MALAKAI (The 'Mala Series' book 1)

ct-23 Divide and conquer

Katherine found Esther in their large room. She was sitting at the edge of the bed and looking at the handcrafted designs on the large cupboard opposite it. But her mind was obviously not on that.

Katherine walked and sat beside her.

"If he's resurrected, I'll kill him myself." Esther said. Katherine knew she wasn't bluffing. Then a tear escaped Esther's eye.

"Every time. Every single time his name is said, I remember every part of my body he touched. I remember how he liked the room dark when he touched me, and I —" Esthers voice broke as more tears poured.

"And I remember when he went further than just touching." Esther said as she began to sob harder. She covered her face with her palms.

Katherine felt her heart break for her sister again. Her sister who had protected her in every way she could from the monster her father was when no one was looking.

Casper wasn't cruel. He was just sick. Sick in the mind. A tear rolled down Katherine's cheek as she brought Esther's head to her shoulder.

"It's okay S. It's okay." Katherine said. She knew then that if the former king of Arocelli was resurrected, and they were still alive, she'd help her sister kill him.

                                      ******

Kai and everyone except Viktor stood outside the house that night.

Amish stood by the window watching Viktor who could most certainly escape from his hold. The place was illuminated by a fire Abel had started with Garett's help.

Katherine stood by Esther who's eyes looked a little red. Kai knew why. He never imagined he would come to care for the Queen such that he would gladly kill the former King Casper ten times over for her sake.

Garett brought out the mala ball. It wasn't even dull blue anymore. It looked empty. Garett threw it into the fire. It immediately sizzled and disappeared. Everyone's attention went to Garett.

"The mysts believe fire will return it to nothing." Garett said.

"So what now?" Kai asked Garett who stood staring at the fire.

"We can't fight the evil and Babayega alone. We need humans to know what's going on. We need them to fight with us. They'll be more efficient rather than ye juai's who will burn at every touch." Garett said.

"Ye juai's wouldn't like that idea." Amish said.

"No they wouldn't. But it's either that or die by the burning hands of magic." Garett said.

"How do we make them believe there's something called the evil in the other side where no human has survived? Something that eats people and hurts mystical creatures they never even knew existed?" Katherine asked.

"I don't know. It's not going to be easy but we have to try." Garett said.

Everyone was silent. It wasn't a bad idea removing the ignorant humans from Babayega's clutch, but the real problem was convincing them.

"So what do you propose?" Kai asked.

"You all leave for the ye juai village. I'll go convince the humans." Garett said.