Land of Evil

Three

Rahda couldn't believe it. Had somebody actually managed to steal the diamond from her? How was it even possible?

She paced around, waiting for their Master to come.

A tall, dark-skinned boy watched quietly. "You came back without it?"

Another girl scoffed. "That's a new one."

"Just admit you kept it for yourself," A light-skinned boy said, his arms folded as he leaned against a wall.

Rahda did not reply. She could not keep still. Her mind played that night over and over again. Her hand went to the side of her neck. She stroked it, reminiscing all she had gone through. The guards, the Protectors, the machinery, the fire, the burning colour...all of it. And she had returned empty-handed.

She put her hand to the side of her head, attempting to control her rage.

Impossible. I have never failed before. Impossible...

She whipped around to stare at the members of her group, her eyes a portal to hell. "One of you must have somehow taken it. Nobody else could have. You hand it over now or else..."

"And how could we have taken what you kept for yourse—" the boy never finished his sentence. A scream escaped him on the splitting impact of the knife in his shoulder. Hot blood streamed down his arm. His eyes turned bloody.

He lurched towards her. She grabbed the hand that had been aimed at her neck, almost twisting it off. He used the second hand to yank at her wrist, but she sent a fierce kick to his face. A hot burst of white light caused his skull to feel like it had split open. She didn't stop there.

Jumping, she sent another kick to the side of his head. She gave his neck a quick punch and another one went to the side of his mouth. Then she squeezed his hair in her hand, using it to put him forward and collided their heads forcefully. He fell to her feet.

Then she drew her sword, wiping the blood on her face with the back of her hand and glaring at the remaining three: the dark boy and two girls.

They stared at her.

"Which of you is it?" Rahda spat. The unmoving boy at her feet caused there to be a tension into the air. She looked ready to slice just about anyone into half.

"I haven't taken anything," one girl said, her brown eyes calculating. Rahda could spring at her any second.

"Neither have I," the boy said.

"I know how pointless it is to try and steal from you," the second girl said.

Rahda stood a moment, her heart pumping wildly, taking all of them in. She decided they were telling the truth. They wouldn't be stupid enough to cross her. They wouldn't try to steal from her. They couldn't try to steal from her. She was more alert than any of them could imagine. She would have known.

So what happened then?

She bit her lip, yanking at her hair in frustration. How would she tell Alahfaq? How would she tell her Master that for the first time in her life, she had failed to do as he asked?

Curse everything.

A man who hadn't been in the room previously appeared in its middle with little to no disturbance in the atmosphere. He was not there and then, he suddenly was.

He was bulky, muscular and huge. He had a scar running down from his neck that was visible with the shirt he had on. Dark skin, and three piercings on one ear. He had completely white eyes; with no pupil whatsoever. He looked like death itself.