Chapter 10: Captive
As Yerem slept soundly, Miss grabbed his lamp and walked out. The moment she walked out, she felt her breathing get heavy. It was as if she was breathing in steam.
She ignored whatever she was feeling and walked boldly into the part of the woods she had never been in the dark. Every sound she heard would startle her. She found it fascinating that the dark could make what you would normally encounter during the day more scary.
It had been a while of walking when she caught a glimpse of red hair nearby. The person must have noticed this and ran. Miss called out to him as she chased him.
"Please!" she said, already panting "If you know who I am, please tell me!"
She stopped for a moment to catch her breath. The figure was already gone. She looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of him again but it was fruitless. She heard the snap of a dry twig nearby and the trees rustled wildly. She looked behind her and saw three villagers, eyeing her suspiciously. Did they send out people to search for the man, after all?
She bowed and quickly walked the opposite direction. She felt one of them chase her and her vision was suddenly obstructed with a dirty sac. She struggled as they bound her effortlessly.
"I am not the red-haired stranger!" she said, still struggling.
She heard one of the men grunt before she felt a strong blow to her stomach.
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Miss woke up in a dark chamber, her hands tied behind her and her feet bound together. She scanned her surroundings which was barely illuminated by the sunrise entering through the lone window from the door. The chamber was littered with bones... and Miss recognized them to be human. She backed away in panic, finally feeling the stone wall behind her. The cold from the stone floor and the wall behind her was piercing her skin. She struggled to move but the pain from her gut was unbearable. She winced in pain and curled up on the floor, hoping for the pain to subside.
The door to the chamber suddenly opened and she saw her abductors enter. They eyed her with a murderous look as they walked towards her. One made her sit up and made her lean against the wall. She looked up at her abductors, memorizing each of their faces.
"I am not the red-haired stranger." she said, her voice shaky.
"We know." One of the men said. "But you probably called him here to cause more trouble."
"I don't even know him."
"I doubt that." another man said, "You were looking for him, weren't you? Perhaps to plan another curse."
"Yerem never taught me how to curse anything."
"That's why you needed the other redhead." the third man responded.
"Why would I curse the sea? I don't hate it."
"But you hate the people of Silverstar."
"I don't-" Miss stopped. Seeing the gaze of the people in front of her made her realize that whatever she was going to say in her defense will be useless. Guilty or not, the people in front of her sees her as evil. She killed four of their people, after all.
"Do you remember the family you killed?" one of her abductors asked, kneeling in front of her. "They were like family to us. They always gave us food and shelter for orphans like us when no one in the village will."
Miss looked down. The man, angered, grabbed her chin and lifted her head. Seeing her eyes closed seemed to anger him more.
"You will-"
"-Die here, you heartless creature. You will never be found." Miss' eyes opened, revealing emerald green eyes "The village of Silverstar will forget you. You will die."
The men were confused. Miss spoke as if she were in a trance. Her now emerald eyes were certainly striking, but it only left them more confused.
Suddenly, the man holding Miss' face flew across the room, crashing onto the door and landing on the ground outside, now unconscious. Miss' striking green eyes turned to the remaining men. The bones around the room started levitating, circling them.
Horrified at the sight, the men ran out of the chamber and left their fallen friend, screaming at the top of their lungs until they reached the village. The floating objects fell to the floor. Miss was left, now unconscious, in the chamber.
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By sunrise, Alaster and Yerem came back empty handed. This didn't help alleviate Alexander's worries at all. More grave news, two of the three villagers sent out to search for the red haired stranger came from the woods, terrified out of their minds. When asked what happened, they couldn't speak. When they managed to calm them down, the terrified young adults suddenly fell to the ground and started convulsing.
"He's cursed them! The red haired stranger cursed them!" one villager exclaimed, raising panic among the other villagers.
Amidst the chaos, Alexander clearly saw the red haired stranger standing near the forest. He looked around to see if anyone else was seeing what he saw. Surprisingly, no one did. He glanced at the red haired man once more and noticed he was pointing into the woods. Alexander turned towards where the man was pointing at and the trees rustled, almost invitingly.
"The trees are always honest." He remembered Miss say once "You'll always know if they trust someone based on their movements."
Based on what Miss said, Alexander was confident the forest trusted the red haired man. If that was the case, why would the man point at the forest?
Alexander turned to the now sleeping search party. They came from the forest terrified. Was the man pointing at the cause? If it wasn't the man who cursed them... what could have terrified them so much? A thought suddenly hit Alexander and he dashed towards the woods, letting the trees guide him. Initially, he could hear his father calling out to him but now it was gone. He stopped at the crossroad near the augur's cabin. The trees rustled somewhere on his right so he headed there.
What could have Miss done this time? He asked himself, anxious. She couldn't have killed one of them, did she?
After a while of blindly navigating the unexplored part of the woods, he saw a small stone chamber. He never saw it before but some accounts from long ago told of a secret place where criminals would be kept, starved for days until they would die eventually. The wooden door was destroyed... They left in a hurry... What could have scared them so much? He spotted the missing member of the party and rushed to him to check if he were alive. Thankfully, he was. He woke him up and told him to go back to the village.
The man grabbed his shirt and whispered to his ear with a shaky voice. "That woman is a witch. Leave her be. Let her die in that chamber."
The man pointed into the chamber. Inside was Miss lying on the floor, her limbs bound, wearing only her night gown.
"Why is she tied up?" Alexander asked him, suspicious.
The man looked him in the eye. "I know we did the right thing when we took her last night. If you let her go, she will kill you." After a brief pause, the fear in the man's voice was more evident than before "She will kill all of us."
The man got up and left. Alexander turned to the chamber.
"Gods" He muttered and rushed to Miss, untying her.
She looked unharmed, which was a relief. Alexander brushed her red hair from her face. He tried to shake her awake but to no avail. Her skin was so cold so Alexander took off his coat and put it over Miss before he lifted her up and carried her out, all the way to the village.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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stone