Chapter 128 Banished (1/2)

Back at the bridge, Amaraline was waiting for Zenobia's orders. The adventurers were still sleeping and Carrabas has been subdued. She heard the commotion about Zero's collapse and the party call was cut off momentarily. Beside her, the half-Selkie observed her as she tried to contact them without success.

It was during that time when Amaraline felt a chill down her neck and barely dodged the knife aimed to stab at her nape.

The cockatrice descendant spun around only to be met with a grinning half-Selkie. To her horror, the adventurers who were supposed to be asleep were starting to awaken. They were still sluggish and couldn't stand just yet but they would be ready to fight in a matter of a few more minutes. How they broke Lovina's spell, she wasn't too sure until she eyes a small brown cloth bag tossed onto the ground not too far from Douglas.

The water! Douglas must have used a drug to cancel the spell's effects by manipulating the water...

”Traitor!” she yelled in fury. Of all the things that could happen, she never thought that one of their own would be selling them out.

The handsome half Selkie grinned and spun the knife in his hand.

”What a pity. It would have been so much better for me if you didn't find out. I obviously couldn't win that gift of yours.”

Amaraline bristled. The party call was still not back, something terrible must have happened to Zero and it is all Douglas' fault. The fortune-teller was nowhere near her brother and uncle's level of fighting but she wouldn't let Douglas get away with it.

”You will die today,” she snarled. Nobody threatens her home, nobody endangers her family and nobody hurts her friends.

The half-Selkie easily dodged Amaraline's jab. The fortune-teller saw the kick coming but wasn't fast enough to evade entirely.

”So much for the fortune-telling gift. What use is it if you could foresee the future but not change it? Admit it, you're weak. I'll be getting my ticket out of here soon enough so I'll be generous. Leave the village with me. You don't have to die.”

Amaraline saw red. ”You're not leaving this village. Not alive after all the trouble you've caused. We've shown you nothing but kindness and this is how you betray us?”

”Betray?” Douglas sounded genuinely confused. ”What are you talking about? I was never a part of this village. It was merely a stepping stone for me. Did you think that we could be friends just because you sheltered me from the slave traders? Let me tell you this. I'm not stupid. Things like friendship and family do not exist. The only real thing in this world is money and power.”

Amaraline could not believe what she was hearing. For two years, the half-Selkie had lived as one of them. They knew a little about his background story. Douglas was a runaway slave who stumbled upon the village. Zenobia was kind and asked no questions about his background, allowing him to live as one of them. What went wrong? Why would Douglas betray them to Count Carrabas?

”You're wrong, we think of you as our family. Jacqueline looks up to you as her older brother seeing how you're distant cousins of sorts. Why would you betray the village like this, to a man like Count Carrabas no less? Why would you sell us out to the humans? We haven't done you wrong!”

Douglas agreed. ”Indeed. You've not done me wrong. However, you will understand it once you've seen the world outside. The world isn't as kind. If you are a monster, you will be hunted. The only way out of this is to reunite with your kin in the country of monsters or gain a permit as a second class citizen of a human country. My kin isn't here and I need a permit to travel safely to find them. If only you'd just abandon this village instead of putting up with a fight, nobody would have gotten hurt. Blame it on yourselves.”

Amaraline was truly rendered speechless. As a descendant of a feared monster from legends, she knew how it was. Humans feared her and even monsters do not trust her. However, the fortune-teller would never throw away her pride to sell her identity. She was a proud descendant of the Cockatrice, she swore to live and die as one. Becoming a second class citizen of a human nation was the same as throwing away your heritage. Humans have no respect for second class citizens and although they wouldn't be killed or captured on sight, the treatment was no worse than a stray animal on their streets. Second class citizens get beaten, were thrown to poor accommodations and sold scraps at ridiculously high prices.

”I will stop you,” she gritted her teeth. She'd thought of Douglas as one of them. They'd shared many moments together and he'd helped her when she was blind. Now, she had to bury all these feelings away. The man before her was no brother. He was an enemy and all threats to the village must be erased.

Douglas let his smile drop. There was a little regret in his eyes but it was soon overwritten by determination. ”It's going to be you or me today. I'm so sorry that you can't come to see it my way. Just don't blame me when you die because I'm not going to give my chance for freedom up.”

Amaraline was ready. She was probably not going to survive this fight but she wasn't afraid of dying. She only wished the party call could work so that she could send a message back.

As if someone was listening to her prayers, the party call was active again and she heard Zero's desperate voice, warning her to run away from Douglas. Unfortunately, there was no way out. The adventurers were awake and sided with Douglas. If she ran now, the village would be in trouble.

”Sorry, Zero. I can't run. The adventurers have woken up, I'll hold them back for as long as I can before reinforcements arrive.”

Zero made a frustrated sound and told himself he would chew her out for being stubborn later on.

”Can't we go any faster?” he asked Crudgel who dug his hooves into the ground harder.

”I'm sorry, Zero. This is the fastest I can go,” the centaur apologised.

Zero clicked his tongue. ”I'm going to teleport there,” he said and Hua Tuo stopped him.

”You're going to get caught in the fight if you teleport now. We're almost there so just wait for a little. Mitchnew and Lowis are almost there, they'll be able to assist. Conserve your strength to aid the injured later.”

Unable to defy his teacher, Zero held on tight. Worry was reflected in his eyes. The intuition wasn't going away and Zero felt sick to his stomach. He hoped that it wouldn't be too late by the time they reached.

”Don't worry,” Mitchnew assured. ”We can hear them fighting now. I'm going in to assist.”

Zero nodded and checked the map. From the looks of it, the adventurers are moving which meant that Lovina's spell had worn off. Amaraline was fighting three people at once but Zero couldn't tell who it was.

Lowis was the first to reach the clearing and spotted his niece who had bloodied feathers and some of her long hair slashed off. He was confused as to why Douglas was fighting alongside the adventurers but he didn't think too much about it. Between his niece and the half-Selkie, he would always stand by his niece.

The two warriors fell and Douglas looked around in surprise. He hadn't expected reinforcements to come so quickly and took the small window of opportunity to plunge his blade into the annoying fortune-teller. If there was someone in the village he had to get rid of in order for his plan to succeed, it was this girl with the ability to ruin his plans with her gift. He'd deal with the warriors later but for now, she had to die.

Amaraline saw the dagger a moment too late. It was less than two palm lengths away from her heart and she couldn't react in time. As she watched the metal come closer to her, the fortune-teller silently apologised to the family she would be leaving behind. She didn't notice how Lowis yelled out her name or how Mitchnew took out the remaining adventurers with deadly precision, knocking them unconscious using brute force.