𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕆𝕗 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤 ¦ 𝔽𝕖𝕟𝕣𝕪𝕤 𝕄𝕠𝕠𝕟𝕓𝕖𝕒𝕞

Bridges Must Burn

It felt thrilling to fulfill Aelin's requests, working through each one with silent efficiency as they sailed along Eyllwe's burning coastline. The sight had been a struck up side the head of sorts, but there was planning to be done, a very little time to do it.

They had already left the ship, and Brielle managed to send her final letter before they departed, now three days in and Brielle was overheating to no end.

After being attacked by marsh creatures and sweating to the point of discomfort, she was ready to backtrack to the ship, but the promise of securing this lock for Aelin kept her moving forward. Legs burning from the strain, she often trailed further ahead, scouting out. Vera and Alexi were panned out about a hundred metres on either side of her. Alexi had dipped behind a small hill to her right, but she could still track Vera's movement as she trudged over the uneven ground.

They were quiet and fast moving, the first line of defence, Brielle could sense Rowan trailing in front of the group; inline behind, tracking her signals. No dismissal to Rowan's experience, but scouting like this is what she had trained her Pride to do on a daily basis, so the male hadn't argued when she offered her spies as scouts.

When she could see the emergence of a ruined structure, the crumbling pillars and withering ground spanning across the horizon, Brielle slowed, fanning her magic out to reach her spies. Slowing them to fall back to her position. They arrived about the same time, as the rest of the group caught up.

Rowan in bird form, shifted as he made contact with solid ground, stepping to Aelin's side.

"This whole place is too quiet," Rowan turned and watched when Brielle shot her magic out to scour for any living bodies, besides the few marsh creatures her senses were blind.

"I probed the area but... nothing" Rowan confirmed.

Brielle caught the movement when her nephew drew the sword off his back . "We'll circle the perimeter, making smaller passes until we get up to the building itself. No surprises."

Lysandra moved back from the group, to give herself some space to shift safely "I'll take the water-if you hear two roars, get to higher ground. One quick roar, and it's all clear"

Her body quickly, was exchanged from scales and claws, and she slid silently into the water, Rowan looked at Fenrys and Gavriel, who both shifted quickly, Going to follow suit, Brielle turned to where Alexi and Vera stood near the others.

"Scour out, I want distance." they both nodded and moved off, their footfall near impossible to trace.

Quickly shifting, Brielle prowled past the four royals, feeling each of their gazes trail her. She caught Gavriel as he followed his son, the familiar White wolf moving off in the other direction; she followed.

A few paced behind, until Fenrys noticed her approach and slowed, taking a second to examine their surroundings. When she came to the sides of him, he allowed her to pass a little in the front, protecting her blind side. Despite her being more than capable of defending herself, she felt the bloom in her chest, mind reeling from his closeness.

She had to focus, pushing the certainly intriguing thoughts away, Brielle focused on smelling, seeing and hearing anything around them. Checking every small crook and broken wall which could hide the linger presence which could threaten their approach towards the centre of the complex.

When she slowed to trail a scent lingering, Brielle felt Fenrys stop beside her, so close the fur of his coat brushed into hers, he scanned around them whilst she was distracted, the scent faded until it was too faint to detect, even with the heightened senses.

As they continued on, side by side they both froze when they felt it, the dark accumulation of power that surged towards them in waves, the energy was sharp and alarming. A warning.