""Kendra, you are scaring me..."" said a tiny voice.Kendra looked down at Isaa and some of the anger dissipated.""From today on, no matter what don"t leave my side. I will take you everywhere. I think some of those monsters might have some weird ideas.""
Isaa nodded.""I know. That is the reason I hid so deep. Luckily we can breathe under the water so hiding in water was not hard and no one would have taught about it. Kendra, it is good that not many people know about our powers. Now I understand why you always urge me not to tell anyone.""
Kendra patted her head and took her hand. She could feel slight s.h.i.+vers emanating from Isaa"s body.
""Sister, don"t be scared. I will protect you in this life. Let us be just more careful. But we need to report this. Who knows what is really going on.""Kendra was really worried.
Luckily Isaa was not a dumb child and hid well in water. Luckily they had powers to do so. Luckily...Wait ...an idea struck her."
""Isaa. If there is no way to run and there is water. Fight with water. Not everyone can breathe in it. Make water b.a.l.l.s and stuck it on their heads. They will drown. This could be easy for you.""
Isaa nodded.""I will first run if nothing else I will fight. I understand.""
""We need today to gather more energy from that well water. The energy doesn"t dissipate. So we will sit in the water tonight again. Wait, where is Fluffy?""
At that moment something flew out the bushes into her. Fluffy was filled with all kind of dirt and branches. He grumbled and yelled at them.""Uhm, sorry. We forgot about you in all the fear. Did you see who tried to steal Isaa.""
Fluffy puffed his hair and growled. Then he nodded. It seems he knows who they are.
Isaa forgot her basket so she wanted to take him into her hands but Kendra stopped her. She used the bit of water from the stream to wash most of his dirt and dried it the same way.
""When we get back home I will comb that hair of yours. It must be uncomfortable to have it so tangled. ""She saw his big eyes looking at her pleadingly and started laughing. ""Don"t worry we will take care of it now.""
She took rest of the money in one box and walked with it back home and Isaa had now Fluffy. She tried to get to the city as soon as possible. It was more than enough trouble so far.
They breathed out as soon as they saw the city gate. They went through and saw the commotion going on from far away.
Kendra already had a headache when she heard the words that person was sprouting. Are all n.o.bles pressed out one peace of mud so they follow the same pattern? Isaa looked at the situation and sighed. "Ate they really saying that?"
Kendra nodded and sighed as well. "Should we help out or go home make pizza?"
"Let"s see a bit. Maybe we can gather more money from stupid people." Isaa said and Kendra patted her head.
"Don"t let them catch you. I will watch now, you go help a bit. If they go overboard I"ll just drown them."
Isaa nodded and put the big smile she learned from Kendra.
In mid of square where usually market was every three days, stood a group of n.o.bles and officer Luar with a bunch of soldiers and guards.
"Who do you think you are? Do you know who my brother is?" yelled a tall guy.
Officer Luar got annoyed. Those words he heard so many times. He saw with the corner of his eyes something small coming closer and saw then Isaa coming their way.
Then he looked around and saw Kendra sitting not far away on one of the barrels and seemingly waiting for Isaa"s action.
She nodded at him with a big smile and he felt a bit sorry for these people as he saw the same smile on Isaa"s face. But just a little bit.
He nodded at Kendra and then looked at the n.o.bles that were complaining w. These people are doomed.
Isaa came near and playfully looked at the n.o.ble. "h.e.l.lo. Uncle, may I ask why are you so angry?"
He looked at simple clothing of the child and turned his head in disgust. Isaa looked at him cutely but he ignored her.
She puffed her cheeks like a chipmunk and made then funny face."Just a little n.o.ble thinking he is a big man in the young Lord"s city."
She hopped to officer Luar and bowed politely to him, soldiers and guards. "I give respect towards those that deserve it. Uncles, thank you for protecting the city from bad people."
Officer Luar went towards Isaa and pinched her cheeks. "You little chipmunk, you learned from your brother quite a bit."
Isaa giggled and hopped to Kendra that looked at n.o.bles with coldness.
The tall man looked at the child that seemed quite harmless, but as he looked at its eyes he started s.h.i.+vering.
How is it even possible? He got his wit"s together and turned again towards officer Luar.
"My brother is high n.o.ble in the capital. I lived in another city but wanted to change the city and gave a chance to this city. Now you are telling me I can"t enter? Who gave you the authority to make such decisions?" he yelled and the people that came with him nodded.
"We heard that the city is small and far so we wanted to invest gold to open few establishments. It"s boring if there is none. Now you are saying that the Lord of the City put up a law against it? Who gave him the authority to stop us?" one of the men spoke and then looked at Isaa.
Kendra"s whole being got tense from his expression. Is he the one that sends people to catch Isaa. She looked at hundreds of carriages that were parked at the market square.
She got the uncomfortable feeling that the carriages contained not only gold.
She looked at the man and jumped lightly from the barrel. Isaa saw her face turning white and run fast into Kendra"s hands.
"Officer Luar, take Isaa to my friends, bring Fintan if he is there. And go get the three people and guards. Lots of them. It seems the rats plan to infest the city again. This time even worse." said Kendra while putting Isaa on the horse.
Officer Luar didn"t even ask what is going on and run off with a child. Kendra looked at the dozen simple guards." You all go and close the main gate. No one is to enter until we don"t clear this situation. Go now." they nodded under surprised eyes of the group of people.
The tall n.o.ble looked at her while fear again started crawling all over his body." Who are you to give such orders? Are you Lord"s child?"
Kendra ignored him and looked at the two dozen soldiers. All the soldiers in this city have powers. The commander of this group of soldiers bowed slightly towards Kendra.
The Lord already gave them the order to follow Kendra"s orders in case he is not around. They knew that their powers got stronger than before because of her doings.
"We are at your service. Order us." With only a few words he let her know that she can order them as she wishes.
"Good." she understood his intentions. "You see those carriages? If there are children that are not his own blood take them out for inspection."
She pointed at huge carriages that seemed to contain people inside. The man looked at Kendra with venom in his eyes and laughed.
"So what if there are children. They are here for the entertainment of n.o.bles." then he stared at Kendra and smiled evilly. " You look good enough to join. We will take you as well."
He waved his hands at his servants to catch Kendra. But would soldiers let it happen?
One soldier came forward and stomped his feet. Suddenly all man, the n.o.ble and all servants were stuck in the earth till their wastes.
Kendra looked at him with appreciation and he scratched his head. " I planned to just stick their feet"s. I forgot my strength. But this is not bad either, right?"
"You definitely did an amazing job. The rest of you seems to have enhanced your strength quite a lot as well? Then you are enough to handle all those people in the carriages. There are few power children, about six power people and a bunch of soldiers. It seems they planned to attack the city. "
"Attack? This city belongs to my brother. Why would I attack it?" said the n.o.ble thinking that he has the right to do that.
"Does the Lord has a brother?" she asked the commander.
"As much as I know he doesn"t. He was the only child from the old Lord."
She looked at the n.o.ble and sighed. " Did you hit your head when you were little. The Lord has no siblings."
"Sibling, with that sissy that listens only to his woman." The n.o.ble even had the nerve to laugh in this situation."No. I am definitely not a sibling with such person. My brother is a n.o.ble here. I... There he is. "
Kendra turned her head and saw the one n.o.ble that changed his mind in the great hall. When he saw the situation and Kendra he sighed.
He looked at his brother and shook his head. "You got kicked again from another city? What is wrong with you. Mother is already sick because of all the things you did so far. Do you plan to really destroy us?" he spoke calmly and unhurriedly.
He looked at her and then looked at the carriages with disgust. "We have been raided twice from the Lord. Luckily at that time, we had no dirty things in our house. Mother is sick and I have no plan to make her condition get worse. If you find gold take it if you find dirty stuff destroy it if he is involved in the same things as those people, arrest him. These are words from mother." he looked at his brother with sadness and shook his head.
"If you are again involved with those nasty people our family will erase you from our family book and deny any contact forever." he looked at his brother"s face that turned white then red from anger.
"So what. Even without you, I can live well. I wanted to share some good stuff with you, but you are just like father all stiff and prudent." he yelled.
The man scrunched his back in sadness and slowly walked away. He seems to be aged a few years because of his own blood brother.
The n.o.ble then got stunned, is he really going to leave him like that."Stupid idiot. I brought so many good things. You can take over the Lord"s place and become a new Lord. I wanted you to become someone. Why would you deny my thoughts for you, you fool" he screamed on the end?
The n.o.ble sighed and shook his head." Our family was always just traders. Even on the north, we were small n.o.bles, but we lived a good life. We just started standing again and living normally. Why can"t you live simply? Its easy and comfortable life." he turned to leave but this time his back straightened. He is not ashamed of anything as they live properly.
The brother sarcastically smiled at left back of his own brother. " So what. It"s boring to live so simply. I really don"t understand them. All day just sitting around and playing music or dancing or being lazy. They would sometimes go and look at the lands and do the same thing. Walk around and playing around. That"s it all the time. How boring. "
Kendra and soldiers looked at him like he was a big fly on the wall. " I really think you hit your head when you were a little child. "
"What can such child know about all the other pleasures in the world. If you were a power child, it would be interesting for me. I had my share with them." he started laughing dirty.
Kendra shook and looked at the carriages where she felt children with the powers.
"How is it even possible that they don"t move." she looked at commander and saw soldiers expression turning grave." What is it?"
"They must have soul eaters somewhere." he looked at her face and knew she had no idea about it so he explained. " Its creature that can stun power people and eats their souls. Its terrifying creature. But such things never attack a normal human. Just those with powers. "
Kendra got angry this time. Do they dare? She started smiling at the people stuck in the earth.
"Commander, I am not a very nice child when I get angry. " They knew now she is really upset. "These people..." she looked at the sleazy man who looked at Isaa. She stopped and went to him.
"Outside the city, did your man try to catch Isaa?" he looked at her without fear and laughed. " I saw her playing with other children. We wanted to take them all but they have been called only that child stayed. Unfortunately, she hid well." he smacked his lips while thinking something filthy.
Kendra"s hands went stiff. She slowly put her hand on his head and ripped it from his neck. She emotionlessly looked at the head in her hand and went towards the commander. "Is there someone with fire powers?"
He looked at her empty eyes and nodded. One of the soldiers came forth and bowed. "Tell me what I have to do?"
"Burn them alive. I will take care of the creatures. I have feeling that those things fear me." she turned around and slowly walked towards the carriages. Screams could be heard behind her but she didn"t care.
One step after another she finally located the carriage with the powers. Commander and dozen soldiers stood behind her fearlessly.
What a joke would that be is they stayed there and small child fought the creatures alone.
She looked closely at the carriage and hit it with her foot lightly. "Come out. If I come in none of you will survive."
Slowly out carriages came one after another young and old, man woman and children and slowly aligned in front of Kendra. They all had a strange thing stuck to their necks and empty eyes.
"I know that you can understand me. Such powerful creatures used to become the slaves of those people. You are as dirty as them." she spoke calmly but with disgust.
"I heard that your kind lives in secret forest. Soul eater they call you, but it seems you just blur their souls so you can walk around. I wonder. How could you let them do all those atrocities and control you? Speak. "
Commander looked at Kendra as she spoke with terrifying expression. He looked at the man that came forward and got tense.
But Kendra was calm. "We are indeed creatures from the forest. We do not eat anyone"s soul. Humans never wanted to speak to us and just killed their own. We are trying for years to go back home and the only way is to use the energy from powerful people to move forward."
Kendra nodded. She guessed so much."Not many of you are left here, right?"
"There was a man who captured us and used us for his own gain for war. With time we understood what happened, but it was already late and many of my kind died because of it all. Please, these people and children we used only to come so far. They planned to do evil things, but we wouldn"t let them if they tried. We just wanted to act stupid till here and then just walk away and go back to the secret forest. Then we would have left the people to go and they would just wake up, like from a dream."
Commander and soldiers started crying. "If we knew that you were not malicious we would have helped you. So many of our kind we killed ourselves in fear off you."
"At that time it was understandable. We were under some kind of strange effect. We couldn"t speak. And he was somehow controlling us. We are sorry about everything." the creature said with a sad sigh.
"So all this time since war you tried to go back?" sounded the voice behind them.
"Yes." he bowed slightly. He could remember the woman that fearlessly attacked the hordes of demons and humans that were infested with own kind.
"Then so be it. Go home. Are there still some of your kind here. We can find them and send them home." said the woman.
He shook his head. "All that is left from my kind is here. Please help us go home."
"Can you live without a human body? It"s not that I don"t trust you, but better safe than sorry. Your kind owns us lots if good people."
He nodded. He slowly let go of man"s neck and slid down. When they saw their full body everyone shook their heads. It"s just a small animal that had a long tail and big eyes.
Kendra was reminded of flying squirrels. Cute big eyes and fluffy tails. She walked towards it and patted the one that came from the man.
"Soon we will take you back home. No one will harm you anymore. Hm?" The creature licked her hand and bit it slightly. A drop of blood came from Kendra"s finger and she calmly saw it swallowing.
"Can you understand me now?" Kendra nodded while the people behind luckily didn"t see what happened.
"If you want to talk to some creature, let it eat drop if your blood and you will be able to understand their language. But it lasts only for one day." She understood it and was relieved. If she had to hear all the animal chats she would go crazy.
She took the creature in her hand and snuggled it." Don"t worry, the Lord is kind mam He will definitely send you back home, all of you. Hmmmm. I will give you the name if you don"t mind."
It shook his head and looked at her." Squeak? No. Hmmm. Solar? Wait are you male or female?"
"Female." she saw the small animal holding head like having a headache. " Just call me Solar then. If you start giving me some long names I might as well not have any. "
"Good. Solar it is," said Kendra. She turned around and saw a bunch of soldiers and her Majesty looking at her flabbergasted. "What? You have time staring at me. Take care of those people as they will soon get their memories back. And look at those carriages. It seems they are filled with good stuff that you can use for " that" idea."
Her Majesty looked at Kendra and shook head. At first, she saw people being burned alive under Kendra"s command. But seeing her talking to these creatures as nothing happened she let go of her fear.
She ordered the soldiers to take the carriages inside to the Lord palace as people started appearing. The soldiers already smoothed the earth as nothing happened at that place and slowly left.
Kendra stood there and looked at hundreds of carriages going away. One woman came forward and asked her curiously. "What are these carriages?"
"Oh, it seems that her Highness sent some stuff to our Lord as grat.i.tude for his long fight on her side. Our Lord is truly amazing. Isn"t he?" Kendra answered with childish expression and awe.
"Yes, our Lord is amazing. So many carriages if gifts. Our Lord didn"t waste then all those years on the Kings side." she left to tell everyone how great the Lord is
Kendra hated those curious people but sometimes they are quite useful, like now.
She remembered Isaa and Fluffy and jumped on one of the last carriages. She jumped off in the inner city that was calm.
Even the main gate was open like nothing happened. She shrugged. The Lord actions became faster. It"s good this way.
She came fast to the ice house and Isaa saw her as everyone looked long line of carriages.
The old lady smiled at her and turned to go inside again. Kendra took Isaa"s hand and went back home.
She will explain everything later. People stood there and commented on the long line of carriages. Kendra went there and acted cutely.
"Uncle, I heard His Highness sent some gifts to the Lord for his long fight at the war. Is it true?"
"Oh, is it so. I heard the same." he patted her head and went to his neighbors to tell.
Kendra winked at Isaa and they smilingly run home.
Fluffy grumbled. These two are really mischievous.
When they came home the soldiers already started putting up the greenhouse in corner of the yard that was empty. She already took all the vegetables out as she didn"t want them to get dry when she leaves for a few days.
The greenhouse was not big. It fit perfectly in that corner. Kendra went quickly inside and made dough for pizza. She told Isaa to grate lots of cheese. Knowing the three noisy people they will probably appear soon as well.
There were only three soldiers but they had powers. So they carefully put peace by peace of the greenhouse.
Kendra already finished all preparations and started baking when they were almost finished with bringing in the plants as well.
"Isaa, tell them to wash hands and sit outside. Pizza is soon done."
When they heard the child they accepted it. They quickly washed their hands and waited for food. It was a child"s goodwill so even if tastes horrible they would eat it.
But soon the smell wafted their way and they froze. Delicious. Strange but delicious.
Kendra cut the first pizza while one more was already in the oven. Isaa took the plates with the pizza and brought it out.
They first tasted it and then like a hungry wolf"s attacked the food. Isaa looked at them with big eyes and at that moment she heard knocking at the door.
She sighed. Kendra already told her that they will come. She taught about peaceful life on the half-island and understood why Kendra wants them to go there fast. People lately became bothersome.
She opened the gate and as expected the three people stood there with big smiles. She sighed. "Kendra said you can enter, eat and go. She doesn"t want to talk to any of you as you seem not to keep your promises."
They got stunned. Xara face got red as she was the one that always made all the promises. She nodded and they entered hardening their face and skin. They just want to taste the new thing Kendra made.
Isaa shook her head. Did they forget that Kendra is just a nine-year-old child? Do they plan to work her to death?
Isaa then looked at them and chose that from this day forward she needs to protect Kendra"s peace. She understood Kendra"s wishes. She just wanted to have a calm and comfortable life.
Kendra didn"t even look at the three people as she cut second pizza for the hungry soldiers outside. "You have to wait. I made my promise to them and plan to keep it."
The ice voice let them feel cold. Her Highness saw the soldiers ignoring them as they stuffed their faces with the pizza.
"It looks delicious." she saw then one more coming out the oven but again was given to the soldiers.
"Isaa, tell them they can take the rest with them and go. Give each of them a gold coin."She took an old pouch and took three gold coins.
They first didn"t want to take till they didn"t hear Kendra"s voice again. " Take the gold. Or don"t talk to me ever again. I earned it so it"s not dirty. If you don"t take it I will feel offended. "
They looked at each other and then at the three people and took the money, the leftover pizza and left.
The Lord, Xara and her Majesty sat down and waited for food without talking. They saw her busying herself and felt bad.
Kendra looked at them and sighed. "Xara please come here and explain to you cook what I make. This is tomato sauce I made myself. These are seasonings." She explained while she was putting one thing after another.
The Lord and her Majesty as well came to see and at that moment she got an idea.
"Let"s do it differently. You make your own and I will just tell you what to do." she knows that people usually can"t make any mistakes with this. It"s impossible to make mistakes, right?
But these three people indeed had fun with it. They made the pizzas and Kendra baked them. When her Highness saw the temperature she used to bake the pizza, she used her power to bake her own and with Kendra"s instructions, her pizza was done under their eyes.
After the pizzas were done they sat down and started first elegantly eating but then they started using hands like soldiers and munching it with delight.
Kendra looked at them and sighed again. Everyone is the same. Pizza rules.
Isaa and Fluffy went to check out the greenhouse and they saw many different plants. She walked around and liked it, but saw that most plants needed water.
She couldn"t use powers in front of those people so she took pot and bit by bit watered pot by pot of plants.
Her Highness looked at Kendra and was curious ." Why this thing from everything else.?" She couldn"t understand.
"Your Royal Highness, how expensive is a gla.s.s?" asked Kendra.
"Extremely expensive. This thing is worth a mountain of gold," she answered truthfully.
"And now what is a most important thing in the world?" Asked Kendra while she looked at Isaa running around and watering plants.
"Gold?" said the woman. Xara shook her head.
"Sister, how can you say that as the King of the country. It"s not the gold, its food." she understood Kendra"s thoughts.
"Yes, its the food. People start wars not for gold, then for food that is the most important part of life. If you have food but no gold, you can still live. But with gold, without food, you can only die." Said Kendra and went silent.
She looked at them, "If you want your people to love and respect you, let them raise food. Provide them with the food and the seeds in case of catastrophe and to live comfortably in case of peace. Gold is only good as a matter of transaction. But if you have nothing to buy, all the gold means nothing for an empty belly."
The Lord looked at Kendra. "Why don"t you let me adopt both of you as my own children. I promise you that you won"t ever be hungry or thirsty. We will treat you both well."
She saw his expression and knew that he meant it from his heart, but still refused. " One day we will leave and travel the world. You know me, early or later I probably will offend someone I should not. I hope one day that you become strong enough, for us to come back and use you as a safe haven. Grow stronger, maybe, just maybe one day we will be back. Then if you still didn"t change your mind I will accept it."
He stood up in determination. "Xara, will you help me become someone worthy of becoming a father? One day I want children to proudly call me their father." Xara just stood up and hugged him.
Her Highness looked at the two people and had a strange feeling as well. She felt uncomfortable that the children in her country had such thoughts, and some even being used. She is the King but didn"t protect her own people. Her head got red and she hit the table.
"We all need to become stronger so that the people can live comfortably. I need new laws, children protection."
"Then let"s start with those nasty people. Children under the age of 18 should not consummate the marriage. Children should be protected. No slavery for children. " said Kendra. "Make more so you can punish more. And now...Out!"
They looked at her surprised. "Don"t look too much, my face will wear off. Go home and do as you said you will. Don"t make promises you can"t make true and don"t break those you already made. Go, go go..."
She pushed them out and locked the door. Finally peace. Isaa saw them being locked out and used water to make fine mist and rain with a wave of her hand. After she watered plants she went to Kendra.
"Let"s make pizzas for us and rest. We will go to the island after planting the potatoes," said Kendra while making pizza. She already made one and it was baking in the oven.
She made spicy and normal on both pizzas and let Isaa try some as well. She liked it but in the end, she liked more the one without the spiciness. Everyone has different tastes, likes, dislikes.
They ate well and cleaned everything up. Now everything is over. They will go tomorrow to officer Luar and then find those two families.
For today no one else will come. Usually, they would sleep at this time of the day but Kendra chooses to use the energy water.
They entered the barrel and started gathering energies even faster as before. The energy absorption was even faster as before.
Isaa suddenly felt hitting something like barrier just like before but this time she had more determination to try to pa.s.s it. After gathering more and absorbing even more her head felt easy and comfortable suddenly.
Kendra opened eyes and saw Isaa"s face turning happy. "I waited for you to become stronger finally. I pa.s.sed the barrier last time and felt much stronger. When we go to the island we will try it out. Now absorb as much energy you can. The energy sea became bigger and it will be harder to full it, but at the same time it will be harder to empty it."
She closed eyes and continued to gather as well Isaa did same. Fluffy stood next to the barrel with an astonished face. "Are these children human monsters? How is it even possible to pa.s.s the barrier? What kind of determination you must have to go so far? "
He felt horrible. He, the ancient has not enough determination but those children do. That won"t do. He plunged in the big jar with the same energy water and started absorbing the energies. How can two tiny humans become stronger than himself? That really can"t be...
While the three of them absorbed the other three had a strange feeling as well. To be taught by a small child. They felt they lost face totally.
It seems many people in this country will get hurt, and it all started with a piece of pizza and small determined child...