4 The Street Rat

Carrots was not a happy bunny.

Not. At. All.

First, his human just had to get attacked by a bloodthirsty werewolf. Then, this cat-boy with a stupid tail appeared from nowhere and decided to join them. Carrots was thankful to him for saving his human, but he was supposed to leave after saving her. Not join them like they were going for some lovely tea session.

Yet, there he is. Chatting up his human. Carrots threw the Leonin boy a mildly disgusted glance. The nerve of the boy… chatting up his human! Disgusting. Disgraceful, even. Utterly disgraceful. Carrots began to plot ways to get rid of the tag along. His human will not be tainted by this boy.

Said soon-to-be-victim felt a shiver run up and down his spine. Harith glanced around in confusion, wondering what had caused this reaction. He got the feeling that he didn't really want to know.

The three of them had been travelling for two days and are currently in the third village since the werewolf incident. Harith would say that they had about a quarter more to travel before they would reach the capital. Currently, they were walking around the village's marketplace, looking to stock up on supplies for the journey.

The immortal at his side remained oblivious to both his confusion and Carrots' hostility. Instead, she was daydreaming. You may be thinking: daydreaming of what? Well, she was imagining herself arriving back home to the Moon Palace, the handmaidens and servants welcoming her home with tears of joy. She imagined her master, the Great Dragon, gruffly greeting her and ruffling her hair affectionately, forgiving her and Carrots for their inexcusable actions.

She was so caught up in her daydreams that she did not notice Harith coming to a stop and collided against his back.

"Oof — " Chang'e stumbled backwards and frowned up at Harith. "What is it? Why'd you stop?" Chang'e and Carrots peered out from behind his back to see what had caused him to stop so abruptly in his tracks.

Ahead of them was a crowd of people blocking the entire pathway of the cobble-stoned street. The most unnerving thing was that they were silent. Completely silent.

Harith and Chang'e exchanged looks and nodded. Seeing as how they were obviously too short to see what was going on, they leapt up onto the roof of a one-story building to observe the situation.

In the centre of the crowd was a young boy of about eight years old. Even from a distance, the boy's injuries could be seen as clear as day. His brown hair was matted with dirt and blood, a cut ran down his lips and his cheeks were bruised, taking on a greenish hue that was gradually turning darker.

From the way he was holding his ribs, it was clear that his ribs are probably at best bruised and at worst cracked or broken. His loose clothing made it difficult to see exactly how hurt he was, but he was evidently malnourished from the way his skin clung to his bones and the lack of baby fat a boy his age should still have.

Chang'e gasped in horror when a middle-aged man brutally punched the little boy across the face, a loud 'crack' resounding through the silent marketplace.

From her side, she could feel Harith's magic steadily rising and seeping through his body caused by his murderous intent. How could that man hurt a small, innocent child? How could the crowd condone this cruel behaviour?

Harith's magic was now crackling blue around him, making Chang'e's and Carrots' hair — or fur, in Carrots' case — stand on their ends. His rising anger could obviously be felt by the people, seeing as how they stiffened and started to tremble minutely.

From this show of power, Chang'e could clearly see how Harith had managed to surpass his entire Leonin race in magical abilities.

He was very powerful. Very powerful. The scary thing was, Chang'e knew that he had more power than what she could feel right now. She could sense that there was more magic he kept locked away inside himself. The magic that was pouring off him in waves was very much deliberate to instil fear in the people and he was perfectly in control of his magic.

That is, until the man that had punched the young boy snapped out of his fear and dug a foot viciously into the small boy's ribs. The ribs he was holding in pain.

The little boy cried out in anguish, curling himself into a ball in an attempt to protect himself from the man's abuse. The man grinned a cruel, satisfied smirk, revealing yellowed and chipped teeth. His face was of pure glee, revelling in the pain he caused.

That bastard! He had the gall to be proud of his barbaric actions, not even showing a hint of remorse. And the boy was just a child! Not a day over ten years old.

That was the last straw. Harith's magic flared up. Blue sparks of magic jumped around his body and the raw power he emitted caused the villagers to freeze in fear. Even Chang'e felt afraid of him. But the anger she felt towards that middle-aged man overrided her fear.

Without thinking, Chang'e sent a wave of bubbles towards the man, prompting him to scramble backwards to avoid the attack. The two of them, plus Carrots, jumped down to the centre of the crowd and stood protectively in front of the battered and bruised little boy.

The man sneered at them but his eyes and body language showed his true feelings: he was deathly afraid. As he should be, Harith thought derisively. In fact, the one who should be the most afraid should be the child.

"Th—that boy over there is a thief! He's a pathetic street rat that keeps stealing the food from our stalls and he lies that he didn't steal it! A liar, a thief and a street rat. He deserved this." The man spat on the ground for emphasis and sent them a nasty look. "Them street rats and thieves are lower than the dirt on my shoe. Filthy scum, that's what they are."

That was the wrong thing to say. The crowd knew it and so did he. His face took on a ghostly shade of white, fear written plainly all over his face.

Cowards like this man shouldn't even exist. He was a waste of oxygen and space.

A cold fury swept through Chang'e. She formed a ring of stardust around Harith, the boy, and herself. Then, with a flick of her wrist, the circle of stardust steadily enlarged and moved towards the people.

The stampede of people rushing to get away from Chang'e's magic created chaos within the previously dead silent marketplace.

The disgusting man who had attacked the boy let out a shriek of terror and scurried away as quickly as possible.

Soon enough, the streets were empty of people. The marketplace was entirely devoid of life apart from the injured boy, Harith, Chang'e and Carrots.

Harith cautiously approached the boy and knelt down in front of him while Chang'e ran a critical eye up and down the boy's stick-thin body, checking the extent of his injuries.

Slowly so as to not scare the boy away, Harith reached out a tentative hand to touch the bruised boy on his shoulders. "Hey, it's alright now. The bad people are gone," Harith said softly to the boy, patting his left shoulder comfortingly.

The boy stilled at his touch but relaxed slightly when he realised he wasn't going to be attacked again. Careful of his injuries, Harith picked up the little boy gently and settled him snugly against his chest. He sighed when he realised just how light the boy was.

"Come on, let's get you somewhere safer. Hopefully, we can find someone to treat your injuries. Doubtful considering this whole fiasco but we should still try."

Carrots hopped from Chang'e's shoulders to the boy's knees and crawled to his uninjured side and laid there.

A small smile appeared on the boy's young features. Seeing this, Chang'e resolved to reward Carrots with a big carrot stick. Good boy, she thought happily.

…

It was no use. After defending the little boy — his name was Claude — the villagers no longer welcomed them. Every house they passed, the blinds would be drawn, the doors locked. No one wanted to be associated with them lest they be outcasted too.

"What should we do now?" Harith glanced at Chang'e questioningly. "We aren't welcome here anymore. If they weren't so afraid of us, I'm a hundred and twenty per cent sure that they would have kicked us out long ago."

Chang'e tapped her lips, pondering their current situation. "My master taught me some minor healing spells but I'm not sure if I can… execute them properly. I didn't really practice them much, you see…" she trailed off in thought.

On one hand, they could continue looking for a healer who was willing to help them — again, very unlikely but maybe a miracle would occur? On the other hand, she could try to heal the boy herself but risk performing the spell incorrectly, further injuring the boy.

"So… what now?" Harith quirked an eyebrow at the immortal. "We don't have all day. Also, as light as this boy is my arms are getting tired. Unless you want to carry him instead?" Harih snarked.

Chang'e glowered at the Leonin. "No need to get snippy with me. We're both tired and we need rest but Claude is our priority. We don't exactly have time to argue."

Harith bowed his head, ashamed by his lack of control over his emotions. "Sorry, Chang'e. It's just been a long day and the villagers really riled me up this time. I've never felt this furious before." Harith smiled apologetically at Chang'e.

Chang'e shook her head. "It's fine. I've been thinking and, well, I could only come up with two options. One, we continue looking for any village healer willing to help us. I don't mind carrying Claude either. We can even take turns to carry him." she suggested.

"Two, I try to heal him with whatever minor healing spells I learnt from my master. But there is a chance that I'll mess up and further aggravate his injuries." Chang'e groaned dejectedly, putting her hands to her face. "I don't know what to do, Harith. I doubt anyone would even help us, and I don't trust my healing magic well enough to not make things worse!"

Harith pursed his lips. Deciding they were in a safe area for the moment, he set the sleeping Claude down and stretched his sore arms. Then, he turned to face Chang'e.

The fierce look in his eyes made Chang'e let out a small involuntary 'eep!'.

Harith strode forward until only a finger's worth of space separated them. "You need to have more faith in yourself. I've seen what you can do — no, I can feel your magic and I know that you're powerful. Powerful enough to give me a run for my money. Not to brag, though," Harith sniggered at the last bit.

His expression turned serious again. "But seriously. You need to give yourself more credit. You're one of the strongest mages I know, ignoring the fact that the only mages I know are Leonin mages, but I know you can do it."

"How do you know? What if I mess up and kill him accidentally?" Chang'e gripped the edges of her dress tightly, her features set into a worried frown. She didn't dare look Harith in the eye.

Grasping Chang'e's chin gently, Harith tilted her chin up. "Hey, look at me."

Chang'e reluctantly lifted her gaze to meet his blazing brown eyes.

"Don't worry. I know you can do it. Even though I haven't known you for more than a week, not that I was counting, I have complete faith that you can do it. You can heal Claude."

Then, he grinned impishly. "And if you somehow fail, I'll just kidnap Carrots and leave you here at the mercy of these child-abusive people."

The sombre atmosphere dissipated at once. "You are such an idiot," Chang'e grumbled. "Fine! I'll try to heal him. If he dies, it's on you since you convinced me into doing this crazy thing."

Ignoring Harith's protests of how he "so wasn't stupid!", Chang'e hopped off her Crescent Moon and knelt down in front of Claude's slumbering form. She lifted his thin shirt to reveal his injuries. Taking in deep breaths to stable herself and calm her furiously beating heart, she hovered her hands over Claude's form.

Deadly concentration, steady hands. Focus on your magic; the intent to heal. Chang'e reminded herself of these steps, her master's voice echoing in her mind. Deciding to heal the more severe injury, Chang'e focused her attention on Claude's ribs.

Stardust glowed faintly on her fingertips and seeped into the bruised skin. Chang'e could feel the fractures in his ribs knitting together. It was a strange feeling. She never knew bones could be knitted together. Chang'e opened her eyes. She didn't know she had closed them.

Harith gaped at Claude's smooth and unblemished skin, free of bruises. "You — Chang'e you did it! You healed him! What can I say, I told you so," Harith beamed at Chang'e.

Chang'e stared blankly at Claude's skin. His skin... Free of bruising…

Her eyes widened. She did it! She really, really did it!

Chang'e reached forward and placed a hand on Claude's cheeks. Channeling the same feeling and her magic, she watched in amazement as the bone in Claude's cheek knitted together again and the dark bruise faded away to reveal flawless, fair skin.

A rush of happiness and delight bubbled up within her, threatening to overflow. With an ecstatic squeal, she flung herself into Harith's arms.

"I did it! I actually did it! I can't wait till big brother hears about this! Thank you, Harith!"

Letting out a 'whoop' of delight, Chang'e skipped around and twirled with joy. Seeing her exuberance, a soft smile unknowingly crept onto his face.

He never knew anyone could have such a beautiful smile.