A Court Of Shadow and Blood

☆ Attack From Above ☆

She'd only just managed to get some proper shoes on—some simple flats that left her toes open to the day's warmth—before she left, Cerridwen trailing them within the shadows. The wraith had seemed upset when they'd left, but for some reason, Eblis knew the spy had fallen to Elain's easy-going words and let her go along. The wraith, despite hanging back, also carried some flowers after Elain had used a few simple 'please' and 'thank yous'.

She shrugged the thought away, instantly regretting it as she felt her hold loosen on one of the many plants she held. Elain smiled brightly and lightly nudged it back into her chest, Eblis giving her a small tilt of her lips in return. This female was so kind and so willing to befriend a random stranger she'd found in her room that it left Eblis breathless with awe. No one in Prythian was this bright-eyed and innocent after killing someone, let alone lasting through battles and wars and being Made, as Eblis had heard in Hybern.

She studied the female out of the corner of her eye—the way the sun caught onto the half braided strands of her hair, the berry cast to her lips, and the fair, almost sun kissed skin. 

Her curiosity got the best of her. She wanted to know more about the pleasant female. “Elain, if you don’t mind my asking, but I heard during my time with the King and Queen of Hybern that you had developed special abilities?” She didn’t know much about Elain, but she did remember when the King had gone into a rage to learn that the Archeron sisters had stolen from the Cauldron, and she remembered when he had tried many ways to retrieve the females and get the magic back.

Behind us, Cerridwen seemed to subconsciously shift closer to Elain as the female’s golden eyes darkened. “Yes, I do have something of the kind,” she said softly, hesitantly. The wraith seemed to be staring holes into the back of Elain, as if willing her not to speak. 

“If you don’t want to tell me about it, that’s fine. I was only curious.” Elain’s features softened, the sun kissing her lashes as she blinked. 

“No,” she seemed to say determinedly, mind made up. “I will talk about it.” She glanced back at Cerridwen, as if finally noticing her close proximity. She continued anyway. “I have the ability to see the future. But not on command—they come to me in lucid dreams. They have been dormant ever since the Cauldron was destroyed during the previous war with Hybern, but I saw you arrive today.”

Eblis’s eagerness abated slightly. What had she seen, exactly?

Elain said, as if in answer, “You were a dark cloud of shadow, vaulting across the world. I saw water and Hybern and then I saw Velaris and Feyre’s art shop. I had no clue what or who you were, but I could gather that you were the enemy, and you’d come to hurt us.” She turned to Eblis, eyes bright. “But you are not the enemy, correct?”

Eblis felt as if she were answering a deeper question—one that would decide more than a few things for the female. “No, I am not the enemy, and I hope I never will be,” she whispered. 

Elain hummed, smiling softly as she inhaled the perfume of her flowers, and Eblis’s gaze snagged father back to gauge the wraith’s reaction to her statement.

Cerridwen dropped the pots she carried and dove toward Elain, arms reaching for her. She watched in shock as a bolt slammed into Elain's shoulder, Cerridwen just barely running into her. Elain stumbled forward with a gasp, blood blossoming across the delicate sunset orange of her bodice instantly. All the pots in her arms crashed to the ground, dirt and pottery and flowers casting itself across the stones. Her hand gripped the shaft in disbelief. 

Eblis whipped around as Cerridwen fumbled to grab onto Elain, and her gray eyes traced the trajectory of the arrow to the single, hovering form in the clouds. Another bolt darted across the sky. Eblis's mouth opened, a shout on the tip of her tongue.