Anna nudged the body of the person with her foot. They let out a small groan from the contact. Some places of the outfit were ripped, showing off tan skin, though blood was slowly spreading across the ground.
"Well, good news: the person isn't dead. Bad news: I think you might've gone a little overboard," Anna stated.
"Hmph, keep your damned opinion to yourself, teacher!" Lyra scowled, crossing her arms in annoyance as she glared at Anna.
Sami slowly made his way to where the other two were on the road. Onyx shuddered at the sight of all the blood on the ground, controlling her urge to drink it. Sami winced at the damage to the person, making sure to never piss off Lyra like that.
"So, what do we do with this person?" Sami wondered, rubbing his hands together to try to keep calm.
"Well, based on the way this person is damaged, I'd have to rush them back to the academy," remarked Anna.
"Wouldn't that take a couple of days from here, even at your fastest speed?" puzzled Onyx as she spoke up from Sami's shoulder.
Lyra snapped at Sami, "It'll take less than a couple of seconds for her to return, bookworm; she knows how to teleport!"
"I didn't know, to be honest," Sami sputtered as he waved his hands in front of his face in a panic.
Lyra just glared at him and turned her back away from the group, staring at people who were trying to look at what's going on, scaring them off.
"Ugh, just giving out all of my secrets is not fair," Anna fumed.
Lyra just rolled her eyes at Anna. "Just leave already, teacher! Sami and I can handle this easy mission," she demanded, her voice full of anger.
"Ugh, fine then, butterfly, I'll leave," sniffled Anna. Snot and tears appeared on her face. "I know you've grown, you want to leave the nest. Fly and be free from me, young one. Oh, I miss the days when you followed behind me like a little duckling!"
Lyra began to blush in embarrassment at Anna's words. She decided not to speak as people still passed by them. Anna quickly scooped up the body and disappeared with a snap of her finger.
Sami looked on in shock as he couldn't feel her energy around them at all. Even Onyx was amazed at the teleportation spell. Back when she was active before locking herself away, she couldn't figure out that spell. How times have changed since her day.
"Come on, bookworm, get moving or I'll leave you," Lyra demanded.
"Gotcha!" answered Sami, Onyx nodding from his shoulder.
Before they could march, horses began to circle them. All the men on the horses wore armor with an insignia Sami didn't recognize.
"STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!" a voice said as the horse riders began to split down the middle, four on each side.
"You got to be fucking kidding me," Lyra muttered under her breath. Neither Sami nor Onyx said anything as they looked around nervously.
-
Anna, as soon as she teleported, ended up inside Mercer's office. Luckily, she'd mastered it, because teleporting so far away would have killed her, let alone drained her of magic for a while. Tossing the body on the ground, she quickly jumped into a chair, propping her feet up on the table and knocking off some of Mercer's books and papers.
"Must you always be so childish, Anna?" questioned Mercer, looking up from the paper he was signing.
"ME, childish! GASP! I would never, sir, I'm totally professional!" Anna taunted, her hand up near her forehead in a mock salute. "Scout's honor!"
"Anna, you were never…" Mercer began before stopping and shaking his head. "Just forget it. Do you have anything important to report?"
"Why, yes, I do! Did you know that Lyra grew up to be so beautiful and…" Anna started.
"NO, you idiot!" Mercer interrupted. "I meant about the mission I was assigned. How is Sami progressing? Judging by the blood starting to pool under my desk, you brought back a dead body?"
"Ahh, right. We did get attacked, though Lyra handled it very easily. Before you can get any information, I'd imagine you'd have to heal this person first," Anna cheekily replied.
"Sigh. And you thought bringing an almost dead body to my room is helpful?" inquired Mercer.
"See, I just missed you sooooo much, General, that I had to come see you," gushed Anna.
"Please he… help… m-m-me," a voice wheezed out.
"You SHUT UP BEFORE I STEP ON YOU AGAIN!" Anna shouted back.
"I'm surrounded by dumbasses and incompetence," Mercer muttered.
"I resent that very much," Anna growled.
Mercer just shook his head, annoyed. "What part do you resent?" He challenged.
"I'm not incompetent!" Anna insisted. Accidentally kicking the table too hard, she fell back.
Landing in the pool of blood leaking from the body, she quickly stood up, soaked, and started to cry.
"Ahh, my hair, my beautiful clothes! Why would something so horrible happen to someone so amazing as myself?" she whined, trying to wring out her soaked clothes.
"I'm not dealing with this anymore," Mercer muttered as he stood up from his desk.
He summoned a small golden disk below his feet as he walked on it to make sure no blood got on him. Quickly making it to the door, before leaving, he made sure to tell Anna one last thing.
"Make sure this mess is cleaned up, or I swear it'll be worse than when you made Lyra cry!" fumed Mercer before slamming the door behind himself.
Anna didn't say anything, just cried as blood dripped down her back.
-
Armored riders with the sign on their of the city guards on their armor began to circle Sami and Lyra, stopping once they were fully trapped. The leader, a man with a scarred face, dismounted his horse. Two other men quickly moved in, their hands already reaching for Lyra and Sami.
"We had people saying there was fighting on these roads"," the scarred man's voice was rough, unyielding. "Close to the two of you is a pool of blood, yet no signs of a body"
Lyra's jaw tightened. " We were attacked! And we handled it, clearly.", She grunted.
"That's for us to determine," one of the men said, his hand closing around Lyra's wrist.
She flinched, but didn't fight, her eyes blazing. The cold bite of metal snapped around her wrists, then Sami's. The cuffs were heavy, unlike anything Sami had ever felt. It felt like his senses were competently cut off from the world.
"These are enchanted steel," the officer stated, as if reading Sami's mind. "No magic, no breaking out." Sami didn't reply, just stayed quiet as he also noticed that Onyx wasn't on his shoulder anymore.
They marched for what felt like an eternity, but was probably two hours.. Passersby along the road stared with fear as they were marched on the road. It didn't help that Lyra's clothes were still covered in blood.
After arriving at a small, yet well kept building they were marched inside. They were quickly stripped of all belongings(besides their clothes), putting them inside a chest next to the entrance.
Lyra was shoved into a bare, stone cell on one side of a narrow corridor. Sami was pushed into another directly across from her. Spreating them from each other. The heavy iron doors clanged shut, the sound echoing like a final, damning judgment.
Sami sank to the cold floor, his wrists aching from the cuffs, his mind reeling. Detained. Stripped of his gear. Stuck in a cell. He squeezed his eyes shut. Yeah, this mission is going to be incredibly shitty.