Chapter 45: Forty five

“Five people are dead?” Kyra gasped as her heart squeezed in dread.

A cold chill raced down her spine because she knew that it would have been six people with her being the sixth person had she not been pulled out of the road on time by Gerald. She owed him her and her baby’s life.

“Yes, they were unable to get out of the way quickly enough, they were stepped on by the horses of those mad dogs. There was nothing that could have been done to save them. They died instantly.” Mrs. Agatha’s voice cracked and it looked like she was going to break down.

“Oh God,” Kyra’s eyes watered and she slapped her hand over her mouth to stop herself from gagging as the image of mutilated bodies appeared in her mind.

“Now, Mrs. Agatha, I know everyone is unhappy about what’s going on but don’t bring Lady Kyra into this.” There was a disapproving frown on Gerald’s face as he tried to stop Mrs. Agatha again, “The alpha king is already working hard to solve this problem. She has nothing to do with all of this!”

“No, we need someone else to talk to him and tell him what they saw here today. Lady Kyra happens to be here by divine direction, she’s a God sent so we won’t be misusing this opportunity.” Mrs. Agatha appeared angry that Gerald was trying to stop her again.

“Alpha Anton has people positioned everywhere and they know what is going on so we need to calm down until Alpha Anton arrives.”

“It would take him hours to get here. And where were those men today when the rogues came for us?” Mrs. Agatha raised her voice as she turned around to look at the people that were gathering together in front of Gerald’s stall. She asked them, “Did you see them?”

“No,” all of them chorused as they shook their heads in symphony.

“Yes, we did not see them,” she turned back to Gerald, “While we suffer here, people like her ride nice carriages and live in the capital that’s well protected! They eat good food and do not have to suffer or die the way we do and…”

“It’s not her fault that she was born into that life! You can put the blame on her. She’s not the one who invited the rogues here or asked that they kill people.”

A little fight broke out as people began to butt in and started arguing. Some were in support of what Gerald was saying while others supported Mrs. Agatha and cursed Kyra.

“Everybody get out! Especially you, Mrs. Agatha.” Gerald pointed at her in fury, “You are always up to no good and that’s why I never wanted you here in the first place.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Mrs. Agatha stamped her foot on her floor in stubbornness, “I am going to teach this young lady a lesson before I leave here  today.”

Gerald quickly planted himself in front of Kyra, blocking her from Mrs. Agatha’s view, “Then you’ll have to get through me, old witch.”

Kyra’s heart was racing in fear as she  watched the commotion that her presence had caused. Though she understands their anger and hurt and sympathies with them, she won’t sit back if any of them should attack her and they looked like they would do so in a few minutes.

At her thought about defending herself and her unborn baby’s should anyone attack her, Kyra came to realize that Anton had been correct when he said that she needed to learn how to fight. That she needed to stop being weak and learn how to stand up to defend herself.

Kyra was weak right now and knew that it would not take much for them to suppress her. Gerald might be on her side with a few others but the people supporting Mrs. Agatha was six times their number.

Gerald would get hurt if they were to fight and she would too, so even if she was angry at herself for thinking that an old woman like Mrs. Agatha was kind and allowing her to get close, she knew that she needed to stop the fight that was about to break out.

Kyra stood up and raised her voice above the loud arguments, “Please, everyone, we need to calm down.”

Her voice was not deep but it was loud enough to draw everyone’s attention to her. They all kept quiet and fixed their gazes on her in expectation.

Kyra nearly cowered because of the many eyes they came on her at once but she held her head high. She cleared her throat before she began to speak.

“I know that everyone is angry with what happened today and what’s been going on with the rogues. I’m not happy with it too because I would have also been killed if not for Gerald who pulled me out at the last minute.”

“It would have been a good thing if you were killed. At least, the alpha king and your father would be pushed to solve this case quickly. They don’t care because we are commoners!” A man shouted from the crowd and Kyra turned pale, especially when she saw people shouting and nodding in agreement.

“You fucking bastard,” Gerald swore loudly as he moved into the crowd with his fist raised and Gus face red with anger but some men held him back.

Gerald struggled for a while before he eventually stopped when he saw that he could not bypass these men. He whispered something to them and they murmured then he turned and beckoned on her with his right hand.

Kyra tried to move to him but Mrs. Agatha stepped in front of her to block her way. Her eyes were no longer dark but the yellow color of her wolf.

Kyra opened her mouth to say something; please or beg she was unsure but someone shoved Mrs. Agatha to the side from behind. It was another elderly woman but she looked a few years younger than Mrs. Agatha.

“Get out of the way you old fool and leave this young lady alone. No one asked your family to fall out of grace with the alpha king’s family over fifty years ago. Stop trying to transfer your anger and hate to an innocent girl and stop trying to twist the minds of people against the alpha.” The woman glared at Mrs. Agatha too with her wolf's eyes.

“Now what do you want, Anna? Why don’t you stay out of this?” Mrs. Agatha sneered.

“No, you should be the one to stay out of this. You know damn well how hard it is to fight against rogues because they are mad wolves. The alpha king asked that everyone should stay at home but you convinced everyone to disobey him and protest. All this won’t be happening if everyone was in their respective houses. You are the reason people are dying everyday, it’s all your fault!”

“Now, you better shut up Anna before I…”

“Before you what? Hit me?” Anna moved closer to Mrs. Agatha, “You and I both know that you’ll never be able to beat me in a fight. Never have and never will!”

As the two old women began to quarrel, everyone including Kyra looked on until Gerald grabbed her hand and yanked her out of the stall with him.

“You need to leave here now that Anna is distracting them,” he whispered as he dragged her off and the men that held him back from fighting walked behind them.

They have not gone too far from the stall when someone noticed them taking Kyra away.

“Hey, they are running away!”

“Run!” Gerald yelled at her and for the second time since they met, they held hands and ran as they heard the sound of pounding footsteps behind them.

These footsteps were not of horses, they belonged to men and women who wanted her life.