The Iron Butterfly (Iron Butterfly #1)(69)

The two Septori and Scar Lip pulled us into another alley and I could see an enclosed carriage. I knew if I got into that carriage it was over. I started to struggle with Scar Lip and he grabbed the back of my hood and a handful of hair and pulled hard. Tears formed in my eyes but I didn’t stop.

“Kill the girl!” Scar lip ordered. “She’s fighting me.” The Septori looked up at Scar Lip and grabbed at the bundle under his robe. I could hear Jury start to cry.

“NO! Please no.” I screamed and instantly went limp, showing Scar Lip that I would behave. He looked at me before motioning one of them to open the door. I saw a dark carriage with velvet padded seats, something that only someone rich could afford. Scar Lip reached inside and pulled out a vial of green liquid.

“Drink this and I will let them go.” He spoke to me and his bad breath made me gag.

“You promise? Do you promise me that if I drink this, you will not harm Pim and Jury?” I looked at the kids who clung to each other, as tears ran down their faces. I raised the vial slowly to my mouth.

“Yes,” Scar Lip answered and held up his hand as if making an oath. “I promise I will not hurt them. You should be familiar with the contents of that vial; it’s what we gave your kidnappers when we first acquired you from your village.”

The vial froze on my lips. This was the first news I had heard about concerning my family. If that was true and drinking the drug would erase my memories again, then it wasn’t worth it. My hand shook as I asked, “What village was that?”

“Doesn’t matter will it? You will never remember them, an unfortunate side effect of this particular drug. I brought it just for you. Now drink!” He raised his hand and motioned toward Jury.

I felt a silent tear slide down my cheek and tasted the first bitter taste of serum as it touched my tongue.

A scream racked the alley as an old woman with wild eyes, charged into me knocking the vial from my lips. I watched as it crashed to the ground and broke.

“What the…,” Scar Lip broke off midsentence as the screaming banshee of a women turned on him and started scratching at his eyes with her nails.

I spat out as much of the serum as I could and looked up as poor old Ruzaa attacked Scar Lip. “I remember you… you evil VERMIN! You will pay for what you did to me!”

The Septori stood dumfounded and released their hold on Jury and Pim. I looked up in horror as Scar Lip took his knife and turned it on Ruzaa.

Anger overtook me; I felt my blood boil as I reached for power. Not caring who or what got hurt as long as they paid for their sins. Jury and Pim ducked under the cover of the carriage as I held out my hands and pulled not on my own energy, but the Septori’s.

I saw Ruzaa fall to the ground, her body still, my hatred pouring out of me. The ground started to shake, the wind picked up as I tried to lift the carriage and protect the children under it. I was breaking it apart, little by little and what I had swallowed of the serum was starting to dull my senses. I didn’t have much time left.

Scar Lip turned toward me, bloody knife in hand and fell backward onto the ground. He had no leverage over me now, the children were safely behind me and my enemy lay unprotected before me. The Septori tried to run but were struggling to move as I drew their energy away.

A loud scream could be heard as I ripped apart the carriage in the air and brought it down with a loud crash onto Scar Lip and the two Septori. A mass of wood, wheels and iron sat in the alley, all that was left of the noble carriage, and under it were three bodies.

I fell to my knees exhausted and crawled toward Ruzaa. I touched her warm body and rolled her over.

“Oh, please no, not Ruzaa!” Tears were falling freely as I touched the old weaver’s face. Her eyes slowly opened and she smiled at me, blood trickling down her chin. “I got ‘em back. I did. I got ‘em, he won’t hurt nobody anymore.”

“You mean Scar Lip?”

Ruzaa coughed and more blood trickled out her mouth. “He was one of them that hurt me years ago. I will never forget that face, but I didn’t see the other one. He’s a tricky one that one.”

“Ruzaa, tell me what to do? I’ve never healed anyone before, please help me. Just tell me what to do?” Jury and Pim crawled over by me and were hugging each other.

“Don’t know how to heal, it’s not my gift. Never much worried about it before now.” She laughed and her familiar bark of a laugh was weak.

“Please! Someone help us!” I screamed down the alley toward the roads, and someone heard. I could hear voices and people shouting. “Just hold on Ruzaa, please hold on. Someone will come; we will get you to a healer.” I grasped her hand in mine and I could feel her squeeze them slightly.

I looked at my hands and tried to mimic what Joss and the other healers had done, but all I kept picturing in my mind was what I had done a few minutes ago, and in the arena. All I had ever done with my gift was steal power and destroy. What if I accidentally destroyed Ruzaa, instead of healing her? I let my own fear hold me back.

Her breathing became more ragged and people rushed to aid us. All of them reaching toward her trying to help staunch the flow of blood from her wounds, but there were too many.

“Someone run and get a healer,” a large man yelled.

Ruzaa looked at me and I could see her eyes start to turn glassy, her face was pale. “No one will hurt no more…I did it.” Her hand became slack in mine and I let the people in the alley pull Ruzaa from me and carry her away. I knew it was too late, she had drawn her last breath.