«So this section here leads down to the tunnels under the keep.» Manon said, while tracing a finger across the map Nox had sent them. «It's like your father said, it won't be much of a problem getting inside, but getting out on the other hand...» her lips tightened, the crypt was a death trap. But a trap they would have to walk into if they wanted a chance to get the key before Erawan brought them to the battlefield. Dorian frowned at the map.
«And not the to mention that Valg Aelin is here too, she thoroughly beat our asses last time. If she is the one protecting the tunnels then we're doomed.» he said, not even trying to be optimistic about the situation. «Any word from Banjali?»
Manon rolled her eyes. «The Valg ships was due to arrive there yesterday, so the answer to that is no.» she clicked her iron nails on the table.«I don't think we'll have to worry about Valg Aelin being in the tunnels, as long as Rowan stays on the battlefield so will she.»
«You're right, but having Rowan's skill would be extremely helpful on the mission.» he sighed, and slumped into a chair. His hand brushed against the metal disc in his pocket, and a shudder ran through him. He was ready to do it, to forge the lock, but still he found it harder and harder every day. He glanced up at Manon, who was still studying the maps of the keep. She usually had her hair pulled back, but today it hung loose and it slid over her shoulder as she leaned in over the map. And those golden eyes, eyes that could see all of him... he sighed again.
«Rowan and Aelin should be leaving Orynth in a day or two, then we finish up the last minute preparations before we march on Morath.» she said, and crossed her arms as she frowned at the map.
Dorian leaned an elbow on the arm of his chair. «The forces down south will be on the move soon too, if they haven't been overrun by demons that is.»
Manon narrowed her eyes at him.«Stop being so negative.» she snapped at him.«Rhiannon and the Crochans went to help, I have no doubt that they made it in time.» Dorian hoped she was right, but did the Crochans really stand a chance against Valg Aelin? He opened his mouth to voice his thought, but one look at Manon's face was enough to shut him up. Even though she tried to hide it, he could see that she was worried too, especially for her sisters safety. He knew the feeling, he too was worried for his friends... One did not simply face a Valg Princess and expect to walk away from the fight.
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She turned over, face scraping against something hard and cold. She startled awake and tried to look around her, but it was too dark. Her breath quickened and she stretched her arm out to feel her surroundings. It hit a cold hard surface. Her breath hitched, and she flung her other arm out which hit the same thing. Walls, she was surrounded by walls. She frantically tried to feel around her for an opening, for something to latch her fingers unto, but found only the cold, hard surface.
A sob escaped her as her fear bubbled up, and sound of it triggered the panic. She screamed as loudly as she could, while clawing at the walls around, pounding at it until her hands were in constant pain. Nothing helped, and she was trapped, unable to escape once more. Her panicked breathing turned into short, rapid gasps between the screams.
«LET ME OUT!» she shouted at the top of her lungs, again and again.
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A loud scream tore Sam from his sleep and he bolted up in bed, grabbing for his weapons. The panicked screaming continued, and Sam jumped out of his bed, pulled a shirt over his head and sprinted out of his room. He turned down the hallway, then slammed his shoulder against the door to her rooms. Other people were coming as well, he glimpsed Nehemia and Lysandra hurrying around a corner, but he ignored them and ran into Aelin's room.
He found her in the corner of the room, on the floor between the wall and the bed, clawing and hitting the walls with bloodied hands. Sam hurried over and grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her up. Someone lit a light behind him, probably one of the women he saw on the way in. Aelin screamed and thrashed, trying to get out of his grip. He looked into her eyes, at least he tried to, but she frantically glanced all around her, mad with panic, and tears streaming down her face.
«Aelin, stop. Look at me. Look at me!» Her eyes snapped to his, and her screams ceased at the same time.«You're fine, it's alright.» she stared at him wide-eyed, still gasping for breath, but she had calmed down a little.«See, you just fell out of bed, that's all.» he gave her an encouraging smile.«Look to your left. Nehemia and Lysandra are here too, they even brought some candles.» She slowly turned her head to look, she looked at the two women, then at the burning candles in their hands. Sam sat down on the bed and pulled her with him, and he loosened his grip on her wrists.
Nehemia placed the candle on the nightstand, while Lysandra went to get a bowl of water and some rags. Aelin took a deep breath, then looked at Sam again. The panic was gone, but he could see that the fear lingered. Perhaps it would always haunt her. She licked her quivering lips.
«I'm sorry.» Aelin said, she went to wipe her face with her hands, but froze and blinked at the blood. She swallowed, then looked at him.«I thought... I thought I was in the coffin again.» she said with a shaky voice, and he wiped her face for her.
Nehemia climbed unto the bed to sit next to her.«A harrowing experience like that will leave it's mark on even the strongest of spirits.» she said softly, and laid an arm around Aelin's shoulders. At that moment Lysandra reentered the room, with he supplies needed to clean her up. Lysandra sat the bowl down on the floor where Aelin had been moments ago, then sat down on he knees, taking one of Aelin's hands and began to clean it.
«How are you feeling?» Sam asked, and she bit her lip.
«Better.» she gave a shaky smile, barely a tug of the lips, but it didn't really reach her eyes. «Thank you.»
Lysandra began cleaning her other hand. Sam watched Aelin's eyes, so similar yet vastly different from the girl he had known, far older in many ways. She stared at nothing, and she seemed to fall into some kind of pit inside her mind. Sam put a hand on her knee, and her eyes focused on him.
«Tell us more about it, how you traveled through time without help from the gods.» he said, maybe it would help if he got her to think about something else than what had just happened.«You gave a quick explanation in the woods, but I have feeling there's a lot more to it than that.»
«I'm curious about that as well.» Nehemia said, and Lysandra nodded in agreement as well. Aelin glanced between the three of them.
«Where do you want me to begin?» she asked.
«How about how the timeline split came about.» Lysandra said from where she sat on the floor.
Aelin laid a bandaged hand on Sam's hand, the one on her knee, and began to fiddle with the fabric of his shirt.
«Think of time as a tapestry. Woven together forming a bigger picture, where one thread is representing the time of our world.» she said.«When the gods sent Rowan back, they didn't carefully follow the thread, but instead they forcibly threw him back into the body of his past while at the same time... converting that body to accommodate for the changes he had gone through up until that moment. That act caused the thread to fray, to split, so that time got to keep the future it had already made without any changes occurring because of him.» she flexed her fingers, and gave Lysandra a look of gratitude.
«How is that different from what you did?» Sam asked.
«Very different.» she said, her voice clearer and no longer shaking.«The gods forced an object of the future to take the place of an object of the past, whilst I am merely a traveler walking a long the threads following a path between times. I have not replaced anything, that's the difference. If I were to leave this timeline, it would still be in balance. But Rowan on the other hand cannot leave, because it would create a void, in a way, since his past self no longer exists.» she bit her lip. «Well, in a way he can, but he cannot go forward only backwards in time.»
«But if you travel to the point before Rowan makes the deal with the gods, couldn't you stop him?» Nehemia asked. Aelin turned to look at her, with a sad smile.
«Both yes and no. Even if I go to that moment it has still happened, and if I do stop him this timeline we are in right now will collapse because of the void his absence will make. The more you try to change time, the more complications you will make. Right now this world has two timelines, one where the Valg wins and this one where the victory is still undecided.»
«How didn't the gods know this though? I mean, they're gods, right?» Lysandra said, with a thoughtful expression on her face. Aelin shook her head.
«They are beings from another world. Compared to us they are gods, but in their own world they are just powerful creatures, maybe not even all that powerful compared to other beings of their realm. They fell through the wyrdgate when the Valg first took the keys and opened the gate, since then several wars have raged between them with the beings of this world caught right smack in the middle of it.» she said.
Sam squeezed her knee gently, and he furrowed his brow as he remembered something.«The lock, Rowan and Dorian spoke about it, how it was meant to put the keys back into the gate. But the person who made it would die, but why does it need a sacrifice like that?» he asked.
Aelin closed her eyes, then opened them again as a mark flared to life on her forehead.«Brannon promised to help them a thousand years ago, and Mala made herself mortal to give up her life to make the lock. When the time was right, Brannon was going to use the lock to fix the gate and send the gods and the Valg back to their realm. But Elena did not understand what the lock was for, so she stole it and used it to entomb Erawan instead of sending him away. This angered the gods, their way home was wasted away to save some lowly creatures they didn't even care about. They threatened to have Erawan released so that he could destroy this world, but Elena made a bargain with them, she gave away the life of a descendant of Mala to make a new lock.» the mark on her forehead faded away.«They want a way home, and they want Erawan dead which can only be done in their own realm. According to them, at least.»
She fell silent, as did they all. It was a lot to take in, but something was nagging at the edge of his mind. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something that she had said...
Nehemia struggled to hold back a yawn, but failed. «Thank you, for telling us this, Aelin. But I'm afraid I must retire for the night, but I hope we can continue this some other time.» She said.
«Of course, I'm sorry for waking all of you.» she said, a bit sheepishly.
«Don't worry about it.» Nehemia said, and smiled before climbing out of bed.
«I think I'll turn in, too. Good night, Aelin, and good night Sam.» Lysandra said, and rose from her seat on the floor, then left the room with a wave.
Aelin laid down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. «Are you going to bed too?» she asked casually. But he wasn't really tired, so he just laid down next to her.
«Do you want me to leave?» he asked, as casually as she had, but he grabbed her hand that rested on the mattress between them. She squeezed his hand, and turned her head to look at him and he could see her answer there.«I'll stay.» he said, with a small smile on his lips.«It must have taken some time to learn all that, about how time works and all.»
«It did.» was all she said, and her eyes once again grew distant as she turned to look up at the ceiling again. He wanted to ask, but a part of him didn't dare. She seemed a lot older than twenty, but that could probably be because of the trauma of being locked in a coffin, tortured for many months, then being possessed. He didn't want to anger her by asking about her age.
Sam bit the inside of his cheek, to keep himself from asking, when it dawned on him. He rolled over and perched up on an elbow, and looked down at her face.«You said earlier that time was like a tapestry, right?» he asked, and she gave a curt nod.«And that one thread was this world. But a tapestry has many threads, does that mean that they represent other worlds?»
«Yes, it's all connected through the space-time continuum.» she said, and raised an eyebrow at him.«Why are you asking?»
He put his free hand to her cheek, stroking her with a thumb. «And can you only travel along the thread of this world, or can you travel along the other threads as well?» he could barely contain his excitement, and stared at her expectantly.
«I can, but what are you getting at...» realization bloomed on her entire face, and she blinked up at him. Her lips slowly spread into a sly grin, and for the first time since the demon had been purged the hauntiness in her eyes were gone. «You're bloody brilliant, Sam.»
He laughed.«I do happen to have a stroke of genius from time to time.» he said, and winked at her and she hummed as she smiled up at him.