Excerpt
|The smell was overpowering that it made her take several steps back from the heap. It had a rotting stench, like a slab of meat that was left out on the sun for far too long. Bile began to rise in her throat but Noa forced it down as her hand that gripped the satchel's sling turned white with pressure. Cassius, however, was far from repelled as he strolled through the ash-covered pile to follow Elias.
Her eyes lowered at the nearest body and felt herself wince when she realized that it was a decapitated hand. She could make out the outline of the once sharp nails and how much it looked like a claw. Elias was right; mages don't take kindly to traitors even if they're a part of their council. A part of their family.
"Hurry up or we'll leave you!" The older keeper barked as he held up his lantern.
Before she could say something, the older man turned around and continued his way towards the campsite while Cassius waited for her to catch up. She ignored the feeling of something that cracked under her feet; initially thinking it was a tree branch that strayed on her path.
"First time seeing the aftermath a mage execution?" Cassius casually asked.
"Yes, it was" Noa answered in a calm tone. While she tried to act indifferent like Cassius, her mind can't erase the sight of the charred, mutilated bodies of the mages who were alive mere hours ago.
