Bloods Of Power

07

The water was everything she had imagined it would be. Soothing, peaceful, and amazing. She had found the solace she had long been looking for, and somehow, she knew that deep down her encounter with Lorcán had taken a told on her and she had eased everything off now as she swam through the river leisurely. She vividly heard the sound of the insects she couldn’t point a finger at, would anyone believe her that if she said there was merely an insect in Zinambra? She was all alone, with only the mother that hardly ever found time for her.

Her limbs moved expertly through the river, for swimming was among the few things she was good at. After luring powerful and handsome men into her trap, Aranya knew how to swim so much as she knew how to howl, walk, and growl through the darkness filled forest of Zinambra. Even though she knew if she howled at night, mostly when she was ridden by boredom,  Betla would hear her, but she didn’t give a damn.

On days or nights she felt so lonely and all the things they had in the palace, the black things that weren’t so favorable bored her to death, she ran out to the river in Zinambra. There were times that Betla stopped her from going to the river, but she had never paid heed to that pointless rule because she saw no reason as to why Betla would stop her from going to that river. It was beautiful, Aranya could say that was the only beautiful thing in Zinambra. 

Apart from the white flowing river that had beautiful flowers at its bank, everything was dark, sad, and scary in Zinambra. It felt as though someone had taken all the liveliness in the place and all that was left was pain, fear, and an unquenchable thirst for revenge. Aranya was so sure that Betla would rather die than not have her revenge.

Suddenly, she got bored of swimming, all thanks to the thoughts that silently enveloped her mind without her knowing. She began moving to the edge of the river, and before she reached the edge where she had left her gown and inner dress, together with her favorite hairpin, she pulled her head up and surged in air. Oh, so she wasn’t dead after all. She smiled as she looked up to the full moon that was surrounded by nothing but darkness and wondered if the stars didn’t bring themselves out in Elara, or they hid because of her presence. 

Nevertheless, she enjoyed the view, the sensation, and the solitude she had gotten in the river. With her wet hair sticking to her hair back, Aranya pulled herself out of the river and to the stone she had placed her clothes. But before she made a move toward her red gown that was staring at her as though it had a life and could speak to tell her how glad she was that she had had this fun, something held her back. Power, magic, and whoever held her back was cruel because he or she used so much force in holding her back.

The fire she had always felt when attached abruptly surged through her whole body and it flashed through her eyes, she held it back. She waited for a moment, thinking of the only places covered in her were her chest and the flimsy clothing covering her below, barely covering the piercing curve of her hips. Whoever this person was, she didn’t care if they thought of her as someone that was more powerless than a human, he or she would have to die. And that to this instant.

“Show yourself,” she said, barely audible with a voice she was sure wasn’t just hers. The voice she spoke with was amalgamated with so much rage and power that she could feel it rustling through her whole body, afraid if she hadn’t vented everything out, she would be choked up by her powers. And what scared her the most was, Betla held almost 90% of her powers, locked safely because she had always told her how dangerous she was, and Aranya thought it was just a talk. But today, feeling how just a small percentage of what she had within her was threatening not just the life of whoever it was that got her way but herself, she began to fear herself.

A bunch of young men came out of their hiding places, three of them. They all held a smug look and she didn’t have to ask them to know she was a few years older than them. And that was what made her both pitied and resented them. She realized the first one to come out to be the one that had an arrogant look on his face to be the most powerful among them and the one that held her still in his spell, with nothing but flimsy wet underwear sticking to her body which she was sure if she looked down, she could see her whole body. They were white clothing after all. And she knew for a fact that by morning, the fishers would find three dead bodies here.

“What is the meaning of this?” She was barely splitting fire through her mouth and they chorused with laughter.

“Easy there, you human. How dare you speak to us this way?” They asked in unison and Aranya didn’t mind about her body anymore, her nakedness, all she wanted was to take the life of these young men.

“If I’m human, what are you? And can any of you tell me the meaning of this?” The place screamed of fear, of darkness that should be scared, but she was looking it more this way. Adding more to her viciousness.

“He’s a snake, not the usual snakes you humans used to kill, the vicious and most dangerous among snakes…” The one that cast the spell on her began to explain with so much arrogance as he pointed at his friend. “And this, he’s a dog, not the usual dogs you humans keep as pets and guards, the most powerful among the clans of dogs…” the other two of them cut him off and he wrapped his hands smugly around his chest. 

“And he’s a dragon, and we believe you can’t risk your life to mess with a dragon.” She hissed and laughed, not knowing how she sounded as dangerous as she did. 

The hell they were a snake, dog, and a dragon. So what if they were? She could destroy their whole clans if they wanted to risk their families, loved ones and their whole clan destroyed over such a mistake. “And so what if you’re a dog, snake, and a dragon? Do you think I care? You’re too young for me to harm you in any way I don’t want to, let go of your spell on me because if I break it myself, the magic will backfire on you and I believe that will cost you a year of healing, am I right?” She looked directly in the eyes of the dragon and she could see as something shifted in his eyes but he quickly masked it up.

“Do you refer to us as young? I’ll have to show you that we’re not young today and you’ll better not look down on any man anymore in your life.” She felt as he tightened his spell on her to the point that it moved through her flesh, but that wasn’t what she wanted to end yet. She wanted to see the end of this game so she could feel relieved when she did what she intended to do. 

She watched as he moved toward her, and with each step he took, Aranya could feel the way his invincible ropes were tightening themselves on her whole body and she knew it would only be a matter of few seconds before she burst. The moment his hand caressed her jawline with a smirk on his lips, her head shot up to stare at him and the fire she had been trying to douse came back rustling her whole body that she could feel the way it was burning his ropes.

“If you dare touch…” she wasn’t done talking yet when she felt as he placed his hand on the still wet white clothing that was covering her chest, cupping her left bosom and Aranya sparked. She felt like the fire she had been holding burnt his ropes and without knowing how she did it, his throat was suddenly in her hands and with one tap of her finger on the skin of his neck, he would be done with. 

“What can you do, you useless…” she felt the hands of the other men trying to bring her down, to tear her hand from his throat and she was sure at that point if someone looked into her body, the fire was visible and so she let it bloomed.

With a single howl, a heavy breath, she would have them lying lifeless before her, and she had already opened her mouth to howl when she heard her name being called, “Avyannah!!!” Their hands were all over her, together with the dragon’s hands on her neck as he tried to strangle her because he was sure the hold she had on his throat wasn’t that a human could.

No, Avyannah wasn’t her name, right? But she could hear whoever it was that shouted her name running toward them and then it clicked in her brain, Lorcán. She told him her name was Avyannah and hell, he thought she was human. But stifling back this fire would be the same as choking up herself. She was stuck between killing these young men and probably harming him so long as he wasn’t close enough to be killed when she felt his hands punching them as hard as he could, he didn’t even bother to use his magic. She felt as he yanked the Dragon off her hands and threw him to the ground and Aranya knew, she would have to remain human so long as Lorcán was near her.

With so much force, she stifled back her fire but it lingered all over her eyes and she could feel it burning her insides. She could feel her breath seizing, not being able to take even half the blaze of the fire, the hurt of it, the embers that glowed through her veins. And when Lorcán had the young men limping as they ran off back to the market streets, Aranya wasn’t strong enough to stand her power backfiring at her and she slumped to the ground with a loud thud.

Lorcán stared at her with a terrified expression and he ran to her figure, as she laid on the ground almost lifeless, but he knew she was alive. Even though she was a mortal, he knew something as flimsy as young men scaring her wouldn’t cost her life. She was only shocked. He stared at the only clothing on her and immediately took his eyes away, he knew he had always been so fascinated by her, even when she was clad in her gown. The red color of her gown adding so much sophistication to her white skin and through thousands of heads roaming through the tiny market streets, Lorcán knew he would recognize her so long as she had that red gown and her hair. No, she could take off the gown if she wanted, but her hair? He didn’t know what suited her the best. When the sun cast its glow and light on it, he could say she was a brunette, but times like this, with her hair wet and sticking to her half-n***d body, he could say it was as dark as the sky above. 

He knew he couldn’t touch her, so he used his powers and put her clothes back on her. Standing feet apart as he watched everything fell back to its place and he scooped her into his arms, walking back to the bustling market streets, the busy inn where he wasn’t sure of the kind of man he would be to her again, her captor or the man that was amazed and titillated by her?