CHAPTER 10

CAGED

 

Two jangling chains hanging from the suspended top wall. Metallic rings gleaming dully on either of the chains.

And in between those circular rings was hauled up from the ground two thin arms and an unconscious small delicate body of a young girl. The tip of her toes barely touching the ground.

Bare and only left with enough clothing to keep her private parts under cover.

A crude whistle played by a burly man in the background as he fiddled through the belongings of the girl. Holding a small knife and checking on its sharpness, which he found inside a hidden pocket. He held out the tip of his finger and set the blade spinning on it, perfectly horizontal.

“…Ahaa..a…” A faint voice slipped from the lips of the young girl hanging mercilessly from the chains. Her eyes flickered in the scant light from a far lantern. She felt cold because of her missing outfit and at the same time her throat was parched. Breathing dry air in, it only brought more pain for her tired body.

“So, you finally decided to wake up. Your weak human body couldn’t even hold for a second. Did you really think this knife would have been enough for you to kill me?” The man’s voice broke the silence of the room.

Caige, the identity of the captured girl who could barely do her eyelids apart saw the man approaching her with the blunt knife in his hand.

Just his assertive voice was enough to make Caige remember what had happened just before she fell unconscious and recognized the man as the previous chief of the Dalton gang. Or, rather the elder of the Dalton brothers.

“After all, you are also a human. I am sure if I put that knife through your neck, you too will bleed out and die. There’s no doubt in my mind that weapon will be more than enough for me to kill you.” A weak laughter left Caige’s pained face as she followed up by putting up a fake smile.

Caige’s words were hollow and lacking strength. But in no way, it seemed like she was simply joking or playing around with words.

“So, you hate me that much after what I did. You haven’t really changed after these many months have gone by.” The elder Dalton brother for a moment sounded as if he had been instead reminiscing. But it was just for a brief moment when that expressionless cold look on his face came back.

One could have easily felt their conversation a bit disoriented, but in all truth the two hated every human being from the bottom of their heart.

“I despise you with every fiber of my being. But you seemed to have changed a lot past these months and even got a fresh new tattoo. Those new marks are revolting. Unless, that is when people turn into real savages, they just become simple fashion and a part of them.” Caige muttered as her energy was slowly returning to her.

Quickly becoming aware of her surroundings and realizing that she could not really escape without breaking those chains. She felt powerless, not knowing what was going to happen from there on.

And the scarier of them all was being alone with the person she was betrayed by and afraid of the most.

“This facial scar is not simply the fashion those barbarians like to keep but a memento. A genuine part of me.” The elder Dalton brother without any reservation accepted Caige’s remark. He traces his fingers across the cut mark through his face which went past his back neck and down till the tail bone of his spine. It was deep and the moment he touched them it brought pain… painful memories.

Things that were snatched away from him and lives that were sacrificed for the people who later turned enemies on him.

“So you say those are your prizes…”  Caige was confused. She could not really understand what he meant by calling them as such.

“Not prizes but you can call them a mark of my wicked deeds that I committed… and am about to commit.” The voice of his became twisted. His intense gazes steered his eyebrows to center of his forehead.

An uncontrolled glee left toppled his sad expression as he let Caige in on his secret that he had been planning past these months. The reason he went to the trouble of obtaining such a huge hideout hidden so deep in the forest.

“What are you planning to do? Tell me.” Caige shouted impatient as she began to feel helpless without Maia by her side.

There rarely was a chance she was ever left lonely. And the days when Maia would spend her night at the orphanage instead of their hideout. Caige would have to sleep alone, or rather she passed those nights emptily staring at the sky.

The scant light of the stars in the sky was always far out of her reach so she never bothered with them. Her life was filled with darkness, so she found her own star on the ground, keeping it always close to her heart.

“You didn’t think I created this entire place for kicks, did you?” The elder Dalton brother could only crack a maniacal smile seeing Caige so impatient and go wild. He might had been the only one who had ever seen Caige in such a miserable state and breaking that rigid a soul filled him with extreme pleasure.

Caige’s mind on the other hand raced, trying to connect all the dots and things she had observed in these few months carefully and not miss out on any specific detail.

The one of the few reasons Caige and Maia could operate freely on their own was because the Dalton Gang had for some time gone underground.

But what if that really was not the case? Or, they were simply just too busy doing something even important than being highway robbers. This thought had always kept Caige bugging.

Or, why would such a huge bandit group hole themselves up in a stronghold. Unless they weren’t protecting themselves but were trying to keep something safe within these walls.

Caige’s eyes widened, her face went pale as to remembering how over these past few months the number of kidnappings in the Plum Town and other nearby towns and cities had drastically increased. And no one could really tell who was behind them.

Unless the mastermind of those kidnappings was the person standing right in front of her and the one behind all of this. Only he could have the brains, power and resources to run such a huge racket without anyone else finding out about it.

From there it was easy for anyone to surmise that he had kidnapped every one of them and is keeping them somewhere locked up in this hideout. But for what purpose, Caige really needed to know.

Because, simply put even her own life, that of Maia’s and the children of the orphanage were at stake. There would have been no place they could have ran to, left after this.

“What are you planning to do with them? Am I also one of your victims or did you lose your manhood that you have fallen so low so as to kidnap children now? Did the blood of the innocent people you slew turned you into a real coward now.” Caige could not help but slowly her contained feelings over these past few minutes had slowly turned into derogatory comments. For the person for whom she once used to work or more so they were old trustworthy partners.

“So, you figured it out that soon. But you have been cunning like a fox from day one. Misleading people, making them fall into your tricks and finally bringing them to us only to meet their ends.”

“You lied to me, you murderer.” Caige cut in between. Not able to control her emotions and overpowered by her past-mistakes of how she was abused could no longer keep her quiet.

“You don’t need to be on guard. Either way I was going to reveal my plan to you because you have only figured out half of it.” The corners of his mouth upturned in a poisonous grin, swinging Caige’s sword he threw it at a wooden pole a little farther from her.

The blade of a knife made a bull’s eye hit on a small local map; the tip strictly stuck on the labeled land ⸺ the port city of Gilde.

“What else is there to figure out if for money you are going to sell them to slave traders?” Caige turned her head away in disgust, as the man to whom she once considered in high esteem.

City of Gilde being a port town directly connected the human continent and the demon continent via sea routes. Trade flourished and it brought riches from round the world.

But there were those who wanted to exploit these routes and keep it all for themselves. Bandits occupied the land; sea pirates took over the oceans and slave traders and dons banded together to run the show in each of their territories.

But the Dalton Brothers were different. They had no background; they did not come from powerful places like others. But they followed their own set of principles and came at the top.

Despite being a human not able to use magic just like Caige, he rise to the top of all the bigshots in this free region of demon continent. Conquering this vast plains, mines and finally claimed this important highway to the port city for himself.

BANG….

The elder Dalton brother threw his hand like a hammer on a nearby table and it cracked on the center.

“Don’t belittle my aspirations with something as lowly as money.”

“Then what is that you are actually after?” Caige followed his outburst with a straightforward question.

 “Control. Control ⸺over everything. And that can only be done by acquiring unsurmountable power. Then no one will be able to defy me or snatch away anything from me ever again.” Uncontrollable anger surged through him and at the same time it was quelled by his own rationality.

A pin drop silence fell in the room. Caige still couldn’t comprehend the man’s sudden thirst for control or power. Surely, there was a part of his life that she was still not aware of.

But it did not matter to Caige, if at the end it was all going  to end with their deaths.

 “No one can give a life taken and people easily chew out others when they see that they are just as weak. Easy to manipulate, they strike at them where it hurts the most and finally take control over their lives. People like me and you who can’t use magic are always looked down upon, but we have our brains working to build up plans and catch our preys. Acting to deceive others…and finally when I acquire the power to control others. I will turn this whole place of how it should exist.” The elder Dalton brother played around with his head like a kid as if he was going to snap his own neck.

“What would you mean by that?” Caige had a sickened look on her face. Despite his talk of powers. It was meaningless for humans like them to use magic, if they were born without magical nerves in their body. And there was no alternative to it.

“Don’t you think it would have been better if you had that demi-human girl’s power for yourselves? What else reason could you have  for keeping her by your side as a pet.” The elder Dalton brother said with a sly twist in his tongue.

Caige fell silent. She wanted to deny it. But a really small part of her always thought of having the luxury to enjoy the same power that Maia had. Caige was weak in front of anyone who could use magic or was trained in combat.

She could not enhance her body to move quickly or throw fire from her palms to decimate her enemies; but had to resort to throwing stones putting her life in danger.

But there was even a greater reason she needed Maia because…..

“Don’t tell me you are still going on and on about your childish dream of claiming this world as your territory. Did she too made that promise to you? Or, to the person you were pretending to be? If at the end you are going to be used and thrown away by her too.” The elder Dalton brother leered close to Caige as he spoke those dreadful words into her ears.

He was the only other person with whom Caige had shared the secret of the promise she had made with Maia. It’s because she considered him as an equal who was in a similar position with his brother who excelled both in fire magic and close combat.

‘No…no....no… Maia and I. We made a promise together. I will never break it and betray her.’ Caige’s life was over the day when her parents threw her away, tried to kill her, sold off to slavery until she finally ran away.

Lost in streets, beaten, always on the run. She was in a worse state than an animal. Cheating others, snatching things, food and money. Learning thievery skills and to swindle others just to earn a single coarse bread for the day and a piece of a meat sometime in a month if she happened to chance upon a gold laying hen.

She was slowly drowning in a swamp. No one to pull her out. Falling into its deeper darkness and greater depths.

Until the day she met Maia and realised her own worth. And that day she made a   promise to her that together they would claim everything in this world for themselves. Every richness in this entire world would have their name etched on it.

“Or, is it because you want to keep her clean that you haven’t told her what you have done or about your past. After all that plotting we had done together; keeping her attached to your side… so she is just a tool for you in your bigger plans.”

SHRR…RRRRR….

The chains kept on rattling as every word said by the elder Dalton brother weighed heavy on her. But Caige was unable to break them no matter how much strength she put into.

“Don’t tell me you think you can keep yourself clean, strong and innocent by staying by her side. Don’t tell me the fearless you is starting to grow up to be needy?” The elder Dalton brother held the dangling chains tight, restricting its metallic voice that spoke of Caige’s rejection.

He just couldn’t keep his questions to minimum. In truth he was infatuated with Caige’s smarts.

Another of the reason he despised Caige was because of her unbreakable spirt. Of how she continues to fight even from the depths of that swamp which had already swallowed him wholly. There was no part left of him that he could call his own.

And once again in search of power he had now sunk to its bottom until the day it would become his grave too.

Seeing her give up and fall in despair was now the thing he wanted to see the most.

“Don’t tell me you have tied me here only to make me listen to your nonsense. Or, is there any end to your madness after this.” Caige managed a brave, trembling face. She needed to get herself out of there as quick as possible. Find everyone and then escape the town.

For some reason she couldn’t help but think of that human girl who would be leaving tomorrow too. Caige was glad that someone like her wasn’t dragged into this mess because of her. Maybe it was because of how she appeared different form the rest of the crowd to Caige, that she worried.

To her Alicia appeared free, unlike her who was chained with poverty, hunger and greed. Someone so pure that they would have purified that same black swamp by a single touch should have never come close to her.

“Maybe I have side stepped from my main motive. Caige, I want you to join me. Then you too can have all the power for yourselves that you have ever dreamt of. So, strong that not even an army could stand against us. We can claim kingdoms and no one would be able to again take away anything from us. This cruel world won’t let us go back to who we were and no matter to whom you associate with you cannot keep acting innocent. If seeing someone like me makes your head boil. And if you want to kill me right now not for those chains, then we are no different.” The elder Dalton brother spoke with zeal. His eyes fiery red with anger, as he indomitably stared at Caige. His hands reaching out to her.

All Caige could do was return those avaricious gazes of his with her own fearless attitude.

The elder Dalton brother continued, “But you can’t kill me. Simply because you lack power. But if you think kids are allowed to fool themselves as much as they want. These inhuman human out there won’t halt their hunt until you grow up. The outside world is full of monsters that kill and feed upon their own kind – humans.”

“In no way we two are same. And I swear I am going to make you pay for all of this. Your name, your people, your wealth, your reign and even all of your desires… I will destroy all of it! And this is not a threat. I will take away everything from you and make it my own.” Caige could only scream at him as her hands were still tied.

Either way if it had been the younger Dalton brother or any one for that matter they would have not expected much, that Caige could have done even with her hands open. And despite that something always kept the elder Dalton brother at his guard around this girl.

He knew all he had done was scrapped of the surface and Caige’s resolve would not topple so easily.

“Unfortunately you can’t take away something from nothing.” The younger Dalton brother turned his head away and walking back to Caige, “How about I set you free from that beast girl? I am sure the doctor won’t mind if the specimen is in bad condition as long as they all are alive.”

“Don’t you dare do anything to her? And who is this doctor you are talking to about.” Blinding white rage strained Caige’s forehead, her body stiffened only to left crying in pain as the chains held her back. The moment her freedom was snatched away from her; she might had lost but she still hadn’t given in.

“Caige, have you ever met a devil?” Seeing her desperate and try so hard, the elder Dalton brother couldn’t help but wonder.

“No. but I think if there are any devils, they would look just like you… and me.”

“The Doctor… he is a genius mad scientist. The man who is going to grant me super powers which no one has ever seen; and even an eternal life.”

“Are you sure you are not being swindled by a newbie who wants to make big on his first try.” Caige laughed at the absurdity of the claims he subsequently made.

“He must have been an incarnate of devil now in human flesh. I have already witnessed what the doctor can do with his research. That place is no less than a hell surrounded with monsters so powerful the world is not yet ready to handle them. If unleashed it would only spread destruction and chaos. And once I too have grabbed that power, I am going to rip this city, this country and everyone living in it which took away everything from me.”

“If I want something I will find my own devil. I am not like you. I won’t hurt anyone for my own benefit, not ever again.” Caige smirked. She still couldn’t believe what the elder Dalton brother spoke or rather she refused to accept something like that could be even done.

“Are you trying to buy time, or waiting for help to show up. If you look outside.”

Caige did as he said and looking through a closed semi-translucent window pane, it was dark already.

“If you are waiting for your friend to show up and rescue you, the time allotted to her is about to end. You keep on calling other humans a fool but in truth it is to hide you own weakness and fear of them. You are too brittle that it would take just one turn for you to beak.”

Caige didn’t knew what kind of deal Maia and he made. But all she wished for was her safety. She would have preferred if Maia had betrayed her and ran away with all children at orphanage before it was too late for them. She didn’t really knew this time whether she would have been able to protect them. Her own life wasn’t guaranteed, unless she took his offer.

‘But why would he go this far? Am I really that pitiful and weak? Does Maia see me the same way and so she stays with me?’ Caige teared up. She didn’t realise until now that she even had the luxury to cry.

“What if that beast girl never returned. And ran with all the hard-earned money you made…”

Caige had all her expression blown away. Finally, it was the look on her face that he was so looking forward to. Tears rolled down her eyes, as they trickled over the wooden floor.

“Nothing would have made me happier…”

Caige’s response was in contrast to her hopeless expression as she let those tears wash off all her useless worries.

The elder Dalton brother couldn’t believe to what he listened and saw. His eyes baulked in disbelief.

THAK….THAK…THAK…

From outside strange noises of a continuous metal knocking could be heard.

“It seems that your friend hasn’t disappointed you.”

“What? Maia is here!” Caige remembered looking through the window and how it was already night.

‘Maia shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous.’ Caige thought as she saw him making some preparation.

“What are you planning to do to her. MAIA… Maia. Run away, it’s dangerous. Maia….” Caige screamed out her name. Hoping she would listen but considering how her voice did not resonate.

A simple sound barrier must had been put over the place. The man was just that careful, letting all the noises in but no information to leak outside.

“If you cut an animal on an ordinary day its meat. But if you feed it every day for it to grow strong and healthy. When the day you chop off its head, you call it a sacrifice. Nevertheless, some sacrifices are always needed in form of specimen. Young children with powers especially those like your pet here.”

“Damn you…I’ll kill you! I swear it! You’ll die by my hand!!”

But Caige’s screams were only drowned out by his mad laughter.

One of them wanted to see the other cry and in despair.

While the other wanted to see him die an agonizing death.

***

 

DALTON GANG’S HIDEOUT

“Here’s all the money I promised.” Maia threw the bag which she received from the Alicia at one of the bandits who was standing there.

Maia took a final glance at the setting sun and was relieved that she was able to pay off all her debts on time, even if it meant that she was herself in a much bigger debt now.

As long as Caige and everyone in the orphanage was fine, Maia never worried further.

The bandit handed the bag to the Boss, the younger Dalton Brother.

“Does this small bag really contain all the money?”

“Of course. It’s an enchanted bag. I cannot carry around twenty-five thousand Crown gold coins openly in public.” Maia hurriedly answered.

“I would have been surprised if you would have even managed to collect one. Maybe that’s the reason my brother always said to keep an eye on you two.” Saying that, still in doubt. The younger Dalton brother emptied the whole bag on the floor.

The rumbling of thousands of Crown gold coins, caught everyone’s attention as a hushed silence fell over the entire place. Every bandit’s brain and eyes ogling over their dreams they could fulfill with those coins now scattered on the floor.

There was no doubt that with these many coins one could become a governor of a an estate and lead a luxurious life for several of their generations without work. But none of them let their greed slip outside their boundary, because the moment they did⸺

Their heads would be sent flying. There was no room for betrayal in the Dalton Gang.

“Now release Caige as you promised.” Maia with a relieved face tried to remind them.

THAK….THAK…THAK…

Suddenly all the bandits in her vicinity started to knock their swords hilt on the ground producing a menacing metallic sound. Maia didn’t knew why they were doing this. But it could have been some sort of signal. Maia thought to herself.

Everyone around Maia was laughing… as they slyly looked at her.

“Put her in the locker with the rest of them.” The younger Dalton brother announced.

“This is not what you actually promised.” Maia sneered at him in protest.

“You have only to blame your friend for trying to bring you into this… there’s no right or wrong. And promises are not absolute justice here.”

Everyone with swords started approaching Maia. They had wild lustful expression on their faces as they leered like scums on her feminine body.

Magic arrows already aimed at her from far above trees. Maia could easily sense them. Her escape route cut off from the back by another group of bandits which appeared out of nowhere. Maia was a stranger to the layout of the hideout, so she knew there would be hidden traps everywhere.

If she used her power, she would be shot down with magic before the transformation would be complete.

She was now completely trapped. She didn’t knew she should take the chance. But if she gave up even before trying, she would never be able to be together with Caige again.

If Maia had learnt one thing from Caige then it was that they would never be the one to back down, never had they before. And not even now.

***

 

ALICIA ASCALON ASHBORN

“Are you sure there won’t be any more accidents.” Regis looked uncertain. She did not seemed much happy about the whole event. Well we were going to go against the strongest bandit group here.

I have asked Al to locate Maia’s whereabouts. And Regis rode the bike in that direction.

“Yeah, I made all the adjustments and changes after our first crash. Regis, we need this to get to Maia quick.” I held Regis from back tightly as usual. Somehow, I was able to coax her into the driver’s position again.

The bike vroomed and hit the road as fast as it could as we headed deeper into the forest, while the sun was about to set.

Visibility reduced inside the dense mountain forest. We still decided to speed up our bike to get to Maia as quick as possible before it was going to be too late.

Neither of us wanted to be haunted by a ghost of someone who was in debt. At least it was a reason motivating enough for Regis to get moving and not slow down even in the dark.

Regis used all her elf’s instincts to still drive smoothly. She was enjoying the bike ride this time with a much better user-enhanced experience with manual breaks installed for her.

There was absolutely no chance of an accident this time.

She too was worried about Caige and Maia.

“Alicia, I have been thinking for a long time. Is this one of your jobs where you grant the others their wishes?” Regis remembered how I had told her that I grant wishes. Not to forget I granted one of Regis’s wishes too.

But in case of Maia and Caige the same could not be said.

“Unfortunately, Maia and Caige’s wishes do not meet the conditions and so they do not qualify for me to grant their wishes. Instead, I have decided to make a deal with them.”

“A deal?” Regis was perplexed.

“Maybe we can get into the details when we reach there.” I  told Regis. There was no guarantee that it would all work out. It all depended on Caige and Maia to decide.

And we wouldn’t know unless we reach there.

“Alicia could it be that Caige is even in a bigger problem, than Maia. She is nowhere to be found. Shouldn’t we be searching for her first?” Regis necessarily tried to guess out the situation. And I too might have jumped to the same conclusion.

“If it’s about her, I don’t think we need to worry that much. She can handle herself alright.” I said wondering, if only it was possible for her to use that, without having any magic circuit inside her body.

***

 

 A DARK ROOM

‘I thought I could do anything with my intelligence and with Maia at my side. I was her hero and for all the children at the orphanage. No wonder I’d assumed that these things would remain with me forever. They would never be snatched away from me. Just like my family abandoned me after they found out I could not use the inherent family skill because I did not possess magic.’ Caige remembered, her head hurt as the veins on her forehead puffed up.

But a thought came back to her, the one she had buried deep inside of her.

Caige had seen lot more deaths from the day she was born.  Everyone dies someday eventually whether they have power or not. She was told that time and time again. That’s why she had to accomplish whatever she could while she was still living. And to oppose that exact unfairness of this world; she herself had to use that unfair power.

No matter where Caige would have ran these vile bandits would have found and killed her after that. She was well aware of this and exactly knew that the only way to survive was to eradicate the source of it.

Even if it meant… putting her own life in danger.

A grim hideous smile emerged on Caige’s face, still hidden under the darkness of her bent head.

“Without actual power your existence is meaningless. Now quit acting like a spoiled child and accept your fate and join me. Even if you don’t, I will make sure everyone whom you have ever cared about will be your stepping stone to gaining power as you trample on their lives.” The elder Dalton brother was adamant this time with his demand.

Their wouldn't be a word from there. No talks. No agreements. Just settlements.

And the Payment ⸺ her death.

That was one of the laws of the Daltons.

The elder Dalton brother looked at Caige, ‘Finally⸺ she has learnt. The terror of getting their most precious thing snatched away means. There can be no replacements. That’s why she can’t give up. Beg for your life, for your own safety. For the sake of living free and strong. And then maybe…’ The elder Dalton brother’s thought was suddenly halted by an explosion from the outside.

BOOOMMMMM….

“Has some kind of problem developed outside. Did someone interfered?” He was plenty sure of his plan and there was no way of it going wrong unless there was a third-party interference.

The cries from the outside intensified. The two people in the room had no idea what brought that kind of development.

But Caige was untouched by the cries of those bandits, while the elder Dalton Brother was at guard.

And seeing that despairing succumbed to his face, Caige couldn’t help but laugh.

“No devil ever fulfills someone’s need without wanting something in return. If you have offered your sanity that would explain it.” Caige chortled, her eyes looked menacing under her bangs. All the tension made her sweat profusely. But her body grew colder and colder, until she stopped thinking.

And decided to take action.

“You are levelheaded and more than capable for your age. But you ought to know the difference between being vigilant and extremely foolish. If that’s going to be your reply. Then I will make sure that everyone you care about remembers that the one they would be suffering of because will be you.” He said in a worrisome state. Something happening on the outside made him to reconsider his devices. While here in front, Caige suddenly started behaving unlike herself.

It was like a bolt of lightning tearing through his wits, Caige’s distinct voice and the resulting change in the surrounding. As if he was just now realizing the incognizant fear, he had from Caige was not just an illusion.

“If you ever try to lay a hand on Maia, I promise ⸺I will hunt you down with my own hands. If she cries, I promise ⸺I will snatch your eyeballs. And even if there is a little scratch on her, I promise ⸺this land will bathe in your blood.” Caige screamed and laughed at the same time.

The loud cries of the bandit from the outside intensified as if a fight had broken out. But the elder Dalton brother really knew how important that term ‘promise’ really meant to Caige.

Helplessly tied, mentally broken down and tired.

And yet she could keep a daring smile on her face and look directly into his eye.

The elder Dalton brother shuddered, as if he could finally see the true Caige hidden behind all those guises and facades he witnessed over the years they worked together. He gulped but could only engage himself in a glare.

“Even if I have to put my hands in the same filth as you. I won’t let her suffer, even if that means I will end up suffering alone. If she was ever hurt, I promise I will kill you.”

Caige gave off her final cry as a giant explosion made the whole ground rumble.

A fire spread out around the building and the room was now in flames from the side walls. Dense smoke walls started filing in the room.

It was from the outside. The elder Dalton brother turned around, waiting for anyone to come and notify him of the outside situation and put out the fire. But there were no emergency message or alarm.

In the meantime he was distracted, all of Caige’s wandering senses became connected in a single moment. Her eyes shot open as if her body was prepared to bear the brunt.

“Ugh…ah…” She couldn’t produce anything but dry grunts. “Urh…rrgh…”

“No matter what you do you have lost. Even if you look smug or act like you have all figured yourself out, you cannot do anything when you are under my grasp.” He retorted to Caige’s desperate attempt.

The only thing was that he himself wasn’t sure of it. The surrounding against Caige looked lambent. He had no sense to feel magic but his analytic senses were in no way inferior.

He looked around for clues, and the strange noise of something moving inexplicably caught his attention. The blade he had thrown in the map wiggled like jelly.

And the next instant before he realised what Caige was trying to do. A sharp voice shot through.

Swoooshshhh…..

The knife flew out through the hole with force and ran across Caige’s chains severing them in one stroke. Caige fell to the ground while the knife dropped down at the same time, clattering beside her. With the rattling of the falling chains, the elder Dalton brother came out of his shock.

“Gr…raaah!!” He howled briefly, as he ran towards Caige to stop her.

It shouldn’t had been possible for Caige to use magic.

Unless out of all dumb possibilities, for all this time she had been hiding a skill.

“Uagghhhhh!!” Caige using every ounce of her strength and willpower to push herself up. She grabbed the knife and her small body sprung like a spring, putting all her leftover power she had saved into her feet.

 He watched Caige’s unsteady rise to her feet with his mouth agape. Having no choice he brought his hands to the hilt of the sword tucked to his side belt. A bit indecisive in his action.

“I won’t let you…” He babbled; his voice so high-pitched it sounded like it was playing at double speed.

Then suddenly his expression froze in place as a dagger pierced his neck.

“Hwuh?” An inhuman noise leaked from his lips. Trails of blood splattered out and messed up with the dagger holder’s face. While a stream of perfect red line gushed out from the cut.

But there was a small miss when Caige noticed her attack ended up in the column between his neck and shoulder.

Not minding the blood on her face, and as if she had done this quite a number of times.

“Wahhhhaa…” Caige screamed again and drilled her knife deeper into the his neck.

It all ended in a flash as the dagger shearing through all the arteries severed the connection between his head and heart.

Life drained away from his wound. It was a miracle he didn’t die instantly. The sword in his hand left his grip and fell next to him. Clang.

His lips moved. Muffled with blood, but Caige was still able to make it out.

“……..”

And with that he saw one last sight of Caige before he crumpled to the floor.

The monstrous look on Caige’s face.

On the other hand, he did not had an agonized bearing, nor he looked angry, rather his expression was a condescending satisfaction of sort.

Everything suddenly grew quiet as if nothing had happened at all. The room was still surrounded in fire.

“I told you my promise is everything to me. And that’s what you get for underestimating this knife. I don’t need special powers to prove my worth unlike you who hated those who have it. And I will give Maia the best possible life with my own hands… no, the two of us would complete our own dream together.” Caige talked no further to the dead body. She thought it was a complete waste of time to reply to his last words.

She puts her hand to the floor and lift herself up again. Red girdles formed around her wrists due to the metallic chains made it difficult for her to put force.

Her body was burning.

What she had used was an inherent family magic – or rather a very basic and small portion of that ultimate skill. A secret she even hid from Maia.

But even this basic portion; giving her the ability to control the movements of objects in short range. She had to forcibly burn through a large amount of her life force.

It was done all on emotion. She was not trained in aural arts and had no magic veins in her body to conduct such powerful energy stream. Nevertheless the power surged in her body forming strains all around her forehead and arms which now resigned to decisive pain.

Her brain suffered from a splitting pain while her arms dangled like they were about to fall off. The knife was stuck between the tight grip of her folded fist. Blood still trickled from its tips.

“Koh…kohhh….” Caige wheezed, breaking into a series of hacking coughs.

Blood splattered out from her mouth. Clenching her chest tight, her lungs were heavy with stagnant air. Breathing further became difficult because of the smoke.

When Caige was a  kid, she was told that she would never be able to use magic and if she decided to use her skill forcibly it would shorten her life-span and worsen her health condition every time she used it.

That’s why Caige forbid herself for ever using it. And she kept it reserved for moments like this without anybody knowing about it. Her own trump card.

She tried walking to the door, and every time her legs gave up, she fell on her knees. Light slowly fading from her eyes.

Figures of her pasts flashed before her… “Maia….”

Her lips curled up thinking she was finally able to get to her on time.

Their dream was still alive and breathing.

***

{ Next Chapter : The Best Duo in the World }

 

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