Chapter 40

Although she had asked him not to interfere, he wanted more than anything to shut her up. Nobody was talking and the silence was getting on Myan’s nerves.

“Well, how do we execute it?” A deep voice from the crowd bellowed.

“Calm down.” She clenched her fists by her side, so she did not shout and come off as rude. “I have willingly offered to put an end to this. Ash and I will go to the forest, and he will call for Yugi’s presence. There is no need to worry, I will ensure that this is done. She said and paused to look at Ash before redirecting her gaze to the crowd. “You can all head to your homes, we will get to it.”

“How do we know once we leave, he won’t take you in hiding, we should not believe these people.” A short woman stepped forward with a frown on her face, raising her pitchfork above her head.

“You have to take my word for it, what other options do you have?” Myan shook her head in disbelief.

“Who are you to us?” Another man retorted.

“Quiet!” Ash growled, “I’ll burn your heads off if anyone of you speaks another word,” he threatened them, engaging instant silence in the area. Panting heavily, he turned to hold Myan’s hand in his. “You heard her, stay away.” With that, he turned around and headed into the house still holding her in his hand.

He cared less whether the people left or remained there. He led her straight into the bedroom and closed the door behind them. “We are not doing this.” He began to pace around the room aggressively. “I swear, I’ll burn them to death, anyone that tries to attack you.” He threw his fire at nothing, and it disappeared right after, just to make his point. “I will destroy them and make their lives miserable,” he assured her, “even if it is the dead ones.”

“Ash,” she sighed, stopping his movement by grabbing a hold of his hands.

"Ash, I promise, there is really nothing to worry about." She let go off him with a sigh and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "It will be for the best and…"

"Never!" He cut her short, "I let you say as you please out there, but you think I'm going to let you do as you please?" He snapped at her, "sit here, we are moving to a different mountain whether you like it or not,” he ordered, turning to leave the room.

"The people will tear you apart and grow even angrier, I made them believe…" she couldn't complete her sentence because he had left the room. She pressed her hand against her forehead, wondering what she was going to do now. She had meant every single word when she willingly offered to be a sacrifice.

She heard a small creak at the door and flung around quickly, “thank God you came back, I was saying…" she trailed off when she saw that the intruder was not Ash. “Minrad, what are you doing here?" She furrowed her eyebrows, growing a little uncomfortable to be alone with a married man in the room.

"I heard everything,” he began. She didn’t fancy that he was eavesdropping on them, something he seemed to do all the time, but she wanted to respect that he was Ash's friend.

"Do you really think Ash is going to let you be a sacrifice?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

The question made her heart drop again and she sighed in response. "No."

"The people will take things into their own hands and things won’t be funny. Imagine what would happen if every kingdom decided to work against him?" He looked genuinely worried for her.

Myan understood his words and it was her greatest fear. She didn’t want anyone attacking him because of her. "Ash is adamant, this isn’t my choice, I have no idea what to do, and I’m scared for him, I…" she began to sob, sniffed and wiped her face, "I'm sorry, I'm just so worried and I feel so helpless."

"There is no need to cry. I know exactly how you feel. I would be troubled if something had to happen to Asha, I'd be a dead man. So, you can imagine how much I would do to save her life if I had the chance." He moved closer to her, lowering his voice so he would be heard.

"I'm…I'm just lost."

"I can summon the ancestors for you. Ash doesn't even have to know,” he told her.

"What?" She furrowed her eyebrows at him.

“Ash and I go way back. We don’t need to go into details because there is no time for that. Just believe me,” he told her. She didn’t like how he was willing to get rid of her, but it was a way at least.

“Ash won’t let you…” she shook her head, knowing very well it was the truth.

“That is why we will sneak out of the mountain when the moon is up,” he said.

“But how?” She raised an eyebrow. His words felt fishy, but her brain was too clumped to accept the fact she was supposed to be thinking things through.

“Just meet me by the entrance and I’ll take it from there,” he told her. Minrad did not particularly want to spend extra time with her and so he was eager to leave.

“Okay,” she said. She didn’t argue, whole heartedly accepting his offer.

***

When nighttime came, Myan was a lot more worried about having to leave with Minrad, not even fully sure she was doing the right thing, but her heart was heavy because for some reason, since Ash left the room, he had not returned. When she went to check for him after a few hours, Hilda confirmed that he had left the cave.

She knew it made her plan easier, but she still wanted to know he was fine, even if she had to die that night.

Leaving the room with a cloak she had obtained from the old stacks piled in her new closet, she joined Minrad in the living room, not caring whether he had spoken to his wife about it.

“Are you ready?” He called to her.

“I am,” she responded, not maintaining eye contact.

“Come on.” He pointed in the direction of the door and turned to leave.

If only they had known what was to come…