Chapter Four

"Do you trust me, little female?" his voice sounded serious but the situation required no less from both of them.

"Do I have an alternative?" she decided to test him to gauge his real intention because of his evasive nature.

"Not that I can think of" he paused as if pondering over his next words before he said "we are inside a mirror so what we see may be a reflection of what they want us to see which may very well be an illusion but that's something you have already figured out, am I right?"

She nodded.

"This place was triggered by our past actions as a trap . . . an assurance of sorts. I am going to need your undivided attention for us to make it through here" he flicked his hand around and the white smoke swirled higher above their knees up to Hannah's waist given that she was a good inches shorter than her male companion. He looked straight into her eyes and took her hands from her sides so that their fingers were intertwined. Hannah took a deep breathe and closed her eyes briefly before opening them just in time for a burst of energy to explode from both their linked hands. A swirl of ocean blue and green energy that was dancing not too close and tet not too far from each other.

She had never seen anythong else so beautiful.

Trust huh? She didn't even know why he needed to gauge her magic when his oozed of a powerful aura but he had asked her to trust him so she was going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Okay, he didn't really ask because he is too mean to be polite but it is what it is anyway. She looked closer and saw an almost invisible liquid silver line that swirled with the blue line making three curvy stripes that reminded her of an inferno being fed by a spell caster. She could've smiled but she could feel herself getting heavier and heavier by the second. Whatever then man was doing needed more than just her strength. Maybe her mama was going to be able to endure but she was definitely losing out on this one.

"Just a little longer now Hannah" for some reason, hearing him call her by her name that she had initially thought he didn't quite catch made her feel that she was making progress. A ghost of a smile touched her face as she felt herself get weaker.

"I c-can not hold any l-longer than this" she had tried to keep up but she couldn't anymore. She felt something liquid trickle down on her right eye and wondered if it had started raining without her being aware.

"We are through little female, I will come back for you" she heard him whisper in her ear and she finally realised that the mirror had faltered, that they were on open ground and that the trickle on her face had been from her eye.

He saw her exhaust herself. She knew what they are doing was to save her sibling but she didn't question what it is that they were doing inside the illusion box but she willingly, blindly trusted him.

Naive little female!

He couldn't understand her but he couldn't really complain since he is not used to have someone question his next move or his cause for action. He was way past that anyway. He preferred working alone to avoid explaining himself to anyone which involved pushing anyone as far away from his personal space as anyone. He watched the little female shiver and frowned, she was a strange creature to him and she seemed fragile . . . too fragile for his liking. He needed to move before the sun touches the ground so he cast a spell over her so that no one could see her lying there. He was going to be more quick without her being a hindrance. He merged with the shadows overcast by the trees before becoming a total shadow himself. He approached the village where the little female's sibling's scent was the strongest and followed it in shadow form to avoid alerting the vicious tribe of his presence. They wouldn't be able to identify his scent in shadow form so he decided to relinquish the flesh.

He spotted the tiny female curled inside the wooden cage where she must be waiting upon their decision to sacrifice her for one of their endless rituals. He could sense the faint trace of magic on her blood, too faint for detection if you don't look closer. She can be mistaken for an unsuspecting human and it suddenly made sense to him. They must've thought that the fully groomed witch was preying on an unsuspecting human without assessing what type of bond the females share. They have grown sloppy!

"Shhh" he chanted when the youngling spotted him. He couldn't afford to have her screaming and alert the guardians of the Shadow tribe to be on his trail. He could hold his own just fine but he couldn't say the same about the his female companions. He touched her hand and the binds blocking the little cage snapped open to let him take her and he quickly made his way back to the resting Hannah to find her wide awake. As soon as he disintegrated the shield hiding her, they ran to each other's arms.

"Kayla" Hannah stiffled a sob while embracing her sibling "im so sorry" she felt her mind get muddled by the possibilities of what ifs, yet again.

Kayla just broke out crying which had to be cut short as their male companion spoke in an urgent tone.

"We have to go now before they realise they have lost the child"

They retraced their steps to go back to the cliff of the shadow valley. The hulk of a male took little Kayla and swung her to his broad shoulders bridal style and picked up his pace which forced Hannah to break into a jog. Soon they were at the cliff where they deemed it safe and the sun's rays had fully touched the earth, bracing it with partial warmth seeing that it was already winter.

Hannah wiped the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead with the back of her head and tried to catch her breath. The male put a dazed Kayla on the ground who must've only realised the danger she must've been in when she woke up to unfarmiliar faces. She still looked to be processing the events in her little head and her eyes shot up to the two grown-ups with her.

"Where is mama and papa? Are we going to die Hannah? What did he do to us?" she fired the questions at once without giving them time to answer.

"Mama and papa are held up and they will come as soon as they can . . . we are going to be okay" Hannah comforted her sibling who seemed unsatisfied with the given response. Hannah looked to her side where the male who was too proud to offer her a name and said "He is with us" she patted her sibling's head assuringly.

"Do you happen to have a name since I cannot call you papa. You are . . . big as him but I cannot call you that way because you are a stranger . . . or are you Hannah's fated half. Mama and papa said that Hannah will-?" she seemed happy to be gearing the motion of things in her head, unaware that she was embarrassing her older sibling which warranted the male to make a huge grin so Hannah cut her mid sentence.

"Kayla . . . what did papa say about adult ralk and strangers?" Hannah thought fast to stop Kayla's train of thoughts.

She seemed to consider her older sibling's words and smiled apologetically to the older male who seemed genuinely amused.

"You are Kayla right?" he questioned the tiny female to see her nod before he crouched low to be at Kayla's eye level as best he could with his hulking frame "Can you keep a secret Kayla?" he whispered which made the tiny female giddy.

"ofcourse I can" she whispered back.

"Do you know the big city where most of the jews hail from?" he prodded her head to understand the tiny female's interests

"As in like Jerusalem?" she beamed

"You are smart. Now what would a male be named in relation?"

"Jera? Salem?" she saw a light flick in his eyes before she squealed "Salem . . . your name is Salem"

The child was smart! At this, even Hannah was impressed.