15. another fallen

A large swoosh of air made the icy strands of the large willow tree break and sway.

Feet landed firmly on the ground and began briskly walking, black and crimson wings tucking tightly into the body they were rooted in. "Where are they?" came that strong voice, less steady than it usually was.

Underneath the willow tree was Catori kneeling over a body, while Caspian, Aerwyn, and Abitha stood around and looked sorrowfully downwards. Al stormed towards them, so fiery that tendrils of steam lingered from her feathers.

Hearing Alastair and seeing the blaze in her eyes, Caspian quickly stepped forward and blocked the fae, pressing his cool hand on her shoulder. "Be calm, Al," he urged pointlessly. Al pushed him away and stepped through the parting in the willow tree, slowing when she saw who Catori was kneeling over.

It was a young earth fae. While she did not personally know every earth and air fae inhabiting the camp, she could vaguely recognize him. His body, once tan and warm, was now blue and stiff. White lines of ice creeped from a dark blue bruise on his neck and up his face like veins, warping around his eyes which were wide open and turned white. A large spear of ice was thrust through his middle, dried blood inking through the sheepskin tunic he wore. Even his brown curls were frozen solid, and his mouth was left partially open in a look of fear and surprise.

"Dear God," Al breathed, dropping to her knees in front of him. She quickly pressed a hand to his cold face and another to his chest, closing her eyes and bringing heat to his body. The veins in her hands glowed orange, and the crackle of melting ice was heard. The lines of ice on his face began to melt and drip away like tears, the blueness leaving his skin.

"There's no use, Al," Catori gently urged her to stop. "He has already left us."

Alastair's jaw clenched as she continued to warm up the fae's body. "The least I could do is unfreeze him," she whispered through her clenched teeth, grabbing the ice spear and plunging it out of his body, throwing it behind her.

"He was tending to the carrots right on the edge of the forest," came Aerwyn's deep voice. He stroked his long beard, his grey eyes filled with sadness. "He was far, but not far enough." He looked up to Caspian who gave him a knowing look of worry.

Alastair snapped her bloodred eyes to him. "He was out there alone? At this time of night?" she growled, shifting her furious gaze to Abitha. "You're supposed to be keeping watch of your fae!" She yelled, sharply standing up and bowing up to the shorter earth fae, her ears pinning back to her skull.

Abitha looked up at her, brown eyes pleading. "I'm sorry, Alastair," she breathed. "I can't keep an eye on every single one of them."

"You could take enough care to at least ensure they aren't murdered! Is that so hard?!"

Aerwyn stepped between the two, Abitha's fearful stare replaced with his noble one, meeting the fire fae eye to eye. "You know good and well that this was not Abitha's fault, nor is it the point of the matter!" He watched Alastair's rage soften under his words. "Not only is one of ours dead, a child nonetheless, but Eira knows where we are." His voice dropped to a whisper.

"The gardens are just that way, not half a mile out of bounds," Caspian demanded, pointing his large hand in the direction where the fae was found. "They could have easily ventured far enough to see where we are standing right now."

Catori took a knitted blue and red blanket from her doctoring station and gently laid it over the passed fae, carefully covering his face with it. She placed her hand over the body and closed her eyes, softly whispering a prayer.

"Instead of pointing fingers at one of your own, perhaps you should be the leader you are supposed to be and start planning how we will defend ourselves!" Aerwyn snapped, his frustration bringing a breeze through the trees.

Al stared him down, her jaw flexing. She knew that he was right, but her anger overpowered her at the whole situation. She turned and stared down at the blanket over the fallen fae, her once stiff ears bending downwards as sadness filled her.

Aerwyn stepped past her, his large wings brushing her shoulder as he leaned down and picked up the bloody ice spear out of the snow. He turned back to Al and held it in front of her. "There will be more where this came from if you don't get yourself together."

Her crimson eyes suddenly dulled as she looked between the spear and the fae. A voice then distracted them.

"Father?"

It was Ilmari, Aerwyn's son, approaching the circle of figureheads under the willow tree. He was a lad of merely sixteen with thick black curls, his wings and eyes a spitting image of his father's grey ones. As he stepped closer, he saw past Al's large wings a body on the ground.

"Ilmari, go back to the cottage now," Aerwyn demanded, but his son's eyes fell to the bloody ice spear in his hand.

"What happened?" the boy breathed, his wide eyes looking back to the figure as he began jogging closer.

"Ilmari!" Aerwyn scolded, but the boy fae pushed past him and Al and kneeled down to the body, quickly pulling the blanket away from the face before his father could stop him. He recognized the face as one of his good friends, and he shrieked, using his wings to propel himself away from the body. He slid in the snow, his grey eyes filling with tears.

Al's lips fell open, the gravity of the situation finally hitting her as she watched the young boy cry. Catori quickly replaced the blanket and rushed to Ilmari, holding him by his arm and shushing him.

"What happened to him?!" Ilmari cried, looking up to his father and then to Alastair. "You said this would never happen again!" he screamed, his sobs wracking his body.

Aerwyn's head bowed. Ten years before, prior to Alastair finding everyone and forming their camp, Aerwyn's wife and mother to Ilmari had been a victim of Eira's soldiers hunting down non-ice fae and murdering them. That had happened right before Alastair found them, and it was what spurred her to ensure the protection of the fae. It was what made her step up as a leader.

Suddenly, Nyx and Erlin appeared through the trees, the girl pulling down her hood as Erlin trailed in front of her, his young eyes filled with grief. She looked at the covered body on the ground, her mouth parting in shock.

Aerwyn turned and saw the girl, his features hardening. "We have what Eira wants." He gestured to Nyx and looked at Alastair who was still dumbfounded by the situation. "It is time to fight."

"We can't let anyone else die," Abitha added, placing a hand on Al's wrist. The taller fae turned to look down at her, this time with understanding. "Starting now, we raise our defenses and start planning."

"Our hiding is over, Alastair," Aerwyn stated, throwing the ice spear back into the ground, looking over to Ilmari who was crying into Catori's neck, the spirit fae looking up at Aerwyn with knowing eyes. The figurehead turned back to the fire fae, his grey eyes swirling as another breeze picked up. "The war is now."

Al nodded, pulling away from Abitha's hold and walking away from the group, gaze fixated on Catori and Ilmari as she headed towards her cottage. "Tonight, we bury the boy." Her eyes looked to Erlin, and then Nyx behind him. "Tomorrow, we plan." She jumped up in the air, her wings keeping her hovering as she turned her head to look at the lot of them. "And the next day, we fight." She flapped her wings once more and was airborne, dipping in a circle and flying towards her tree cabin to keep watch for the night.

Nyx watched her, her heart swelling with anxiety. Somehow, she had come to feel like a part of this world she was thrust in, and the community they shared was shared in her heart, as well.

If they were going into war, she was going in right beside them.

♔

The cabin door slammed shut. The fireplace, which stayed lit, illuminated the small tree cabin. Alastair stormed around the tree trunk in the center and to the other side, looking out the window towards the area that the unfortunate earth fae had been found and killed at. Her wings ached with how tense they were. She gripped the wooden ledge of the window and stared hard, scanning the entire area for sign of any lurking ice fae. She paced around the circular room, analyzing the entire 360 degree view of the forest over and over again for several hours until she felt completely exhausted.

Keeping watch throughout the night had kept her thoughts at bay, but when Caspian came to take over and aggressively ordered her to go to her cottage and get some sleep, there was nothing warding off the thoughts that had terrorized her for years.

♔

The castle was filled with screams of terror.

Ice fae from Eira's army could be seen at every corner of the courtyard, grabbing each non-ice fae they got their hands on and brutally murdering them on the spot. The King's army was fighting them off in the air as much as they could, but there were so many of them. Fire and water were being thrown across the sky above the open courtyard, and ice spears were being torpedoed without mercy. Deadly whirlwinds could be felt from below as the air fae helped shield the spears raining down on the innocents.

"Come here," a younger Alastair whispered from inside the corridors of the castle, working on grabbing the children who were left alone inside while their parents went to the sky to fight. Naturally, she had wanted to fight, but Nikolaus told her they had enough help outside and that she was needed most inside the castle to evacuate the children and the elderly.

The fire fae scooped up the small air fae child who she found huddled underneath a table in a commonroom. Holding the child on her hip, she sprinted down the long hallway where people were running and screaming. "This way!" she commanded, sprinting through the crowds of fae with the child in her arms.

She was leading them down to the dungeons where there was an exit that most didn't know about. The fae splashed through the dirty stone tunnels that were only lit by the torches, Al's wings barely making it through the narrow passageways. Merely sixteen, herself, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Her knees threatened to give way, but she continued on to the wooden door at the very end of the tunnel.

Alastair cradled herself and the child in her arms with her wings, dipping her head down and bursting through the door with so much force that it went flying off its rusty hinges. The light of day finally on her face, she led the fae up the stone steps until they were finally on the grass. All of the fae began sprinting towards the forest until, suddenly, white and blue figures started flying over them, shadows crossing over their heads.

The fire fae froze, protecting the child's head with her large hand as she stared up above her, seeing a group of ice fae circling her and the crowd of fae who were frantically running and flying past her in an attempt to escape into the forest, not even noticing the enemies circling them from above.

"Stop!" she screamed, realizing that she had led her people right into a trap. "Stop!" she screamed, but it was too late.

She watched as a few of the fae began to fall to the ground, ice spears shooting through their backs. Turning, she covered her head with her wings and sprinted back down the steps, placing the child back inside.

"Stay here, okay? I will come back to get you, just stay right here," she told the crying child before jumping up into the air and propelling herself straight up with her wings.

An ice fae immediately shot a spear her way, but she quickly dodged it and sent a roaring flame towards the adversary. Not expecting such a quick defense, the ice fae screamed as the fire reached him, and he fell from the sky with his white body engulfed in flames.

Alastair went to fly towards the rest of the ice fae who were still sending spears down on her people, but someone barreled into her, cold arms latching around her waist and sending her downwards towards the ground.

Grunting, Al tried to pry the ice fae off her and use her heat, but the ice fae was chilling her body with their touch. It was only a matter of seconds before her back slammed into the hard earth, and she heard a crack at the spine of her wings.

Pain emerged right where her wings connected to her back, and she let out a bloodcurdling scream, fire erupting from her hands that were on the ice fae's back. The fire burned through the fae who tried to pull away, but Alastair, with eyes burning bright orange, held the fae tight against her body which was as hot as lava. The ice fae screamed along with her, and within several seconds the attacker disintegrated into ashes, wind blowing them away.

Free from the fae's grip, Alastair rolled over and buried her face into the dirt, screaming from the back of her throat as the pain in her wings throbbed. Her entire body was hot, the tendrils of grass around her catching fire.

"Alastair!" someone screamed, but the fire fae was too blinded with pain to move. "Alastair!" the voice screamed again, and this time she recognized it as her sister's.

Squeezing her jaw shut to stop from screaming, Alastair turned her head, chin buried in the dirt, and looked to see Edlen sprinting towards her. An ice fae attempted to swoop down and grab her, but Edlen sent a swirling ball of water towards the fae's face, the sphere latching around the fae's head and preventing him from breathing. The ice fae fell to the ground and thrashed as he drowned.

Edlen slid onto her knees beside her sister. "Alastair!" she breathed, placing her hand on her sister's shoulder only to wince and yank it away from how hot it was.

Seeing that Al was trembling, she scanned her eyes over her sister and saw that the base of her wing was bent inwards, blood matting the feathers around the injured area. The back of her shirt had been torn open from her fall, revealing the skin around her wings that was already bruised a dark purple.

"Oh my god," Edlen breathed, her short blonde hair falling from behind her pointed ears where it was tucked. She had never seen her older sister in so much pain, and she felt sorrow punch her in the gut. "Alastair," she repeated, touching the fae again to feel that she wasn't intolerably scorching. "Alastair, we have to leave now."

Coming back to her senses slightly, Alastair lifted her head from the ground, her hearing coming back to her. She heard her sister's voice and the screaming voices of the fae inside and outside the castle.

Alastair grabbed her sister's hand and slowly sat up, the blood rushing from her head. "W-Where's mother?"

"I got her out with some others. She's waiting in the forest for us," Edlen breathed, tucking her arm beneath her sister's and helping her to her feet.

Alastair gasped from the pain and nearly toppled over. Lifting her eyes, she scanned the scene around them. Ice fae were plucking non-ice fae from the sky and diving them down into the ground like they did to Alastair. They were sending sharp spears of ice to those down below, and more and more were going inside the castle, probably searching for Nikolaus. Little did they know he had managed to escape and was on the way to Valerie's in the human village where he would be safe.

"Come on," Alastair coughed, a bit of blood spurting from her lips. Edlen held Al up as much as she could as they walked, the wind from the fighting air fae blowing their hair about. Strangely, they did not hear the roar of any fire, and Alastair prayed that her fire friends were alright.

The limped their way towards the forest, but right as they fortunately made it to the treeline, Alastair suddenly remembered the child she left in the dungeon.

"Wait," she breathed, removing herself from her sister. "I have to go get something." She looked back to the castle to see that there was no one around the doorway where she had left the child.

"What?!" Edlen exclaimed.

"Go, Edlen, find mother. I will come back and find you," Alastair breathed, turning away and attempting to run back towards the castle.

"Wait!" Edlen yelled, but her sister kept running. "How will you find us?!"

Stopping sharply, she turned around to face her sister and her clear blue eyes filled with fear. "Do you remember that waterfall I showed you when we were kids?" Her sister nodded hastily. "And the willow tree we used to sit under near it?" Her sister nodded again. "There. Go there, and I will come and find you."

Edlen nodded, but she stayed where she stood, looking at her sister with dirt on her face and blood down her back, eyes flaming.

"Go, Edlen! Now!" Alastair yelled, right as an ice fae sent a spear her way. She dodged it, and Edlen quickly turned and ran into the forest to find their mother who was waiting for them.

Alastair instinctively tried to jump up and fly, but the pain in her wings pulled her back down to the earth with a scream. The ice fae sent another spear towards her, and this time she barely missed it, the ice scratching the side of her shoulder.

She began sprinting as fast as she could towards the dungeon, ignoring the staircase and instead jumping down it, using as much leverage as she could get from her wings to drift to the doorless doorway. But as she entered it, the child was nowhere to be found.

"Child?!" she yelled, taking a few steps down the dungeon tunnel and peering into the empty rooms, but the small fae was nowhere to be found.

An array of screams caught her attention, and through the doorway she saw that most of the ice fae had lined up right at the treeline and were sending hundreds of ice spears down onto the forest where the fae were escaping. The screams echoed through the forest as the ice fae continuously sent the spears down between the trees.

Edlen.

"No!" Alastair screamed, making a start towards the door, but a figure suddenly blocked it.

She halted and gasped, stumbling backwards at the sight of Eira. Her large, white wings barely fit through the doorway as she neared Alastair, a smirk on her evil face.

"Look who we have here," the ice fae purred, stepping closer to Al who took steps back. "The great King Nik's little sidekick."

Alastair's breath left her lungs as she held onto the wall with her hands, a wave of dizziness overcoming her. Blood dripped from her back, trickling into a puddle of dirty water on the dungeon floor below.

Eira watched the blood drop and laughed. "Looks like someone already started my job for me."

"You will never have this kingdom," Alastair breathed, holding back a cough. She knew that her insides must have been damaged from her fall. She tried to keep her eyes open as the pain throughout her back and middle fiercely attempted to lull her to sleep.

"Oh, I already do," Eira taunted, and she took her hands from behind her back to reveal Nikolaus' golden crown in her hands. The golden crown had fresh blood dripping from the yellow diamonds.

Alastair's eyes widened, her heart wrenching in her chest.

"That's right, you scoundrel. King Nikolaus is dead."

"No," Alastair whispered, tripping over a rogue stone and falling backwards onto her bum.

Eira laughed devilishly as she continued to near the fire fae. "Good, you're already bowing to your new Queen." She slowly placed the crown on top of her head. Once the gold touched her hair, it suddenly morphed into silver, the yellow diamonds and quartz turning into silver diamonds and sapphires like magic before her eyes, matching the blue and silver robes of Eira's dress.

Alastair's heart pounded in her throat at the sight of Eira with the crown, her icy orbs full of evil and carnage.

"Now," the ice fae sighed, stopping right at Alastair's feet. "While I do think you would make a very strong servant, your non-ice blood is dirty." She paused, hearing the fire fae's struggling breaths and watching those crimson eyes fill with fear. "Plus, I'm sure you're just waiting to meet your King in hell."

Eira suddenly lurched forward and reached her hand to the back of Al's neck, turning the fae over onto her stomach and pushing her face into the dirty, wet cobblestone. Seeing her broken wing, Eira grabbed the base and bent it further, causing the fae to scream out in pain. Eira's evil laugh rang loudly in Alastair's ears, but it didn't last long. The fae's black and red wings began to glow, and Eira felt heat burning into her hands. The heat intensified, and Eira's hand began to sizzle.

Letting out a scream, Eira jumped away from Alastair, her back hitting the wall as she slid down, holding onto her hands that were red and blistered. She leaned over and screamed, pushing her hands into the dirty puddle of water on the floor to cool them.

Al took the moment to jump up and quickly limp out of the tunnels, the pain in her wings almost unbearable. She made it through the doorway and began to crawl up the stairs while Eira still screamed from inside the dungeon.

"Al!" a voice shouted, and she looked up and saw Caspian who was just about to fly into the forest. He quickly turned and flew down towards Al who had just crawled her way up the stone steps and was desperately clawing through the grass. Her left wing was bent backwards, obviously broken.

He landed beside her, and she intentionally cooled herself off so he could help her up and not get burned. Eira's screaming stopped, and she appeared through the doorway, still holding her burned hands.

"Go!" Alastair shouted, and Caspian instinctively picked Alastair up bridal style, jumping up into the air and flying away towards the forest with a bleeding Alastair in his hands.

"I will find you and kill you, Alastair!" Eira screamed, but made no attempt to chase after them.

The wind blowing through her hair, Alastair let her head hang over Caspian's arm and finally passed out from the pain, the screams still echoing in her ears.

♔

She had never seen so much snow. Her feet crunched through it, melting footprints into the layer of white with her every step.

Somewhere along the way, the ice fae had found her and Caspian during their escape. The water fae hid the unconscious fire fae inside a small cave, and apparently had never had the chance to come back and get her. She must have been unconscious for days, because the last time she was awake, there had been no snow. Now there was several inches covering the ground.

Her stomach growling, she limped through the forest. As soon as she woke, she managed to figure out where she was and was now making the long journey without her wings. The pain was still there, and she knew she needed to doctor herself if she ever wanted to fly again. But there was something else much more pressing at that moment.

Nearly stumbling over a log, she managed to keep herself upright as she journeyed only a little farther.

Finally, she came upon her destination, but her heart immediately sank into her stomach.

The willow tree, now covered in snow that weighed its tendrils down towards the ground, had no sight of Edlen or her mother anywhere around it. "Edlen?!" she called out. "Mother?!" But she was only greeted with the sound of birds mocking her pain and her own echo around the snowy forest.

Feeling weakness overcome her, she limped to the tree and fell right at its trunk, curling up under the safety of the willow. Hot tears slid down her dirty, cold cheeks.

Everyone she knew and loved was most likely dead, and she was alone.