Taming the Dark Lord - Chapter 40
Chapter 40 – The Strange Man in the Woods (2)
The crowd had dispersed, leaving Rita and Amelia alone at the stone steps. Rita nudged Amelia, and asked cautiously. “Are you angry?”
“Hmm?” Amelia tilted her head and smiled at her. “I’m not angry.”
She really wasn’t. She just thought it was absurd.
Even such witches knew to leave innocent people alone.
Amelia herself assessed the middle-aged woman before, albeit secretly. She wanted to know if the woman was possessed like Debra claimed her to be. She then found out that the woman was pretty ordinary, void of any indication that tied her with the Dark cult. However, Debra had already twisted the truth to a damning accusation.
Not only the residents heard this, but the mayor governing the town as well.
Amelia saw how Debra looked at the woman’s family; her eyes were piercing, scrutinizing and sharp like that of an eagle, and Amelia knew then that the saint wouldn’t let this go easily. Not on Debra’s watch.
Amelia went down the stairs and peered up the gloomy sky. Heavy black clouds were floating above her, making its presence known as it stretched over the horizon, pressing down on top of her head. As she gazed at the depressing sight, she was reminded of the unforgiving hands of the Light cult, who oppressed civilians without mercy.
She didn’t know why Debra had to lie, but she knew that instances like that were quite common.
She can save one, lone witch, but what about the others? Who was going to save them? Majority of them died ruthlessly, and people celebrated their deaths without knowing the truth. The slain civilians were stigmatized, and their names would forever be damned even though they were just ordinary people.
*
The scrawny witch had the struggling woman clutched on her arms, running in the woods with a dexterous speed. They passed the trees swiftly, almost flying. Sweat formed on her scalp as it dripped on her forehead down to the pasture beneath them.
She wanted to go back to her place. The hut was located deep into the forest, just outside the border where the Light cult presided. She needed to get home as soon as she could and hide before the cult came looking for her.
She told them she’d come back and kill them in three days. However threatening those words seemed to be, they were nothing but false promises. She only said that to make herself seem strong in front of the saints, needed to say what she could in order to escape.
The witch thought over her decisions, and she realized that she had no choice but to hide in her hut for a year and a half, and that she would never come out until all the saints left the perimeters.
Coming to her conclusion, her speed moved faster and swifter, stepping on the branches as it crunched beneath her before jumping through the air.
Upon her hasty escape, she spotted a figure a few feet away as she came closer and closer. She slowed her speed, seeing a white-haired man draped in black clothing sitting on the ground, his back facing her. “Who are you?” She asked cautiously.
The leaves fell on him naturally, and it looked like he had been sitting there for quite a long time.
Looking at his relaxed form, the witch reckoned that the man was not someone ordinary. He was sitting a little too calmly for someone who’s in the forest that was full of wild animals lingering nearby.
The witch pulled the woman closer to her, and gingerly passed the man before jumping to the other side.
She sprang a few branches and took the long route going to her home, setting a set distance away from the strange man. She was about to breathe a sigh of relief when a gust of wind suddenly swished behind her.
A black object randomly appeared and knocked the witch down midair. She fell to the ground with a loud crash, rendering her unable to get up promptly.
“What do you want?” The witch asked, struggling to get up as she grasped on the nearby trunk. Her legs throbbed painfully from the impact, shaking beneath her. She clutched the long knife in her hand. “Why did you attack me?”
There was nothing but a long, dreadful silence.
She immediately saw the strange man nearing her. He lifted his head, his white hair blowing in the wind, revealing a pair of scarlet eyes. Even in her position, she was left in awe by the man’s beauty, only, his eyes held nothing but ugly, murderous intent towards her.
“Your body reeked of that woman’s scent.” His eyes narrowed slightly. His eyes were intensely intimidating, looking at her as if he were a higher being. “Did you hurt her?”
Silence.
The witch stared back. She couldn’t hear him properly over the loud drumming of her heartbeat. Cold sweat dripped down her back, blood rushing to the top of her head.
This was no ordinary heartbeat. It was not like the time when she saw a handsome boy in her village when she was much younger. It was abnormally fast, and it felt like her heart was about to pierce out of her chest.
“Puff!”
Blood trickled from the corner of the witch’s mouth. The long knife smeared with Amelia’s blood soared in the air, and went straight to the man as if bound by an invisible string.
The witch lowered her head defeatedly.
Alfonso stared at the red stain, and touched it with his slender fingers. Blood stained his fingertips, studying it closely as he brought it to his lips.
It was her. ‘Stinky.’
