The smell of blood was unmistakable.

It was the first thing Stilas recognized when woke up. The smell of blood was thick in the air and it was mingled with smoke and wet dog. He was sitting on a chair in the dark. He blinked twice and tried to move his arms, but they were tied behind him. He rolled his wrists and felt another person’s hands.

“You’re awake!” Bethany exclaimed in a hoarse whisper

“What happened?” Stilas demanded as he pulled against the ropes

“Shh!” Bethany’s voice wavered, “They’ll hear you.”

The creaking of a door told him that her warning was too late. The silhouette of the second redneck filled the wooden door. His boots thumped on the wood floor as he walked in. He slugged Stilas across the face and drew blood.

Stilas licked his lip and glared at the man. He made a mental note to kill that one slowly.

“You killed my pa.” The man accused

“He tried to kill me first. If he had left me alone he’d still be alive.” Stilas laced his words with hate, “You could’ve learned something from that.”

The man hit Stilas again. He shook his hand, “The only reason you ain’t dead is cause yer girl says you can get us more of these.” He pulled the pistol that Stilas had given Bethany out from behind him.

Stilas spit blood on the man’s shoes, “What makes you think that I’m going to help you?”

The man leveled the pistol and fired it. The beam shot over Stilas’ shoulder and hit Bethany in the top of her right shoulder.

“Ahhh!” She screamed

The smell of burning skin mixed with the rest of the smells in the shed. Stilas pulled against his ropes. He could still feel the ring on his left hand, but if he burned through the ropes he would burn Bethany’s hands. The thought of hurting her made him pause.

The man pointed the pistol at her other shoulder then lifted it up, “It’s a shame to me mess’n up such a purdy thing, but my brothers won’t mind.” He leaned in, “Last chance to save her some pain.”

Stilas clenched his jaw and stared at the door.

“Suit yerself.” The man stepped back and pointed the pistol at his original target.

Stilas closed his eyes, “Stop!” He opened them to glare at the man, “I’ll get you more guns.

“I knew you’d see things my way.” The man said he backed up, “When I get back we’re going to go for a walk, and yer going to take me to yer stash.”

The man walked out and slammed the door behind him. Stilas sat in the darkness and listened to Bethany sniffle.

“Are you okay?” Stilas whispered.

“I’m fine.” Bethany’s voice wavered, “How is your head?”

The throbbing in his head had gone down. It was his jaw that hurt the most at the moment. The human could throw a punch.

“It’s okay.” Stilas replied, “What happened?”

“They jumped us at the bridge. I tried to shoot that one, but you got in the way.”

Stilas closed his eyes. She hadn’t been trying to shoot him. It hadn’t made sense back then, but almost a hundred years of distrust had sent him into his learned habit.

“I’m sorry.” Stilas said,

“Sorry?” Bethany asked, “For what?”

“Your hand. Not trusting you.” Stilas hung his head, “You wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t tried to stop you.”

“It’s fine.” Bethany said, “I just don’t want to die here.”

Stilas tugged against the ropes, “I’m not going to let you die here.”

“Can you use magic?” Bethany asked,

“All I can do is burn the ropes.” Stilas said,

“Then do it!” Bethany exclaimed. She lowered her voice, “Sorry.”

“I can’t.” Stilas said, “I’d burn you if I do.”

“He’s going to kill both of us if you don’t.” Bethany pulled against the ropes, “Do it!”

Stilas took a deep breath and called fire into his hands. He turned his palms away from Bethany. The flames pooled in his hands and licked at the ropes.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The sound of heavy footsteps outside thumped through the thin walls.

“Hurry!” Bethany urged, “He’s coming back.”

The door opened and Stilas surged the fire. The flames sliced through the ropes and he was free. He killed the flames as he jumped out of the chair and grabbed the man by the front of his collar. He pulled him inside the shed and slammed the door. The chain that the man had been holding clanked as it hit the ground.

Stilas punched the man once in the face and knocked him out. He let the limp man fall to the floor.

Bethany was standing up from her chair; her hands were covered in blisters.

Stilas gently took her hands in his. He was careful not to touch them too firmly, but she still winced at his touch.

“I’m sorry.” Stilas let her hand drop away, “I tried to keep the flames by me.”

“It’s okay.” Bethany wiggled her fingers, they still work.”

Stilas looked over at the unconscious man and had an idea. He dug into his pocket and retrieved his pen. The fools hadn’t found anything else on his since he kept everything in his dimensional pocket. The pen was obviously not a weapon, so they had left it. He smiled as he moved the man over into the center of the shed and drew a circle around him. They would never know how wrong they were.

When he finished the circle he took Bethany by her good arm and moved her next to it and drew a second circle around her. The two circles overlapped around him so she was standing inside both circles.

“What are you doing?” Bethany asked

Stilas smiled, “Just watch.”

He bent down and tapped on the intersection of the circles with the pen. Dim blue light illuminated the edge of both circles and raced around the edge. Stilas rotated around and tapped on the intersection behind him. The same light ran out and merged with the first light.

Stilas flipped the pen around and grasped it tight in his hand. In a swift motion, he stabbed the man in the chest. The tattoo on his right hand began leaking magic down the shaft of the pen and tendrils pierced into the man.

Stilas held out his left hand towards Bethany, “Lay your hands on mine.”

Bethany did as he instructed. Her hands were still too warm, but he was going to fix that. He closed his eyes as he focused on the spell he wanted. He had never used the transfer spell between two people before. It had always been between himself and one other person. As his focus sharpened he could feel the magic welling up inside him. He spoke the word to trigger the spell.

“Transfer.” The word sounded foreign, even though he had used it nearly a hundred times. The magic too was unlike anything he had ever touched. For most of his spells, magic felt hot. It was like he was on fire. The heat was contagious and begged to be fed. More spells had to be cast and it was intoxicating. This was different. As the magic flowed between his arms it felt like he was relaxing in a cool mountain stream. Instead of winding him up, he was getting calmer and more focused. The feeling scared him and he broke the connection.

“What was that?” Bethany asked

Stilas looked up at her. The burns on her hands were gone, as was the mark on her shoulder. He pointed at the man lying on the floor, “I gave your wounds to him.”

“You can do that?” Bethany asked

Stilas grabbed his pistol out of the man’s pants and tossed it behind him to Bethany, “I can do a lot more than that.” He reached up and grabbed the man by the throat. He squeezed and there was a dull crack.

Bethany crouched down next to Stilas, “Did you just kill him?”

“He hurt you.” Stilas ran his hand through the blood on the man’s lip. His power stone soaked up the blood but remained white. He shoved the man in the chest one more time for good measure.

“We need to get out of here.” Bethany said.

Stilas pulled his pen out of the man’s chest and wiped on the dead man’s shirt. “We will.” He clicked the pen twice as he stood up, “Once I kill everyone out there.”

Bethany grabbed his arm, “Please don’t!” We can leave now.” She pouched out her lip. “Let’s just go.”

Stilas paused. His rage begged to be sated. He needed to kill everyone there for hurting Bethany. The realization kept him from shrugging her grip off. He had never been strong enough to even consider fighting for someone else. His father had allowed him to be assigned to the Congress’ army. That meant he became a military Mage instead of learning to fight at the University. All military Mages were used as scent dogs for magical traps. If they found one, then they were the ones who had to disarm it. Life expectancy was short and every day something was trying to kill you. He had been ready to give up hope when his friend introduced him to black magic.

Black magic was forbidden, but it had jump-started his magic reserves. He had jumped from a rank two mage to a rank four mage in under a month. It had opened his mind to new possibilities and allowed him to do research that the Elders never would’ve allowed. The downside was that he became hunted again. He had been overpowered a second time and sent into hiding in Dark Legion space, where he had bidden his time until he could come back and exact revenge against the arrogant hypocritical Elves that had ruined his life simply because he wasn’t “strong” enough.

All the power, all the rage. The thirst for revenge. It all disappeared under the weight of one hand. Sure, he could’ve pulled away from her hand. He was stronger than her. But he couldn’t. The rage melted and his desire for revenge vanished.

“We’ll leave.” Stilas turned away from the door. He drew a circle on the wall and activated a portal inside it. It was dark through the portal, but it was somewhere safe.

“Where are we going?” Bethany asked as she threaded her fingers through his.

Stilas stepped through the portal and gently pulled her through with him. It closed behind them with a low hum. He pointed at the cabin in front of them, “Someplace safe.”

He walked up to the door and kicked it open. The inside was barely decorated. There was a couch, two chairs, and a fireplace to his right. A sink was on the wall to his left bordered by old shelves. That was it. There was no bed, no stove, and no electricity.

“How did you know about this place?” Bethany asked as she sat down on the couch

Stilas tossed a small fireball into the fireplace. It blossomed to life and began spreading warmth into the room. He stepped back through the door and grabbed a handful of wood. He could keep the fire going on his willpower alone, but that would take the energy that he needed to save. He tossed the wood into the fire and sat down on the couch next to Bethany. They sat in silence and watched the fire. Before he fell asleep he would need to ward the door and the windows, but for right now he was going to enjoy the warmth of the fire.

Bethany snuggled closer into his side and he wrapped his right arm around her. Her slow even breaths told him that she was already asleep. He yawned and settled back on the couch. It had been a long day. Maybe the door and windows didn’t have to be warded. He would deal with any problems they had when the time came. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. For the first time in his life, something felt right. He slowly surrendered to fatigue. He was going to have problems to deal with in the morning, but for this moment, he wasn’t going to fight. He was just going to exist at the moment.