Wings of Destruction and Duty

16.1 || Orion

Orion brushed his fingers against the edges of his face. "What's wrong with my eyes?" He rocked on his toes and turned out to look out at the forest. The rain had settled down to and given way to the sweet heavy scent of fresh leaves and overturned soil. "There's nothing wrong with them. Everyone has their quirks."

"Your eyes," Romril growled from behind him and a phantom shiver ran down Orion's back. "They're reminiscent of something none of us have seen for years. Quite frankly, it's unsettling."

"Unsettling?"

Romril glanced at Laurel for some help. She only shrugged and pulled a worn leather bound book from her bag. Orion stared at her scribbling into it, her little blue pen waving in the air. He inwardly groaned. Of course, he'd forgotten that the queen had demanded a written record of the entire journey.

"What do you mean by unsettling?"

Romril paused. Then softly cleared his throat. "Have you ever met another human with eyes like yours?"

"I would say no but, believe it or not, I've never really had the chance to speak to many people." Orion decided to ignore the heavy thud of his heart. Kymil didn't need to know about his monthly trips to the village by the Mulgar river. Information held power, that was one thing he'd never ignored about his aunts. The tickle in his throat only egged on the suspicion bubbling in his stomach, revealing his aunt's spell would be a bad move.

Romril rested lazily against the back of the rock and an ugly smile graced his face."Oh? Well that does wonders. I suppose that's just a reflection on how you humans raise your children these days. There's no sense of community or curiosity."

Before Orion could respond, something crunched. They all startled, then breathed a sigh of relief as a small hunched badger ambled past them. Orion pushed his wet hair away from his face before toeing the wet ground around him. A few good shoves with his shoe revealed a tiny cluster of pinkish mushrooms. Each one was no bigger than his thumb, but given Laurel's excited squeal, it was probably a good thing.

"It seems there is a silver lining to your bickering." She knelt and pulled them from the ground with a flourish. "Stagwort is perfect for staving off the early signs of hunger." At Romril's narrowed eyes, she only shrugged and pointed at Orion. "Even you said that this child has had little exposure to the outside world, at least I can be bothered to teach him."

With the worst of the weather having wandered off in another direction, they decided to continue on their journey. This time Romril took the lead, insisting that the quickest way to the king's castle was to make their way to the nearest human village and hitch a ride on someone's cart. To Orion his methods simply sounded like intimidation and harassment.

The warm sweet smell of damp ground hit Orion like a blanket and he found his thoughts racing. The weather didn't feel right, and it should have been much too cold to feel the warmth rising from the ground. He swivelled his head slowly, trying his best to not catch Romril's attention. Even now, Orion still expected to hear the soft pad of paws trailing after them.

His aunt Niamh had never been exactly subtle when irritated. And all those long awkward dinners, punctured by the occasional crack of ice on glass were more than enough to prove it. Then there was the night he'd decided to push about his mother, a few misheard words was all it took to spend the night staring at Niamh ripping through a deer in her wolf form. Reuna had been disgusted and sent her out with shriek.

Orion shuddered and tried to bat his thoughts away. For all their arguments, he would give anything to be back home with his aunts. He let his breath dragged as they walked silently through the winding trees, no longer knowing nor caring about where they were headed. With every step his feet sunk deep into the mulchy ground with a squelch. And as if magic, countless worms and snails squirmed to inch their way away from his footsteps. Some failed and he cringed upon hearing the little pops.

He soon got bored of listening to his own breathing, so he turned to Laurel trudging next to him with a grim smile on his face.

"You did say you wanted to teach me something." At her raised eyebrows, he decided to push on. "You could start by telling me who Vulmar was?"

That prompted a massive groan from Romril, who only shook his head and quickened his pace. With a temper like that, Orion pitied anyone who had to work closely with that lemon of a man. He briefly complemented tripping the man with a stick, but then one small hiss from Laurel put a stop to his scheming.

"Vulmar was our first true king. He gave us a place in this world and tamed the Kei for battles."

"He was the elf king that tamed the Kei?" Orion scratched his head. Given their secrecy, perhaps it made sense that his aunts knew nothing about them. "How? Did he just walk up to them with a slab of meat?"

Laurel chuckled. "Not exactly. Our stories claimed that he rescued a female from the clutches of the gods, your gods. And in her gratitude, she gifted Vulmar her newborn children."

"That sounds believable." Orion paused to catch his breath before racing to catch up with his two new companions. "But since you Dilid are leaps and bounds ahead of us humans, surely your king would have known that it's not possible for siblings to mate. At least not with good results."

It was Romril's turn to laugh. "The Kei are wild and untameable, that much is true. But Vulmar was smart enough to realise that by breeding them with normal deer, he could achieve controllable ferocity."

Controllable ferocity? Those words sent a chill running down Orion's spine and he found his feet dragging in the dirt. Weren't the eleven races supposed to be the ones who stood against the manipulation of nature? Romril must have taken his silence as another sign of ignorance as a smug smile blossomed across his face.

Orion stepped over a fallen log, then grimaced as a scent caught his nose. The smell was hardly there, no more than a light stench in the humid air. But as they continued to trample along the concealed path, it got worse. Orion cringed as the pungent smell rolled towards him once again. Laurel squeaked and moved to cover her nose with her sleeve.

"That's new." Orion coughed and couldn't help but wonder if it was the sort of smell that would stick to you long after leaving the area. If that wasn't bad enough, Orion was unsettled by the heaviness in the air. It clung to his skin and with each breath, he felt it push crawl deeper into his lungs. Worst of all was the prickling building beneath his skin. His breath leapt against his throat, desperately pushing against the rising tide of terror within him.

It felt exactly like what he had experienced in the forest before Romril kidnapped him. But this time Romril was supposed to be working with him. Orion faltered and slowly spun to look the man in the eye. The elf was petrified.