Chapter 64
“Who…are you?
“Honora!” I get up and press myself against the bars.
She recoils back and I
quickly back away just a bit
to not scare her.
“I…know you.” She says. “I can feel that power of yours.”
I nod. “I’m Cass. We met at
your shop when Lotus
brought me to you.”
“Yes…what in the world are
you doing here?” She asks grabbing the bars as if she is checking how sturdy they
are.
“I was sold by an enemy Alpha. Can you help me?”
She looks to the side at all
the guards and then looks back at me shaking her head.
“How can I help you? I can’t directly get you out, I’m just
a witch.”
“A witch?” Kanda asks
sounding amused, listening
in to our conversation. “You have magical powers?”
“Well yes but probably not as
you think. I can create
magical potions and enchant items. Use the power of crystals to help someone heal a disease or help with
dreams.” She looks at me as
she says this. “I don’t wield realm–bending abilities as
they embellish on books and
movies.”
I nod. “I know but you can
still help. Tell my pack where I am. I am sure they are
looking for me but they
don’t know I am here.”
She slowly nods looking
thoughtful. “Yes, I can do
that.”
I look at her with confusion.
“What are you doing here anyway?”
She looks a bit ashamed now.
“I come here to get
ingredients for my potions.
They sell things here that…well…are not sold at
other places.” She holds up a small rucksack bag. “Kidney
stones passed from a
human.”
My face scrunches in disgust as she nervously smiles. I really hope that the potion I
drank from her didn’t
contain that.
She sighs. “Listen. I will help
you but I can’t leave now. This place is not open to just anyone and every time I am here I am always being
watched. Even now. So I
have to play this off
somehow. Also, my room is
already paid for two days, if I
were to suddenly try to
leave, it would create
suspicion, plus now I have to
stay for these macabre
games.”
“Why?”
“I have to take a bet on you
now. It would look too
suspicious if I just left after talking to you.”
Her eyes go to the market. I follow her stare and see a
man staring at us.
“See.”
I nod.
“Do what you have to and
what you can. Please, just
make sure that my pack
knows.”
She nods as she puts her hand on mine holding the
cell bar. “I will help you. I
helped your mother once. I will not abandon you.”
She…helped my mother?
“Also…what is it with that
mask?” She asks looking
confused.
“Oh…they bolted it onto me
because of my power.”
“Mh…no fools. But if you
manage to take it off, you’d
be such a power to be trifled
with.”
“What?”
“I can seces your power. It is strong though there seems to
be a blockage inside of you.” She mutters. “Anyway, I will leave in two days and I will
go directly to your pack.”
“Thank you.”
She looks at the guards that
are near her. “Excuse me,
where are bets being taken? I
would like to bet on this
woman.
Right this way.” The guard says and leads her away. She
looks back at me giving me a
reassuring stare.
I close my eyes and sit, sliding down the bars.
Please, please let this work.
“Well, that is lucky.” Kanda
says.
I take her hand. “If this
works, I am freeing all of us.”
She smiles. “I would greatly appreciate it.”
About an hour passes and we are brought food but I barely eat. My stomach is in
shambles. I feel like I will
throw up again. My nerves
are getting the best of me.
“You need to eat. You need
strength for tonight.”
“I know, Kanda. I just can’t right now.” Saying this to her, my attention is drawn by a
woman who stands next to a
guard. She speaks to the
guard and then starts pacing, looking at everyone in the
cages.
The reason I am so drawn to
her is because I have seen
her before. I try my best not
to react but I am shocked
when I realize that it is Ezra’s
witch.
She stares directly at me. My
fist clenched. If it wasn’t
because bars are separating
us, I’d be tearing her apart
right now.
She stares at me and seems
intrigued but the guard next to her points to Kanda. “She is the champion with multiple wins under her.”
The witch now ignores me
and gives her attention to
Kanda.
If she is here, then Ezra
might be too.
I look around to see if I am
right but it is only her.
This place really draws magical beings in.
“What is it?” Kanda asks
noticing my change.
“That woman. I don’t like
her.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just say that this one is
not a good witch.”
“Another witch?”
I nod.
“What about this one?” I hear
the witch say as she looks at
me. “What’s with the mask?”
“Our Alpha likes to make things interesting. Basically
sew that mask to her face for
the theatrics. She is new and
won the last fight.”
She stares at me but doesn’t
seem to recognize me.
I keep a straight face but it is hard to not want to spit at her or something like that. I beg that she doesn’t get close
because I think I won’t be
able to resist myself. I’ll pull
her by the hair and break
her n*ck if I get the chance.
“Interesting.” She says taking a step closer.
I watch her with intent. Two
more steps and I got her.
To my displeasure, as she is about to take another step,
the guard leads her away to the bidding table.
I watch her. She makes a
bet–I am guessing towards
Kanda–and then vanishes.
I curse and now I am in a
foul mood. I slide back to my
seat and take my plate of food but all I do is move
things around, unable to eat.
“What did that woman do to
you? You seemed like you
wanted to hurt her.”
“No, I wanted to kill her.”
“Why?”
“That witch helped someone
hurt me. Someone who is
my enemy and now she
works for him.”
“I see. Well, you really have
some kind of luck. To see
two people you know in one day and two witches at that.”
“Luck… that’s one way to see it. To be honest, my life
seems like a big joke
sometimes. Like as if
someone is pulling the
strings on my life and I am
just a puppet in it all.”
She nods. “Life can feel like
that sometimes.”
Pushing the plate of food to
the side, I cover my nose feeling like I am about to
gag.
“Still not feeling it?” She asks.
I shake my head. “No.”
I notice her eyes going down to my stomach. She looks back into my eyes and smiles. “If you don’t eat, you
are going to get sick and
then you are really going to start throwing up.”
“I’ll start tomorrow. Let’s just
get this day out of the way.”
She drops the issue and we spend the rest of the day resting. When the sun is
starting to go down, we are
taken to the barracks to get
ready but half of the women
and men are taken to
different locations. Which I
find strange.
“Why were they taken away?”
I ask Kanda.
“They were taken to different barracks. It most likely
means that they are our
opponents.
“Oh…so you and I won’t be fighting each other.”
“No.”
I had not given this much thought till now. At any moment she or Sheril could
be my opponents. I don’t
think I could hurt them.
I chose the same gear I did before and when I am ready,
I sit in a corner waiting for
the inevitable.
Kanda on the other hand
chooses different gear this
time and seems lighter.
“Why are you not wearing
your gear?”
“They said I might be able to
shift this fight.”
“Oh! Right!”
“You should really do
something with your hair.”
She says walking up to me.
“My hair?”
She nods. “It is long and easy
to take advantage of.”
“You think so?”
She sits behind me and starts
braiding it into one long
braid.
“Try this.” She says.
“Thank you. It feels much
lighter.”
She nods with a smile. “You have very beautiful hair.”
“You think so? Growing up, I was always made fun of because of my hair.”
“Children will be children.
Don’t dwell on that.”
I like Kanda. She is a really sweet woman though she looks scary because of how
tough she looks.
There are two other girls
here with us and that
includes the girl that always
sleeps in our cell.
She doesn’t have that blanket
over her so now we can see
her better. She has straight
thin blond hair. She is very
pale, small, skinny, and looks
frail.
“Hey, what is your name?” I
ask her.
She looks at me, startled.
“Maribel.” She says.
“Uhm… are you…going to go
out like that?” I ask her.
She only wears the white drags we wear every day.
She looks away, shrugs, and
then walks towards the
weapons.
“Will…she be okay?” I
whisper.
“Mh…seems like she doesn’t
have much will to live.”
“That’s sad.”
We watch as Maribel slides
her hand across the huge long sword. It is almost the same length as her small frame. To our surprise, she
picks it up effortlessly but
then lets it hit the ground
and drags it behind her.
“…the girl is…weird.”
“What is she anyway? She
almost smelled human at
some point but now she doesn’t. I can’t ever really
pinpoint what she is.”
“Yeah…” Kanda agrees but she
also has no idea.
The door suddenly opens
and many guards walk in,
more than usual.
The main guard looks at a paper in his hands and then
looks around the room. “You
three will be fighting
twice…if you survive.”
He points to me, Kanda, and
Maribel.
“What?!” Kanda and I ask.
“You will be opening the game with a three–on–three match. If you survive, you
will fight again on single
matches tomorrow.”
“That’s ridiculous!” I shout.
“Shut up and walk!”
Maribel started walking after
the guard without any
complaints, still dragging
that huge sword with her. Taking a deep hardy breath, Kanda and I put our special
gear on my beaded nose
and mouth mask and Kanda
her circle. I then follow
along with Kanda behind
me. We are led to the middle
of the arena where the crowd
cheers when they see us.
“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s
start this show!” The
announcer starts to speak.
“First we have The Maiden!
This will be her first fight.
Let’s see how she fairs.”
That must be Maribel.
“Then we have The Persian
Princess! Made her debut last
game and won to fight
another day! And then our
female champion, The
Nubian Pharaoh! Undefeated
to this day! What a show this
will be!”
A guard comes close and
takes Kanda’s iron collar off. I
am glad because this might
give us an advantage.
I skim the crowd. Like
before, it is not a huge crowd though the stands are filled.
There do seem to be a bit
more people this time
around.
I am happy when I see
Honora. She waves at me,
and puts her fist in the air mouthing “Win!”
I smile but soon that smile
falls when I spot Zao. He stands up there as if he was king and next to him is the witch…with Ezra right by her
side.
My heart drops and I stumble almost falling.
