The Marchioness Treasure | HIATUS

Chapter 12: The Eidikos

A splitting headache woke Marleigh up from her deep slumber as she tried to remember what happened in the last few moments. She looked around her only to find that the carriage they had been riding on was in shambles and the chauffeur Kai had tried hard to find had somehow disappeared. 

"Finally! Did you have a good nap?" whispered a voice from below her. Startled, she jumped only to be hit by the seat, which had somehow fallen off the carriage and seemed to have trapped her and Kai between heavy boulders.

"Careful there, your body isn't in the best condition to lift that thing," said Kai, glancing at Marleigh's shoulders. That was when she noticed that the laces on her shoulder had torn and her skin had scrapped pretty badly, blood dripping on her pale green clothes and down onto Kai's white shirt. 

A small hiss erupted from Marleigh's lips as she felt the bright yellow carriage seat pressing on her fresh wound. She looked around, trying to escape the strange predicament they were in. 

"It's no use," said Kai, grimacing at the wound. "There's no way out. We have to wait for someone to rescue us."

Kai gently pushed Marleigh from him and softly landed her next to him. There was no space for either of them to crouch, so they just lay in the dirt, their heads turned away from one another.

After a long pause and a minute of staring into the void of darkness, Marleigh found the courage to initiate another conversation, "So, how did we end up here?"

Kai turned towards her and propped on his elbows, "You don't remember? The carriage crashed into some big rock and the chauffeur jumped out before we fell down a cliff." 

Marleigh stared at Kai with a perplexed expression, "How come I have more injuries than you when we both fell?"

Kai slyly smiled at Marleigh and nudged her to come closer as if he was whispering some secret, "That is because I used you to shield myself. It's not like you got hurt badly."

Marleigh fumed, her brows furrowing in anger and her lips forming a thin line. She couldn't believe the nerve of the human in front of her. A thousand images on how to get back at Kai ran through her mind and she clenched her blood-covered fists. 

A sudden noise interrupted Marleigh's very creative train of thoughts. It seemed like someone was pushing the boulder. With an excited yelp, both Marleigh and Kai cried for help. A very feminine voice called out from above them.

"This is certainly heavier than it looks. Wait there, I'll call for help." shouted the voice after a series of grunts and curses.

A few hours later, Kai and Marleigh were safely fished out of the pit and the boulder which held them was broken into pieces. Kai looked at what once was an immovable lump of stone and shuddered.

"Thank you very much for helping us," said Marleigh and shook the hands of the pretty blonde in front of them. 

"Your welcome," the blonde returned the hand-shake and pulled Marleigh in for a hug, "But how come you two are stuck here? It's a long way from the capital."

The pair looked at each other and smiled, "It's a long story."

The blonde, however, smiled and nodded her head towards the four other women. They scurried, leaving all their pieces of equipment and their fellow villager behind. The blonde seemed to have noticed something and her eyes widened in shock. 

"Y-you have red hair," the blonde stammered to which Kai and Marleigh gave a perplexed look. Marleigh looked at a broken piece of mirror and noticed that her roots were beginning to show. The blonde went on her knees and bowed down before Marleigh.

Flustered, Marleigh did the same to which she earned an embarrassed grunt from Kai and a shocked expression from the girl. Kai lifted her from the ground by her uninjured arm and shot an apologetic look towards the bright-eyed blonde.

"The Augur is a little tired from the events of the day. Is there a place to stay the night?" asked Kai to which he received a heart-warming smile and a nod.

"Oh, and I forgot to introduce myself. I am Alina, the granddaughter of the chief of the Eidikos tribe."

Marleigh stared at Alina in disbelief and stumbled towards her, "E-Eidikos?! The tribe exclusively made of people who possess maegeic?"

Alina chuckled and bowed lightly, "I am honored that you heard of us. But we have humans living in our midst too. Especially since the original Eidikos are becoming extinct."

With a star-struck expression on her face, Marleigh followed Alina through a dense forest and into a clearing. The sun was setting, painting the thatched roofs of the huts an orange hue. There was a huge well situated at the center of the village where little children were practicing their mageia with an old woman in the center, instructing the little kids on what to do.

"Chief, look who I found in the maegeic woodland," said Alina, hugging an elderly woman. 

The woman, who Marleigh later came to know as their chief and Alina's grandmother, was in her late nineties with a huge blue feather neatly placed on her greying hair and blue paint smeared across her closed eyes. 

The village locals showed them their huts where the pair were asked to refresh and meet the chief in half an hour. The inside of the room was painted with cream-colored walls and there were two beds on each side of the room. 

"You must be my new housemate," said a voice from behind her. Marleigh turned to see a pretty girl with rusty brown hair and deep brown eyes. Her braided hair was adorned with flowers and she wore a thick brown outfit, fit for a warrior, completed with a leather belt, "I am Alina's cousin Martha, nice to meet you."

Marleigh shook hands with her and smiled widely, "Are you a maegeic user too, Martha?"

Martha shook her head with a weak expression, "I was an exception. I somehow skipped the gene so I became a warrior instead."

Marleigh knew well of what being an exception was and she could relate to Martha to an extent. They both stood awkwardly and stared at each other in silence.

"It's time. Shall we proceed?" asked Martha, breaking the silence.

Marleigh squared her shoulders and nodded at Martha, "Lead the way."

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