Making Fen'Harel

Chapter 14

Rihari woke in a cold sweat, her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it whooshing in her ears. She tried to calm her breathing, but found that it felt as though all the air in the room had turned toxic. She had been dreaming on the battlefield, she had been there again. Night after night.

He sat up and pulled her against his chest hard. He spoke soothingly against the top of her head. "It is okay. You are okay, da'ean. Odhea, odhea."

Eventually her breathing slowed and he helped her under the cover. He slipped his arm around her and held her close to his body. He knew she wasn't asleep yet, so he started whispering words to her. It wasn't a spell, but a song. She had never heard the song before. It was beautiful and lulled her closer and closer to sleep even though she knew not what the words he said meant. It was a lullaby that his mother had sung when he was a child.

Once she was asleep, he laid awake a long while, considering it all. He had to send her back. She had to go back. He just didn't know if he could do it, he didn't know if he could be without her. Despite his doubts, he eventually fell asleep as well.

If it had been any other way, he would have never sent her back. If there was not a war, and there was no danger, he supposed he would never tell her of the portal. He didn't think she would have minded, he imagined that eventually her body would catch up and gain immortality. He imagined that they could live virtually forever, move away from the city, have beautiful children with raven black hair and bright blue eyes.

That was all a dream though. They would never move away or have children and she would never be immortal because she must go back. For her own safety. Once she was sent back there would be no way to get her into his time again until the two crossed again in the future. Nothing seemed impossible, but it seemed like an eternity and a half to wait.

He had been laying in bed thinking thoughts such as these since the sun had first peeked through the thick curtains. She of course had not stirred in the least. That was fine, he enjoyed her company while his mind reeled. He tried not to groan in frustration. Neither of the options were good enough to choose.

...

"They have attacked the Evanuris." The spy spoke of the Forgotten Ones and the Evanuris. The Forgotten Ones thought that the Evanuris had knowledge of what they sought. The spy leaned on his hands, that lay flat against the war table. Occasionally, he moved his hand to point to a certain area where something had occurred. Fen'Harel noticed the battles were getting closer and closer to his fortress. He huffed and shook his head. His long braids of hair were coiled in the back to hold them back, but it did little good as a few braids found their way to his face.

He brushed the hair back from his forehead. "We must wait. We are not strong enough to face them all at once." The spy nodded curtly, his lips pursed. "Lethallin," Fen'Harel said soothingly and the man raised his eyes to meet him. "do not fear." The man nodded and Fen'Harel placed a hand on his shoulder. "You have done well. Please, continue to do so."

The man bowed his head before making an exit. Fen'Harel looked down to the map, his eyes scanned carefully the path that the battles had made. He closed his eyes and let his mind slip to the Fade, where he sought out these areas to see what he may.

The images the Fade showed him were not pleasant. Blood stained the trodden grass making the dirt underneath turn to red mud. Bodies of elves and some mounts laid on the ground in heaps. Where they had charged the Forgotten Ones and had been slain one after another. Another image showed the Forgotten Ones smiling over the bodies of the dead, wishing doom upon them all.

He shuddered and opened his eyes. He kept his composure because he knew that eyes were always on him, but inwardly he was not so calm. His mind was frantically pulling at information, yanking open files in his mind that he had long forgotten, searching for a way to fix this. Nothing came to him that would work.