Katrina Part 2

So, today I decided I would post the second part to the Katrina story. But for those who have already read it, I figured I would post a short interview with her. First the interview.

INTERVIEW:

Me: Hello, Katrina! Thanks for meeting with me today!

Katrina: Y-you're welcome... What did you wanna talk about? A-am I in trouble?

Me: No, no, no. You're not in any trouble, I just wanted to ask you a few questions so that I can get to know you a little better.

Katrina: O-oh... Okay.

Me: So, if you could change your life and have anything you wanted, what would it be?

Katrina: Mmm... I-I would j-just wanna b-be with a m-mommy and d-daddy who l-love me an' don't h-hurt me or scare me.

Me: And how do you feel about your life now?

Katrina: 'm really s-scared all the time, and th-the bad people h-hurt me, b-but... 's okay, 'cus I g-got Darvel. H-he says he d-doesn't like me, but I like him. S-s-so, my life's okay 'cus 'm gonna help Darvel be happy, and that makes everything better.

Me: What do you want to do or be when you get older?

Katrina: I-I don't know. I don't know wh-what I want, but I can guess wh-what I will be doing... I-I think th-that 'm just g-gonna be doing what e-everyone tell me t-to do.

Me: And, for the last question, what do you think of authors, or me specifically.

Katrina: I think y-you should be nicer... 'cus then th-the rest of us c-could be happier.

END INTERVIEW

And now here's the second part of the Katrina story.

Katrina opened her eyes and looked around with a big yawn. She sniffled as she tried to remember where she was and what was going on, but taking one look at the man who her parents had sold her to, it all came flooding back.

            “Oh, good.” The man said, glancing down at Katrina. “You’re awake…”

            Katrina rubbed her eyes and kept her gaze on the ground where she was lying.

            “W-who are you?” Katrina asked in a frightened whisper.

            “The name’s Seth.” The man replied with an irritated scowl. “But I don’t want you to be calling me by my name. In fact I don’t want you to call me anything. You are nothing but a tool and so unless I order you to, I don’t want you to speak at all. Do you understand, you little brat?”

            Katrina flinched slightly, but nodded. She knew better than to give anybody a reason to punish her.

            “Now stand up.” Seth ordered Katrina as he turned to glance at his men. They were all sitting around a small fire, staring at Katrina expectantly as if waiting for something to happen. “I want you to use your power. Show us how it works.”

            Katrina tilted her head and lifted her gaze up from the ground.

            “Y-you want me to sing?” She asked, sounding as if she half hoped Seth had meant something completely different.

            “If that’s how you use your magic, then yes. Now hurry up and do it before I decide you’re not worth keeping around.”

            Seth set a hand on his sword and Katrina’s eyes widened slightly. But then she glanced at all of Seth’s men and she swallowed hard.

            “B-but… There’s lots and lots of people here… I could only really do it for two people…” Katrina said, knowing that even if there were only two people she would just barely be able to work her magic.

            “Are you telling me no?” Seth asked as he whirled around to glare at Katrina.

            “N-no… I-it just h-hurts t-too much…” Katrina said hurriedly, sensing that Seth was getting angry with her.

            “I don’t care!” Seth yelled at Katrina, causing her to shrink away from him. “You are mine now, and you are going to do whatever I tell you to do! Now, stand up!”

            Scrambling to get to her feet, Katrina took a deep breath and bit her lip. Looking at all the men in front of her, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to finish her song. And that of course meant more pain for her.

            Then, not wanting to irritate Seth farther, Katrina launched into her song quietly, trying to save all of her energy to push herself as far in the song as she could go. Immediately the familiar feeling of warmness came into the air and everyone present could feel the traces of darkness from inside them leaving.

            Katrina got further than she expected to, but still she collapsed to the ground before she could finish.

            Seth gave Katrina a hard look and frowned.

            “Is that it? Did you finish?” he asked, skeptical of whether or not Katrina had actually done something.

            “S-s-sorry…” Katrina managed to croak out. “I-I’m s-sorry…”

            Seth raised an eyebrow at the girl.

            “So you didn’t finish then?”

            Katrina shook head weakly with a soft moan and Seth rolled his eyes.

            “You’re nothing but an idiotic weakling!” Seth said with a huff. He started to stomp towards her when something made him pause.

            “Idiotic weakling, huh?” A voice said from the shadows of the forest. “Looks more like a tired little girl in pain if you ask me…”

            “Would you go away, Barret?” Seth said very unhappily.

            “Well,” Barret said as he stepped into the light of the fire, “look who missed me!”

            “Barret,” Seth said, crossing his arms. “what are you even doing here? Father sent me to complete this task, and I don’t need you here to mess things up!”

            Barret shrugged.

            “I guess I can always tell father that you didn’t care that he sent me to come find you…”

            “He… Did?” Seth asked with a sigh. “But why? What was so important that he sent you?”

            “He sent me with a message.” Barret said as the peered around Seth to look at Katrina. “He wanted me to remind you that you are supposed to bring the girl back to the kingdom as soon as you have her. He doesn’t want to risk any harm coming to her…”

            Seth rolled his eyes as he shoved Barret back.

            “You can go back to father and tell him I am more than capable of handling this mission on my own! And I don’t need him to send my weasel of a brother to spy on me!”

            “Oh, yeah?” Barret said, frowning deeply at his brother. “Well, she doesn’t seem like she’s unharmed like father wanted!” he said gesturing to Katrina.

            “You’re right…” Seth said as he turned his attention back to the girl. “She’s not going to be completely unharmed like father wanted because she’s not cooperating. She can’t even finish singing one little song!”

            Seth started walking back towards Katrina, moving to stand over her. Barret just watched his brother as he shook his head in disapproval.

            “Get up. Now!” Seth growled at Katrina. “Or you’re going to regret it!”

            Katrina looked up at Seth with tearful eyes and tried to keep from crying. She knew it was useless to try and stand up because she was much too weak. So instead, she curled up and hoped that whatever punishment did come didn’t last long.

            “Stupid girl!” Seth said, picking Katrina up by the neck.

            Katrina gasped and winced as Seth tightened his grip. She began to claw at his hand when she couldn’t breathe.

            Barret watched in a grim silence, then sighed when Seth gave no sign of lightening his hold on Katrina.

            “Stop, Seth.” Barret said as he quickly marched over to his brother. He firmly laid a hand on Seth’s shoulder and forced his brother to look him in the eye. “Let the girl go.” Barret said calmly.

            Seth glared hard at Barret and begun to choke Katrina even harder.

            “You know what father said…” Barret said with a sigh. “He wants the girl unharmed. “And… Besides, you can’t get rid of the rest of magic without her…”

            Barret grinned as he received the reaction he was expecting. Seth frowned thoughtfully and released Katrina, dropping her to the ground.

            “What are you talking about?” Seth asked his brother curiously, ignoring Katrina as she gasped for air.

            “I’m talking about the reason father sent you to fetch the girl.” Barret said, trying to keep the mischievousness out of his voice. “It turns out that she can take magic from people.”

            Seth tilted his head and glanced at Katrina. Thoughts whirled through his head as he tried to figure out what Barret was talking about.

            “So… She can destroy magic?” Seth asked skeptically.

            “Father’s pretty sure she can…” Barret said nodding. “And just think, he’ll be furious when he hears about how you’ve treated her, so if I were you, I’d be thinking of a way to make father happy before returning home…”

            Seth nodded with a grim look on his face.

            “You’re right, Barret.” Seth said, shaking his head. “Maybe… Maybe…”

            “Maybe what?” Barret asked, hiding a grin.

            “Maybe if I take my men and go through a few kingdoms… If I destroy the magic in those kingdoms and prove that the girl really can do what we think, then he’ll be happy…”

            “Oh, that’s a great idea!” Barret said. “I think I might just stick around for that.”

            Seth rolled his eyes at Barret, and turned to Katrina.

            “You’re going to do exactly as I order you, understand?” Seth asked, glaring down at Katrina evilly.

            “Seth,” Barret said, moving to pick Katrina up gently, “may I suggest something? If you want the girl to do what you say… Get her to trust you and stop treating her like an animal…”

            Katrina flinched at Barret’s touch, but then relaxed as Barret kept his touch as light and gentle as possible.

            The only thought going through Katrina’s mind was that maybe, just maybe someone was going to treat her differently…