𝓣𝓮𝓻𝓻𝓪 ↬ b. blake

T H R E E

When she finished her prayers, Lincoln and Jensen approached the deer to carry it between them back to Tondc.

"I'm surprised my brother is still alive, knowing he was alone with you and Aren yesterday," Odeya, who had been gathering the last of the herbs and fruits, stood up from the ground and spoke to the chestnut as she arranged the bag in which she kept all of her collections.

Coriane laughed with irony, since what had happened, Isaac had ceased to be part of her inner circle. Of their siblings, Isaac had damaged lifelong friendships and not even his sister forgave him for that. Even if she had the purest heart of all, the girl could never get over his abandonment, that being another of the many reasons why none of her siblings could tolerate being in Isaac's presence for long, seeing Odeya hurt was something none of them could tolerate.

"I have to admit it took all my willpower not to hit him, let alone stop Aren from throwing him into a well."
"This will do," said Jensen, drawing everyone's attention.

They had caught a pheasant and that deer. They were ready to head back to Tondc, when a sound they knew well echoed through the forest. The group stopped dead in their tracks and their faces grew pale, the poisonous mist approaching them with the promise of a painful death.

"We have to go!" Lincoln shouted.

The mist did not affect Coriane, another advantage of being natblida and Terra, but it could kill her siblings, and that frightened her more than her own death. Whistling again to get Astrid's attention, the liger didn't take seconds to run in front of the group, leading them to the nearest cave she could find.

"Bellamy, help me!" There was a sudden scream in a language that was not theirs.

"What was that?"Coriane searched through bushes and trees for that pleading voice, but she could see nothing from there, only cries of pleading.
"Forget it, Ann, go inside," Aren told her. But Coriane ignored him, pushing him back into the cave. "No, Ann!"
"Stay inside and don't come out until I come back!"

The wailing suddenly intensified, so she intensified her speed, running through the forest straight for the yellow cloud. Every step she took she wondered more why she hadn't stayed with the others in the cave and listened to Aren, saving a Skaikru was not her responsibility, but every time she thought just that, and that she shouldn't be running towards him, Melisandre's voice caught in her doubts.

"If you have the power to change it, or at least to try; that makes it your responsibility."

Through gritted teeth, she cursed the rightest woman in that cruel world and all her lessons.

"Where are you?" She shouted in the same language she had heard the boy scream.
"Help me please!" He answered, closer than she had thought.

When Coriane had located him, she quickly climbed down a slope until she saw him; the boy was almost finished, he had burns all over his body and was crawling on the ground trying to escape the fog. Coriane sighed; it was too late for him, but she still didn't plan to leave him to his suffering. After all, she had already run her fair share of miles.

The air was getting thicker and thicker inside the yellow fog, and even if it wasn't deadly to her body, it wasn't very pleasant to breathe either, her nose was flooded with the smell of acid and her eyes were getting more and more watery. She picked the boy up and helped him to his feet, slung an arm around her shoulders and set off for some shelter. He kept moaning, they had to stop soon or he wouldn't get anywhere to rest.
Just then, Coriane saw a large hollow tree to her right and immediately rushed to it and pulled the boy into the trunk.