I had paced for hours. I think that only made the storm worse.
Nothing could calm me down. I tried to read, but my thoughts kept straying to the cold outside and Erin who was most definitely battling the winds. Eventually I gave up and sat down on the couch. Somehow, I worried myself to sleep. For some reason, my dreams seem to exhaust me more, so I was tired from last night.
And I slipped into another one.
The first thing I saw was a thin object launch. It shot straight through someone's wing as they were flying. They started to spin out of control, trying to steady themselves. Then another thing launched and hit what looked like their back.
The figure crashed into the mountain and dust rose as they started to tumble down.
I was suddenly transported to the crag they landed on. They were bruised, banged up and bleeding horribly. She sat against the cliff, and I heard her mutter my name.
I woke up with a jolt. Erin was in trouble. I got up, lightning speed, threw on real clothes and sprinted outside. I launched myself into the air, heading for the Grimlands. I don't know how I knew where she was, I just did.
Soon the cold, jagged peaks of the elven mountain range shifted into the dry, stony mountains of the Grimlands.
I came across the site she crashed. A large dip in between four mountains, close enough to Eastvale to see the wall. Then I spotted her, huddled up on a ledge of rock. I flew with a burst of speed to her. There was barely enough room for me to land next to her.
Her eyes widened in shock when she saw me. "Your- you're here?" she rasped. "Or did I hit my head too hard?"
"I'm here." I said and kneeled next to her. "What happened?"
"Something hit me." She said. "I lost control and hit the mountain-" she started to cough. I tried to help her, but she clenched her jaw to stop a scream. "Something- something's still in my joint." She gasped.
I helped her turn around. There was an arrow sticking from her wing. "This might hurt." I said before I ripped it out.
"Thanks." She groaned.
But I wasn't paying attention to her. I was paying attention to the arrow. Its shaft was made from a light-weighted dark metal. And the point had little hooks to latch onto whatever it hit. Fwhip's arrows.
But the rumble of the snowstorm following me snapped me out of my stare. "We got to get you out of here before I freeze over another empire." I said.
"How?" she asked. "I can barely stand let alone fly."
"I'll carry you." I answered. Erin bit her lip but nodded. I know she hated it when she needed help, but I couldn't stay here. I pulled her into my arms, and she linked her hands around my chest, wrapping her fingers in the folds of my shirt.
I dove off the ledge and we made our way back to Rivendale. It was slower with the extra weight, but the storm slowly retreated from the border. I exhaled a sigh of relief.
Halfway there, Erin started to shiver. I must have been freezing. "I'm sorry." I said. "We're almost there."
She nodded and buried her face in my shirt. "Ok," she whispered.
I landed right in front of the door to the palace and slipped inside. I put her down carefully on the couch and got her a blanket.
"T-Thanks." She shivered. "What are you holding?"
"Nothing." I said and slipped the arrow into my back pocket. If she knew Fwhip had shot her, she would probably storm back to the Grimlands. I sat next to her on the couch and helped her wipe the blood off.
"I promise, it's not as bad as it looks." She said. And it wasn't, considering her fall she looked pretty good besides the bruises speckling her body like spots. "How did you find me, anyways?"
"Fell asleep." I mumbled. "I saw it happen."
"You can see the future now too?" she joked.
"No, Gem explained it to me a while ago. Some elves can see what's happening in different parts of the world while their sleeping." I said.
"Oh," she said. "Where's the emperor crown?" she asked suddenly.
"Upstairs. In my room." I shrugged. "It's kind of uncomfortable."
"You should still keep it in sight." She suggested. "Just in case.
"Alright." I jogged upstairs and retrieved the crown before heading back downstairs and placing it on the coffee table. "You sure you're, ok?" I asked.
"Yeah, my wing and ankle are jacked up but besides that I'm pretty ok." She said. "What the hell do you think hit me?"
"No idea." I said. Erin's eyes narrowed.
"Uh huh...anyways, have an idea how to stop this eternal winter?" she asked and shivered again. I froze. I couldn't speak. "Is there something wrong?" she said with a frown.
"If Exor and his newest champion were not defeated, the world would be plunged into an eternal winter." I quoted from the prophecy. "This couldn't be that, right?"
"Well, Xornoth's gone so no." she said. I heard the bitter tone she always had when she talked to me about our brother. I could tell a part of her still hated me for it. "Your Aeor's champion. This is probably just..." she trailed off and bit her lip. "It'll be fine, Scott."
"You keep saying that, but do you really believe it?" I asked. Erin didn't answer. "That's what I thought."
She leaned into me and closed her eyes. "No, but I hope it'll be fine." She said finally.
So, do I. So, do I.