Inheritance

Chapter 15: As You Wish

Pollyanna strode to Kori's side and readied her blade—holding it high in the air. Kori looked back at her fearlessly--unblinkingly--and tried to summon a fireball, but she was too exhausted. It fizzled out.

With a yell, Pollyanna drove the sword downward but stopped when Eory dashed in front of his caretaker and screamed, "stop, stop! She's my friend!"

Pollyanna looked enraged. "You fool! She's held you hostage all this time—you were her prisoner!"

"Eory, get out of here! If you go with her, you will almost certainly fall victim to your heritage!" Kori said weakly.

Eory did not budge an inch, however. He looked Pollyanna in the eye determinedly.

Pollyanna looked back just as fearlessly, but eventually, the woman's hands shook on the hilt of her sword. She growled, but then reluctantly lowered her blade. "Guess I've killed enough for today. I'll leave her alive but you're coming with me, Eory."

Pollyanna seized his wrist and dragged him out of the broken carriage and into the snow.

Kori weakly sat up and said, "leave him! You will take him nowhere!"

Somehow, Kori found the strength to summon another fireball and readied herself to launch it at Pollyanna.

Eory struggled against Pollyanna, but she was a strong and tall human woman—seven feet and muscular.

"Let me go!" He demanded. "You're supposed to obey me! I want to stay with Kori!"

Pollyanna turned her nose up at how pathetic he was. None of his relatives were ever so sniveling. Eory breathed harshly and his heart pounded wildly. He'd never been so scared in his life. This woman could easily kill him. "You really are a stupid fool if you think you're going to go to that ball and have anything good come out of it."

"T-then... Come with us to the ball! If something goes wrong, you can protect me!" Eory suggested.

Kori said uncertainly as yet another of her fireballs fizzled out, "move, Eory! I can hurt her!"

Eory shook his head. "N-no..."

Eory looked up at Pollyanna and thought that her blue eyes looked just as beautiful as they did in his imagination—even if they did simultaneously terrify them with their derisive coldness.

Pollyanna didn't return his look of fear or adoration. She only had a scowl on her face.

Gershom leapt out of the carriage and barked as he ran to Eory's side. Eory picked him up and stroked him nervously.

As he stroked the dog, Eory was reminded of his brother. He remembered a very important secret that his family kept about Pollyanna; something that nobody else on the whole of Yharos knew. They had repeated it to him often, and he never forgot.

I order you to...

Eory whispered so that Kori couldn't hear him, "I order you to take us to the castle. Right now. You'll die if you don't, right?"

Pollyanna stared him down angrily for a moment in shock. Her face twitched with barely-restrained rage and then she snarled furiously as she cut up a nearby tree with her sword.

Eory was taken aback by her rage and shivered a little as he petted his dog.

Pollyanna turned to the pair after a moment of panting and then smoothed her hair back with a sarcastic grin. "Very well. I shall shepherd you both to the castle. Come now, waif. Let your magic fizzle out. I call a truce."

Kori let her green magic fizzle out for the third time and she knew there was nothing she could do to keep Pollyanna from her surrogate son. She knew the warrior maiden would kill her at the first opportunity and take her son away, and her eyes were drowned in tears when she thought of it.