Oddly refreshing except for the static sensation around her chest. That didn’t feel right. Please don't let that be some poison. Actually, oh God, please don't let that be some crazy elixir where I do x-rated stuff. Please god! Have mercy!

She spread her hands. My mana, I can’t feel it! Her eyes widened with fear as she looked at him with doe eyes. “What was that?”

The fat man grinned. “You think this is our first rodeo catching a mage?”

Damn-it! Well, at least I managed to contact Master Edwards for a bit. Who is this guy? Jamie watched as the man kicked a rolled carpet to create a runway on the old, wet, stone-paved ground.

“Mister. Hey Mister! Where are the children?”

The fat man didn’t reply. Then the iron door loudly creaked open.

A man's voice said, "Sorry my lady, we need to oil that. Haha. Just been busy."

“Hold the door!” a woman commanded. The empty basement was soon filled with loud footsteps approaching.

Jamie watched as the gold-tooth man from the forest bowed his head continuously, almost obsessively at someone being carried in a wooden palanquin. The four men carrying the palanquin were oddly skinny and short, barely three feet tall. “This way my lady,” the gold tooth man said.

Jamie’s jaw dropped. It’s the blind girl who wanted to kill me in the cave.

Blinka smiled. “Put me down here. Eve, please confirm it’s the pure earth.”

Eve stepped out among a group of cloaked women, she was in a red futuristic body suit, with cheongsam-inspired. She had the aura of a killer and looked older than the rest of the other women in their party.

Eve walked up to Jamie and stood close to her. Then she pulled a needle from her jacket and jabbed Jamie with it.

“Hey!” Jamie stared at Eve. Eve gave her a wicked smile.

The needle glowed magenta pink.

“It’s her, my lady. It’s glowing pink. Pink for Elvin blood.”

“Perfect.” Blinka pouted her lips. “I can give you land or gold.”

The old tooth man smiled from ear to ear. “I got an offer for a beachfront estate. And it's in the Center District.”

“Who thinks she is worth that much?”

“Witches seem to think so.”

Blinka’s brows furrowed.

“I know right, why am I so popular? Must be the fact that I can see,” Jamie said. What the fuck am I saying? Something about this girl makes me say the craziest thing.

Blinka laughed. “Smack her Eve.”

The girl turned to Jamie and smiled. Jamie smiled back. The girl raised her arm up and with her palm inches away from Jamie’s face, a strong hand grabbed her arm. The gold-tooth man looked over at Blinka. “My lady, she is my property at the moment. Now, I can’t let anyone lower the quality of my property.”

“I can give you two oceanfront properties,” Blinka said. “Both are located in the Center district.”

The gold tooth man laughed and released the girl’s arm. “I’m prepared to get the titles any time."

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Blinka raised her hand and opened it to receive. A woman in a cloak behind her placed two small scrolls in her hand.

“Mr. Moe-hawk, take a look. And I can't help but be curious, the witches, are they immortals?”

He smirked. “Yes, they are. But don’t worry, the girl is yours as soon as I validate authenticity.” Moe-hawk took the scrolls from her hands. “Not long, enough to enjoy a cup of tea. Jujube Nest is in season or would you fancy star cucumbers?”

“Jujube Nest is just what I need. And Mr. Moe-hawk?”

“Yes, my lady,” Mr. Moe-hawk said and bowed his head deeply once more.

“I don’t sense a mana flow from her. What did you do?”

“Ahh. A trade secret. We’ll give you two days' worth of the stuff. It should allow you to contain her for two days without worry that she can use mana to escape. Any more and you’ll have to pay.”

“How long until she returns to normal?”

“Typically, it's a day or two. She's elven so she might recover sooner.”

“Fascinating. We don’t need to keep her alive for long. By the way, I’m interested in the trade secret.”

Moe-hawl’s eyebrows raised at her question. He was in the middle of twirling a loose thread from his blouse around his finger, he ripped off the rouge thread and used this moment to pick his words wisely. “I’m so sorry my lady. Not that I don’t want to sell, I have a blood contract on it. Sell it and I say hi to the devil.”

“Blood contract? You have relations with Veinhams?”

“We have our ways.”

Blinka grinned mischievously. “Let’s talk more over tea.”

“I’m not for sale,” Jamie muttered as the group left her still chained to the wall. Jamie took in a deep breath and released it. She’s going to kill me. Damn-it! Stay calm. Breathe. Now think, how do I get out of here?

As Jamie assessed the room, she failed to notice a steady stream of clear smoke was being pumped into the basement.

A few moments later, Jamie woke up in a cage. The bumpy sensation she felt told her she was being transported in a carriage. Great, I managed to fall asleep. Weird, it feels like a hangover though…

Jamie spread her fingers and her eyes lit up. My mana! I could feel it!

Jamie proceeded to bend the steel bars and quietly slipped out of the cage. She peeled back a curtain and looked out. The carriage was entering a city, she could see guards at the entrance of the city walls.

She opened her palm to create a transport portal but instead of a portal a puff of smoke appeared. Great, not enough mana.

She searched her body in the hopes they left behind a weapon or two. They stripped me clean. No money. No bracelets. Curse these bandits! But if I can bend the cage, maybe…

A tall guard approached the first carriage. “Identifications.”

Eve looked at the guard and showed him a badge. The guard took out a mana scanner and beamed it at the badge. His eyes almost popped out of his sockets and he bowed.

“All five carriages are yours?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” The tall guard turned to the other guards and shouted, “Let them through!”

"You didn't check the other carriages!" one guard replied.

"I said let them through! Or I'll check you!" The tall guard turned back at Eve and nervously smiled. She responded with a nod and looked forward as the gates started to open.

The carriages continued through the city until they reached the center of the city. By the time they stopped at a very fancy-looking mansion, the full moon was already high in the sky.

Eve raised her hands in the direction of the gates and it opened.

“AHAHAHAHAHAH!” a girl’s scream erupted.

Blinka exited her carriage, “It’s a shapeshifter.”

“My lady, we have the pure earth.”

“I’m still competing in the Love Contest. Have you girls even seen General Ames?”

The servant girls looked at each other to see who met him. No one has.

Blinka sighed. “I’m blind, but I can still hear. He sounds as attractive as I’m told he looks.”

The servant girls giggled. “Plus, his mana is out of this world. He must be the strongest man I’ve ever met and he will be mine.”

“Yes, and you will have him, my lady. You are only behind Navarda right now,” Eve said.

“Don’t mention that woman’s name. It pisses me off how much she’s able to do off on pure talent alone.”

Eve bowed her head and with a look of urgency, “Where is the shapeshifter, my lady? We should hurry,” Eve said.

“No, you need to watch over the transfer of the pure earth. Nothing must go wrong and we cannot waste this opportunity.”

“Yes, my lady,” Eve said and bowed as Blinka disappeared before her eyes.

Eve and the rest of the carriages entered the gate. Upon stopping at a small outhouse on the property, Eve got down and opened the carriage carrying Jamie. She opened the carriage and dropped her bamboo water bottle.

“What is it?” a cloaked girl said.

Eve slammed the carriage door shut. “Blinka’s going to kill us.”

----------------------------------------

In the alleyway, a girl about 16 looked at the creature in front of her with terror. She screamed, “Help! Help! Shapeshifter!”

“Come here little girl, I won’t hurt you,” it said and beckoned at the girl with its long gross-looking finger.

SWISH! The gross-looking finger fell to the ground.

“Can’t you tell she’s not interested?”

The creature turned to face Jamie. With a broken bottle in hand, she jammed the mana-infused bottle into the creature’s neck. The shapeshifter fell to the ground and died. Thank God, that was easy. Well, plan B was having Blinka rescue me. She would've sensed the shapeshifter. Now, I need to get the hell out of here.

Blinka appeared at the scene to see a crying girl and a dead shapeshifter. She walked over to the shapeshifter. “This mana. It can’t be!”

----------------------------------------

Jamie’s run down the opposite alleyway became a skip, and in her excitement, she leaped into the air. “YESSSS!” I’m still in the game. But how many did the others get already? Stop it! Stay positive. One is better than zero!

As she continued to run, she ran into a tall figure.

“Alaric?”

“Jamie? Thank Gladmora.”

“Have you seen the boys?”

“No. The thing is, I have a deal with Master Edwards so I kept an eye on you. I have a tracker on you.”

“What? But before that, how did you escape?”

“I didn’t. I’m lucky to be alive. They left one of the guys behind to kill me. I bribed him with gold and he let me go.”

“Thank goodness. I would’ve felt so bad. We left you completely defensiveness. But hurry, we need to go back and rescue the boys.”

“I’ll show you the way to-”

Jamie’s stomach growled loudly, interrupting Alaric’s statement.

“Let’s get you some food first.”

“No, we don’t have time.”

“Look, you’re no good starving. There’s a bounty hunter bar near the church, Blinka won’t look for you there.”

“What do you know about her?”

“Her father owns this town.”

“He’s super rich?”

“He’s the King’s brother.”

“Oh.”

“Oh is right,” Blinka said from behind them.

“God! Are you serious? Aren’t you supposed to be blind?” Jamie asked.

Blinka smiled. “You still such a novice. I’m going to kill you here and now. I shouldn’t have been so greedy before.”

“Greedy? What were you planning to do with me?”

“Drain you. Elven blood is very useful.”

“I thought you’re supposed to be a noble. Draining blood does not sound like a noble act.”

Alaric turned to catch Jamie’s eyes, “What is going on?”

“She’s been trying to kill me.” Jamie turned her attention back to Blinka. The last time we met, I barely got away. Maybe with Alaric’s help, we could defeat her.

“How many shapeshifters have you killed Pure Earth?”

“My name is Jamie. And I have killed one, what about you?”

“I don’t care to say.”

“What? I told you my number.”

“Yes, you did,” Blinka smirked and raised her staff. "It was pointless though, a dead person can never catch up."