Princess of Wind

Chapter 7: Forest Flights and Sunrise Talks

Elea what's going on, Ayden said, panicked at her quick dismissal. Beside him Alivia eyed his tense form cautiously.

Nothing to worry about, I'll see you guys soon, Elea responded in dismissal, though Ayden could hear a lick of fear in her voice.

Elea-

Elea blocked him from her mind before he could finish speaking. Leaving a void of emptiness where her presence had once been.

"What happened?" Alivia asked.

"Elea is in some sort of trouble," Ayden said, "but she cut me from her mind before I could learn what was happening."

"Ok," Alivia said with a sigh, rubbing her eyes with her hands before turning to face him, "Tamlin is likely sending his guards to search the woods now, our first priority is to get out of the Spring Court, then we will search for Elea, hopefully she can hold her own until then. Does that work for you?"

"Yes," Ayden responded.

"Good, we head out now," Alivia said, moving to the entrance of the small cave, "keep silent and watch for anything suspicious, it's likely that soldiers are already spread around the forest."

Ayden nodded in response and followed Alivia from the damp cave they had been sitting in for the past few hours. The sky above them had deepened into the purple and blue of the end of a sunset, giving them the advantage of darkness as they walked deeper into the spring forests.

It was less than thirty minutes before Ayden caught the scent of another fae, a faint but denfinant scent blowing from the direction they came. Less than a second later Alivia noticed it as well and silently motioned to the larger trees surrounding them.

It was a clear enough signal, climb the tree to escape the soldier following them. Ayden obayed it without question, climbing the nearest tree, until the branches became thin enough that they would break under his weight if he went higher.

In a tree near him Alivia was climbing up with a half-asleep Esther wrapped around her front. The two of them had just settled on a branch nearly opposite of his when a massive wolf ran into the clearing.

The wolf sniffed the ground, following their scents, that they had been foolish enough to not hide, all the way to the base of the trees that they were perched on.

When it's piercing yellow eyes spotted their forms in the trees, the beast let out a howl, likely to alert a certain high lord of their location, before it sat on the ground with it's eye trained on them.

Before he could think Ayden reached for Alivia's mind, which he found to be surprisingly inviting to him.

We need to get out of here, he said.

I am inclined to agree with you, Alivia responded, have any ideas that won't get us caught or killed?

I have one, Ayden said, crossing his fingers for luck before slowly growing a pair of wings from his back. Hopefully it was too dark among the leaves and branched for the wolf to notice, why don't we just fly out?

One, how are doing that, and two we can't without being seen, Alivia said, staring at him, or rather his wings, with confusion, they'll recognize our wings and blame the illyrians who will intern likely try to start hunting us as well, not to mention what would happen if Amarantha found out.

Well it just happens that I have a solution to our problems, Ayden said.

And what would that be?

Teleportation, Ayden said, I can move us from here to the sky where we can make our escape surrounded by the darkness of night.

How do you- Alivia began, nevermind, just get us out of here and we can talk about your vast array of powers later.