Earth Master

Chapter 3 - the Captive

Chapter 3 – The captive

Together they were all headed to the Head city; the air master Kumo, four men, the captive, Aurora, Moonshade and the horse. Kumo and Aurora were travelling in a small horse-drawn carriage which was driven by one of the men. Two other men were going in the front of the carriage on their horses to make sure their journey was not interrupted by an unpleasant surprise. The fourth man was following the carriage from a little behind, because carrying the well-tied captive on his horse was slowing him down. Moonshade was right beside him walking. He was the only one in the group who was traveling on foot, and like that was not enough to slow him down, he was also dragging the horse along. He was constantly cursing Aurora for causing him to get stuck with the horse while she was sitting comfortably in the carriage without contacting the burning sunlight.

"Cursing won't shorten the road or make it less hot. And it certainly won't make that horse go faster." said the man carrying the captive, smirking.

Moonshade looked at his face hiding his disgust, then he looked at the captive who was soaked in his own blood, dripping on the ground and unconscious with one of his eyes half open. It was truly an ugly sight.

"Who is he?" asked Moonshade to the man, who was still enjoying the comment he had made earlier.

"Oh him, he was no big deal. We've been told that he was a lot stronger but master Kumo knocked him down easy enough." he continued as Moonshade listened to him expressionless. "You cannot imagine the places we find demons these days, in a town like this one, among the ordinary people... Although I gotta tell you the real fierce ones hide in groups, in their hideouts. Would love to break into one of those and take down a real demon rather than a spineless one like this."

"I'll show you a real demon." Moonshade grumbled, imagining how easy would it be to snap his neck and rip his arms apart. His blood was boiling with rage, he was about to lose the control he had over his demon energy.

The man stopped and so did Moonshade.

"What did you say kid?" asked the man, angrily.

"I didn't say nothing, just keep goin' man." said Moonshade, without looking at his face. Because he knew that once he did, he would not be able to hide his rage anymore.

"You gonna show me a real demon?" asked the man, who clearly heard what Moonshade had said before. "What did you say?". He was waiting for Moonshade to answer.

They were far behind the carriage now. 'If I go at him right now...' Moonshade thought '...no one will come to his rescue.'

** ** ** ** **

Meanwhile inside the carriage Aurora and Kumo were sitting in an awkward silence. When Kumo first asked them to travel together, he invited Aurora to join him inside the carriage hoping to talk to her and learn some details about her receiving the master title. However Aurora was avoiding giving any specific details. She only mentioned losing her parents, and she also referred Moonshade as her brother which was in fact incorrect. They have been telling that they were brothers and sisters since Madame mistook them for it, when they first arrived to the orphanage. Most people in the town and in the orphanage also thought they were siblings, since they've spent every minute together. Like in their case of many other secrets, only Madame and the doctor knew the truth. It felt convenient to continue with that lie, only because it made their false background story more believable.

"We thought that you were dead or perhaps captured." stated Kumo in order to break the silence, "We have heard many rumors about the whereabouts of the missing Earth master but never have we heard a rumor about a seven year old in an orphanage."

Aurora did not want to say anything unnecessary so she kept her silence, she only smiled a little. She knew better than to say something suspicious at this point of their journey. If only she knew what was going on a little behind.

** ** ** ** **

The man was now tired of waiting for an answer, so he got off from his horse and started walking towards Moonshade. He was much taller and larger than Moonshade, who had a small built that made him appear younger than he really was.

"Are you implying you're a demon, boy?" asked the man drawing near to him.

Moonshade understood that the situation would not resolve itself, so he lifted the lid from his demon energy and let his powers go free. He revelled as the energy flooded to every cell in this body.

"Come closer and I'll smash your skull, you demon killer. It's easy to run your mouth." Moonshade saw only red as he completely lost control.

His intensive killing intent made the man stop, it was like the boy transformed into someone else. The man was feeling overwhelmed with the dark and strong aura spreading from the boy, so he took a few steps back to his horse to take his sword, then he saw Moonshade grinning.

"You're mental if you think that's gonna do me any damage. Hahaha I'm gonna bite your friggin head off!"

The man was holding the sword tight with his two hands and he was also checking the road ahead for the carriage, but they were nowhere to be seen. He realized he was all alone in this and then he noticed the unconscious demon on his horse.

"If you come any closer I'm gonna kill him!" the man yelled, anxiety dripping from his face, his hands shaking.

Moonshade came to himself and finally realized the situation he put himself in. He thought about what would happen to Aurora once the others came back and found out that he was a demon, they would kill them both. 'I need to take care of this soon, before they find out we're missing and come back for us.' he said to himself.

"Alright, just calm down for a sec." he told the most scared man in front of him. "Let me think."

The man was getting only more and more anxious with each second. "No thinking!" he screamed. "Step back!"

"Shut up and lemme think god dammit!"

Moonshade was considering his options. He realized that the first thing to do was to get the sword off from his hands. There was a decent distance between them, he was not sure if he could manage that but he had to do something before the others came back.

'I have to kill him.' he thought, he could not see any other way out of this situation. 'And if necessary I'll kill the others once they come here...'

He needed a distraction, something to create the opening necessary for a quick attack. At that second they heard a horse galloping towards them.

It all happened in a split second.

The man lowered his sword.

Moonshade attacked...

** ** ** ** **

A little earlier, master Kumo and Aurora were still sitting in silence and watching the road when Aurora sensed Moonshade's demon aura. Her first reaction was to check Kumo's face, to see whether he picked up his demon energy or not. Luckily he seemed indifferent, so Aurora tried her best to look normal but color was gone from her face.

"Are you alright?" asked Kumo. "You seem pale."

"No. I'm alright. Thank you." she answered, her voice trembling. She was thinking about Moonshade and what he could be possibly doing back there.

"You are clearly not alright, my child." said Kumo, who was genuinely worried. He ordered the man to stop the carriage and he helped the unwilling Aurora step out from the carriage for fresh air. When Kumo was occupied with her, the driver noticed that Moonshade and the man were missing, they were nowhere to be seen. He called over one of the men in the front and told him to go and check the back of the road.

** ** ** ** **

The galloping sound that Moonshade and the man heard before belonged to this man. When he finally came, he found Moonshade standing there holding a bloody sword.

Both the captive and the man who was carrying him before were now dead...

*End of Chapter 3