𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕆𝕗 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤 ¦ 𝔽𝕖𝕟𝕣𝕪𝕤 𝕄𝕠𝕠𝕟𝕓𝕖𝕒𝕞

Memory From The Ashes

☽ -Adarlan, Ararac Mountain Pass, Two Years Ago - ☾

No matter how hard she tried to stop her hands from shaking, their shivering persisted. The cold nipped at the already frigid tips but that wasn't why her hands presently shook.

Brielle couldn't stop the adrenaline jackhammering through her heart, a spear thrown clear through its interior.

She leant forwards to touch base on her knees, supporting her weight on them, the air outside the healers tent was thick with tension. It was constricting in a way that made her skin ache to have stretched over her bones.

And no matter how much she tried Brielle couldn't get the image out of her mind. It burned the backsides of her eyelids with each blink, as though some god had engraved the picture in the skin.

This task was supposed to be simple,

Her contacts in Adarlan had sent word of a young group of Fae travelling through the great mountain pass in search of safe refuge.

That idea alone was of little shock in a place like Adarlan. She knew it was imperative someone did something.

Convincing Maeve she has business across in the mainland of Erilea wasn't the difficult part, it would be showing evidence of her work once she got back.

But yet again that was the least of her worries right now as she listened to the screams emitting from within the thin walls of the tent behind her.

Merle's voice had grown hoarse from the pained noise she struggled to hold back,

Her screams struck Brielle upside the head, the human spy was never to get hurt, but the better nature of her Pride always seemed to get the better of them.

The little Fae girl Merle had stood to defend against the soldiers, sat just meters away from Brielle, curled amongst a pile of wool blankets with the others they had managed to find. The group of Orphaned Fae children had been delighted when they tracked them through the mountains.

Merle screamed once more, Brielle cupped her ears but her heightened sense of hearing countered her every act to salvage her own sanity.

With each time she blinked so could still see Merle's second of panic as the soldier threw a flaming object at her, the glass had exploded in a burst of heat and the fire had licked Merle so fiercely she had almost given up entirely, but yet she hadn't let the man get close to the children behind her.

Brielle had been too far away, and could only watch as Merle, human in ever sense, fought to stay standing.

She screamed from inside the tent, her pain cracking the usual softness of her voice. The cry was like a explosion in Brielle's head. She couldn't stand it, the claws in her mind would slowly drive her to mauling the flesh off her own skull.

Clenching her fists against her thighs until she feel the pain blooming in her palms, Brielle pushed off from her place, body growing numb. Every muscle in her legs burn as they force her on,

The Fae children perked up when she stalked past, their tiny expressions glancing warily amongst themselves.

The dirt and grim still cling to their little faces, which wasn't the worse idea, for if Merle hadn't been there to place her life on the line for theirs, they could use the muck on their skin to hide away and remain unsee by quick glances.

Brielle couldn't bring herself to look at then when she finally passed them, despite the hopeful looks they shot her way.

Merle screamed once more, higher in pitch then the last time, more pain filled her cry this time. She felt her spine snap to straighten at the sound.