When Ro opened her eyes she didn't see Arik lying beside her. She saw the ashes of a dead fire in the dim light of the early morning. As she sat up she realized that Annika was not on the other side of it. She whipped her head behind her and nearly gasped in horror at the sight of the ten Tempest Halflings mounted on horseback. Annika was mounted on the mare that was now tied to the back of one of the Halfling's horses. Arik stood in front of the Fae and spoke to him plainly. The little girl looked scared and uncertain as she listened to the Fae creatures speak in their language that she didn't understand. But Ro understood.
Every word.
"Kishim and Pluik both fell to the Boggarts." The Halfling on the horse held his shoulders back as he reported to Arik. His light blonde hair was tied back from his face and his violet and dark blue eyes shining in the sunlight. "Shea was injured and has still not woken from her injuries. The healers seemed to have exercised all that they can."
Arik's eyes grew dark and Ro felt the slight tinge of fear coming from him. Ro didn't know who Shea was, but it was someone who Arik cared for. The feeling of fear snapped away and Ro knew that Arik was focused on something else. "Any signs of the Ember Court?"
"Nothing."
Arik looked over his shoulder, "Orin." Another Halfling on horseback locked eyes with Arik, "The woman shall ride with you."
"Yes, commander."
Ro's eyes were wide as the Halfling dismounted and started towards her. She knew that although she desperately wanted to, she couldn't run. She wasn't sure why Arik didn't want her to ride with him, but she knew that she couldn't ask. Orin stood over her now. His violet eye wasn't glowing, but Ro could still tell that he was bitter towards her. Orin's dark hair was braided back and his green eye reminded her of her own. The Halfling reached down and dragged her up by her elbow. He spoke to her in English telling her to stand up, but it was his own strength that got her to her feet. He led her to his horse and all but threw her on top of it. She thought that Arik might say something about the foul treatment, but he never breathed a word. He did not so much as even glance her way.
Orin mounted the horse behind her and told her to stay put. Ro wasn't planning on escape. She knew that her fate was sealed no matter how far she ran. Ro listened as Arik addressed all of the Halflings at once. From what Ro could gather from the lengthy conversation, the Boggarts had attacked the southern border of the Court and they had lost two soldiers. With only one critically injured. It was then that they were informed about Aurora and why the Frostfall Court wanted her. King Niall had sent out the group of Halflings to meet Arik to aid him in case of any ambushes. He wanted Aurora in his possession no matter what it took.
Arik told the Halflings about the Dragon and the threat of the Ember Court. Ro sensed a wave of tension as they spoke about the Ember King and his powerful armies. They decided that it was best to move quickly and stick to the deeper parts of the woods. Ro looked at Annika. She had no idea what was being said. All she knew was that Arik was no longer speaking to her and that she was being taken away by several strange Halflings.
"Annika, everything is okay." Ro spoke in German and the little girl's thin lips turned up into a half smile.
"Quiet." Orin's breath was on the back of Ro's neck and she dare not turn around to see his face.
Arik mounted his stallion and took his position at the front of the group and the rest of the Halflings followed without a word. Ro tensed up as the horse underneath her moved forward. Orin reached around her to hold the reins and the closeness of the stranger made her sick. She hated the feeling of his body against her back every time the horse stumbled. And she hated feeling the rumble in his chest when he laughed while talking to the two Halflings that rode beside them.
Annika rode on the mare in front of her toward the front of the group. The little girl was alone. And judging by the way she was shaking, she was scared out of her mind. Ro couldn't believe that Arik wouldn't a least let her horse be attached to his, but he completely ignored both of them. He was the commander of this group and his body language was screaming it. His broad shoulders were back and proud as his body moved with the stallion. Although Ro couldn't see his eyes she knew that they were focused on their surroundings and shifting back and forth between the trees. Always on alert. Always watching.
Orin didn't speak to Ro until about an hour and a half into the ride. Ro was glad to have the silence between them. There was a lot on her mind. She knew that each step of the horse meant that they were all the more closer to the Tempest Court and that meant a step closer to her fate as well as Annika's. It made her feel nauseous, but every time she felt like she might throw up a cool calming wind touched her face. She wanted to believe that it was Arik, but she knew better. She knew that he had more on his mind that making sure she didn't puke her guts up.
"So tense." Orin's voice was a sinister whisper in Ro's ear. "Relax."
Orin moved a hand to rest on Ro's thigh and her stomach turned once again. She wanted to smack it away and twist around to smack him across the face. But that would've been a very stupid thing to do. So she just sat in front of the Halfling with the violet and green eyes and tried not to think of his large hand groping her leg. She had to remember that this was her life now. Even though Arik had told her to fight she knew that she also needed to pick her battles. This was not going to be one of them.
The Halfling started to talk among themselves again in the Fairy language. They were unaware that Ro could understand every word. They went into extreme detail of what they thought of her body and what they would like to have the chance to do to it. Ro had to take it. She knew that she couldn't react. She glanced up at Arik once just to see if he would turn around because she knew that he could hear them, but he never looked their away. She couldn't even feel a hint of sympathetic emotion coming from him.
There was a sudden commotion toward the front of the group. Ro shot her gaze forward as Orin pulled the reins of their horse back. Ro could see Arik and the other Halfling on their horses, but not Annika. The mare was bare backed and Ro began to look frantically for the little girl. She even tried to dismount, but Orin kept a grip on her and told her not to move from the horse. Ro knew that it would have been smarter to listen to the Halfling, but she fought him. She struggled against his grip until he did something that was all too familiar to her.
He took her breath.
If felt just as vicious as the first time Arik had done it to her. Ro clenched onto her chest and her eyes watered blocking her vision of what was in front of her. She tried to beg him to stop but her voice crackled in her throat. But suddenly she was able to suck in a much needed breath. She moved to lean forward, but Orin pressed her against his chest as he whispered into her ear.
"When you are given a command you are expected to follow it."
"Orin...perhaps the woman is too much of a burden for you." One of the other Halflings laughed, "I would be happy to have her ride with me."
Orin said some colorful words and would have said more if he were not interrupted by Arik who called to the Halfling he was speaking to, "Haren, the child is too weak to ride alone." Ro wiped her eyes and was able to see Annika panting on the ground. She had fallen off of her horse, exhausted from keeping herself upright. "She shall ride with you."
Haren dismounted and moved to lift Annika from the ground. Ro was floored at the fact that Arik had not even made an effort to see if Annika was alright. He never dismounted and only laid eyes on her for a brief second before he trotted away. He hadn't even checked to make sure that Ro was okay. She knew that Arik could sense her emotions and that meant that he felt her being choked. He should have felt her fear and her suffering. He never acknowledged it. Ro knew that he had a position to uphold, but it amazed her how firmly he had flipped the switch.
Ro watched helplessly as Haren lifted Annika up in his arms. She was so small. And so weak. Ro couldn't look at her. She just couldn't. And she hated herself for it. She hated not being able to face her. The horses began to move again and Ro was thankful that Annika was closer to her, but still couldn't look at her. She just rode in silence on the horse knowing that the little girl was safe beside her, at least for a little while longer.
After a good while, Haren yelled from beside Ro and Orin in the Fairy language, "Commander, there is something from the left!"
Arik's head wiped head towards the commotion as did everyone in their party. There was a large group of hooded figures approaching the Halflings. And when they were close enough to see through the shadows of the hoods Ro saw that they were men. Ordinary men with weapons and looks of revenge across their faces. They look directly at Ro and then Annika. They wanted them. Ro could sense it.
"We have come for these women. You will hand them over to us wind demons!" The obvious leader stepped out of the group and spoke in Russian. A language that Ro now understood.
It was clear that not all of the Halflings understood the man, but Arik did. He turned the stallion to face the group of bandits and dismounted his horse. Ro watched his eyes as he scanned the men. He took a moment before he spoke, but his warriors were at the ready with their hands gripping the handles of their daggers; all of their violet eyes glowing with rage.
"How fearless you must be to command such of us." Arik folded his arms, "Be gone with you. There is no need for senseless bloodshed."
"We are in agreeance. Spare the lives of these women and hand them over to us." The bandit leader spoke again.
Arik's eye was glowing fiercely and Ro's stomach tightened as she listened to the Halfling, "These women belong to the Tempest Court and that is where they shall go. Threaten me and my soldiers again and you shall dance in your heavens tonight."
Ro tried to listen to the conversation further, but she was suddenly pulled off of the horse by her leg. She screamed as she nearly met the rocky earth with full force before being pulled into the arms of a hooded bandit. It took her a moment to come to her senses, but once she had she began to pound her fists into the bandit's chest.
"I have the elder one." The bandit yelled in Russian as he continued to pull her away from the battle that had broken out.
The winds were whirling around them now and Ro felt confident in the fact that the Halflings would easily out fight the group of random bandits. But that was until she heard the shrieking of one of the Halflings. Ro looked toward the scream to see a bandit wielding the sword that had cut into the Halflings leg. It was a dark metal. Iron. It was an iron sword. Ro shifted through Arik's memories to realize that iron was the one true weakness of all the Fae creatures. It was forbidden in their Courts and only true enemies of the Fae would possess such a thing.
Ro scanned the battle for Annika and saw that the Halfling that had been cut down had been the one sharing a horse with her. Annika was now a captive of the bandits as well. Annika didn't scream though. Ro realized that she didn't have the strength too. All the little girl could do was watch the battle as she was dragged away deeper and deeper into the forest. Ro called out to her once, but she soon found out that it was pointless against the battle cries between them.
Ro didn't know why the bandits wanted them. She wasn't sure if they were being saved or wanted for their own means of cruelty, but either way Ro knew that she had to get away from the bandit that held her. She needed to get to Arik. She needed to warn him about the blades. Ro struggled against the man who held her. She screamed in Russian for him to let her go. He argued with her. He told her that she was safe and that everything would be fine. But in her heart she knew that if something happened to Arik or Annika nothing would ever be fine again.
Ro rolled her head and bent down to bite the man's hand as hard as she possibly could. She tasted his blood in her mouth before he let go of her. She made a move to run, but the man was able to give her a solid blow to the head before she could manage it. Ro landed hard on the ground. The taste of blood was also met with the taste of dirt. Ro spat and her head pounded. It was hard to open her eyes, but she knew she had to. She knew she had to find Arik. Ro couldn't stand. So she crawled and dragged herself away from the man with the bleeding hand who was now less than willing to take her from the Halflings.
Rocks and grass wet with blood slid down her body as she dragged herself across the battlefield. The man ran past her to help his comrades and as Ro's eyes followed she spotted something. Sprite lilies. A beautiful patch of Sprite lilies. It amazed her that she recognized the flowers from the bond, but it amazed her even more that she knew that if she ate them they would give her the strength she desperately needed at the moment. Just seeing the plants made her feel stronger. She dug her fingers into the ground as she pulled herself toward them. They were folding over in the wind and losing petals by the second. She knew that the petals held the strength that she needed and prayed silently that she would get to them before they all disappeared.
When Ro was just in reach she stretched her hand out as far as she could manage. The petals were soft and velvety against her skin. With one more pull of her body she was able to grab a handful and all but shoved them down her throat. She ate as many as she could in the brief amount of time that she allowed herself. The pounding in her head subsided. The scrapes that she had gotten from the rocks didn't sting anymore and Ro felt that she could run a marathon with the way her body was feeling. She got to her feet and scanned the area until she locked eyes with the dark-haired Halfling with golden streaks. The Halfling with the violet and deep brown eye. The Halfling with the wicked scar across his cheek. The Halfling that she had come to care about after all the time she had spent with him.
Arik's eyes were fierce as he stared down the two bandits in front of him. One of them, the leader had already tried to strike Arik multiple times with his iron sword. Arik had fought against iron before. It was nothing new to him, but it didn't make him feel any better about it. It was a true fear of all Fae creatures. Arik had also tried to reason with the human, but he would hear nothing that the Halfling had to say. Arik had dealt with bandits many times over the years. They waited near the borders of the Court waiting to rescue humans that had been bought at auction from the Court. They had been successful only a handful of times when the iron was too much for the Fae that they fought, but they would not win against them now.
Arik sent the two men flying with a harsh gust of wind. One of the men was thrown against a tree and the sound of breaking bone was like a familiar ring in Arik's ear. The other landed in a bush, but it was far enough away to give Arik some time to search for Ro and Annika. Haren and Orin were both fighting against the iron and one had been struck already. Along with a couple of other Halflings. Arik had encouraged and taught his soldiers to fight without magic against mortals to save their strength. But when iron was involved they were told not to hold back and to win with any means necessary.
After several moments of scanning the battlefield Arik was able to see the child. Annika had been dragged quite a ways from the action and he was thankful for that, but he soon realized why that had been the case. He had made a mistake in thinking that these men had been the same bandits that they had battled time and time before. No. These bandits were not human. They were Quarterlings. Monsters that fed on the flesh of humans to survive. Abominations in the sight of all the creatures in the realm. Annika's body was marble white against the dark underbrush of the forest and her blood blazed scarlet in Arik's eyes.
Arik began to shake. His breaths became heavy as he realized that hers were no more. He knew that he would not be able to control her fate, but an unpredictable life at auction would have been a far better one than being devoured alive by such wicked creatures. The child was gone. Dead. She was with her mother now. That was the only kind thought that came to Arik's mind as he stared at her face. Her eyes were locked unto the sky. Even as the Quarterlings pull on her body her eyes remained glowing in the sunlight. Arik had seen many deaths, but this one...this one nearly undid him.
Arik was pushed from the side. He was nearly knocked off of his feet and drew a dagger to ready himself when he realized it had been Ro who had pushed him. And when he heard her scream in pain it didn't take him long to understand that she had taken the iron blade to her back instead of him.
"You fool!" Arik screamed as he caught the human in his arms. "What in the blasted hell were you thinking?!"
The Quarterling with the blade moved to strike again, but Arik had taken his breath before he had the chance. The creature dropped his blade and moved his hands to his throat. Arik squeezed every bit of breath out of the Quarterling and never took his eyes off of him. He watched as the blood filled his eyes and run out of his nose. Arik used a burst of wind to launch the Quarterling into another one across the battlefield. He commanded his soldiers to eradicate every last one of the Quarterlings and the Halflings began to meet his request.
Arik looked down at the human in his arms, "Ro, why?" He turned her over to look at her wound. She was losing a lot of blood and he knew that he needed to act quickly to save her life.
"I couldn't...let...you...die. The sword...was...iron."
Arik soothed her hair, "I know."
Ro was growing cold. He lifted her up and made his way to the stallion. The fire rose tonic was the only thing that could help her now. There was death happening all around them, but he would be damned if he let it befall her. He held her close until he reached the horse. His hand flew to the saddle bag. He gripped the tonic firmly and pulled it out with a force. He used his mouth to pop out on the cork. He spat the cork onto the ground and knelt with the girl still in his grasp. She wasn't able to keep her eyes open anymore. She was so weak and he could feel his shirt soaking up her blood.
The tonic was too precious to spill. Arik filled his mouth with fire rose and pressed it to Ro's. He lingered there for a long time wanting her to get every drop that she could. The sound of her swallowing gave Arik such a relief in his chest. He pulled back and looked down at her face. He knew that she would be asleep for some time now and he was thankful. He wanted her to rest. He wanted her to have that time of peace. Despite wanting to keep himself at a distance, he held her to him and prayed over her body. By this time his soldiers had finished off the Quarterlings and watched in disbelief as their fearless leader held a worthless human with such fear in his eyes.