The Thief With Wings (BOOK 1# OF THE TRILOGY SERIES) *Completed*

Chapter 24.

At that very moment, everything felt like it had stopped suddenly like a broken clock. All the things that I knew from the man that I had recognized as my father along with the memories seemed to turn to dust when he spoke that minor sentence. He... Killed her? He was the one behind my mother's disappearance and the fact that he stole us from our real father?! Okay now I've heard some bizarre and heart breaking things but this was entirely on a brand new molecular level even for me! As I stated there, staring in almost frequent shock while covering my bleeding eye desperately. The man towered over me with almost a insane grin across his face, pointing his knife directly at me. "I would kill you right now since I have the chance... but considering that you were our prime research subject, I guess I will let you live... but know this Gale. Next time we meet, I will not show any mercy and will kill you if you stand in the way of my plans." He spoke before lowering the knife from me, walking away until the flames had consumed his entire figure. For man who just said that showing mercy to opponents is useless, he just proved it wrong by doing the exact opposite... by showing mercy and walking away from me when he could had just finished me since I was helpless. 

But then there was that fact stating about my mother, she was killed by that cruel man for something but I did not know what it was for though and my father... how did he know about my real father?  Standing there alone in the flames, everything just felt like it was moving way too fast for my mind to proceed. My mind was screaming at me to call for help but it wasn't really going to be much use to me anyways... no one would be able to hear me through the growling fire and by the time William and Conner would find me, I would be pretty much as dead as a dead goose. That was unless I would try to find a way out of this blaze which would require most of my strength to find a way out, then again... what other choice did I really have? "Olivia, I need you to reverse my form again. I can't escape without my wings." I spoke quietly before feeling my body reverse itself back to normal, my wings quickly unraveling from being tucked away and streaked towards the skies in a faint light. "Well, that was something else... you okay?" I heard Olivia ask quietly as I stood to my feet, wincing slightly as my injuries gave off slight electrical shocks. "Yeah, Im fine... other than my eye of course... That bastard." I spoke before taking a look as the amount of blood leaking away on my hand, almost appearing as if was some puddle large enough to hold a few minnows in. I needed to get out of here, less I wanted my final bits of my time to be standing here... Surrounded by fire and learning the truth of my family. Glancing around, I quickly allowed my wings to open and took flight into the air. Not daring to look back at where the remaining gun of our fight remained tucked away in the snow. 

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-William's pov-

Come on... come on! Where was she!

As the three of us flew amongst the skies, all we could see was orange and gold streaking throughout the village, thankfully we managed to get most of the people out but all of them worried for their queen since she was nowhere to be found amongst the group. Maybe Gale had found her and sent her back? i don't know... but she had to be somewhere in this wildfire, she and Gale just had to be. "Do you see her anywhere?" I asked Conner and Cree as they glanced over towards their share of the village, both of them hoping that my sister managed to find my father and gave him a piece of her mind, even though I wasn't there to watch her battle Raymond. I surely hope she managed to learn a few self defence moves when she was locked up.  "Nope, I don't see any signs of her anywhere. Not even any of your father too, he probably managed to mingle his way out of the flames once he noticed most of the people were gone or died in the fire. Worse yet, he could had managed to nickel Gale too." He responded as he kept his reigns steady on Thorncrest. However Cree still kept looking without any response, as if she thought we were overlooking every single spot. "I know she can't be gone or stolen away, seeing how she managed to fight two guards earlier. She barely laid a single scratch to them and they both fell dead to ground with what appeared to be foam in their mouths and blood leaking out from behind. Now that kind of movement would take years for a thief to master or pretty much anyone for that matter." She responded before a sudden silhouette had flew in front of us, its distingue figure causing the gryphons to screech and buck in retaliation. 

"Looking for me?"

Right then and there, I recognized that voice...  As her figure loomed a little more towards the lighting of the skies, the figure only revealed one shiny sky blue eye glancing at us while the other was covered by her hand which was dripping away blood. "GALE!!" I nearly barked out loud, overjoyed to see my sister was okay... well most of her at that matter. Glancing at her closely from the faint lighting, she almost looked like she was someone from a freak show. Blood was leaking down from a large stain on her clothing, a scratch mark had been streaked across her cheek and to make matters worse... hiding behind her covered eye stood a long slash mark, draining large amounts of red down from the cut to the bottom of her chin. She must had lost a lot of blood from some of the fights since she could barely keep herself steady in the air without accidentally falling a inch or so every few minutes. Without even asking, I quickly motioned Rainquill forward towards her and managed to catch ahold of her when she nearly fell a inch for the fourth time. 

"Whoa, easy there sis. I got you." I spoke calmly as I hoisted her up onto Rainquill's saddle, making sure not to ever let go.  Jesus... I had never managed to see her looking this banged up and still standing like it was nothing, it made me wonder how much blood she lost from those injuries anyway. "Holy cow! Gale, what in the world happen to you and... your eye? You look like you were a crash test dummy thrown in a wolf pit!" Conner barked as both him and Cree were almost staring at her in horror, Gale however tried to tuck away her hair from allowing it to get any blood stains. "Yeah... that man tried to kill me by blinding me in the right eye then stab me while I was defenceless, however he decided to spare me instead which was the last thing I expected him to do. I got the others from our fight." Gale spoke as she wiped away some of the blood leaking from her eye. "Speaking of which, I have something you guys will want to hear. That man is not our father... he-"

"Stole you..." Cree finished her sentence almost like clockwork, I turned towards her in surprise. Did she know about it the entire time? Did she know we weren't that man's children? If she did, how long did she know about it? "Wait... you knew? Why didn't you tell us?!" I barked almost in anger, my eyes glaring at her like a panther staring down at his prey. She only turned her silenced gaze downwards for a brief moment while I could have sworn to seen a few tears slipping away from her eyes. Oh man... I think I might had pushed the line over its boundaries in that last sentence, because next thing I could see was Gale giving me a sharp hostile glare before slapping my face in almost a protective stance. Being able to read the exact thought she had through her crimson stainglass eyes. "Ever do that again with my sibling or you'll really regret it... William." I only kept my big mouth shut before Cree finally managed to speak up. "If I could have, I would have done it by now but one is that Gale finding out so much about mom was probably enough on her plate. Two, I would had told you sooner if there wasn't... oh I don't know, a freaking wildfire that may I add is still burning miles and miles of woodland underneath us and the fact that you were having a panic attack!" She spoke in calm but yet frustrated tone.

"Guys, how about we don't get incinerated by the fire that is slowly increasing underneath us or I swear that I will get off this saddle and start flying away while you two continue to bicker." Gale spoke with a threatening but weakened voice. Inside I knew she couldn't hold out like this much longer with this much loss of blood and continuing, as much as I hated to admit. She did have a point though, arguing wouldn't really solve anything for the moment and I bet the townsfolk were worried that all 4 of us died in the flames. Then again, they probably didn't appreciate having their town burned to the ground and we probably weren't going to be welcomed as normal folk there anytime soon when it would get rebuilt.

Within that mere moment, we eventually ended up whisking away into the darkened skies above.