Ignoring all the crimes he had done, the important thing was that they were a day away to reach the second biggest city in the country of Valand, Dudria. Known for being near to Caistan Academy, renowned for the great number of mages that studied there and the fame they obtained because of their great knowledge gained inside the school.
Also, one of the better places to obtain anything one wanted. Be their magical trinkets or people. After all, Valand was known for having anything one wanted to find thanks to being a rich country.
It surprised her a little to find herself on another planet altogether. Emain was its name. While she has received her new memories, she hadn't got the time to analyze them. She mostly focused on what occurred to end inside a carriage led by slave traders.
Though now that she got the name of the planet, she remembered little bits of its geography, like its two known continents where the biggest one had three kingdoms in the countries of Valand, Cethos, and Zadria. Meanwhile, the other smaller continent had the unified Kingdom of Thoran, named after its country.
Whatever. Not that it currently mattered, so why concentrate on it.
She shook her astral projection's head and decided to use a bit of her exhausted energy into doing two things. Making the man with the reins stop the horse and using her control over liquids to create a bubble of air in the blood near the hearts of the three men.
Then she returned to her body. Opening her eyes, she smiled and moved forwards, approaching the children. When most of them turned their attention towards her, she signaled them to be quiet by placing a finger above her lips.
Just as she expected, the man stopped the carriage and the other men outside started asking about what happened.
It didn't take long for her to hear grunts followed by bodies hitting the ground.
"Now, we can escape," she said, her voice slightly raspy.
She ignored the dull looks she received and started to move towards the only exit. It was hard, especially with how tired she was, but she did it.
After reaching the door and stabilizing her breath, she proceeded to look at the lock, internally glad it was a simple one. She usually could open doors more complex than this one using pins, but there weren't any thrown around so she decided to bite the bullet and using some of her magic. After all, her being an Elemental mage didn't mean she didn't know a trick or two of other branches of magic.
Though using liquids was cheaper on her reserves.
Soon, she had a wide-open door in front of her. She didn't bother to see if the others had followed her as she went out and approached the dried food that the men placed close to the jail as a way to torture them with the smell as they rationed food unfairly.
After checking how much there was and mentioning offhandedly that they could eat some if they wanted, she moved to the front of the carriage to check the men and rob them of anything precious.
When she returned to the back, she wasn't surprised to find that crying kid eating some bread, outside the jail, while trying to give another piece to a girl of no more than twelve years old.
The girl accepted it but like the other times, she ate robotically and docilely.
She sighed deeply. The sound made the others look at her so she shrugged. "They're dead."
She then took one of the satchels she retrieved from the men and, after cleaning it, she took a sip of water. For a Water Elemental mage to drink water after receiving none for days was heaven, so she treasured the experience as in no way in hell would she abstain from drinking once again.
Feeling her energy partially restored, she let out a pleased sigh and gave the satchel to the crying kid.
"Wanna come with me, kid?"
The kid looked at her owlishly, his swollen face mixed with the dried tears and snot causing a funny yet sad picture. She waited until he nodded and then motioned him to go outside. When she made sure he would not peek, she knelt in front of the other children. She looked at them solemnly for a moment.
"I'm sorry not being able to help more. If any of you want to come with me, come and I promise you I'll do my best to protect you."
"You're different," a raspy voice like her own answered her, starling Alula. She saw one of the youngest children looking at her with watery eyes. "I just want to meet my mom again."
"I promise you to help you search for-"
"So, can I just die... please?"
She looked up to see the face of the other children and was sad to find out everyone looking at her with expectation.
Feeling herself tearing up, her throat tightening, she grabbed one of the long knives of those men and looked at it. For a moment, she regretted using most of her energy in killing those slaver-traders.
It would be the wisest thing to kill them using the knife, even if it'll cause them more pain. She didn't know what dangers awaited her, after all.
It would be, but in the end, she never claimed to be a wise person.
With a sad smile on her lips, she grabbed the last dregs of her energy.
Not five seconds later the sound of bodies falling to the ground was heard.
- -
Sad chapter here. Alula is a realist though you will find that she can be quite an idealist sometimes. Hope you liked this chapter.