Broken Wings

Chapter twentysix~ "Silly Vi."

(This is a pretty short chapter. Yeah. I'm nearly finished writing this story, and as much as I love it, I really can't wait 'til I can mark it as completed^.^)

Chapter twentysix~

I stood behind the gates breathing heavily. The guards stood behind me, doing what I’d told them to do. Follow me. None of them protested. They knew we had to help.

The gates slowly opened and the violence outside came even more real than it had looked from my window.

At my presence, the screams died down and the Trys soldiers stopped attacking in mid-air.

I walked forwards, through the gap in the crowd that had been made for me. The soldiers followed me valiantly.

I stood in front of the refugee’s and looked straight at Thif. “Attacking the helpless. Is this what you have been driven to do now? They don’t even have weapons to defend themselves!” My voice penetrated the morning air and my hands were clenched. “You pick on the ones who won’t fight back because you’re scared to fight the ones who potentially harm you!”

“Are you saying you’re army could win against us?” He laughed from the air in confidence but I saw the nervousness flash over his eyes, even at this distance.

“I’m saying you’re attack on the innocent is not just.”

“Stuff just! This is a war!” He cried, getting a yell from the flying attackers.

“No. This is your pathetic excuse to gain power!” I replied. Thif himself did not bother to argue back now. I turned around to the crowd of weak men, women and even children. “In a time like this you have to have a place of safety. You now have one.” I opened my arms to the castle gates and the eyes of the inured glowed.

“Y-you’re inviting us into the castle?” An old man with wilted wings hobbled forwards.

I smiled at his innocence. “See it as a new home until the war is over.” I nodded and nearly laughed when I saw the expressions on the guard’s faces. I whispered to the one next to me, “See that they have the left wing. It’s big enough to accommodate them.”

The guard nodded and ordered the crowd to follow him in.

As they poured into the gates I turned back around to face an astonished Thif. I guess no one had ever done this before; fairies didn’t have hearts, right?

“You can’t just all hide away in there. We’ll have to attack the castle if it comes to it.” He crossed his arms, lowering himself down to the ground.

“We’re not hiding.” I smiled. “We’re waiting.”

“For what?” He asked confusedly.

“For you, of course.”  I turned around to the guards without hesitations and nodded to them. They knew what this meant. Protection. Force field. Whatever it was, we needed it.

I raised my hands to in front of me so they were nearly touching Thif’s chest.

Protect me, protect us, let the castle be safe.

The protective nearly-transparent shield started to form at the ends of my palms. The guards joined me in a circle and the sparkling layer of force field spread the full diameter of the palace.

Soon enough the guards were flying overhead, sealing the top of the shield. Thif stood, looking pretty pissed off, at the other side.

“You cannot do this!” He banged his fists at the shield but it just sparkled more.

I laughed with the humour of seeing him throw a fit. “I just did.”

                 Walking into the castle was chaos. People were running everywhere, shouting things at each other and most of the refugees were looking lost. I guess they hadn’t been shown to the left wing yet.

Then the hall went silent as if they’d only just realised I was here. Everything was silent and staring at me.

I didn’t know what to do. What should I say? Should I welcome them?

That’s when a little girl around the age of seven with a broken wing stumbled over to me. “I-I’ve lost my mummy.” She looked upwards with her huge eyes and I saw the tears she was holding back.

I smiled and took her hand. “Let’s go find her then.”

It took a while, but after weaving in and out of the crowd we found a woman crying her heart out because she thought she’d lost her only daughter.

The little girl ran to her mother and the moment was so heart-tugging I almost cried myself. The mom looked at me with eyes of strength and thanked me with all her heart.

Fairies could care, and if this wasn’t proof I didn’t know what was.

“Okay! Quiet down!” I shouted over the mumble of the crowd. “I will need you to get into small groups of ten.”

At my command the jumble of people suddenly split and I was looking at groups of ten. I smiled; I guess this would be easier than I thought.

“I will assign each group a number. I will give each group a guard and a cleaner to show you around and to get comfortable with. For the time being you could call them you’re personal servants.” I laughed and luckily, everyone got my humour.

The people who worked at the castle stood behind me and I summoned a group of them out.

“With all these people, I won’t be able to cook fast enough!” Someone who worked in the kitchen whined. Well… I hadn’t really thought of that…

“We’ll help!” The mother I’d returned the child too stood out from the groups. “You’re doing so much for us, we have got to play a part too. We can help in the kitchen and we can help cleaning. And maybe some of the men could learn to fight and be guards-”

“Yeah!” The crowd chorused in agreement. I put my hand up to control them.

“Alright, alright, we will sort that after you have been given rooms.” I turned around. “Miranda?” I called.

She ran up to me from the midst of the cleaners.

“Can you be in charge of sorting the jobs and training out?” Purely because I didn’t have time or the effort to be doing this, I put the weight on her shoulders but she nodded obediently.  “This group, you’re number one.” I summoned the group closest to me. “And, um, Eelii, can you be with them?”

No reply.

I turned around to see no Eelii in the crowd. “Where’s Eelii?”

Miranda’s face suddenly froze. “…I didn’t see him come back in from the gates.”

I froze too. “Miranda sort this out. I’ll be right back.” I ran from the room leaving her in charge.

Oh god, no, please let him be in a mood somewhere. Please let him be safe.

The gates opened at my command and the shield glittered in front of me.

And there he was, on the other side in the hands of Thif.

Thif threw him to the floor and he his head hit the ground with the thump.

“Silly Vi.” Thif patronised and I walked slightly quicker to the edge of the shield.

“Silly Vi.” Leo appeared next to Eelii, drawing his sword and raising it.

(A/N:Thanks for reading! It really means a lot to me)