The Enchanted Flame

Chapter 10 - Either us or them

"Are you alright?" Killian asked after observing me silently for the last few hours.

"Yes, why won't I be?" I said, in a normal voice letting no emotion show from those words.

"Uh...you have not said a word during this whole journey."

I shook my head gently dismissing his words with a smile, "It is nothing. I just don't want to waste our time talking."

But the truth was something else, ever since we left Edor's place, their conversation which I overheard and Edor's warning was all I could think about. 

I was having doubts about trusting Killian but still, I was walking beside him with no questions. 

Why? 

I had no idea, I tried to bring myself to leave to use my magic. I could fight the guards, at least, I knew they were bad. With Killian, I was shooting my target in the dark. I did not know if helping me was real or if he had an alternative motive behind it.

"If you are tired, we can take a break, or eat something," Killian tried to start a conversation one more time just like he had been trying ever since we left Edor's place but every time I ended the conversation with small replies.

"It is fine, where are we going?" 

We kept on walking in the deeper darker parts of a valley that was surrounded by the tall mountains from every end. I hugged the jacket closely as a wave of cold wind passed by us. 

"We are almost there."

He still did not answer my question. I was clueless about the place where we were going as well the reason for our journey because as far as I knew we already had the pendant that would guide me out of the dark forest. 

There were two problems in front of me, one, the pendant was in Killian's pocket and two, I had no idea about my way out of the kingdom. 

"Killian, I am tired of walking without any reason. We have the pendant why are we still here?"

"Patient, shortcake," he answered smugly, knowing very well how much the nickname annoyed me.

"For the last time…." but I could not complete my sentence as a sword came out of nowhere.

With a gasp, I looked at the sword in front of us, barely a few inches away from my foot, almost a good part of it was in the ground showing by how much force it was thrown. It was already an accomplishment considering the ground was mostly made of rocks. 

But Killian was glaring at something else with a hard look on his face.

"Show yourself, coward," he growled, his voice echoing between the mountains.

"Give us the witch and no harm will come to you, boy" a voice came, and then three men emerged from the fog. 

The man who said the sentence was staring at me from head to toe.

I took a step closer to Killian, not feeling comfortable at all. 

Killian was quick to cover me from the hateful eyes of the men.

"Leave and no harm will come to you," Killian repeated his words in a mocking manner.

The man had a black thick beard and hateful green eyes. He shared a look with the one standing next to him, who had the same eyes as him but looked much younger. The younger guy was as buff as the man with a beard but had a beanie over his head and was looking at everyone with curiosity.

While the third man was leaner and taller than the other two and had a sword in his hand. His one eye was white and had a long scar running through half of his face. He looked more dangerous than the other two, with a wild look on his face. 

The man with the beard let out a loud laugh, "Boy, you have no matter here with the witch. Them filthy creatures have no place in our Kingdom."

The lean man nodded along quickly.

"Look, old hag, leave. I won't repeat myself again."

"Give us the girl," the lean man repeated in a thick voice.

"Did I stutter?" 

The lean man ran towards Killian with his sword in the air, ready to strike. 

"Stop," the man with the beard said, who seemed to be their leader. 

"Why are you going against the King, boy? Don't you love your life?" 

Killian looked at him blankly, "I am not scared of anyone."

"Ah," the man said in a delightful voice, "young blood, thinks no one is as strong."

The lean man took the opportunity to sneak behind Killian. I made eye contact with him and he was ready to attack me with his sword. 

I covered my eyes with my hands. 

But then I heard the sound of someone falling on the ground loudly and I uncovered my eyes slowly fearing something happened to Killian.

To my surprise the lean man was on the ground, his eyes were closed and his neck looked twisted in an unnatural manner. Then I realized what happened. I moved my gaze slowly towards Killian, who was fuming with anger. His iris had a golden ring in the outer corner shining like fire. 

I did not know much about the superior shifters but this felt far away from normal.

The younger guy watched the body of his teammate in horror but when his vision shifted towards Killian he turned pale with fear. 

"That's not.." the man with the beard opened his mouth but before he could complete the sentence Killian threw the sword of the lean man towards him, hitting him straight over his heart. 

Unconsciously, I took a step back as I made contact with the blank eyes of the man. 

The younger guy looked broken, torn if he should run for his life leaving the bodies behind, or stay and face the same fate as the other two. 

He finally kneeled to the ground, between the bodies of two people who clearly meant something to him. He looked defeated, ready to accept his fate. 

Killian was about to take a step in his direction but I held his hand.

He turned to give me a confused look, his eyes still shining with anger. 

"Let him go," I whispered softly. 

The guy looked almost the same age as me.

He did not dare to look up from the ground.

A small growl came out of Killian's throat and he reluctantly looked at the guy again with a hard look. 

Just when I thought he would kill him as well, he turned around and started walking.

"Are you coming?" 

I gave one final look to the guy who was staring at me with tearful eyes. 

"Yes," I ran towards Killian.

Killian was quiet and his eyes were back to normal but I could feel the anger radiating from him. I had never seen this side of him and even though I was not scared it was just a reminder of how little I knew about him. 

There was no regret on his face.

"You just killed two people," I said the words slowly and carefully.

"I did not have a memory loss, shortcake," he answered in a joking manner with no guilt on his face. 

"How does it not bother you?" 

He let out a sigh, "It was either us or them. They would have done the same with us. It could have been you on the ground and I would make the same choice again if I have to."

I looked at him speechlessly as he continued walking. Why was I not scared of this man? I should be running in the opposite direction, not in the same direction with him.

"Two wrongs do not make a right," I licked my lips that were turning dry from the wind, "you could have left them alive, you proved your point and they would not have messed with you after that."

"Well, I did leave one of them alive and if you think the other two would have left easily then you know nothing about this side of the kingdom, shortcake."

Once again, he said the words so casually as though killing was natural for him. 

While, I could still see the empty, hollow eyes of the man and the blood pooling around the sword. How broken the boy looked.

Was I making a mistake by trusting Killian? 

"Thank you."

He gave me a confused look raising his thick brow.

"For saving my life earlier, even though I do not like the way you decided to deal with the situation. I can not ignore that you are the reason we both are alive."

Killian passed a small smile, "You're welcome. Don't worry, I will never let anything bad happen to you, shortcake."

"Can I ask you something?" 

"Hmm," he responded without looking at me.

"Why do you live alone?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean, why don't you live with your family?" 

His jaw clenched slightly, and just when I thought he was not going to answer the question he opened his mouth, "the same reason you were not living with yours."

I looked at my feet, as I continued walking on the rocky path. 

He has no idea about the whole story. I just told him how I felt different from them, he did not know how my family only cared about maintaining their image and getting more power. 

I was nothing but an outcast, the weirdo of the family. There was no way Killian was the same. 

"Stay here," Killian instructed as he continued walking and eventually disappeared from sight. 

I was not comfortable staying alone, especially without my powers. 

I bit the inside of my cheeks as my eyes searched for Killian. 

After a few minutes of waiting, I sat down on the rock but kept looking in the direction where Killian left. 

It was already not very bright there and even that light had started to disappear. 

Finally, Killian appeared with a smile. 

I quickly stood up, "Where did you go?" 

He opened his fist to reveal the pendant, but inside the diamond it looked like fire was burning, giving it a beautiful glow. 

"Edor said, he does not have the way to make it work in the room," he said putting the pendant on my neck, I gathered my hair that was in a low ponytail and put them in front. 

His fingers touched my exposed skin gently sending shivers on my skin. 

"All done," he grinned.

I ran my fingers softly over the teardrop shaped diamond that was not glowing anymore but felt warm.

"Why isn't it glowing anymore?" I asked with a frown.

Killian was already looking at me with a smile, "Whenever it glows just know you are on the right path."

"I don't know how I should.."

"Seriously don't say thank you again, I am so done hearing it again and again. In fact, from now on you are prohibited from saying the word."

"Then how am I supposed to thank you?" 

"We will find a way later," he replied, holding my hand as he guided me away from the rocky path as the darkness fell over our heads.

Even with the fire, the cold night was still making me shiver while Killian was sitting with no sense of cold weather. 

He stood up and walked over to me. I did not look at him, I was too cold for that but then I felt something warm over myself. 

It was Killian's jacket. 

"Killian, you need this. It is too cold here."

He sat down next to me, "Cold doesn't bother me, shortcake." He added a wink in the end. 

I shook my head and was about to remove the jacket but Killian stopped me, "I am serious. I do not feel cold. I am a shifter."

"Then why were you wearing a jacket?" 

"Fashion," he answered like it was pretty obvious. 

I smiled looking at the burning fire. He was not all that bad.