“Don’t forget…you pointed it at me first.” Those were the words Abeni said when glaring down the end of three sharp pieces of metal held by the guard, Yousef and Martin’s mum.

“You should not do that.” The village chief cracked up. Beyond amused by the sight of her pointing a kitchen knife towards three surely experienced fighters.

“Capture her!” He yelled,.

Ideally, Abeni didn’t want to reveal her abilities, but when a sword held by the guard came straight at her, she had to defend herself. Her kitchen knife clashed with the heavy force of his short sword. He was nothing compared to Oware’s speed and strength, but this still hurt a bit. They collided twice. Clang! Thrice. Clang!

“Ugh!” Abeni grunted at his force and proximity but then leant in without a second thought. This might be her only chance!

She whispered before he could step back. “Drop your weapon.”

And he did just that. The sound of the metal clanking around on the smoothened stone floor echoed in the silence as everyone watched what he had just done. Including the guard who had an intense look of shock on his face, gasping as he looked at her, down at his empty fingers and then back at her.

That was one out of nine commands.

‘Be at peace’ may have worked, but that wasn’t the point of this command. Her intention wasn’t to defeat him but to assess their abilities, their strength. To surprise them without making it obvious that she did something to him. So, when he didn’t pick it back up, she smiled. This was almost like a game with how easy it was to play with these eniyans. She needed them to show her the full extent of what they could do so she knew how to either create an easy opening or defeat them on the spot.

“A traitor, huh? Caterina, dispos—”

But before the village chief could give the order, the guard protested, “I didn’t! That was a mistake or...I don’t know!”

No one talked for that moment, eyes flickering back and forth but ultimately landing on the chief for his response. Which he soon gave in a low tone. Angrier than Abeni thought she had ever heard him sound.

“You dare lie to me.” The village chief growled, breaking the silence then rubbed his hand down his face, revealing wild eyes that reminded her of the ẹda who killed her parents. “You really can’t trust a novice. Someone get rid of him!”

Said guard flinched so abruptly, turning his back to Abeni. But unless she had to, she wouldn’t attack. That would be dirty.

“No, no! I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me just now. Please! Please chief, spare me!”

But he was ignored as the chief waved to Martin’s mum who promptly lifted her own short sword up in the air above his face. Abeni almost whined at the lack of manipulation going on around her, she still needed to know what abilities they had. Why was this woman still using her stupid short sword?

“Tiff! Tiffany, we’ve worked together for a long time, come on! Please—!”

But she had no mercy and drove that sword into his skull. The cracking sound was so much louder than it had been at the banquet when the village chief ordered the death of that novice guard suffering from the curse. The blood was warmer too.

Wait, warm? Warm blood? Abeni reached up to touch her face and brought her hand back down to see dark red liquid staining her hand under the dim light. Bam! The body dropped to the ground at that instant, head split in two right by Abeni’s feet and she... struggled to regain reason.

This was the first time she had seen a dead body so close. Ever had one’s blood on her face. Her veins stood on end. The curse took hold of her mind as she tried to control the racing questions thrashing around up there. What were their abilities? Why were they here? Why? Why? Why did things have to end up like this?

The chief quickly caught onto her distress. “Looks like the curse will ruin her before I do! Good, I still need to interrogate her.” Then sent Martin’s mum to deal with her. Yousef on standby. Everyone following his orders to a T.

Abeni backed away from the body, willing herself to relax and rip her gaze from it. Willing herself to forget those aimless questions for later. She had a fight right in front of her and had to use it to gather information which was perhaps even harder to do. But Oware’s placed her trust in her. She believed in Abeni’s ability to keep them alive. She couldn’t just succumb to terror or this cursed curse!

Abeni’s eyes began to water, not out of fear, but out of frustration as she watched Martin’s mum manipulate the water in their drinkable water bucket with her bare hands, shape it into a jet of liquid and shot it at Abeni’s body at such an inhuman speed that she knew she couldn’t have dodged if she hadn’t been training her ass off for almost two months straight.

Splash! It’s above her head. Slosh! It’s at her feet. Woosh! It just narrowly missed her half-bitten right ear as it landed behind her and they could all feel the stone hut wall shake as broken rocks, limp water and pieces of pretty blue hanging fabric fell from the wall that now had a dent as large as someone’s head in it.

Abeni gasped, tears still falling from her eyes as she assessed the situation. She gripped the kitchen knife in her hand but felt too hesitant to stab Martin’s mum who was already gathering the water back up again. Forget being stabbed, she didn’t know if she could survive one hit of that.

Don’t panic. Don’t panic! Abeni told herself, eyeing the water, ready to dodge. There was no time for that. She had the advantage and now that she knew at least one hunter’s ability. She shouldn’t hold back anymore. She would die at that rate after they were done with her.

So, a moment later, when Martin’s mum had shot another jet, instead of dodging, Abeni simply headed straight for the woman, twisting away from the water which almost destroyed her waist and it only took a few paces before she was right by her ear, whispering her command.

“You—!”

“Be at peace.”

That’s two of nine.

As expected, Martin’s mum froze in place. The chief paused in his gloating at that sight, speechless as Caterina demanded the woman move to no avail. Now, that Abeni had revealed herself, it was only a matter of time until she had to shout out their signal. The white-haired girl jumped away, still able to see the woman’s fearful expression at no longer being able to feel an aggressive bone in her body.

“What is happening?” The village chief looked around confused. “You…” he growls at the back of Martin’s mum’s – Tiffany’s – head. “You double-crossing tramp! Your son will rue this day as the day you condemned his fate as a merchant.”

The village chief sounded more forgiving than he had with the novice guard, though. Her abilities must be what made him spare her life despite his accusations. Plus, Abeni suspected he might be onto her now with how obvious she had been.

“But I’ve been loyal! You promised you would take him in!”

“And yet you betrayed me!”

“I...didn’t...”

Or not. For all that talk, he was quite slow. But that was good. It seemed that they were a bit slow since they didn’t get what was truly going on. Abeni grinned, wiped the tears and blood from her cheeks and flicked it onto the floor, silently curling her finger the chief’s way. And he exploded, just as she expected. Finally, he looked as wronged as Abeni felt inside.

An entitled child in the body of a man. How pathetic.

“Merchant! Farmer! I’ll pay you double if you seize that girl right this instant! I don’t care how you do it! This wasn’t supposed to happen like this. She must’ve been working behind the scenes to turn all the weaklings and women against me. I shouldn’t be surprised.”

Abeni raised her eyebrows at the conclusion he was reached. Wow...was it seriously that implausible that she just had mind-manipulation abilities?

The farmer stuttered in his response. “I-I will do my best!”

While Yousef grinned, just as remorseless as he always was. “Oh, thanks then!”

Abeni wanted to make an easy opening, but it wasn’t yet time for one. Not now as the tanned merchant who she thought was a novice and the farmer who she presumed was a junior did a combined attack. Before Yousef even moved, the farmer used his hands to thrust a compressed box of light her way.

Close your eyes! Her instincts said as the box’s lid opened only in her – and her alone – face. The sudden and intense light penetrated her eyelids and temporarily blinded her. And when she opened her eyes, she saw the tip of a sword a finger’s width away from cutting her left arm while she was still holding tightly onto her kitchen knife in her right. No, no, no!

With limited sight, Abeni bent her right arm, switched the kitchen knife to her left hand and awkwardly but successfully deflected the swing with a loud clang! All in one move. It was impossible to block the weight behind his sword, but redirecting was a different story entirely. Though she was right-handed, she had practised using both hands.

“What—!” But before Abeni could even be proud of herself and amused by how Yousef who only cared about what she had in this hut completely lost his balance and almost tumbled backwards at the contact, she looked at the junior behind them.

The farmer had already charged another, larger box of light, and she knew that if she took one more, she wouldn’t be able to see for a while. Recall everything! When training, as well as throwing arrows for the sake of practice, she also tried that with short swords and knives. If she could just do that, judging by how much he was using his hands when shooting the box, he wouldn’t be able to use his ability the same wa—!

“Don’t ignore me, little one!”

Oh no. Yousef had already recovered. And if Abeni threw her knife, she wouldn’t be armed—! But the farmer was sending that box off, the tanned merchant was swinging at her again, so she had to! Now!

Dodge, aim, fire!

[Current Total Beings In ‘Abeni’s Army’ – 2]