Fire's Mage (Book One) Kyoko of Fire Country

Chapter Forty-Eight

Adrianne felt like something, or someone, had been watching them since they left the Princess Hope Bridge at the edge of Fire Country. It had been quiet since then, since neither Sheikh nor Kyoko spoke, even when she was forced to sit on Kyoko's staff as Sheikh had done on the way to Ice.

Which was done because Winston was sick and tired of her fainting, told her that they would move faster if she just swallow her pride and accept Kyoko's help.

If that wasn't the case, it would seem Winston wasn't kidding when he said he was no longer taking things at her pace. Both Kyoko and Sheikh could make through without resting for six hours, but she couldn't. It would have nearly killed her, but because of her medical condition Kyoko was the only who was wasting energy.

The next thing she knew, Kyoko had paused and looked behind them. Her eyes were wide and a figure wearing a full-head scarf and clock was knocking on a faint red surface. Before she could blink, it was broken and she was pulled backwards. The only thing that her feel better, was that she was holding onto Kyoko's waist and therefore, she got pulled along with her.

"It looks like her seal worked too well," someone said and Kyoko looked at her, before nodding and holding her staff up, the figure just appeared behind her before knocking her, catching her body before it hit the ground.

"You!" Adrianne hissed once the head scarf was removed, white hair and red eyes, the same crimson eyes that haunted her dreams and kept her up at night. The same eyes she drawn, that she had wrote about, all of them hissing and cursing. When a hand went to slap her, a barrier appeared between them.

It left her stunned, Kyoko hated her, so why place a barrier seal on her? The same seal she had given their clients for protection, in case they got attacked when they were around?

Why was she trying to protect her at all?

"It would seem that Kistune's heart is softer then we had first thought," she muttered to herself, before hitting the barrier again and Adrianne watched as it cracked underneath her foot. "Such a shame, but is she young and doesn't the risk, of protecting such a vile person. She'll learn, they always learn in the end."

The woman dropped a sword, before walking to the other side of the clearing. Adrianne picked it up, holding it in front of her and watched as the white haired woman picked up another sword and used it to break the shield, making Adrianne flinch as she did so.

She could barely block any of her hits, her skin was covered in stretches and blood. She could tell she was being played with, but before she knew it, there was metal going through her chest and she fall to her knees.

Lying on the ground, she had realised that she had tried to stop any of the attacks from the hitting the prone figure on the ground, she had tried to protect a Mage of all things.

Grabbing her hand with her own, she realised where she had gone so wrong. Protect the weak, little gem. Kyoko was a child, but she had called her whore, she had tried to kill her. Protect those who cannot protect themselves. Shriya didn't trust her to protect her children, Kyoko didn't trust her to protect her.

That's what Warrior's were for, we protect the weak and innocent of Doiteain. We suffer, so they don't have to. She had lost a friend, over what? A boy, a boy who would never look at her twice.

She had lost her sister, she had called her brain-washed and had almost attacked her outside her own store.

Where she gone wrong? She stopped taking Keelan's advice and started listening to her parents. What had changed? She thought the world would bow down to her ever whim.