Chapter 324: Embrace of Darkness (1)
"Please let us go."
Jade shielded Cyantha as much as possible, hoping that her pleas wouldn’t be ignored. Her heart thumped against her chest and her mind conjured images of her best friend being tortured, both of which nearly left her gasping for breath.
The group of women and girls didn’t react, watching her with calm expressions on their faces. Seeing them stand there without doing anything, only increased the unease she felt.
Before she could plead again, she heard the leaves rustle. This time she didn’t have time to worry because the leaves parted almost immediately and another group appeared. Their attire matched the Witchkin perfectly.
But they weren’t alone. Jade first heard the muffled noise before the group parted and a few men, bound and gagged, were shoved to the front.
Jade recognized them. She had faced them not so long ago. All the people of the Colorless Tramps struggled to break from their bindings but they were too weak to do so. Or their bindings were too strong to be broken by sheer force. Jade, inexperienced as she was, suspected the latter. She had grown up hearing stories about the ways Witchkin operated.
Her mind churned trying to come up with a solution to save herself and her friend. She even considered playing the bait to distract the women and give Cyantha a sliver of a chance to escape. She didn’t think that the Witchkin would fall for such a ploy but she didn’t have anything better in mind. Just as she contemplated whether to act or not, two women stumbled from out the back.
Jade didn’t recognize one but the other she did.
"Aunt?"
The woman in question looked at her, her gaze filled with sorrow and pity. Her gaze didn’t linger for too long on Jade though. She looked past her stunned face, toward the girl at the back.
"You did well. I didn’t think you would be able to pull it off."