Moonlight Ball

“No thank you. I won’t need any today,” she politely replied.

“My father misses the days when you used to study magic about fruit.”

At that time, Iris bought so much fruit that people thought it would be better for her to buy Sammy’s whole fruit store. That’s when she’d become friends with Sammy. As she received dozens of boxes of fruit from him every day, they talked often, and she became well acquainted with him.

“If that happens again, I’ll certainly buy your fruit, Sammy.”

At Iris’s words, Sammy replied while rubbing his freckled nose, “Of course!” And then he lowered his voice and whispered, “I’ll give you a little discount.”

Iris opened her eyes widely and smiled gently at Sammy. At times like this, she thought of her teacher who told her to go out and experience this. She knew it was the opportunity for a great experience, but she also wanted to be by her teacher’s side. She just wanted to talk about magic with him. Without her teacher, without her best friend, without her father, she felt lonely.

Iris was trudging down the street, appreciating the golden sunset when out of nowhere, a burly arm stretched out from a back alley and snatched her. A dagger touched her neck and she didn’t have time to scream.

“Iris Elaine,” whispered a man in a  hoarse voice. “My master is looking for you.”

As Iris twisted her body, the tip of the pointed dagger pricked her neck and she felt the warm blood trickling down.

“If you don’t want to die, you’d better not spit a word of magic.” The man was sincere; Iris barely nodded.

“Ha, so you were Iris Elaine?!” screeched the beautiful woman who had pushed past her so roughly earlier that morning.

Smack! The sound was harsh. Her cheek felt like it was on fire and she was in pain to the point of tears; Iris blinked rapidly. There were a few more smacks across her face, it hurt so much that she wanted to rub them, but Iris’s arms were tied back to the man’s hand.

“How dare you!”

The beautiful woman seemed so angry. She thought the woman had left, but she hadn’t. She’d been waiting nearby her home, and her henchman had intended to kidnap her in front of her house. It seemed that he knew the very person who was the student of Elaine.

“How dare you lock me up in a pigsty like that for hours!” She continued.

Another harsh smack reddened her face. It felt like a fire had broken out on her cheeks. The woman, who was now trembling with rage, slapped her again with all her might and then leaned back as if she were exhausted.

Are you a royal? Iris took a glance inside the carriage, feeling her throbbing cheeks swelling. It seemed like she was a real royal. Elaine’s method of distinguishing ‘impressions’ was never wrong. Iris just couldn’t believe she was a royal. Is this a sign that the royal family is about to go down? Or is she just a collateral line?

Iris was throwing her head around and the woman gave a cold command, “I can’t forgive you. Get rid of her!”

Iris’s fast-paced head ground to a halt. It was because the words, “get rid of her,” caught her off-guard. It meant to kill her. Iris opened her eyes wide and stared at the woman as she lifted one lip and laughed. The noble smile resembled a goddess.

“How dare you insult me, it is a sin that cannot be repaid with death, but accept it because my heart is big.”

The man who tied Iris’s arm gravely said, “Then I’ll pull over and take care of her.” He seemed to be cleaning up animal carcasses. It didn’t seem like they were treating her like a living person.

Then the woman said “No, do it in front of me. Right now!”

“I can’t help it.” The man muttered almost apologetically. The sound of the sword being pulled out of its holster sounded much louder than it was. Her heart thumped.

Am I going to die? It was unimaginable. I’m getting killed for that? 

“Repay me with death.”  The woman spoke arrogantly, like the goddess of death herself and the man’s sword lifted high. At that moment, Iris began shouting unknowingly, at high speed, “I, Iris Elaine, request the Earth Fairy.”

“Keep her mouth shut!” The woman hastily said as the ancient language flowed off of Iris’s tongue. The man’s hand closed around her mouth; she bit his palm hard and he screamed as she tore the flesh apart.

“The earth is alive, the soul in it, the breathing. Show me the evidence!” The ground shook violently. A scream echoed out of the wagon. Iris closed her eyes tightly. Even if the wagon was overturned and damaged, it would be much more likely that she’d survive as opposed to being stabbed to death. The wagon rocked. Iris, the man, and the noblewoman rolled around together; their screams, which were rolling around like balls, grew louder as the wagon crashed.

Iris didn’t realize it, but the carriage was crossing the river at the time and she caused an earthquake on the bridge which then collapsed, and the wagon crashed into the river. The good news was that it was only them on the bridge because they were deliberately moving out of sight for some reason. The unfortunate thing was that the river where their wagon fell, with an enormous splash, was very deep and water began pouring into the wagon in an instant.