It was the Phoenix Necklace.
Kael didn't believe his eyes, is it really the Phoenix Necklace. As he was reaching for the necklace, The girl woke up:
"What hell are you doing, you PERVERT !!!".
Jace laughed, Kael became embarrassed and shouted:
"It isn't what it looks like, I was just taking the necklace".
The girl yelled, "What are you a Thief too !!!".
Kael shouted back, "You are the one who is thief. You stole that from the cave, didn't you !!".
"What, I just took it from the cave. How can I be a thief, you Pervert !!", the girl said.
"I am not a pervert. Just give me back that necklace, I will give another one", Kael showed all the necklaces he brought home, "And we were using the cave keep the treasures hidden".
"I don't care. This is my necklace, I am not gonna give this to you", she smirked:
"But if you really wanted, you have to become my slave and give me all the necklaces".
Kael agitated, "I will take it by force, if I have to. I will give three necklaces you want".
She said, "No, ten necklaces".
"Four", Kael.
"Nine", the girl.
After all that bargaining, they decided on six necklaces.
"Six or the deal is off", she said.
"Fine, deal", Kael agreed.
She looked around, and tried to slip one or more necklaces into her pocket.
Kael noticed, "Hey stop that".
"Ok, ok", she said.
After picking the necklaces, she decided to leave, saying:
"Pleasure doing business, by the way I am Alex, I live in a small village behind the woods, see you around".
After she left, Jace messed with Kael:
"Kael, you two can become lovely couple".
"Shut up, Jace !!", Kael embarrassed, "Don't start with me".
"Okay, Okay calm down", Jace replied.
"Now, let's start with healing Rusk", Kael became serious.
"How do we do that ?", Jace asked.
"Look when I was reading the diary, I read how Edward recovered", Kael explained:
"We need to put mana into the necklace, then all the wounds he has will be healed".
They had Rusk wear the necklace, and Kael started putting mana into it.
The Phoenix necklace slowly started healing Rusk's injuries.
It took them quite the time to fully heal Rusk.
Rusk slowly opened his eyes and saw the boys lying tired.
He stood up and took them to their bed. Rusk, then, noticed the necklace.
He took it off and put it in Kael's hand. After that he stepped out to get some fresh air.
Rusk was hungry, so he left to find something to hunt.
After some time, Kael and Jace woke up and noticed Rusk wasn't there, And Kael had the phoenix necklace in his hand. They assumed Rusk left them.
They quickly went outside to look, but there was not anyone. This made them sad.
They went into the cabin, hoping he would come back.
After a while, Rusk showed up with a deer on his shoulders:
"Hey. Where is the deer I caught the other day. I couldn't find it. So I hunted another one !!".
Kael overjoyed, "Rusk why did you leave ?. I thought you left us".
"It would have been good, if he really left", Jace added.
Kael became angry, "What hell are you saying ?".
Jace walked away, saying, "Go ask him, he will tell you".
The mood grew heavy, Kael asked, "What are you talking about ?"
Rusk explained everything to Kael. As he was listening Kael became angry, surprised, shocked.
After hearing everything, Kael said, "As long as you are with us nothing will happen to you or us, we will protect each other".
Upon hearing this, Rusk was happy and said:
"Don't worry I will never let you get hurt".
Jace was listening to their conversation. When Rusk and Jace meet eye to eye, Rusk apologized, and they made up.
Seeing this made Kael happy.
They prepared the deer to be cooked. They cleaned it from its skin.
And they cooked the deer. It was delicious. While they were enjoying their meal.
Alex came running, "Help, help the bandits are raiding the village. Please help".
Hearing this, the boys stood up to help, but Rusk stopped them:
"Hey stop, what are you gonna do, You might die".
The boys replied, "They are gonna die at this rate, we should do something".
Rusk said, "Fine I will go alone, you guys stay here"
Kael said, "Hey didn't we say we would protect each other, we should go too"
Rusk agreed, "Okay, but do not fight them, you will rescue the citizens".
Alex led the way to the village, they followed.
When they reached the village everyone was dead, slaughtered, burned.
Everything was on fire, the bandits had already left the village.
Alex looked for family, she found her father slayed, her mother's head without a body.
She became frustrated, "I will kill you, all of you, son of bitches !!!".
She started gathering negative mana energy, and everything around her exploded.
Seeing this, Rusk quickly stepped in and knocked her unconscious.
The boys were shocked, "How is this even possible".
Rusk explained, "During mental breakdown, you could awaken as a mage".
Rusk didn't want to leave things be.
They gathered the bodies of the villagers. After gathering them, Rusk put them on fire.
So they can die properly.
As they were burning them, Kael noticed something:
"Hey, did you find any children ?"
A thought struck Rusk's head that the bandits took the children to sell them as slaves. But he didn't tell the boys anything.
After burning them, they buried the ashes of villagers.
They went to the cabin, taking Alex with them, after giving them proper burial.
As they reached the cabin, Alex woke up:
"Where is my little brother".
Rusk said, "Come inside, I will tell you everything".
After heading into the cabin, they all sat. Alex asked about her brother one more time.
Rusk explained the situation, "Your brother is alive, the bandits took every child to sell them off as slaves".
"What my brother is still alive, I will kill that bandits myself", She said, "So where did they take him? I have to find him".
Rusk refused, "You will die if you go after them, so will your brother".
"I don't care, I will rescue my brother. Even if it means I will die", she yelled.
Rusk said, "Stop, I mean is you die if you go alone, we will help you, right boys".
Kael said, "You can count on me, you little thief".
Jace added, "I will help you as well".
Alex became happy, "Okay, let's go now".
Rusk told her, "You can't go in your condition, we will leave tomorrow".
Alex agreed and fainted there.
The boys prepared a place to sleep for her.
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