Soul of Magic

ONE

Kyra's hair swayed with the wind as she attempted to survey where she was and which way to go, she had tried countless times to get her hair braided and away from her face but the unruly thing just won't budge, always loosening itself as if in mockery. Added to her dilemma was the fact that she was in some sort of grassland with a very tired body and no end in sight. As if to get itself noticed, her stomach growled in hunger.

                            "Just hang in there, Belly", she said, patting it, "I just have to find us a way out of this godforsaken land and we can both get fed, how about that?" She wasn't sure whether it was in response to what she said but her stomach did stop the growl.

Contrary to what anyone would think at the sight of her, Kyra wasn't a homeless person. In fact, she had a very nice home, had being the operative word, she doesn't need a seer to tell her that her Uncle and Aunt will never take her back after the stunt she pulled.

Kyra had lost both her parents at a very young age, she wasn't even old enough to remember how they looked, not to talk about which one of them she took her looks from. Anyway, her Uncle and Aunt had taken her in, nursed her to maturity, given her good food to eat, a warm bed to sleep in, the best clothes they could afford. All in all, they treated her like the daughter they never had.

The only problem she had with them  came in the form of her suitors, both parties never saw eye to eye on that matter. It wasn't that Kyra wasn't beautiful, she's tall, has well-sculpted hips and bosoms, dazzling brown eyes and raven-black hair that even though caused her endless trouble during styling still left the men ogling her all day long. In truth, she's very pleasing to the eyes and no one can dispute it.

The suitors themselves weren't the problem either, the line outside their house was never ending, with a few of them even getting into bitter fights over her. Every man wanted her, ranging from the most famous of them to the richest, they all vied for her hand in marriage.

The real problem was Kyra herself, she just never seemed to want any of them. Her Aunt had told her countless times that she had to pick soon or they would all leave, but they never left and she never picked. Somehow, deep within, she knew she could never settle down with any of them and be happy, and that caused her foster parents merciless headaches.

It was on one of those days when the argument was at its peak that they cornered her in the barn and told her that they had received her bride-price from one William of Fraischer and he was coming to take her home with him in a couple of hours. She was so enraged that she threw the burning torch in her hand at them but luckily, they dodged it. Unfortunately, the hay caught fire and as if it was fuelled by the pits of hell itself quickly caught the whole barn. That was when a mischievous thought wedged its way inside Kyra's head and she ran out of the barn, locking her Uncle and Aunt in the burning building.

As quickly as she could, she packed all her clothes inside her satchel and ran away, not even looking back as her Uncle threatened to lock her up in a dungeon till she became a grandmother. And so, she had been on the road for about two days, running from the only people she knew in the world and surviving on the berries she had picked as she passed through the Forest. Unfortunately, the Forest was already far behind her and unless she ate some real food soon, she probably won't see another sunrise again.

Suddenly, as if in answer to her predicament, the smell of cooked meat waved through the air.

                                "Food!", she exclaimed, putting her nose in the air and sniffing like a dog as she attempted to find its source, "Come on Kyra, find it". Just then, she stumbled onto a footpath in the grassland, one she never would have found without luck.

                              "Yes!", she exclaimed again as she saw fresh bootprints and even a cart trail; prints meant people and people meant food.

As if by an unknown source, strength coursed through her body and she ran down the path, laughing as she went. It was as if the winds and the grasses were laughing with her but she took no notice. All she could think about is that she survives, little did she know how important it is that she do.