They made their way back to camp as Torra tore through the woods, eyes widened with fear.

“They found us! They’re taking my people right now!”

Sophia ran after her, and Edric, Ezekiel, and Andreas followed behind her. Twigs and branches swatted Sophia’s cheeks, stinging with burning pain. She didn’t slow down until Torra did, who hunkered behind a boulder and peeked out over the top at a group of Lady Naomi’s men who were shackling and beating the village people.

Torra looked at Sophia with tears streaking down her cheeks. “Help them. Please,” she whispered.

Sophia nodded and looked to her men, each slightly inclining their heads in affirmation that they were ready. With a heavy sigh, she leapt out of the woods and into the village, sword ready to slice the first throat she came to that didn’t belong to one of the villagers.

But the men saw her coming, turning around and smiling viciously, which caused Sophia to stop in her tracks.

What the… ?

“Well, well… what do we have here?” an alluring voice asked just as a woman stepped out from behind one of the huts. “Such a beautiful face. An even better addition to my ranks.”

It was a trap. The woman was Lady Naomi. She must have known about them snooping around the castle. Sophia bit her bottom lip. She should have seen this coming.

The woman, Lady Naomi, sauntered her way toward them, stopping just outside the reach of Sophia’s sword. Naomi studied Sophia with a discriminating eye. Like she was a piece of meat. Sophia stood taller, head held high.

The woman said, “So, you are the one who has been traipsing through the land, killing off my men and trying to rescue these wretched creatures.” Her voice was thick like honey, alluring, and very much so matched her appearance. It was like the woman’s voice was an enchantment. Sophia almost wanted to fall under it. Except her gut kept her from doing so. That, and the magic that continued to pulse under her skin. She clicked her tongue. “How very naughty of you.”

“If you weren’t enslaving everyone you could get your hands on, I wouldn’t have to set them free in the first place.”

She smiled, and damn if it wasn’t as bright as the sun and just as warm. This woman had danger written all over her. The voice, her looks, those were all pretenses to confuse and capture prey. Or slaves, in this case.

“My spies spoke the truth about you,” Lady Naomi said. “You have incredibly powerful magic.” She licked her lips. “Exquisite.”

Sophia took a step back and said, “Take one more step and I’ll have to cut up that pretty little face of yours.”

The woman laughed. She looked around her then back to Sophia. “Feisty too. I’m going to have fun pulling that magic from you. Especially since I know how to use it.”

The men shuffled behind Sophia and she was well aware of how badly they wanted to get this fight done and over with. Sophia did too.

“You won’t touch me,” she said, standing her ground and holding her sword at the ready.

The woman laughed again and seemed unperturbed by Sophia’s gesture. “How cute. But I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. There are more fighters on my side than yours, and what little work you’ll make for my men, it will be worth it in the end. You’re about to make me powerful.”

Fat chance.

Sophia had heard enough. She would be damned if she let herself be captured and manipulated and have her magic torn from her, much less stand idly by and watch her men be slaughtered with the innocent people of the village.

She didn’t think. She only reacted and thrust the sword forward, lunging as she did so. Lady Naomi’s eyes widened, and she jumped out of the way.

“Attack now! Keep the girl alive!” the woman called out as she made her way toward the back of the group.

The men clustered in front of them. Sophia slashed and hacked at whoever got in her way. She was going to make sure Naomi paid for her transgressions against innocent people and her threat against herself. Meanwhile, her men, whom she always trusted to fight at her side, took down the thugs that hadn’t stood in Sophia’s path to the woman.

One by one, men fell before her as she made her way to the woman. When she finally stood before her, the woman smiled. Her hands took on an orange glow and Sophia’s magic sparked along her body.

“Impressive,” the woman said and shot a beam of fiery light toward her. Sophia dodged out of the way and immediately climbed to her feet and swung her sword, slicing the woman on her upper arm. “Bitch! You’ll pay for that.”

Sophia lunged out of the way of the next blast of heat and held her hand out as she sent sparks flying toward Lady Naomi’s face. The woman ducked, and Sophia wished the woman would stand still long enough for her to be killed. Stepping up her game, the woman pulled a sword of fire out of thin air and slashed at Sophia. She jumped back at the last second, barely missing the tip of the blazing weapon with her torso.

She finally managed to disarm the woman by twisting to the side and cutting the arm that held the magical blade. It dissipated into nothing. Sophia swung her leg out and spun close to the ground, kicking Naomi’s feet out from underneath her and hitting the ground hard on her back. The air left her lungs with a grunt, and Sophia wasted no time in climbing on top of the woman with the tip of her blade angled downward.

Sophia went to plunge the blade into the woman’s chest as she looked up at her with a strange glint in her eyes. Ignoring the look, she thrust the sword down, stabbing only ground.

Lady Naomi had disappeared into nothing.

Sophia grunted as she pulled herself from the ground, using her sword as leverage. Turning, she took stock of her men. The thugs were all killed and some of the villagers had injuries of their own. Ezekiel limped and fell to his knees.

With a gasp, Sophia ran to him. He had been stabbed. Blood pooled around his fingers. The villagers surrounded her, and two men rushed forward to help him up. The man from before approached them and said, “We know of an enclave that would provide safety and healing assistance to your friend here.”

Sophia nodded. “Thank you. Your help is kind. But it’s no longer safe for you and your family here. Come with us to the enclave. We can plan for a way to take out Naomi and free the rest of your people.”

Torra approached her, eyes frightened and shoulders trembling. “I apologize. I should have been watching for them. I should have done something.”

Sophia placed a hand on her shoulder. There was nothing the girl could’ve done. “It’s all right. Can you lead us to the enclave?”

“Yes, I can.”

“Good, let’s go. I’ll still keep my promise to help you and your people.”

Though, she hoped she could do so, and get her men out of the mountain before they faded completely. Even now, and with the help of the amulet, Edric and Ezekiel were starting to succumb to the effects of the mountain, growing weaker by the day, though much slower than before.