Lunar Heart, Shadow Bound ✓ [when the moon lies]

Ch.10: Everywhere a Sorcerer

Edited: Apr, 30, 2020

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After a few moments of walking, up ahead was a brick building with a lantern sticking out from the side. Yellow-gold light pooled out on the ground. Five silhouettes of cloaked figures stood under the light—two leaning against the wall. She sniffed. They were Human males. Her fur bristled a little, but Lai-ikolo gently touched her arm.

"Don't worry. They won't harm you with me around," she said with a smile. "Come, but we shall hurry." She took Pinti by the arm and pulled her along.

Although the Humans' eyes gleamed beneath their hoods, they did nothing as Lai-ikolo and Pinti walked by. Her heart thumped heavily against her chest. She glanced at Lai-ikolo and saw a smirk play on her lips.

"See?" she whispered, "Nothing to worr—"

"A rare specimen," said one of the males. "And a Lai-ikolo." His voice was still young, barely an adult, but she sensed immense power that made her fur tingle.

"Keep away!" Lai-ikolo shoved Pinti behind her. "She's mine."

Pinti blinked out of a daze at Lai-ikolo's harsh tone. The soft, warm blanket was swept away. A cold dread filled her body and fell like a rock in her stomach. Confusion clouded her mind and she stayed rooted where she was.

The young male chuckled. "Of course," He took a step forward into the light, "we will do this the Sorcerer way," he said and held out his hand. Lai-ikolo straightened her back and stalked up to the Sorcerer.

"Fine then. But is it not the Sorcerer way to remove your hood? Why must you conceal yourself?"

The male chuckled and said, "You want me to take off my hood?" He glanced at his friends and they joined in the laugh. "I heard you weren't all that bright."

He grabbed his hood and flicked it off. Just as his voice was, his face was also young. He had orange eyes and his dark brown skin contrasted his white hair with bright yellow streaks in it that glowed.

"I am Brevelord. I see no reason to state my last name to an imbecile like you."

Lai-ikolo sniffed. "I know about you, but a Junior? You have nothing against me." She shook his hand. "Are you working for someone?"

"Alsinda vin Miluandé," Brevelord sneered. Lai-ikolo gasped and her hair billowed in a breeze that Pinti couldn't feel. "Ah," He chuckled, "you have animosity towards her. She thought so." Brevelord looked behind her at Pinti. He released the handshake and snapped his fingers. Lai-ikolo sprang towards her. Pain zipped across her back and Pinti yowled just as she was lifted up from the ground.

Yowling and groaning, she twisted her body in the air, but invisible ropes tightened around her. A cloth appeared and covered her mouth, muffling her screams. Panic surged through her, but the more she struggled, the more the ropes dug into her fur.

"Let her go!" Lai-ikolo shrieked and a gust of cold air swished around the ground in a mist of white. "I will not let Alsinda take her away. She's mine! Mine! My Kathula. I must have her, I must. She's perfect for my collection!"

How could I have been so stupid? Pinti bit her lip hard to punish herself for succumbing for a Sorcerer's sweet words. Lai-ikolo was just like the many others who thought Kathula was a fine prize.

The Humans gathered around Lai-ikolo and brandished swords. White and blue sparkles surrounded Lai-ikolo in ribbon swirls. Around and around her body they went, and her hair billowed behind. The Humans' swords one by one began to glow a different color each until all five of them made up a gradation of yellow to green.