Chapter 31

Nixx looked at Scar and then at the rope. He frowned.

"You can't be serious," Nixx said.

"I am very serious. The witch is going to walk today."

Ayla paled. She could not believe that Scar would make her walk. He was cruel. Then Ayla remembered how many times she thought that King Rhobart was cruel because he spanked her. She had never been so more wrong in her life. Sure King Rhobart was a person she could not understand, but he had never been cruel to her. Not even when she deserved it. Not that she would admit it to anyone.

"You are not – " Ayla said.

"Scar –" Nixx talked at the same time as Ayla.

"I said she walks!" Scar yelled at Nixx.

When Scar approached her, Ayla took a step back, wanting to escape him, but Scar had already anticipated her movements and grabbed Ayla by her arm.

"Let go of me!" Ayla said and tried to free herself from the hands of Scar, but he was stronger.

"Nixx, hold the witch while I tie her!"

Nixx folded his arms and shook his head, refusing to help Scar.

"I am going to have a chat with you later, half-elf. It seems that I need to remind you who I am, " Scar said, and fear flashed through Nixx's eyes.

Scar forced Ayla's hands together and tied them with one end of the rope, and on the other end, he tied it to his horse saddle. All this time, Ayla thought about how she could escape. She didn't have her plants and herbs anymore, but she would find a way.

Scar got on his horse, and Ayla was forced to walk behind Scar's horse.

'May you suffer terribly before you die. I hope that you will look Death into her eyes and know that you will die and you can't do anything about it,' Ayla murmured and spat on the ground next to the horse's hooves.

Ayla looked behind her, hoping that Nixx didn't hear her, but the half-elf was not paying her any attention. He was looking at Scar with a grim expression on his face.

They walked like this for a while, Ayla falling from time to time in the snow and Scar laughing while she tried to stand.

After some time, Ayla started regretting not eating the food Nixx offered her last night. She was famished, thirsty, and could not feel her legs anymore. When she fell again, she could not get up, and she was dragged through the snow several feet.

"Stop!" Nixx yelled.

Scar advanced another foot, and Nixx yelled again, "Stop, damn you!"

Nixx was already off his horse by the time Scar stopped. The half-elf helped Ayla stand and untied her.

"What are you doing?" Scar asked and dismounted.

Nixx ignored the other man, concentrating on Ayla. He looked her over, brushing all the snow from her cloak. Then he looked to see if Ayla was hurt and when he found no wound, Nixx took out his waterskin and helped her drink.

"How are you, sweetheart? Are you in any pain? Any wounds I missed?" Nixx asked her.

Ayla didn't think that she had any wounds. Her knees hurt from all the falls she took but apart from that, she was unharmed.

"Tired. And so hungry. And I think I have lost my feet somewhere along the way. No wounds," Ayla said.

Nixx laughed, "If you can talk this much, I think you will be alright."

"What the Darkness do you think you are doing?" Scar asked when he saw that Nixx was guiding Ayla to his horse.

"What I should have done from the beginning. Getting sweetheart on the horse with me."

Scar took out a little whip, "Do I need to show you who the leader is again?"

Nixx looked at the whip, then looked into Scar's eyes and said in a cold tone, "If that's what it takes to get sweetheart on the horse with me, I will gladly take a beating from you. It won't be the first, and I am sure it won't be the last."

Ayla could not believe her ears. Not only that Nixx got hurt by Scar in the past, but he was willing to get hurt for her.

"I don't want Scar to harm you because of me," Ayla whispered to Nixx.

"It will be alright," Nixx whispered back.

Scar muttered something that sounded a lot like 'bloody half-elf' and 'teach you to respect me.' He looked a few more moments at Nixx, but in the end, Scar put the whip back in its place and got on his horse.