by Eve Hathaway
“Like I said before,” Magdeline said once they were out of earshot, “you’re a nice guy. But you’re also an idiot."
He didn't say anything. But he could picture her rolling those pretty eyes at him. But of course, she wasn't finished.
"If you survive this, I suggest you buy a horse. This walking is miserable.”
* * *
JUST AS the old man said, the smoking city was visible in just over an hour of walking. There was no wall for protection. The city was bare and vulnerable.
As they got closer, Cyrus could see people digging into the ground to make temporary shelters at the base of destroyed buildings. Cyrus and Magdeline were followed by cold, sorrowful stares as they slowly passed by. Most of the people were elderly, but there were some able-bodied men assisting in making the shelters. The air smelled of fire and it was too dry to properly breathe. Magdeline had her nose crinkled all the time. Or at least, there were times when she would hide it from the poor citizens. Wood and stone littered the paths through the city.
Cyrus climbed onto a pile of rubble. The sun was still in the center of the sky but was obscured by the smoke. He then turned and slid down the debris towards a man carrying a shovel.
“Excuse me, but I’m here to help. Is there—”
“You wit’ the government?”
“No, but I’m a Hero—”
“Just like this damn country not to send out help. What we get are scrawny bastards thinkin’ they can do a damn thing with their pig-stickers.” The man flicked Cyrus’s sheath and huffed. “You wanna help? Sure. Take this shovel and start diggin’.”
Magdeline had begun to protest as Cyrus grabbed the shovel and smiled. The man disappeared. Cyrus went to work.
Magdeline sat on top of a pile of wood and played with her hair, annoyed and bored. At least she was silent this time. Sometimes he would see her glancing the way they'd passed, smiling at a little girl that once passed. Other times, she looked deep in thought. She must really be thinking about something so important that she had forgotten to nag.
Hours passed and some of the city folk came out to share a meal of bread and dried meat with them both. He let her eat more than her share. He was more thirsty, anyway. But then she left a morsel of the dried meat on the plate, telling the bringer she was full.
"I am full," she said when she caught his stare. "Besides, they need the meat more than I."
By the time the sun was at the horizon, Cyrus and the others had dug a shelter big enough for a dozen people if they stood up straight.
Cyrus could see that everyone was becoming noticeably more anxious as the sun sank lower. Some were starting to situate themselves in the shelters.
“Come along, miss,” one elderly woman ushered, pulling Magdeline by the arm towards one of the larger holes. “We can’t have a pretty thing like you get hurt with all this monster business. Let the young men take care of it.”
Magdeline snatched her arm back, eyes staring down at the makeshift shelter. She declined the old woman. A man came by and pulled the old woman away.
“Come on, Nanna. Let’s get you to safety.”
The woman looked at Magdeline sadly but allowed herself to be lowered into the gaping hole along with several others.
Again, Magdeline saw his incredulous look and rolled her eyes.
“There’s absolutely no way I’m standing in a stinking hole with a bunch of other people,” she said. “I’d rather take my chances with the monster. Out here I can run.”
Thick slabs of wood were put over the shelter and dirt was sprinkled over the top. Some cracks were still visible for air to reach the people below but they would be difficult to spot for a rampaging beast. Cyrus looked around and saw many other shelters of the same make. The men who were not below ground armed themselves with what they could—shovels, axes, and hoes. They were all exhausted but nonetheless prepared themselves against the approaching night.
“You ready, Hero?” one of them asked Cyrus. His voice was void of any enthusiasm.
Cyrus nodded, though he was unsure if he really was. His sword was at the ready and he was intent. He had even forgotten that Magdeline was beside him, quickly braiding her hair with her fingers.
The light was slowly disappearing and the howls from the creatures of the night stirred the leaves in the trees.
It was an eerie sound and reverberated in Cyrus’s ribcage.
The other men’s hands tightened around their weapons.
These men are as inexperienced in battle as I am, Cyrus suddenly thought. They had determination in their eyes but it was clouded in fear.
For a foolish moment after the sun had set, Cyrus thought that perhaps the monster would not come that night.
He was proven wrong when a high-pitched scream of a child rang throughout the remains of the city.
Chapter Seven
The Battle
THE OTHER MEN stood frozen, terrified.
Cyrus sprung into action, sprinting towards the direction of the screaming child with Magdeline fast on his heels, still bickering at him.
“Don’t you have any sort of plan?!” she yelled. “Cyrus, stop!”
She almost ran into his back when he stopped dead in his tracks.
In the corner of a ruined building huddled a child, his hands over his head. A fire burned around him, fueled by the most horrifying creature Cyrus had ever seen.
It was huge. It was easily the height of two horses with a tail that whipped out about eighteen feet from its body. It had a muscular body like a wingless dragon, covered in ruby scales from its head down to its legs. It had a face and nose similar to a large cat and giant, pearly fangs. Two large ivory horns protruded from its head above ears like that of a goat. A mane of gold trailed down from its head down its spine.
The same long fur formed a line from its jaw to its stomach and under its tail. It roared and swung its massive claws at the child, causing debris to fall around him.
Magdeline screamed, “Cyrus, do something!”
The monster turned and its golden eyes flashed. It immediately spotted Magdeline and her purple gown, forgetting all about the child.
The beast charged, smoke and flame flooding from the edges of its mouth. Cyrus’s heart leapt into his throat and jumped, pushing Magdeline aside so that she fell into a heap of rubble and out of the beast’s line of sight.
Then he braced his sword. He knew he couldn’t defeat a creature like this. Oh no. Not in the manner he took down the falcon that chased for his Soulyte. But he could fight and he could die a Hero. His mother would hear that he did his mission. He fought a monster.
The creature roared and dove toward the Hero. He swung his sword and almost laughed hysterically when his blade made contact.
But his delight was curbed when the sword shattered upon making impact, leaving him holding only his grip.
That’s what I deserve for buying a twenty-jewel sword, he thought.
But then the beast snarled and fell on its side and thick, black blood was flooding the path.
In a matter of moments, right before their shocked eyes, the monster melted to the ground in a disgusting, dark puddle.
Magdeline crawled out from the rubble and stared in shock at what was left of the fallen beast.
Standing on her feet, she walked on wobbly knees to the remains. “You… you actually did it,” she breathed.
She glanced up at Cyrus. His chest was heaving in exertion and he had the slightest hint of a smile on his face as he, too, looked at the puddle.
“You did it!” she repeated in a squeal, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. Cyrus didn't know why he did what he did. He was just kissing her, too, holding her, too, in a tight embrace. Her lips were soft. Her body also so soft. And she smelled like roses.
But he suddenly jolted back, his eyes getting caught in a sudden burst of light that blinded him so he fell backwards.
The sound of chirping birds resounded and he blinked away the black dots clouding his vision in
time to see his faerie flitting to and fro in a bout of rage.
Magdeline screamed in her faerie language and flew over to Cyrus, hitting him on the head with tiny fists.
It was the kiss, he remembered now. The kiss could turn Magdeline back into a faerie!
A faerie so enraged that it was shouting bloody murder at him. Not that he could understand. But noone had to talk his language to know that Magdeline was mad as hell.
Cyrus was suddenly laughing. Magdeline put her tiny fists on her tiny waist and huffed. He then gently cupped her in his palms and brought her down to face level.
She glared at him, her Soulyte color flashing brightly on her luminescent skin. Cyrus didn't feel the usual attack of the jitters as he watched her pout and glare and roll her eyes. Or seem to. With those pupils, he couldn't really tell.
Well, that was better.
“I missed you as a faerie,” he said. “I guess that curse wasn’t really broken after all.”
He glanced around. The boy who was in the ruins had long since ran away and there was no noise but the crackling of flames. He saw his broken sword by his side, shards of metal scattered several feet in several directions.
Cyrus lowered his voice. “I don’t like this. No one’s coming out.”
Then a low growl shook the ground.
Cyrus jumped to his feet and stared as the puddle of blood rippled and raised into the air.
It formed the shape of the monster and after only a few moments morphed into the beast, complete with scales and fur. It no longer sported the wound it had earlier sustained from Cyrus’s now shattered sword.
Magdeline flew into the air and buzzed behind Cyrus’s head. But it wasn't an angry chattering now. She was clearly in a panic.
As he was.
He no longer had any weapon and it was apparent his sword wouldn’t do much good either way.
What was he to do?
Chapter Eight
Fighting Fire
WHAT HE DID was the most sensible thing he could have done that night.
He ran.
A roar from behind him made the ground shudder and the nearby ruins of a building collapsed further to the ground. Cyrus reached behind him and grabbed Magdeline, holding her carefully to his chest. He sprinted, trying to avoid the center of town where he knew the rest of the city folk were.
But every stride the monster made was ten times the length of Cyrus’s. They would soon be overcome. He ducked into a dilapidated building and tensed his body, trying to come up with a plan. He was given only a second or two before the monster found him and reared its head to cover him in fire.
Suddenly he was no longer in the building but several feet behind the monster, watching as it doused the spot in white-hot flame where he had been only moments before.
Magdeline wriggled from his hands and breathed heavily.
“Thank you!” Cyrus breathed. “I can see why Heroes favor faeries as companions.”
She made some clicking sounds and he really didn't know what it meant.
A large crack exploded in Cyrus’s ears and he saw a flaming timber from the building was knocked down, falling roughly on the monster’s back. The beast screamed and tore the crumbling wood off. The scales beneath the fire bubbled sickeningly and its golden mane smoked into a dead black.
Magdeline pointed and flew in circles in front of Cyrus’s eyes. This time, he understood the signs she was making with her hands.
“So it can be hurt by its own fire,” Cyrus whispered, clambering to his feet to duck behind some rubble before the monster could turn around and see him. He rested his back against the pile and tried to think. He grabbed Magdeline so that her light didn’t draw attention.
“How can it be hurt by its own fire?”
Magdeline had no answer, just a shrug of her tiny, tiny shoulders.
He thought for several seconds. The fact of what could hurt the monster didn’t matter as much as that it could be hurt in the first place.
“We just need to find a way to make it fall into its own destruction. If we can get it near the fire, we should be able to do something.”
Magdeline squirmed free again and fluttered to a small collection of flames a few feet from the rubble. Her light expanded and she dove into the fire. Cyrus reached out to stop her but she came out unharmed, surrounded by a ball of white flame.
“You can carry fire?” Cyrus asked in wonder.
She nodded tiny nods with her tiny head. He beamed.
“That thing has very flammable fur on top of it and underneath. If you can ignite them, I’m sure that would at least get us somewhere. I’ll draw it over here but you have to be ready, okay?”
The light pulsed and Cyrus took it as a yes.
He jumped out from the pile and waved his arms with a yell.
“Hey…dragon-cat! Over here, you ugly thing!”
The monster heard his yell over the crackling of the fire, looked up from the flames, and growled.
Its enormous tail swung against the side of a burning building, reducing it to a pile of useless rock before bounded towards him in an incredible speed that had him frozen for a second, one brief terrorizing moment while Cyrus wondered if he should have thought his plan through.
It was too late for second-guessing, however, and he sprinted off in the opposite direction in the desperate hope that Magdeline would be able to fulfill her part.
And then a gut-wrenching roar confirmed that she had.
He turned his head and saw flames engulf the beast. A crash. Cyrus stopped to look back, and saw the monster toppling to the ground.
Enclosed within her ball of flames, Magdeline whirred around it, brushing against it, catching every part of the monster she could reach on fire. Its red skin bubbled and its fur was singed off.
Magdeline flew back to Cyrus, casting off the fire from her body. She stood on his shoulder and they both stared at the sizzling creature.
Cyrus cringed at the noise it made.
It screamed while its flesh popped. It must have hurt like hell. But he thought of the many victims that perished on the same fire and he thought the monster deserved this kind of death.
Within minutes nothing was left but a burnt skeleton and foul-smelling ash. And this time he knew it was dead. People were climbing out of holes, chattering, laughing, whispering... making noises. But not afraid anymore.
He let out a sharp laugh, too. He couldn't believe it. He and his faerie had slain a monster. They had defeated a scourge of evil that no one else could.
They had saved a city!
I'm a Hero!
He plucked Magdeline gently from his shoulder and hugged her to his chest. “Oh, thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you.”
With a chirp, Magdeline pushed away and flew up to his lips. he knew by now why this was so. And as the still-unfamiliar warmth came over him and a bright light dotted his vision, he felt his heart start its now familiar race.
“I definitely need to have a word with that witch,” Magdeline ominously as soon as she turned. “Soon.”
She stood before him naked but for the long and thick hair covering her where she should be covered, brushing ashes from her hair. Then she smiled at him as his face was enveloped in red.
She leaned in closer with a smirk, her face again infront of his face as he froze.
“You really do deserve a real kiss for that stupidity, Hero. I have some thanks for you as well.”
That was when the men of the city flooded onto the path from behind the ruins of buildings, hollering and shaking their fists in applause. They had apparently been watching at a distance and only felt ready to emerge when the coast was clear. He suddenly found himself on a shirt, his tunic now covering Magdeline's nakedness. Magic. Magdeline had pulled back and crossed her arms in a huff as the men gawked at the new Hero.
“You did it, Sir Hero!” one of them called. Other men joined the cheer, shouting their praises.
Some of the men paused at the sight of Magdeline b
ut most ran to Cyrus to offer him robust thanks. They slapped him on the shoulders and laughed in celebration.
“Sir Hero?” a man questioned when Cyrus did not move.
The group looked at Cyrus’s face. His eyes were rolled into the back of his head and his face was still a vivid crimson.
“He’s fainted,” they laughed. “That monster must have been some task!”
Magdeline sighed, knowing the real reason why. My Hero is a complete moron, she thought, shaking her head as she thought of a way to get him over this particular problem.
They certainly had a long way to go before he could save her. Noone had needed a true Hero as Magdeline.
But the unlikely hero Cyrus would find that soon enough.
~ ~ ~ ~
Read the next book by Eve Hathaway:
If you like this book, you will also like Search For The Witch...
He's a hero - that's a given
THIS NEW CHALLENGE REWARDS NOT NAME BUT WORTH
Cyrus is now a true Hero, having defeated a wicked beast and freeing a city of its tyranny. But now a new quest presents itself to the duo—the quest to break Magdeline’s curse.
They set off into the Forest, where countless monsters lurk, to search for the witch who is responsible for Magdeline’s distress. The Forest has been turned black by the curse swiftly running down the countryside from unknown depths to the north, destroying any vegetation it touches.
Cyrus can overcome the evil that resides in the Forest but can he overcome his fear of the female variety? And can Magdeline learn to look past her own selfish nature and care for someone other than herself? Both must learn to accept each other’s company and recognize their own faults in order to survive in this second installment of the Soulyte series.
Unravel more of this fascinating book, continue reading Search For The Witch...
~ ~ ~ ~
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