"Alarik look at that," Edwyn said as he pointed up the muck street that went through the center of the small village they just arrived at. They hadn't even found an inn yet.
Alarik turned sharp, sapphire eyes to follow the extended finger and then narrowed them at what he saw. A young woman was huddled up under a dirty, torn blanket propped up by broken and splinter filled posts. It wasn't such an unusual scene, but what was angering the blonde was the kingdom guard that had just sauntered over.
"I bet you think you have it so bad," said the guard, oblivious that Alarik, a full head taller than him and built much more sturdy, was looming up behind him. "Oh woe is me being punished. You deserve it you witch! Trying to tempt decent folk and-"
"-and?" Alarik inquired, cutting the guard off, as he summoned a ball of fire into his hand. "Do go on, or shall I explain to you what makes everything you said so very wrong and why she can't even understand you?"
"Alarik," Edwyn said calmly, but didn't try to stop his companion as the blonde knocked the guard across the street. Instead, he focused his dark eyes to the bound witch and knelt down next to her, resting his hands on hers.
She panicked, making desperate grunts in her chest and trying to recoil away. Edwyn simply held her hands, stroking her palms with the tips of his fingers as blue wisp-like mist rolled out from his hands and over hers. It took a moment, but she settled, though she was still trembling.
"You see," Alarik said, holding the dripping ball of fire over the prone form of the guard to keep his attention. "When a witch is discovered, they are given two choices. Be bound, or go to the Academy and be trained for the king of this land, to be a slave. You even get a pretty collar to show it. Now, if you decide to be bound, you truly are bound. You see those glasses pierced into her nose? Those blind her, so she cannot See. Those fancy earrings with the emerald looking gems stuck in her ears? Those make her deaf, so she cannot Hear. And that fancy, expensive looking necklace that locks up tight to her throat? Those silence her, so she cannot Chant. She can barely breathe and can only eat mash and liquids."
Edwyn ran his fingers over the collar worked with ebony. Though dirty, he could see her skin was naturally pale. Each swallow made her throat struggle to pulse to follow the motion. He had yet to see a design like this, and the girl did seem just past the cusp of womanhood. It was often when a woman became eligible for marriage, she began to show signs of being fertile, that the Gift manifested.
"Why?" said Alarik, still standing over the guard. "Because she was born with a gift that was shared by all the ancient folk. Lied about that she is a threat, and she is, but only because of the treatment that sends the powers raging at those who would so cruelly treat their children. I can feel fire urging me to kill you, to burn you from the inside out with a fire so hot you don't even have time to realize you're on fire."
"Alarik," said Edwyn. The guard was a simpering mess. "You are making a scene. Leave the poor ignorant fool be and help me with this girl."
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