The Enchanted Flame

Chapter 4 This is not the place for a witch

“What’s your name?” the stranger’s dark eyes glanced at me briefly before turning back on the path.

“I am Valeria,” I answered in a confident voice. I was having doubts and a part of me was scared as well, but I would rather not show my feelings to the stranger. I had to be strong in front of him.

A soft wind touched my face gently, I removed my hair away from my face. 

“Valeria,” my name rolled out smoothly from his tongue like melted chocolate.

“I am Killian.”

A silence appeared between us as we walked into the depths of the unknown woods. The forest was nothing like the dark forest, it had no magic to protect itself nor did it change the paths to confuse the visitors maybe because it did not need to. The creatures residing in the kingdom were enough to keep every visitor away. The heavy wind and the silence of the forest were scarier than the eerie music that the creatures of the dark forest used to lure their prey. At every step, there was a new surprise in the dark forest, where the creatures waited for their prey, waiting to feast on their flesh and blood. But it was the rule of nature, someone needed to lose their life if someone else had to live.

The stranger walking next to me had no expression of doubt on his face or he was better at hiding his emotions while I was not sure if it was the right decision to walk with him. His eyes stayed focused on the path, but I had a feeling he was well aware of his surroundings. His ear twitched at even the slightest sound and even though he had an 'I don't care' kind of look on his face something was telling me he was more dangerous than he looked.

“I get it I am handsome, but can you stop, we are in the middle of the forest?” he said suddenly in a serious voice.

I quickly looked away from his face as I felt my cheeks getting warmer, a thing which I hated about me.

“I was not….I was just….” I tried to defend myself but gave up when a smirk appeared on his fuller lips, “I was just wondering why would you help me, aren’t we supposed to be enemies?”

“Says, who?”

“It is how it is. Your people are cruel and would murder anyone, especially people from my Kingdom.” I said the words loud and clear as we both knew it was the truth.

He let out a deep chuckle, making my heart flutter, “We just believe in taking what’s ours and we are powerful so why would we hide it, shortcake?”

“That makes no sense, witches can kick your butt any day, and do not call me that,” I answered with a confident smile.

“Witches are strong but not strong enough to fight a superior shifter. Aren’t you people always told not to cross the borders of the doom,” he said the last part making his voice deeper to add the scary effect.

It was true we were always told not to go near the borders, mostly because we did not know much about their powers and not because we were weak.

“Said it like a cocky shifter,” I scoffed, “we do not enjoy killing people, we believe in helping others, maintaining a balance.”

“Wasn’t your queen murdered?” he scrunched his brows, “and shortly after that weren’t two covens also murdered? I mean, I don’t know much but it does not sound like maintaining the balance or helping others.”

I opened my mouth to argue but closed it, it was useless to make him understand the story behind it. Besides, what was the point of making him understand anything about how things worked in my Kingdom?

“Face it, shortcake, people do crazy things for power and power can corrupt anyone’s heart.”

"Will you stop calling me that?" I asked, getting annoyed at hearing the name,

"Nope. It suits you."

"I am not short," I folded my arms to defend myself, "you are just freakishly tall."

He let out a small laugh in return, "Whatever you believe, shortcake."

I looked at him silently as I continued walking beside him. He was not completely wrong about the power. It was the hunger for power that led to the murder of the queen as well as two covens. The hunger of being better than others, the hunger of letting others know about your superiority to them, feeling the rush of power on your fingers, being able to control everything and everyone.

I knew the look very well, I grew up watching that look, hearing about how if you did not have powers someone else would take your place and I swore to myself I would never let power control me.

“Where are we going?”

We have been walking for so long on the same path, everything was the same, even the trees were not much different. For a minute, I thought he was just tricking me and would send me to his King or murder me in the deeper parts of the woods where no one would be able to find my body.

"Don't worry, I am not going to kill you," he said in a mocking manner, "at least not yet."

His words did not give me any reassurance and I kept myself ready to take the moonstone out of the bag.

But my suspicions were cleared when a cottage similar to mine appeared in front of my eyes but unlike the cottage, I had been living in, it had no flowers surrounding it, in fact, there were no trees around it either. It was just a pale cottage with a dark roof. Maybe we were in the middle of the forest.

“I thought superior shifters only lived in their huge homes.” It was the truth, I had always heard how a superior shifter always showed off their wealth, they lived in mansions but the sight in front of my eyes was the opposite of everything making me wonder what other things were not true about them?

He looked at me with amusement dancing in his eyes, “I did not know you loved talking about us so much, and to answer your question, you are obviously stereotyping us.”

I rolled my eyes at him as he opened the door.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” he said with a grin.

I entered inside as well. It looked bigger from the inside and much neater than I was expecting it to be but I refrained myself from saying it out loud otherwise he would accuse me of stereotyping him again. 

There was a fireplace in the corner with a simple chair in front of it and an identical chair in front of the square table placed closer to the fireplace. In the corner was an old-looking couch that had a medium-sized window above it. In the corner opposite to it, there was a bed large enough for only one person to sleep. And, in the last corner, there was a shelf with cooking supplies on it. Even with all these things, there was still space left in the room. With the lack of furniture, it looked like he lived alone, but I decided not to ask him anything.

“There are only two rules, do not use magic and do not set this house on fire.”

His voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Don’t worry I am not planning on staying here for too long,” I smiled at him. My plan was clear I had to find a way to get out of here, well my priority was to get back my compass but I had a feeling it was not possible anymore. So, I was left with no other option than to rely on the stranger.

He did not respond and went to the corner where the kitchen supplies were, “You hungry?”

“Not much,” but at the same time my stomach rumbled and he looked at me with a smile.

“Make yourself comfortable,” he said shaking his head while I sat down on the couch feeling embarrassed.

I put my bag next to me on the couch, it did not have anything that important in it which could be useful for me here. 

“Why did you ask me not to do any magic?” I asked curiously, with magic everything could be easier for me and if everything went right I might be able to ask Astrid for help.

I could see him chopping some vegetables in a swift action, “Because the king has his ways of knowing if someone is doing magic here, and trust me you do not want to be caught. This is not a place for a witch.”

“But they already know I am in their kingdom.”

“The kingdom is not small and we will find a way to send you back before they come to find you here,” Killian answered without looking at me as he kept doing his work.

I was screwed, if the King realized I was here he would not think twice before killing me and feeding my body to wolves or whatever animals are found here. 

I looked around as he prepared a meal for us, there was nothing decorative in the room, it just had essential items necessary for survival in the forest. There were only two windows in the entire room, one was above my head and the other one was in the kitchen, right above the cooking place, both the windows were not that large.

Killian was walking towards the table balancing two large bowls in a tray in his left hand, while another plate in his other hand looked like it had some bread in it. I got up to take the bowls from his hand and put them on the table.

Killian pulled the chair from the front of the fireplace and placed it opposite the first chair then he ran back to bring two glasses of water.

“Why are you still standing?” he gave me a confused look while putting the glass in front of me.

I shook my head with a smile and sat down. The strong aroma of the soup entered my nostril, making my mouth flood with saliva. I put a spoonful of soup in my mouth and moaned as the burst of flavors touched my tongue. Maybe I was just hungry but it tasted like nothing I had tried before.

I opened my eyes to Killian looking at me with wide eyes and a spoon full of soup in his hand.

I dragged my eyes towards the bowl embarrassed only to hear his laugh.

“I am glad you like it,” he replied with a smile on his lips and a slight taunt in his tone.

After taking some more spoons of the soup and the bites of garlic bread, I took a sip of water. My stomach was full and I was safe in the cottage even though I would not lie and say I trust Killian completely but he was my last hope of surviving in the dark Kingdom.

“Thank you,” Killian looked up with a frown after hearing it.

“For helping me and for making me this delicious meal,” I added with a small smile.

It did not matter if I trusted him or not, the truth was, I was alive because of him.

He returned my smile with a captivating smile of his own, “You are welcome, shortcake.”