War of Winter (Iron Fey Fanfiction)

Chapter 22 - Lost Feelings

           Through the wonderful daze that she was in, Crystal thought she heard rain. She slowly managed to open her eyes, her lids feeling heavy and crusted over with sleep. She swallowed, trying to bring moisture back into her excruciatingly dry mouth. 

       "Morning, Sleeping Beauty," someone purred from close by. Her eyes swiveled to land on two beautiful blue ones. She stared for a bit, enraptured by the vividness of the blue. 

     She tried to ask how long she'd been out for, which ended up sounding a lot like "ho lung half I bit up fall". She winced inwardly when she spoke; her throat was raw as if she'd been screaming for hours. 

     "Whoa, there, Princess, don't try to talk yet. The healing powder the healer gave you dried out your throat, so it will be a while before you can comfortably speak again," the prince with blue eyes told her. 

    Crystal swallowed heavily again. "What....What happened?" she slurred, her eyes watering at how much it hurt to speak. 

   "Well," Rowan continued. "Your mother was worried almost to illness when you didn't show up at the meeting in the war tent, so she sent two guards out to find you. They found you here, reported you were out cold and bleeding like a mauled animal, a healer tended to you quickly, and here I am!" He grinned, taking her hand gently in his. 

    "Bastard," she whispered, closing her eyes again. She was so tired, she couldn't even think straight. She thought she heard Rowan mutter about how she'd been out already for about two days so how could she sleep again, but she was already with her old friend, Oblivion. 

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     "Summer has created a new weapon, one inspired by the weapons used in the war currently going on in the mortal realm," Winterbrey was saying. He stood at the head of the table that was covered in maps and strategies in the war tent. A bandage wrapped around his forehead, beginning to soak through with blood. 

     Crystal leaned against one of the posts in the corner, her arms crossed and her head a bit dizzy. She'd ultimately spent about two and a half days in her tent, bleeding and recovering and sleeping. Rowan had, frustratingly on her part, stayed by her side, so much that talk was beginning to spread through the camp like wildfire that the prince harbored feelings for Crystal. 

     Crystal was determined to exterminate those rumors. She'd given Rowan several rotten glares and no words of appreciation since she woke up earlier that morning. Although she had to admit seeing him sleeping in the chair beside her bed was rather cute. 

    "What do we currently know about this weapon?" Edgebriar asked of Winterbrey, who was rubbing his wounded head slightly. "We know that it explodes with fire and smoke and that it decimates many numbers of fey at a time." 

    "Precisely," Winterbrey continued, "and that it can be birthed by lighting flame to a wick. "But how big is the actual weapon that explodes when triggered? We don't have that information, yet." 

    "Perhaps we could go to the mortal realm and learn from the humans who've invented the weapon?" another Thornguard suggested, then quickly added at the stares of absolute horror, "I mean, maybe one or two of us could bring humans from the war here and interrogate them?" 

   Winterbrey rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Thistlebree," Rowan snapped, throwing an annoyed glance toward the young guard's way. 

     "That suggestion, while interrogation humans in the most brutal ways sounds tempting, it is much too dangerous to venture into a place where we could be killed just as easily," the Duchess piped in, standing near Crystal. 

    The Duchess was still dressed in fighting leathers, a sword strapped to her belt. Winterbrey's eyes roved quickly along her figure, stopping to study her face. Crystal did not miss the movement. 

     "We could send spies," she said before Winterbrey could open his mouth to speak. "Just to Summer's side, to find how their weapon works?" She earned a few looks of consideration from the guards, generals, and even Ash who were gathered in the tent. 

     "That would be the most logical option, or else we leave our strategies up to chance," Ash spoke. Why was he agreeing with her? 

      "Very well, then," the Queen spoke for the first time since her introductions at the beginning of the meeting. "Crystal and Rowan will go."

     "Wait, what?" Crystal heard herself protest. Rather loudly. 

    All heads turned her way. 

     She swallowed as heat rose up her neck. "I mean, why two of your best fighters?" she asked Mab. "Why not Thistlebree?" she gestured at the weak little guard who glared at her in response. 

    Mab smiled. "Because Thistlebree would not last a moment on Summer's side of the battlefield, dear Crystal. He's much too...new, inexperienced." She threw a look of mild distain in the guard's direction. 

    "Then it is decided," Winterbrey spoke up. "The Prince and Lady Crystal will go to Summer as spies to find out what this new weapon exactly is and how it works." 

    Crystal sighed. Why Rowan? Why not Ash or Thistle, who was, at the moment giving her a strange look, as if she'd betrayed him somehow. She raised one eyebrow at him and shrugged, showing that she wanted this even less than him. 

    He only glared at her and swept out of the tent with the others on an angry heel. 

    Crystal sighed and exited the tent, wincing as her arm burned with her still-healing wound. The healer had placed some healing powder on it this morning but it only held off the pain for a few hours. 

    "Looks like you and I will be travel buddies tomorrow," Rowan smirked at her as he passed, a few of his guards following close behind. Except for Thistlebree who leaned closer and hissed in her ear. 

   "Bitch," was the one word that ended him up in the healer's tent the rest of the day.