SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY. I know i'm a butthead for not uploading. I was busy, revising and being a good student. Pft. But serioulsy i had exams, but now it's nearly christmas (woop woop) and i have time to write.
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The first thing I thought of when I woke was mum, shed spent the day crying as it finally sunk in that dad wasn't coming back. That he really was gone.
The second thing I thought of was Aelfric and how nice it felt to be wrapped in his warm arms. I was still in the in-between stage of waking and sleeping where I was aware of everything around me but could not be bothered to do anything about it. As it was there wasn't anything I needed to do, in my mind at least. I could stay curled up in his protective grip all night.
Then I thought of Leofric and my hands clamped around my face. How could I have been such a moron? I groaned.
Beside me Aelfric frowned at me groggily. “What's wrong?” He mumbled, blinking the last dregs of sleep from his eyes.
I rolled and pressed my face into his chest. The day before I had been upset with myself, today I was pissed at the world. “Everything’s wrong!” I grumbled.
He smelled like mud. I pulled back to kneel on the bed and eyed him carefully. There was a dark smudge on his cheek but otherwise he was spotless. “Why do you smell like dirt?”
His eyes widened and then he guffawed. “Nice! That's real nice of you!” He laughed.
I smirked but otherwise ignored his laughter. When he didn’t stop I thumped him hard on the chest. I might as well of dropped a feather on him, his laughter doubled as he took in my frustrated expression.
“Ugh.” I groaned and leapt off the bed, headed toward the bathroom. His clothes were piled in a corner by the door, they were stained with a dark reddish brown. “What the-” I changed direction to examine them but before I took more then two steps toward them I was being pushed back so my back was against the wall and Aelfrics arms were braced either side of my head. He kissed me lightly on the mouth and gazed at me. “While you were sleeping I headed out for a while.” He brushed his lips against mine once more. “No big deal.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer so that I could kiss him properly.
“If it's no big deal, why weren't you going to tell me?” I whispered, pressing my forehead against his.
He sighed. “I want you to be safe. You're so fragile.”
“I'm not-”
“You are.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “I'm only fragile to you because your so tough.”
He swelled with masculine pride. “I wouldn't say I’m that tough...”
A light giggle escaped my lips and I pursed them tightly. “You, are very tough. Tough as nails.” I grinned. “Very shiny, pretty nails.”
His eyes narrowed. “Pretty?”
“Handsome.”
He sighed contentedly and pulled me closer to rest against him. “You're too good to me.”
“It's true.” I pulled away from him and stepped lightly toward his soiled clothes. “So you should thank me by telling me where you were.”
I felt more then heard his sigh this time. What had started as a doubt was growing into a suspicion in my mind, I found myself questioning everything. What would he possibly want to keep from me. “Pretty soon, all this will be over, and I’ll be like you. You can keep, doing this.” I grumbled scooping up his clothes and carrying them to the wash basket. The red clay smeared on my wrists and I brushed at it hotly. I could feel my face burning, I hate feeling like this. It seemed so demanding and needy, but at the same time I could feel that I was right. I hadn’t had much experience with love and relationships but I knew from my parents happy marriage that honesty was vital.
The bed springs twanged behind me as he flopped back down onto it. “Doing what?”
“Keeping secrets.”
Without another word I snatched up some fresh clothes from the chair by the door and hurried into the bathroom.
I put the seat down on the toilet and dumped my clothes on it. The bathroom was far tidier then my parents was at home. We each had a shelf in the cabinet, our towels were neatly pressed, hanging over the rail, not a single empty bottle lined the bath. Our bathroom was filled with white, white walls, white porcelain, white towels, white everything. But early morning light was spilling in through the frosted glass and staining every surface lavender. It was a stark contrast to the rest of the house which was filled with wooden panelling and earthy tones like ochre and red.
Three knocks came at the door. “Hayley?”
I pressed a shaking hand against my forehead and didn’t reply. My eyes clamped shut and I found myself leaning back against the cool tiles.
When I didn’t respond his knocks became more insist ant. “Hayley, please, don't be upset with me.”
“Then tell me what you did.”
I knew how I sounded, jealous. I sounded like all the girls who thought their boyfriend was cheating on them. But this was on a far greater scale and it wasn't about a girl. This was about a war that he was keeping from me. This was about something that could bring and end to both of us and he was ignoring it like it was nothing.
I could picture him on the other side of the wood, pacing and running his hands through his hair as he thought of a response. “I wish I could tell you...”
“But?” I called.
“I can't.”
I didn’t have to say anything more, neither of us did.
Instead I moved and turned on the shower, running my hands around the cold metal handles. Back home the every tap in the house was rimmed just slightly with scale, but we hadn't been living in this house long enough for that to happen.
I realised, as I stepped into the rushing hot water, just how limited I felt in my current situation. I could go to the village, I could go to the fort, visit mum and my new extended family, I could find Alefgar, I could stay home. But that was it. No college, no shopping, no cinema, no walks. It was like being under house arrested. Like I’d been grounded despite that fact I no longer even lived with my parents.
I swallowed and mentally corrected my self, parent. Dad dying was still something I couldn't quite grasp, every time I saw mum I expected to see him standing over her shoulder. But he never was.
Our morning had soured so quickly, I groaned. Why did everything have to be so complicated? I didn't want to argue with Aelfric, I didn’t want to argue with anyone. I didn’t want a war or any stupid interferences. I wanted everything to just sort itself out on it's own without any...well, that's just it. I had no idea what the war would bring.
I slipped out of the shower and dressed quickly, I tied my damp hair back threw my pyjamas into the wash bin and brushed my teeth. I had to do something. I couldn't just sit around. It was sink or swim time, time to get real and realise just how much my life had changed in such a short amount of time.
I wrote the changes in the condensation in the mirror.
Number one, Aelfric.
Number two, It's all real.
Number three, dad's gone.
Number four, something bad is coming.
Number five...
I didn't have a number five, my life was in such a tangled and confusing mess that I couldn't figure out number five. I was sure that my life had changed in more then just four way's though. I was definite about that.
I swiped my fingers through my list and glared at my damp reflection. I stared back with my cloudy grey eyes, light freckles and mess ponytail. I was Hayely Luffkin. My boyfriend was an Elf. An Elf Prince. A prince of a nation at war. I was going to sort it out, something at least. I wasn't sure I could put a stop to the whole war, I’d done that once before but under much different circumstances. This war was over my love. It was personal. It was about whether I was allowed to do what I wanted, to be with Aelfric.
Suddenly my cheeks flushed with anger. It was personal. It really was, who were they to say I couldn't do this. If the gods agreed then who were they not to? I gripped the sink fiercely, this was my war, in some small part at least.
They took my father they damn sure weren't about to take anyone else.
I whirled away from the sink and threw open the door. Aelfric glanced up from where he was slouched on the bed reading. I watched him carefully.
“I'm sorry.” He set the book down and crawled across the bed toward me. As he grew closer he noticed my expression. “Are you OK?”
“No, I'm pissed off. This whole war is about us you know. About whether we get to do what we want or not.”
He paused, blinked and then nodded. “Yes?”
“Well who the hell are they to try to stop us. I love you, I'm fairly sure you love me. We have nothing to do with them, our actions have no effect on them and I will be cold in the ground before I let them do a damn thing about it.”
His eyes widened. “Firstly, I will be cold in the ground before I ever let anyone hurt you and secondly you don't have to be fairly sure. You can be safe in the knowledge that I love you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I'm pissed. “
“I noticed.” He chuckled.
“Well aren’t you pissed?” I asked incredulously.
He nodded. “I've been pissed longer, I’ve had more time to come to terms with it.”
I growled exasperatedly and sloped toward the bed, wrapping my arms around him. “This is war. They want a war they're gonna get one. I'll punch them in the face. All of them.”
He snorted. “I'm sure you will. My little warrior.”
I pecked his chin and stood up again. “Get dressed prince charming.”
He flopped back on the bed. “What’s the occasion?”
“I want in. I want in on the war.”
At first he argued, at one point I thought he might cry, at another he almost shouted. But then I took our fight to his father and I won pretty soon after that. Aelfri agreed with me, this was our fight, I had to be in.
According to Aelfric he still couldn't tell me where he'd been, but I had bigger fish to fry now. I had war fish. Or something along those lines. I had stuff to do. A great deal of my duty was learning, I was inept at everything and Gannon took delight in giving me and education in the entirety of their world.
“What you have to grasp is that the earth is nearly twice as big as you assume. That is how we survive without being seen and that is how you never saw our world before we brought you here.”
I made an indiscernible noise. It made my brain hurt just thinking about it. “So it's hidden with glamour?”
Gannon shook his head and sighed. “We've been over this Hayley. Glamour isn't powerful enough for that. It's hidden by Mesmer.”
I pressed my hands into my eyes. “And only Mages and Sylphs can cast Mesmer.”
“Correct.”
“Because they are the most powerful. Sylphs even more so.” I pawed down the pages of notes I had been making. Scowering my scrawled words for something of merit.
“You're on a roll.”
“So Mesmer is magic outside the mind unlike glamour.”
“We have a winner. “
I frown at him. “If you don't stop being so...patronising I’ll ask Quinnlain or Lachlan to help me instead.”
“I'll help if you want.” Cuthwulf called from the other side of the room. “
“Ditto.” Joel snickered.
I myself was irritated that Joel already knew all of this. I glared at him, it wasn't his fault of course but I needed someone to blame and he was looking pretty blameable. He was only being so annoying because Lauren was out with Loveday. He;s infatuation with Lauren was growing. Something I both resented and delighted in. I was happy for him, very much so, but I also missed the closeness we'd had before. He was catty when he wasn't around her too, a trait I found vexing.
“Shut up Joel.” I growled. “Cuthwulf, I might have to take you up on that offer.”
Gannon scowled. “We're making progress.”
The doors were thrown open and the moment I had been dreading since I awoke arrived. Leofric stood, silhouetted against the gleaming afternoon light. I felt my cheek flush and made a conscious effort to disguise myself behind my notebook.
“Do not cower, dear one.” He boomed, striding closer to us. “I've come to apologise for my actions. We are cursed with ugly pride and should not have taken offence.”
I peeked around my book. “I'm sorry.”
He grinned just slightly. “Me too.”
Gannon made a gagging noise. “Yes, yes we're all sorry. Either sit down or get a move on Leo, I'm trying to educate her.” He smirked. “And it's slow going.”
I threw my notebook at him. He caught it before I could be satisfied, damn him and his elfy powers.
Leofric took a seat beside Gannon and plucked my notebook from his grasp. “You must be careful with this...” He murmured. “If this were to be found my a human.”
“They would think I’m a loon.” I said tentatively. “Besides, it won't go anywhere but here and my home.”
He nodded thoughtfully and passed it too me. “You have yet to learn of the true power of the Sylphs I see.”
Gannon threw his arms up in the air. “Can I get on please?”
Leofric shot me a conspiratorial glance and I felt some of the tension ease, he was basically just like an Elf, but bigger, tanner and a lot scarier. That didn’t stop me from nicknaming him Simba. His name was a mouthful and I had difficulty keeping up with all the names as it was, Simba was the best way for me to remember. Not that he was an easy person to forget what with his seven foot but four foot dimensions, dread locks and penchant for piercings.
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Hayley will punch them all in the face!!!!!!! Jokes. But that would be amazing. I love you guys, your awesome. Much larf from Wombatty. Hope to upload again sooooooooon :) x