Jamal POV
“I’ve said once I’ll say it a thousand times. I won’t hesitate to put you out of existence if it comes to it.” I took some paces forward so she hears me clearly – it was not as if I was not already loud enough. “You are NOT indispensable; you are as replaceable as a torn underwear. Don’t overestimate your worth. You are just another whore in the whorehouse.”
That last bit of words must have stung the Dark Witch so bad because her next moves were as vicious as her demeanour in battle. She was weak without her staff, but not powerless, and with the little power she had left, she used it on a spell that flung the White Witch miles away as black dust swirled around her.
Now on her feet, the Dark Witch lunged at me quickly. The problem was, I was prepared for this. With help from my reflexes, I swerved to my left, side stepping her and thundering my fist in her side. She collapsed immediately and I flung her over to the wall of the cave. It was time to maul her to death. I transfigured into my wolf form and with the strength that my hind legs granted me, I leaped forward, covering ground in little time as I bared my teeth, reaching for her neck. But I never got there. I was hit by another dark force and once I fell to the ground, I saw black dust appear and disappear as quickly as it came, covering the Dark Witch and taking her away with it.
Now it was just two of us that were left in the cave. I and the White Witch who was recovering from the blow she has just received few seconds ago from her dark counterpart.
“Where is she?” the White Witch asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You lost her?”
“To be fair, you lost her too.”
“Let’s go,” The White Witch said.
“Now?”
“We can’t go after her. You know that as much as I do. It was not an easy task for me to track her here and now she is gone believe me it would be harder. What’s important is that we have broken her staff. Who knows what happens now.”
My mind suddenly went to something. “How many people did you fight on entering this cave?”
“Just one. The Dark Witch.”
“No,” I said. “There were two. I smelt it.”
The White Witch was no doubter of my ability. I could see the genuine shock on her face.
Methis Delis POV
Lunch was pleasing, don’t you agree? I mean you have to, don’t you? It was like a little escape. That split second when you first bring your face out of the swimming pool or the beach after a near drowning experience, or that feeling of having to drop a heavy load to the ground knowing that you would have to pick it back up again. That was lunch. Sometimes it was drinking water after running a long race. And today, it was literally that. Once I had my lunch from our outdoor cafeteria, I strolled to my seat alongside Sophia, her brother Xander, and two other students I did not really relate with but were friends to either Sophia, Xander, or both.
I took the bottle of water from out of the tray and overturned the content into my stomach in a flash. The table laughed and I blushed. But still, I still panted. I looked around the table and Xander must have noticed my eye go his sister’s water bottle, because he quickly offered me his own.
“Do you want another?” he said, his hand reaching to his tray and sliding his water over to my side of the table without even waiting for a response.
“Thank you so much, Xander.” I took his bottle, popped the cap open and like a water drain on a toilet floor or on a sink, I emptied the content of his bottle too, faster than any of them had expected I do it.
Only then did I feel some relief and decided to carry on with my meal. Today we were served mashed potato, rice, and roasted plantain. Not a bad food combination given it was not the end of the day and we still had a long way to go.
“Did you not run?” I asked Xander, astonished that he was still here casually talking after all that had happened today.
“I didn’t.” he replied. “Why would I run at a book convention? Not like the world in those fantasy books came to life.”
In college, I was majoring in journalism and so was Xander. We were in the same class and sometimes, for the purpose of our continuous assessments for some specific courses, we were posted to some newspapers, or some television broadcasting agencies and they were required to give us assignments and tasks to complete. The up side for us was that we were supposed to get some experience in journalism before being exposed to the labour force but we all knew very well that as for the school, they did not have to deal with us for a week or two and as for the companies we were sent to, they get workers at no cost whatsoever, setting up a perfect condition for overworking.
I and Xander were posted to the same company but different departments to follow different stories. While Xander got the easy option of reporting on events at the City’s book convention which involved him taking minutes, writing quotes from speakers and reporting on awards given out and their recipients while trying to be polite and maintain a polite dress code that fitted the occasion, I on the other hand was sent to cover a football match at the city’s stadium.
It was as if the companies never read the ‘interest’ section in our résumé because there was a reason I had not added sports to mine.
“You have to stop thinking so much,” Sophia said in her usual caring voice. “We have mentioned your name about six times in our conversation but you have failed to acknowledge. What are you thinking on?”
“School. Work. All of it,” I replied without giving out any serious detail on the thoughts.
“Take a chill pill, girl. It would be OK,” Sophia reassured me.
“Well, you are not required to run, are you?”
Sophia just laughed and did not answer.
“I’m sorry,” I said to her, patting her on her hand.
“It is OK. I understand the demands of what you are doing.”