Sierra had been staying in this town for 9 days. Since she didn’t have two naughty kids to care about, most of the time she only spent it alone. This town was bigger than North Alania, thus travellers were more common. Although some people still glanced at her curiously, as usual she ignored them entirely.
That man, who offered her a ride before, turned out to be a husband of a dressmaker. Her name was May. They were still young, but had to marriage early since she pregnant first. Yet up until today, Sierra didn’t see any kids around their small house. And she didn’t have any curiosity about the matter.
May often searched for her, saying that she didn’t have many friends around the same age with her. Duh, if only Sierra could say, she’s way older than her. Still, May wasn’t the type of person who pry much into people’s life. One thing Sierra dislike about her was that she… forced her to wear her handmade clothes all the
“Excuse me, what are you talking about?”Sierra abruptly jumped off from the carriage as she didn’t quite hear the whole conversation. The words that went through her ears were mayor, North Alania, and killed.The woman cleared her throat first before sharing the news excitedly. “In North Alania! The mayor was killed by a young boy! They said that ugh- what was it, stabbed on the heart!”“Who is the killer’s name?” Sierra didn’t realize that her voice already trembling with uneasiness. The woman tried to think and she replied embarrassingly, “I don’t remember it. They said that he’s an orphan. Anyway, he’s going to be executed-““Miss! What are you doing?!”Sierra, in a speed of light, had quickly untied on a horse and jumped unto it. Before she went away, she threw a small bag of coins to the owner, “I’m buying your horse.”Igno
With her quick reflex, Sierra grabbed Leon’s shirt and pulled him to hide behind her back. Then, in the following seconds, a wall of fire was made to block the soldiers. “AHH!! Hot!! So hot!!”“Follow me now!”Sierra then forcefully dragged the boy to hide again between the dark alley; ignoring some familiar faces who were dead already. After she made sure that they’re safe, she spoke annoyedly, “Great, now they know someone’s fighting back.” Of course, Sierra grumbled only in a little voice as she felt nervous for the other stupid boy. It’s been a long time since her stomached ached so bad. Now that Leon’s here, she only needed to find Gray.“Sierra!” Leon abruptly hugged her strongly. Taking a deep breath, she wondered why so many people hugged her tonight. However, for this boy, Sierra tapped her back softly, as if she wanted to calm the other.“Where’s Gray?&rdqu
“PUT OUT THAT DAMN FIRE, YOU USELESS FOOLS!!”“Yes, Prince!”Some soldiers who had Water Blessings, summoned their powers, but like before, nothing could pass the wall of fire. “What the hell?” The Prince furrowed his eyebrows unhappily. Behind the curtain of flame, Sierra managed to walk in seamlessly and tap Gray’s shoulder.“Stupid, kid,” she whispered as she knelt down to make an eye contact. Gray’s eyes went bigger as he couldn’t believe his sight, “Am I in heaven now?” He spoke hoarsely.“No, you don’t.” With a quick move, Gray was freed from all the binds at the execution platform. When they ready to move, Sierra suddenly stopped herself and stared at her fire. Looked like someone was able to put down her power in a terrifying rate. It had been a long time since this happened to her. With a calm move, she stood in front of the kid and prepared her bow.
When the three of them managed to go out of the town’s gate, Gray took a quick glance behind. His home was already gone. Fire was raging, dead people with their eyes opened wide…How could things turn into this?!“Gray! We don’t have time!” Sierra snapped impatiently, which was a pretty rare situation. They ran towards the woods, tried to blend in with the surroundings. At some point, the bad soldiers were coming out from the town with horses. They wanted to hunt the three survivors.Sierra annoyedly looked behind as an arrow whoosh passed her shoulder. “That damn bastards!”“Gray!” She looked at the boy with hazel eyes. “Use your power to block it or we’re going to have holes in our back!”“Wha- I can’t!” He answered panickily, but at the same time, relief as an arrow flied passed his body. “Yes, you can, Gray!” Leon also roared behind him, panti
“Where’s Gray?”Leon finally sat down in the small room that Sierra rented. It felt like the heavy luggage that he carried was gone. Sierra stared at him intently, as if she wanted to scan the younger boy. His face was dirty, and he was thinner than the last time she saw him.“I don’t know. You’re the second one to arrive after me.”Hearing that, Leon furrowed his eyebrows, “He’s going to be fine, right?”Sierra didn’t answer and shrugged her shoulders, “We still have two days left. If he doesn’t arrive, I’ll go out to search for him.”Leon nodded his head and started to play with his fingers. “Leon, what’s wrong?”It was silence for a long time until he hoarsely spoke, “I- I don’t know what happen to my family.”“That night, it happened too fast. I couldn’t sneak pass the soldiers. I was too afraid
The other man was a handsome, tall man. He was young, maybe not that different with Leon’s age. However, his force was really strong; choking the boy to the wall without any mercy.“Come on, Xion! That’s a little kid!”The muscular man, who appeared drunk a minute ago, now seemed sober and aware. At that moment, Leon understood that he fell into their traps. They might be the soldiers who massacred his family! The man called Xion didn’t loosen his grip, instead he answered back coldly, “Well, Keith. At this age and time, you would never know what a kid capable of.”“Oh, man! Do you think they born from war era?! See! He’s turning blue!”The man called Xion didn’t hear his companion words. With a serious face, he asked to the kid he pinned, “You. Why are you following us? Do you know s-“Before he could finish his words, an arrow flied to his head in a fast speed. That tall man was really fast, jumping backward to separate himself from Leon. Both of the men pulled their swords, cutting
“S-sorry?” Keith clearly caught off guard; he was sure he spoke in a really quiet voice, almost none in fact, since he was trained to do that for years. Also, for some reasons, his back started to sweat with his lips getting dried.“Sierra!!” Gray stood out from his bed, standing in front of the lady and held her hands. She was different from the time they spent their time together; another side that new to him and Leon. However, he could understand it. They hadn’t had easy nights these past weeks.“They’re nice guys. You have to trust me, okay? There’s time when I’m in danger, but they save me over and over again.”“Why would you be in danger?” Sierra snorted. She was sure no stupid soldiers crawled alive from her hell that night.“Because we-uh, entered a wrong cave?” Gray smiled stupidly, scratching his head as he looked at tallest man in the room, “What was that
“I’m fine with it, seriously,” Gray told Sierra in the most cheerful tone. Since the discussion almost turned into fist fight, Gray asked the men to step outside for a bit while he explained the whole things to Sierra and Leon. Xion didn’t like it, but Keith, with his bloody face, pushed his friend out from the room.“And I’m not stupid,” he continued, “I’m not doing it for free. They-uh… they said they can clear my name in the state’s court.”“Wow, really?!” Leon went excited, “Sierra, it means good, right?”“How come you’re so sure about that?” She crossed her arms, eyes narrowed judgingly. “Haven’t you learnt your lesson back then? Do I need to remind you?” She didn’t stop, and shot her words like a venom, “Gray, I seriously expect something better than to foolishly trust two strangers.”The boys were used to hear her scolding, but this time… for some reasons, her words really cut deep into their bones; even Leon felt like he almost cried, he wondered what about his friend next to