A LORD'S WEAKNESS

11. DECISION

Flashes of his fight with the fire-wielder popped up in his head. He had survived, although not sure how.

Another memory came flashing by his inner eye, a large amount of firepower he saw before fading away appeared. All leading back to a dark silhouette of a woman whose hair and clothes had fluttered nervously by the amount of energy.

Gasping he sat up grabbing his head as it throbbed.
It was Marianns figure. Harsh reality seemed to crash down on him.

The sound had awoken the others, as he frantically turned from side to side until he recognized the threat.

Mariann was curled up at the roots of a big tree as she slowly sat up while panic set in. She did not know how Rowan would react and judging by his frantic moments he wasn't going to forget about her abilities any time soon.

Trying to ignore the throbbing pain and his lost balance Lord Rowan stumbled to his feet as fast as he could. Still holding his head he tried grabbing his sword, which was no longer on his belt because his slaves had purposely unbound it and laid it away from his reach.

Laria jumped up and stood in front of him and in between Lord Rowan and his target.

"Please don't do this!" She shouted trying to get him to come back to his senses. He tried pushing himself past her but she spread out both of her arms and always took a step to the side he wanted to walk past her.

"She's no threat to-," Laria's voice cut off and her arms fell to her side as her master used his contract to get her to step away.

He couldn't breathe. His body hurt but it was nothing compared to the crushing feeling of betrayal and hurt that was rushing through him.

With tears in his eyes, Alec started pulling at his Master's cloak in an attempt to stop him from closing in on Mariann.

Although Alec had not quite understood the situation he knew that the Lord would hurt Mariann.

Having come to a wobbly stand she watched as the Lord turned to Alec and roughly pushed him away from himself. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Using his contract he left Alec motionless as well.

Storming towards Mariann she took a step back only to have her back collide with the large tree behind her.

Tensing every muscle in her body she clamped her eyes shut in fear.

Although clearly slowed by his pained state, Lord Rowan pulled a dagger out of his boot as he grabbed Mariann by the neck, painfully pressing her body against the rough bark of the tree further.

Marianns eyes shot up as her vision blurred due to tears. She'd not lived a life worth living but in all honestly, she was ready to go. To finally leave behind all the pain and the suffering.

Looking back on the last few days she was saddened. She could hear Alec laugh with Laria and smell freshly baked bread. She remembered the Lord laughing at her clumsiness, and how she would never see Laria's newly born.

She'd felt pain since she'd become Rowans but he was also the only person who'd given her comfort.

She blinked, creating a seemingly endless river of tears that ran down her face, and neck until reaching her master's hand.