«I haven't taken them, Rowan. Old Aelin threatened to skin me alive if I so much as thought about it, so I haven't» Dorian said.
«Then it must be Aelin, do you know where she went?» he asked, he swallowed down the dread. This was his fault. If he had only taken the time to speak to her, maybe she wouldn't have gone this far... A strange, deep rumbling sound reached them all the way up in the air, and Rowan glanced down at the ground but could see nothing but fighting.
Manon turned in her saddle. «Wasn't she supposed to be with the Fae army?» she said. Abraxos suddenly jolted to the side, making Rowan almost fall of. A spiked tail from another wyvern swooped past close to their heads, and Abraxos angled to the left swinging them around. That's when Rowan saw it, the message of flame in the sky. Dorian saw it too, and cursed softly under his breath.
Rowan shifted and took to the skies to got a better view of the area. Find her, he had to find her before it was too late. With his hawk eyes he quickly spotted his Aelin standing with Sam, but he turned his gaze to an empty hill further away. No, not empty. One single person stood there. His hawk released a cry, then he made the wind push his straining wings to race towards that hill.
He shot past Sam and his Aelin, but didn't glance their way instead he kept his gaze on the woman on the hill. She was holding her hands up before her, and his heart beat wildly in his chest as he realized that she had begun. Maybe he could still stop this. But as soon as he thought that, a blinding light obstructed his vision, followed by a powerful wave of magic that sent him tumbling through the air.
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«Why would she do that?» Sam asked, panic rising in his voice, but Old Aelin just looked lost and shook her head. He wanted to shake her, he knew it wasn't really her fault, but he still wanted to shake her for not hiding the keys properly. A hawk cry sounded above the battle noises, and Sam looked up in time to see Rowan shoot past them overhead.
«He's found her.» Old Aelin said, then grabbed his hand and pulled him into a run. «Come on, before we loose sight of him.» she said, the burned more soldiers that were in their path.
Sam discarded his shield and sheathed his sword, it would be too much trouble running with all that gear and it would only slow him down. He ran as hard as he could closely behind Old Aelin, who kept her pace slow so as not to leave him behind. Any soldier who was dumb enough to step between them soon became ash on the wind. They made it up a small knoll, and that's when he saw Aelin holding out her hands. Then a second later the world exploded in bright light, and he and Old Aelin was thrown to the ground by the force of the magic.
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The world was filled with warm light. She concentrated on what she wanted it to do, who she wanted to be taken by the light. Erawan first, then his Ilken, then his Valg princes, the commanders, the sea demons, the Valg grunts and the matrons of the Ironteeth Alliance.
Breathing was getting hard, but she kept her focus, repeating the list of Valg creatures she wanted to go through the gate before she locked it. Her chest seized, and she drew in a sharp breath when she realized she had forgotten to breath. Nevertheless, she kept pouring her magic into the lock, until the battlefield had been cleansed.
The light subsided, slowly winking out and her hands fell to her sides. The keys were gone. She looked out across the battlefield before her, finding it to be less filled with enemies than before. She was numb and suddenly her legs gave out and she fell to her knees. A hawk flew into her field of vision, which was becoming very blurry. She blinked slowly, and her body began falling to one side but was caught by strong arms before she hit the ground.
She blinked up at pine green eyes, but her thoughts were getting slow and she couldn't remember who he was. He was saying something, but she couldn't hear him. Her head lolled to the side, and two more blurry figures came running. Then the world became dark.
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Sam kept his eyes on Aelin, who was lying limp in Rowan's arms and her eyes closed a second after she looked his way. He fell to his knees and ripped her from Rowan, and held her close to his chest, cradled her as his tears flowed like rivers down his cheeks. He frantically checked for a pulse, nothing, he put an ear by her mouth to listen for a breath, nothing.
«Please, no.» he whimpered, and sobs racked his body as he leaned his forehead against her pale and clammy face. «Wake up, please wake up.» he whispered between his sobs.
I'll be fine, you don't need to worry about me. Her words, that very morning, and she had lied. He began rocking back and forth, cradling her to his chest, begging for her to open her eyes, to start breathing, to wake up.
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Aelin felt someone stroke her hair, her cheek, a soft familiar hand. And someone was also holding her hand, but those fingers were more callused. The world was quiet, no sounds of fighting, no screaming. Just silence and a sense of serenity. She slowly opened her eyes and looked straight into eyes just like her own. She blinked, and the women smiled down at her.
«Hello, Fireheart.» she said, with a voice Aelin had only heard in her dreams for so many years. Wide eyed, she sat up while never taking her eyes of her mother.
«Mother.» she choked out and threw her arms around her. She pulled away and looked to the other person who had been holding her hand, and now tears started rolling down her cheeks. «Father.» she managed to croak out, then threw her arms around him as well.
«Look at how big you've grown, sweety.» he said, and hugged her tight. All she managed to do was give a small breathy laugh as she pulled away and wiped away the tears from her face. That's when she noticed their surroundings, it was the ethereal glen from her dream a few nights ago, where the goddesses had asked her to make the lock instead of letting Old Aelin do it. They had said that she would be alright, but maybe they had lied to her... Her mother lay an arm around her shoulders, still smiling.
«We're so proud of you, Aelin.» her mother said, «We've been with you every step of the way, and we couldn't be more proud of the woman you've become.»
«I've missed you.» Aelin said with a teary voice.
«We missed you too, Aelin.» her father said, and brushed her hair behind her ear. A lump formed in her throat, and she swallowed hard.
Wake up. Aelin blinked, she had looked at her parents, and none of them had opened their mouths to say those words. Maybe it had just been her imagination. «What is this place anyway?» she asked them.
«It's almost like a waiting room, an in-between where souls go before they enter the afterworld.» her mother explained, while she resumed stroking her head. Aelin swallowed hard again, and glanced between her parents. Gods, they looked great, exactly how they had looked like while they were alive.
«So I'm dead.» she said quietly.
Open your eyes, please. There was that voice again, she thought. She glanced around the glen. «Did you hear that?» she asked her parents. They both just smiled at her.
«No, my dear, only you can. Your Sam is trying wake you up.» her father said, and squeezed her hand.
«But I can't wake up, I used all of my power to forge the lock.» she said, and blinked away the tears that formed in her eyes.
«Have you tried?» her father asked, a small smile on his lips. Then her mother put a hand to her cheek, over the scar that ran across her face.
«You used all the power Mala had gifted you, Fireheart, but that is not the only gift you have.» her mother said calmly. She leaned in and kissed her brow. «He is waiting for you, go back to him.»
Her father put a hand om her shoulder. «We'll be here when it is truly your time, my daughter.» Her father pulled her into a big bear hug, and her mother joined in. Aelin breathed in theirs scents, it was just like she had remembered it.
«I love you.» she whispered.
«We love you too, Fireheart.» her mother said, and kissed the top of her head.
«More than you know.» her father said. «Now, listen to your lover and wake up, my dear. We will meet again.»
Aelin, please, come back to me. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath.
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The battle against Erawan's human soldiers and the witches were still raging, but he didn't care. All he cared about was the woman in her arms, pale and limp. A light flashed, and Sam straightened his back. «What was that?» he asked, he searched Aelin's face, nothing had changed, she was still pale, still dead. He looked at Old Aelin, face tear stained and drawn.
«I don't know, it looked like she shifted.» she said, voice thick from crying. She knelt down, and Sam loosened his grip on Aelin. Sure enough, her ears were now round instead of pointed. Old Aelin furrowed her brow in confusion. «But shifting is impossible after death.» she mumbled. Old Aelin fell back in surprise when Aelin suddenly drew in a deep ragged breath, then her eyes fluttered open.
She blinked up at him, then they filled with water. «Sam.» she croaked, and sniffed. Sam sobbed and pulled her into his chest again, hugging her tight. «I heard your voice.» she said into her chest, and brought her arms around him as well.
«I thought I had lost you.» he sobbed into her hair.
«You can't get rid of me that easily.» she said jokingly. He huffed a breathy laugh, then bent down to kiss her. When they finally broke apart, she sat up and looked at the other two people present. Then Old Aelin, released a shuddering breath and pulled her into a hug, then Rowan joined in as well.
«Never do that again.» Old Aelin whispered.
«I didn't do anything you wouldn't do, so don't be a hypocrite now.» Aelin said, with a small smile, and Old Aelin laughed. Aelin pulled out of the hug, then leaned back into him. She looked up and a smile grew on her face. He put a hand on her cheek, now flushed with color once more.
Old Aelin rose to her feet. «We'll leave you two alone, besides we still have a battle to take care of.» she dried the tears on her face, then looked pointedly at Aelin. «You stay put, no more heroics from you today. Make sure she doesn't go anywhere, Sam.» Sam nodded, then Old Aelin and Rowan headed towards the fighting.
For a moment he just looked her over, she seemed fine, maybe tired, but fine. He stroked her cheek with her thumb. «How?» was all he managed to say after a moment of silence. He couldn't stop touching her, couldn't stop looking at her. He was afraid that if he looked away that she would be dead when he looked back. She bit her lip.
«A few nights ago I had a dream where Mala and Deanna visited me. They asked me to forge the lock instead of the other Aelin, and they promised that I would be alright when it was done.» she said, and put a hand to his chest, right above his heart. «I know I should have told you, Sam, but I was afraid that you, or the others, would talk me out of it. Especially Old Aelin.» she raised her hand and wiped away his tears. «I'm sorry.»
Sam shook his head. «You're fine, and you're alive. That's all that matters. But don't ever do anything like that again.» he said, and swallowed down the lingering fear and grief. «I love you, you insane fool.» he breathed out, then pulled her in close again to kiss her, to feel her warm lips against his own.
«I love you too, Sam.» she whispered between his kisses.