The Knights and the Princess 2

Chapter 13

I reached over and shook the man gently, trying to wake him. "H-Hey... are you okay?" Please tell me I didn't screw it up. The man groaned and after a moment pushed himself up, shaking his head and groggily opening his eyes. He looked around in confusion before stopping to stare at me, stunned.

"You... You're not human." Excuse me? That's rude. "What did you do to me?" He placed a hand to his head. The old man looked severely confused. Well, I say "old", but he's probably only around in his early sixties. Not that old. "I..." He suddenly placed a hand over his stomach, which was probably grumbling. "I'm hungry..."

"Do you, uh... still feel sick?"

"I'm old; of course I feel sick!" I recoiled, not taking kindly to being yelled at, and shrunk away as I held my hands up in surrender. I thought he was going to hit me.

"I-I'm sorry!" Please don't be mad.

"But... I don't feel like I'm gonna keel over anymore." The man finished, pushing himself up slowly. "My back doesn't even hurt. You... You're not some sorta witch, are ya?" He looked at me with narrowed eyes and I couldn't help but flinch at the title.

"She's a witch! A monster, just like him!"

"N-No... I'm anything but that." Without realizing it my hands had curled into fists. The old man noticed.

"Then how long are you gonna sit there? If you're a god or a doctor, get to workin' on the others. I'm gettin' outta this village while I can walk!" O-Okay... I watched as the surprisingly energetic old man started to slowly march his way out of the village. Suddenly, he stopped. He turned his head to look at me. "Say, what's yer name, missy?"

"O-Oh, uh..." What should I say? "Um... call me "Haebinna"." I'm not entirely sure why I felt like I had to hide my real name from him, but I decided to anyway.

"Well, is that so? Name's Chiang. Have a nice day, miss. Thanks for the check-up."

"O-Oh, uh, y-you, too." That... happened. I watch the man walk away, not entirely sure what just transpired, before shaking my head and getting up myself. I headed over to the other man-one who appeared younger, but... he wasn't glowing. And when I knelt down to check his pulse... "Oh god..." He's dead. H-He's...

I felt cold. Tears pricked my eyes. A lump formed in my throat. I choked.

I-I... hope you're happy wherever you are, sir. I thought, before forcing myself to stand and make my way over to the woman and her child. I know I was taking quite a while-I had probably already been gone a little over five minutes. Blue was probably already paranoid, having known I was lying when I said I was okay, and he probably knew that I wasn't even using the restroom. That's the second of third time I've lied to him today... but I seriously need to help these people. I can't let them die. I can't. Not if I know I can help them now.

The woman appeared wary of me at first, but after watching me place a hand on the sick old man and how he had bounced right up earlier she seemed just a little more accepting. "Wh-Who... are you?" Her voice was hoarse. I stared at her, tucking my bangs behind my left ear so I could see fully, and noticed that she had quite a lot of golden lights surrounding her neck. "No... what are you? Y-You... You aren't human. Your eye..."

"Shush." I can't think with her talking. I felt the familiar tug and pull and the latching of the soul. I focused the energy, though now it felt like I was by myself and it was a bit harder to control the orbs of light. I pulled the orbs from their respected areas to the woman's chest. They fused into one huge glowing orb and I guided them from there to her shoulder, down her arm, and into my hand where they flowed halfway up my arm before breaking apart and fading. It reminded me of multiple things-fireworks. Fireflies. Stars. It was mesmerizing to watch, but unfortunately I think I was the only one who could see it. "Okay, you're done." I dismissed her, but she stayed still and watched as I did the same thing to her sleeping boy.