A Court Of Fire And Pain

Face to face

Well I finally wrote this. The battle is starting. And I know I say this a lot, but seriously thank you. This has so many views and I can't believe people keep reading this. Every vote and comment boosts my motivation and I think there's going to be around 5 chapters left. Let's see how long it takes for me to write the next one.

Chapter 38 Aelin:
Alright, time to do this. It had been about 5 days since our breakthrough. A lot longer than I wanted, but we finally had a plan. We were going to save them.
The armies had been briefed on the situation, and taught a bit on how to protect themselves from certain types of magic.
The plan was simple. The main people from the two courts (us) would head to Erawail first, and scope out the area. We'd hopefully get inside without getting noticed. Then the armies would come in and draw the attention of their attackers. While they take the other out, we'll sneak around and find our kids. If all went well we'd transport them back from medical assistance, then return to help fight.
I didn't expect for it to go to plan, but I could hope.
I gulped and took Rowan's hand. This was it. Our first and last chance.
We stepped through the portal and there was no going back.
There was no one around, the town was strangely deserted. That's not suspicious. We went over to that tavern we hung out at during our first time here, but there wasn't even anyone there. Weird. This wasn't good.
We walked down the street to find all the doors and windows closed. There were people there, my fae ears could hear them. But they sounded like they were purposefully trying to be quiet.
What had happened here?"
As we reached the palace area we got in formation. That mainly meant we formed a protective circle around Yrene. We weren't going to let anything hurt her.
Lorcan was hanging at the back. He had insisted he come along, but I knew his heart wasn't in it. He didn't have his powers, which didn't make him any less dangerous, but gave him more to worry about. If he got hurt he wouldn't heal fast. And he had Elide waiting for him.
She's wanted to come along too, but we were all against it. Yes she was useful in a fight, but her leg was still messed up, and we didn't know what we were getting in too. So we got her to stay at the night court to help with injuries and the children once we got them back.
Feyre did her weird little spell breaking thing on the gates and we slipped through. There was still no one around.
I didn't like it.
We stuck to the walls and edged closer to the door. There was nobody in sight, not even a gardener.
This was wrong.
We got to the door unopposed and slipped inside.
There weren't any Wyrdmarks on the ground so I don't know how they were alerted. But as soon as we were all inside the doors swung closed and locked us in.
We immediately got into defensive positions, but it was only one person who appeared.
Feyre growled. "Hello Ianthe."
She smirked. "Hello Feyre. I can' believe you all came. I thought you'd have a better plan than this.
She kept a straight face. "I was weak when I broke your hand Ianthe, are you here to see what will happen to you when I'm at my full strength?"
Ianthe didn't even flinch. "Oh Feyre, no need to get all high and mighty. You're not the only one who has new tricks." She stepped to the side, just before Dorian's invisible hands grabbed her. "I can see everything. So you at the back, just know that you can stop. There's no way out."
Lorcan had been trying to open the doors, but it seemed it wasn't any use.
"My uncle is quite mad at you. All of you. But especially... you." She looked past us all and pinpointed Yrene.
"We don't want to harm innocent people. So your children are safe. We haven't hurt them. We just needed to get you here, and like the fools you are, you came.
Feyre and I motioned to our courts. We shouldn't attack yet, there was something going on.
"Yrene Westfall. I've heard about you but you seem much less impressive in person. Oh well." She waved her hand and the doors opened. "You're free to leave if you want your lives. Only 5 of you are required to stay. You can't leave if you tried."
She waved her hand again, to reveal Wyrdmarks under our feet.
Fuck.
She tilted her head to the side. "What's wrong? None of you are leaving? You really are loyal huh. Fine. We'll deal with this here.
"Feyre, Rhysand, Dorian, Aelin, and most importantly, Yrene. You have to die tonight."
I scoffed. "Yea right."
Suddenly someone emerged from the shadows.
How didn't I see him? Or hear him?
"That's enough Ianthe, I can take it from here."
She frowned for a moment, then smiled and walked away.
"Bye guys!"
The male looked us over. "I'm slightly disappointed. This was easier than I imagined. I'm sorry for the way my niece was behaving, she's a bit of a pain. She doesn't have any real power, I just linked her blood to mine."
I chuckled under my breath. Ianthe was annoying. Then the implications of what he said hit me.
This was Orcus.
I jerked toward in rage. "YOU BASTARD! WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN?"
I almost reached him before I was hurled back.
Right. Wyrdmarks.
He laughed softly. "You should know better Ael-"
He was cut off as an alarm started. The armies must have arrived.
That didn't seem to bother him as much as we hoped. "That's annoying. But don't worry, they'll be taken care of." He walked forward, just a step away from the boundaries. "There really are too many people here for my taste. Go."
Immediately, everyone minus the 5 of us mentioned, turned and walked away.
Uh oh.
"What did you do!?" Feyre looked scared. They had impenetrable mind barriers!"
"For your mere powers, yes. But for me that was easy."
Okay then, maybe we had been underestimating him.
He made a fist like motion and... the Wyrdmarks changed.
They changed.
What the fuck?
How was that possible?
He noticed our surprise.
"Oh. You thought I was just like my brother, didn't you. He was weak enough to be enslaved by these things. But I'll let you in on a little secret. I can control blood. And so by that nature, I can control Wyrdmarks. The sad thing is I can't control the blood inside living beings. But I can control their minds. I'm great full you've patiently listened to me, it's given me all the time I need."
We all shared troubled glances. That didn't sound good.
"I can't touch Yrene. But you can. Kill her."
Huh?
Before I could stop myself, I grabbed one of my knives. The others were doing the same. I couldn't control my body. I was closest to Yrene, and was about to plunge the blade through her stomach. Just before I did, Orcus's powers stopped.
Connal glared at him from where he teleported, Fenrys in his arms.
"What the fuck did you do to my brother?"