Eris Vanserra Fanfiction-A Land Of Lavender And Thistle-Book One

CHAPTER VI

Ruth

I was swimming. Or flying. I couldn't tell.

Warmth engulfed me, carrying me on an ocean of gold with darkness somewhere far underneath. I was alone, but it wasn't quiet. There was a distant, almost imagined, sound of a woman's melodious voice. She spoke in a language unknown to me. Between her words, I heard the whispering sound of fire.

But something about the heat surrounding me did not feel right. Something about that crackling fire was odd, ancient in a way I didn't know how to explain. It felt as if my journey would have no end, like I would simply sail on these warm waves and never stop.

Then, I registered a voice somewhere beyond that of a woman.

It was a child's voice, like that of a little boy. He was pleading. Crying and begging to be freed. He was apologizing, but I failed to hear what for. 

Get me out! Get me out, Father! Please! I promise I won't do it again! Get me out!

Suddenly, the boy's voice became higher, until I heard a little girl shouting similar words. I knew that girl, though. I wasn't sure from where–

I was that girl.

I recalled the moist walls, the lonely days and nights spent in the attic, the creaking wood of the stairs always frightened me. It meant that he was coming. He was going to lock me up again, seal me away from every sound and color other than that inky, speechless black. 

I would be alone again, and he would laugh at me from below, call me names and make as less noise as possible, because he knew silence scared me. I didn't want to be alone again.

I wanted to go home.

I wanted my mother and my father.

I wanted to get to that boy and take him home with me, so that neither of us would be alone ever again.

Please! Let me out! I want to go home! I'm scared.

"Please!" 

I launched myself up, gasping as tears stung my eyes and my heart drummed in my ears. I felt every beat it made, every kick in the ribs and I placed my hands over my chest, as if to catch it if it burst out.

I heard the click of a door before something moved in the corner of my eye.

"You are awake. I feared you would never wake up." said a gentle female voice and I snapped my head in its direction.

I was torn between screaming and gaping as I gawked at the tall, petite woman entering the small room. No, I realised. She wasn't a woman; she was a fairy. No human had such long, thin pointed ears, gray-purple skin or icy blue hair. Her crimson tunic matched the red eye patch covering her left eye as beige leather pants clasped her slim legs.

She offered a smile, assessing me with her one, dark violet eye, a basket held in her hands. Her long hair was plaited in a thick braid, falling delicately over a shoulder as she closed the door behind her. When she began to step toward me, I scrambled over the bed, pressing my back to the wall, my hand reaching for–

Pure panic consumed me when I ran my fingers over the thin material of a nightgown, feeling my empty, weaponless thigh beneath. I had no weapons, nothing to defend myself with. My heart thundered in my chest and I stared at her with wide, alarmed eyes as the fairy paused not two feet away from the door.

"Where am I?" I said, but my voice was barely louder than a whisper. "Who are you?"

Brux. Where was Brux, Achillea?