FATESWORN

9 ~ trapped and scared

The peace that had come before my sisters and I did not last for long, as the humans saw this, saw their love for me, as a deep betrayal. They caged us, and bound us in iron. As though nothing that Ash and Rynn had done for them mattered. In the end, the only thing that mattered was the blood on their blades. Our blood.

They have kept us here, in small, iron cages, for six long, painful days. I'm starting to wonder if Jade and Yue did return to Thorn, and tell him of what happened. Does he even know about my discovery? Does he know about how I found that Airgon and Merrick were trading fae goods with humans? Or does he think I abandoned them?

It is on the seventh night here, trapped in a cold, cramped cage, that something in the air changes. Ash and Rynn notice it, too.

Most of the humans are asleep. But the ones who are awake all react, looking up as a group of men atop their horses ride into the camp, emerging from deep in the woods.

He dismounts his horse and walks over to the leader of the camp, a tall man with dark skin and a bald head. He folds his arms over his chest and stares at the newcomer. The new man steps over to the camp leader, a smug look on his face.

"So, you summoned me? Where are the faerie bitches?"

The leader chuckles.  "Over there." He jerks his chin in our direction. "So, what will you do?"

The newcomer laughs.  "Oh, it'll be great. Just not for them."
He comes over to our cages, and kneels before us. "So, I'd ask which of you is the faerie, but I think that's obvious." He grins at me. "Oh, how I bet you love those two beside you.  So, I must wonder what you'd do to protect them....?"

I just glare up at him, but don't say anything. He smiles, his green eyes betraying the coldness in his soul. "So, let's see here .... How about you?"

He snaps his fingers, and points to the cage Ash is in. The leader of the group comes over and unlocks the cage. Ash screams as she's dragged free of the cage. I scream, bashing my fists against the bars of my cage, and Rynn does the same, yelling for Ash as they drag her into the middle of camp.

"Ash!" Rynn yells. "Ash! Let her go!"

Ash screams as the men surround her and one kicks her in the side, before she can get up. The newcomer grabs her by the hair and pulls her to her knees before him. She spits in his face, and he slaps hers.

"Let go of her!" I scream, hitting the bars of the small, cramped cage.

"You think you can betray your kind? That there would be no consequences?!" yells one of the men.

"Let go of her, she did nothing wrong! She's been helping you all, healing you! You can't hurt her! She's just protecting her sister!" Rynn yells.

"She betrayed her kind!" yells the leader of the camp. "Right, Kaulder?"

Kaulder, the newcomer, nods and smirks down at her. He draws a knife from a sheath at his side, and slashes her arm, which she raised to try and protect herself. He laughs as she starts to sob, and I realize why she's suddenly so upset about that. The blade was poisoned.

"No! Stop, don't hurt her!" I scream. "If you want to hurt anyone, hurt me!"

Kaulder smiles back at us. "I don't think so.  Come on." He kneels down, grabbing her chains and dragging her away from the middle of camp. She screams and kicks as he drags her toward the tents.

"No! Stop!" Rynn yells. "Don't hurt her! Let her go! She's not done anything wrong!"

"Release my sister!" I scream.

The men drag Ash off into the tent line, and Rynn and I are left alone. For the rest of the night, we hear our sister's screams. But around midnight, Ash falls silent. But as time passes, neither Rynn nor I fall asleep. We call out to Ash, but get no response.

She's gotta be okay. She can't be ....

No. I won't even think that.

"Kesh, do you have some kind of powers? Some kind of magic that you can use to help us?"

I shrug. "I don't know, Rynn."

"Did you have backup?"

"I thought I did," I say. Now .... now, I don't know how much longer my sisters could stay in this circumstance. How much time has passed since I disappeared? This is my fault. I'm the reason why we are trapped. I'm the reason this .... why this is happening to Ash.

"Kesh," says Rynn. "Kesh, I know you can do this. You can help us get out of here. I believe in you."

I look to Rynn. Tears are in her eyes, and she swallows and says softly, "You got this."

"It's the iron," I say.  "I think this is affecting any power that I may have."

"Oh," she says.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Rynn. I can't.... I can't get us out of this. Not alone, at least."

She sighs.  "We can do this, Kesh. I know we can. We just need to figure out things on our own, look at this from another angle."

There's nothing I can do. I know that. I just hope that somehow, my friends will come and save us.