I have Nine Lives

Lindo looked terrified as he kept looking at the empty steel net and Manitola had to shake him out of it.

"What happened Lindo?"

"I don't think you want to know."

Lindo had witnessed a part of Landers that he had never seen before, he became especially scary the moment one of the moles farted in his face just like they did to him.

"It's ok, we are comrades and friends, you shouldn't be scared of Landers."

"Don't you think I know that? I'm just a little bit shocked..."

"Come on it shouldn't have been that bad right?"

"You don't even know the smallest thing about it as you haven't been here to witness what I have... just take a look at the normal troops."

Manitola looked around but found out there were no normal troops around, she looked at Lindo and shook her head saying that she didn't understand.

"They couldn't stomach seeing what was happening in the first 10 minutes then they left, the poisonous substance had already dissipated and the fox tribesmen had been taken back into the village."

As she looked around she realized that there was no one here anymore besides Landers, it seemed he waited for them but she knew that they didn't leave for more than 20-30 minutes. He worked really fast!

Felix walked forward after talking with Landers, it seemed their reinforcements were on the way with another captain and even a general!

Landers saw that they were outnumbered and considering they were ready to cut off the alliance with the Haron and Balton continents they needed some type of insurance.

100,000 troops of recruits weren't the insurance they needed though, what they had right now wasn't enough to continue the expedition into the continent.

It wasn't even enough to defend the current territory they captured, the deviousness of the inhabitants of the Sparron continent was quite high and Landers needed some experienced people to help him, Felix wasn't enough, no matter how talented and strong he was, he was still just one person.

"So when are the reinforcements supposed to arrive?"

"Very soon, be patient, after they come we will continue our expedition, as for the other parts you should already know about them."

Felix was rather itchy wanting to continue the fights, after hearing the stories about the gods he felt fired up a little.

It wasn't that he wanted to reach height as tall as the gods but he felt that the surrounding world was wider than before.

Felix was a person that enjoyed himself as long as he found something to be fun, he didn't really care much about other things besides the people that were close to him.

So now that he found battles to enjoying he wanted to continue them until he got bored.

Felix walked alongside Landers as they entered back into the village leaving Manitola and Lindo alone.

Manitola looked around for a few seconds before she got closer to Lindo and said:

"You know... I have been contacted by my tribe."

Lindo's eyes widened as he asked:

"So you are the traitor?"

Lindo felt pained as he said those words while he looked down, his fists were clenched as he was ready to strike her down on the spot!

Manitola quickly shook her head as she tried to diffuse the situation:

"No, no, even though they wanted me to rat you out and give information I didn't, but they are concerned about me and they want me to go back..."

"And you want to go back?"

Lindo's voice trembled as he said that, he knew that the only reason she was telling him this was because they had made some strong ties together while Felix was away.

Manitola hesitated for a few seconds before she hugged Lindo and told him:

"I truly do want to go back, I'm sorry, my true family is there and I need to be with them... I'm so sorry."

Lindo's eyes teared up as he reciprocated the hug, however, his hug was forceful, unlike hers which was genuine his hug was so strong that some of Manitola's bones started to crack.

Lindo continued to cry as his tears started to wet Manitola's dress.

"Hey, Lindo.. ugh you are hugging me too hard."

"I know..."

"Lindo please let me go!"

Manitola started to struggle out of Lindo's hug but Lindo was physically stronger than her, the race difference combined with the gender difference made it impossible for Manitola to get out of Lindo's strong grasp.

"You are hurting me, Lindo, what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry Manitola but before my personal life comes the army's orders... I cannot let you."

"I'm first a soldier of the army and second a person of the Lion tribe and letting you go would be bad for both institutions."

"But Lindo I thought we..."

"Yes we, but before we it comes to the institution's wellbeing."

"I trust you very much."

"Then why can't you let me go?"

Lindo shook his head as he said while continuing to tighten his grip on her:

"While I trust you how can I trust your people? Even if you don't want to tell them what they want to know we are in a state of war and I'm sure they would take the peace of the continent over you, regardless of what your relatives will say."

"But I..."

Manitola shook her head, she didn't think about this, she couldn't actually believe something like this, the people who took care of her since she was a baby would go against her and even torture her for information?

"Do you know why I was so shocked looking at what Landers had done to those mole people?"

"You... you have imagined that I was the one that Landers was torturing?"

"I couldn't help but do it Manitola, we know about your status in the army currently, they all think you are a traitor and... I don't want that to be the truth."

"Promise me you won't leave... promise or else I don't know what I will do!"

Manitola eyes widened as Lindo's eyes bored directly into hers, tears were still pouring down from his eyes as he said:contemporary romance

"Don't leave... I don't want anything bad to happen to you... it would hurt even harder if it was done knowing that I could stop it from happening... please don't go."

Manitola was speechless, it seemed Lindo really got attached to her to a very high degree, she liked him as well but Lindo's degree of attachment was more extreme than hers.

She still tried to struggle out of his embrace but she realized it was pointless... she just couldn't do it so she accepted her fate.

She shook her head as she said:

"I won't go ok? I won't go so let me go."

"How would I know that you won't leave after I let you go? Your agility is impressive and if you want to run away you would be able to easily considering you are faster than me when it comes to escaping."

Manitola sighed, she wanted to escape that way but it was really impossible.

"Don't be scared Manitola, I promise I won't tell Landers and the others that you tried to escape, even though I'm a soldier of the army I can keep things between us as long as you don't do the things that you aren't supposed to."

Manitola still didn't believe that her family and friends would torture her for information but considering her current situation she could only stay with Lindo.

"I want you to swear an oath using your Goddess's name."

Manitola swore under her breath as she looked at Lindo's face, how did he know about the God oath?

"Don't look at me like that Manitola, my grandfather is the shaman of the tribe, of course, I would know some things about God's chosen."

Manitola sighed as Lindo let her move her left hand which she put over her heart and started chanting:

"I Manitola of the central Fox tribe hereby swear on the Goddess's of love and charm name that I will not leave Lindo without his permission."

Lindo nodded as he felt the surrounding Hex energy entering Manitola's body as if it was rope tying something.

Then he let her go.

Manitola gasped for breath as she realigned her bones making popping sounds all over her body, Lindo's grip was really strong and her body was weak, if he hadn't controlled his grip he could have crushed her death if he wanted to.

"Let's go back to the village."

Manitola trudged back with Lindo but she didn't feel well at all, swearing upon one's god was a rather restrictive thing that hurt her a bit, until she would get back to normal it would take some time and after that, she still had to follow Lindo around due to the oath.

Lindo stopped her before they entered the village as he looked into her eyes again and this time gave her a genuine hug, his whole body shaking as he said:

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry but I'm doing it for your good."

Then his shaking stopped as a sunny smile appeared on his face and entered the village through the gates, he didn't need to worry the others with his looks, nor did he want the smarter ones to become suspicious so he acted just like he did most of the time.

done.co