The Ivory Killer (DISCONTINUED)

-Chapter Eighteen- Merhedith

Chapter 18...Enjoy!

"Who's Karter?"

I stared at the boy kneeling on the ground. I couldn't really do anything but stare. He wasn't Karter. Or Carmine, or my parents, or any other mage to ever exist. This was just some random boy!

The longer I gazed at him with a blank face, the more familiar he looked. He wasn't completely random...I had seen this boy in the town. He was the one who had gotten chased and beaten to the ground by the Otanian soldiers. He seemed so opposed to everything then, but there he was, dressed in fine clothes and the color of Otania. He was one of them and I was angry.

It wasn't going to be a good day for him.

With a quick singal of my hand, I allerted the crew members nearest to him that I wanted him bound. We didn't need a wild Otanian minion waltzing around the forest, spreading stories. Another mage had taken care of the two surprisingly weak soldiers in the cart, so they wouldn't be a problem. This one was still alive and until I could find out why he was being transported, I couldn't kill him. If he got too unruly, he might have to be taken down, though.

The mages stared at me in confusion. They probably still had the idea that it would be one of us in their heads and were confused. I repeated the motion and took a step forward. The boy looked somewhat small on the ground, just looking up at us with hazel eyes, while he waited for someone to make a move. As expected, he looked a bit scared, but he looked more like he was thinking. Planning.

As soon as one member placed a hand on his arm, the boy yanked his black gloves off and tapped the hand of the crewman. The mage froze mid-action, with a neutral look on their face. He leaped to his feet and slapped the face of the next mage, who froze just as fast. None of them moved while the boy slipped his arm out of the first crewman's grasp.

I stared in utter shock at the scene before me. The mages weren't moving or anything, not even to breathe. They were just like stone statues. This scared me enough to question if they were still alive. How was he able to do that? Where did he get the power? He didn't look like a mage besides a dusting of freckles across his face, but those were common in humans, too. Only mages had the darker ones and his looked nothing like mine. He wasn't a mage, so what was he?

As fast as a blink, everyone else remaining reacted. I couldn't stay surprised for too long. The boy looked like he was about to sprint off into the woods, but I called out an attack command before he could even try. Jarad and another member ran at him and the boy hesitantly raised his hands against their unsheathed blades. Now that real weapons were in play, he looked terribly unsure of how to fight.

Jarad slashed out with his blade and almost caught his collarbone. I realized that Jarad was going for the kill or a severely damaging wound, so I shouted, "Don't kill him! We need him alive!"

I had to give it to him; the boy was fast. He was able to dodge most of the swipes and punches, but he couldn't last forever. I could see him slowing down with his untrained stamina. I approached the fight once he froze yet another member of the group and started swinging.

I decided against using my knife because injuring him would do us no good; we would have to treat him and then risk him dying of infection. Both things were troublesome. The only reason I assumed Jarad was using his knife was for intimidation. The teenager had little to no fighting experience by the looks of it, so throwing a knife in the mix was bound to throw him off.

Jarad back off for a moment and I use that as my opening to attack. I aimed a kick at his middle. He jumped back just enough to avoid the full force of it, but I could feel the tip of my boot make contact. The remaining member of the group moved behind the boy and we completed an offensive circle. Now he was trapped between three experienced fighters with only his hands and some weird freezing power. The boy spun around to punch the last member.