|| Given to the Enemy || {& You Thought You Had It Bad}

XV /Changes/

Ryne abruptly stopped running when the healthy trees she was passing were replaced by scorched stumps. She stood frozen, gasping for breath as stray tears fell from her midnight eyes, leaving trails down her dirty cheeks. After near an hour she finally began to move forward, one agonizing step at a time. As she stepped to the edge of a small bluff she paused and took a deep breath. Before her was barren land, the scarred earth birthing no life - all that remained of what was once Ravenna.

She had stood here before, when the buildings were burning, children screaming, women hoarsely sobbing for their dying children, for their mutilated men, lost families, and for their own violation. Ryne could once again feel the heat of the fire on her face, her ears echoed with sounds, the screaming, the roaring fires, and the groans and booming crashes of the collapsing structures. Her tears fell harder as she remembered, as she wondered, once again, how she could have let this happen. 

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

* ~ * ~ *

Elah slowed to a trot as Ryne's scent became fresh, his paws silent as he padded her way. His alert ears turned down as he realized what he was approaching, a mournful sound keening from his throat. The loss of innocent's is so much harder to bear than the loss of fighters.

He stopped following her trail and treaded softly around the barren scar on the earth, standing where he had when he had finally reached the doomed village. By the time he had arrived the vampires had left, confident that none would survive. The haunting silence was broken by a long doleful howl as Elah raised his head toward the sky just as he had that fateful night, in honor and memory of those who had been silenced here four years ago.

Elah's ears perked and his fur stood on end as a call answered his. The sound was broken and dissonant, almost estranged. The other voice went quite for a moment before sounding again, it was moving... toward Ryne. With a snarl he jumped forward running flat out toward the confrontation. He slowed as he neared and heard no sounds of a struggle. Confused he cocked his head and continued moving forward but more cautiously.

The waxing moon cast a soft blue-white light that filtered through the trees, both illuminating and concealing. He heard her before he saw her. Her soft sobs held pain, but the pain wasn't physical. His heart ached fiercely inside his furry chest as he saw Ryne on the ground, a limp wolf on her lap. She stroked the tangled fur softly as she wept over the body of the last citizen of Ravenna.

"I'm sorry," She whispered brokenly into soundless ears, "so so sorry."

Elah turned and strode forward quickly; dropping to his knees beside Ryne he wrapped his arms around her shaking body. She turned her face toward him, burying it in the nape of his neck and continued to cry as he held her tightly, one hand on her back, the other on the back of her head, nestled deep in her thick obsidian tresses.

* ~ * ~ *

Ryne's sore eyes blinked slowly open. The room was dark but a golden glow was attempting to infiltrate through the curtains. She stayed motionless, eyes unfocused, thoughts far away. Slowly she came to realize that arms were wrapped about her securely and that her own arm was nested around a man's naked waist. She frowned confused and looked up to see Elah's sleeping face. Seeing his face triggered her memories of the night before. Running to Ravenna, the desperate and half-mad lycan that had begged her to finish what she had started. Tears pricked her eyes as she remembered him. Wild eyes, tangled and tattered fur, nearly starved form, his tortured pleas... the name he had granted her. A sob tried to rise in her throat but she fought it back, she didn't want to wake Elah.

Elah... he had come; had held her as she cried. They had decided - silently - to bury his body there, with his long gone family. Elah had turned back into a wolf and dug the hole they had laid him to rest in. After that he had stayed in wolf form until she could no longer walk, so he turned again and carried her flaccid form in his arms back to the castle. She didn't remember that, didn't remember arriving or how she ended up curled around him in bed. She blushed at the realization that he probably hadn't been able to pry her arms from his neck. Oh well, didn't really matter anyway. She was grateful for his comfort - she didn't deserve it.

* ~ * ~ *

Ash paced in the corridor outside Ryne and Elah's room. They were still asleep and thus he was barred entrance. Elah had heard him tell his story that was obvious from the moment they realized Elah was missing. Ash had been relieved; he knew Elah would catch up with Ryne. But as the day dragged into night he had grown more and more anxious, finally just before dawn Elah had returned, Ryne in his arms. Her sleep was deep, but troubled, even far from consciousness tears dripped from her eyes.

It has broken Ash's heart. He had known she'd cried for what happened, had seen the evidence in her red bloodshot eyes, but he had never seen the tears, the broken expression on her face. Elah's expression had been guarded and he hadn't uttered a word, merely kept walking until hr reached his room then he closed the door behind him. And not a sound had been heard since.

* ~ * ~ *

Elah breathed deep and slow as he awoke, arms tightening around Ryne's small cool body unconsciously. He had never dreamed that he would ever see the strong eccentric vampire so broken. Last night he had realized just how young she really was. Too young to carry such a burden. He had been young as well when he took command but he had had a childhood, friends, teachers, he was ready. But he also hadn't been fourteen. It wasn't possible to be ready for such a burden - the fate of your country and the lives millions - at fourteen. Then at sixteen to have such a tragedy occur on your watch, and it to not be your fault yet taking the blame... too young, she should have been running carefree with Ash, flirting with boys, not... he sighed.

Ryne's body convulsed in his arms, a whimper sounding from her. He turned on his side so he was facing her and held her closer.

"I'm so-sorry Elah, I..."

"It is not your fault Ryne." He said, voice quite but firm and unyielding. "You didn't give that command, and you tried to stop it! It is not your fault that some bastard give a sadistic order and it is not your fault that those soldiers followed an order that didn't come from you. Accept the blame publicly if you feel it best but don't you dare accept it in your heart it is not your fault."

Her shuddering turned to desperate gasping sobs as she absorbed his words and tried to make them true.

She calmed after a while, sobs turning to sniffles, and sniffles to hiccups, at last she lay still. Nestled comfortably in Elah's arms, exhausted from her tears. She had held them in for so long that now after they had been shed, she felt oddly free. Not entirely of course, it still haunted her, but some of the unbearable pressure had been lifted, she could breathe again.

"Thank you Elah." She murmured.

"What's true is true." Was his quite reply.

"Still... thank you."

They laid in silence once again, neither feeling the urge to move from the other's embrace. But then Elah realized that Ryne had not fed in over twenty-four hours, and she had been in the sun while exerting energy.

"Ryne?"

"Mmm?"

He moved his arms from her waist - where they had fit so comfortably - and moved his hands to grip her shoulders as he pushed her back gently so he could see her face. Frowning he pulled from her embrace - reluctantly - and rolled out of bed, pulling clothes on before lifting her in his arms yet again.

* ~ * ~ *

"Why did you really send her there Jakab?" Zephyra asked softly, scrutinizing her brother carefully as they sat in his study. The room was large and rectangular, with ceiling higher than the massive width, and was dominated by a wall of windows that displayed a breathtaking view of Ulia, the many massive waterfalls still moving despite the cold.

He smirked cruelly, "When the time comes, you won't need to ask"