Sword and Shield (GxG)

Chapter Twenty-Five : The North Witch : Evangaline

Rikhata's hold on me closed farther. How long had we been sitting here? She'd found a spot close to the water and we'd been sitting there for what felt like forever. I leaned against her, arms tucked into my chest, her arm around me. She whispered her comforts into my ear, her hot breath a reminder of the cold fire. She was covered with burns, even though she wasnt the one in the center of the inferno. I had no burns. No marks at all. Not even a singe on my borrowed clothes. I was too badly shaken to ask about it now, so I just kept the soothing silence in the world; that little world where only Rikhata and I existed, free of everyone around us. 

"Evangaline?" And the silence was broken."I'm so sorry..." her hand held the back of my head, bringing it closer to her so she could rest her chin on it. I felt her moving her mouth, trying to say something that she never managed to bring into words. "We have to go" she finally stated. "It isnt safe here..." She started to move away from me. Despite knowing what she was doing, a surge of panic flashed through me. I just about shreiked, grabbing at her to pull her back. I was shaking uncontrolably. 

"Dont leave" I choked desperately. Rikhata relaxed and her arms were protecting me again. 

"Never" she chuckled a little. "But we cant stay here. We have to get back to the castle" her gentle tone was tinted with demand. I nodded shakily, knowing that her tone was only hinting at the pressure she felt to be away from here. She helped me to my feel, her hands never leaving me. Carefully she walked me up the shore, her arms supporting the majority of my weight, as my legs were constantly going limp or becoming too shaky to stand on their own. 

We eventually -after a long while making an excruciatingly slow ascent to where we'd come from- reached the spot where Rikhata said we'd landed. But there was nothing here. Just more sand and crab grass at the fringes of the forest.

"Akyra was supposed to be here..." I made note of the scowl that spread to her voice. She was so quiet that I assumed there was something we should not alert. My own mind was in too much of a blur to connect the events together and form a plan or script to my actions. All I knew was follow Rikhata and I'd be safe. Of course my plan was going to work.

Something moved in the edges of my vision. I practically shrieked when I turned to try and find it.

"What?" Rikhata tensed instantly, drawing me closer to her while she gave a thorough search of the area.

"I-I saw something. I dont know wh-" there was a large crack that split through the air, slicing the sentance before it was complete. I screamed again. I knew I seemed usless, a mere distraction and additional burden for my caretaker, and I was. I was usless and a nusance, not being able to do anything when Rikhata had been in the same fire I'd been in, and had to figure her way around the situation, all while I was chained to a stake. I'd seen the insanity in her eyes, the craze of danger, and she was the one taking care of me. She was burnt and bleeding and tired, and I was unharmed, yet I am running to her to protect me. I know she does so willingly, but it is no less wrong that I am unable to do anything at all.

I was thinking to hard to realize how long it had been silent, or without a legible word. It wasnt until I heard Rikhata's voice, twisted into the unnatural tone she takes when she speaks with a non-human tongue. Ghastly would be the first word to describe it, then it boarders on abstract beauty. A thing that has no connection to what is real, but still holds firmy to what is here, beauty not in the way it sounds, but in the odd sensation it makes you feel. You feel like you know it, but only until you try to understand. A pleasure that is real, yet absent and a sound that is never relevant. 

"Hey, its alright" I felt a pressure on the back of my head, warm and assuring. "Its just Akyra" Rikhata gently lifted my chin so I could look her in the eye. "Can you fly?"