She's The Enemy (GxG)

Chapter 16- Home Isn't A Place

I feel the excitement running through my veins as I approach the large arena of grass beside the castle. On the right, I see thousands of towering hedges winding their way through the palace garden. I can even smell hints of a sweet fragrance wafting through the air. I turn to my left to see a beautiful girl smiling back at me, wearing the simple shirt and trousers that I had previously grown accustomed to.

"It's beautiful in there," She says tucking a strand of my dark almond hair behind my ear, "I'll take you there one day..." I smile and our gazes align, leaving me once again entranced by her eyes.

"Hey! Queen dreamy eyes! Get over here, we've got a defence plan to go through!" I turn to see Adrien underneath a large gazebo on the flat land of grass opposite the garden. I go to take Isla's hand as we walk over but she flinches away. Did I do something wrong?

Adrien sighs as we walk towards the table he is leaning on. He wipes a few beads of sweat from his forehead- for some reason, it seems sunnier on this side of the border. Sunnier and around ten times hotter.

"Okay, so guessing Emelie was walking for around a week before I found her, they should be somewhere behind this line," He says, running his finger across the map, "I couldn't tell you how long it will actually take them to get here but I'd say we have at least a month..." I look up at him in surprise.

"A month?" I exclaim, it took us barely a day, granted, we were on horseback but still... they've already been searching for a week.

"There are many enchantments surrounding this place, they won't keep the humans out forever, but it'll be a while before they can even see the place."

"Enchantments... like magic?" I ask,

"Yes magic," He says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Then he stops suddenly, looking up at my puzzled expression,

"But you humans haven't figured out how to harness it, have you?" His tone is almost mocking, and I see the faint lines of a smirk appearing on his face.

I roll my eyes and pull away from the table as two figures begin to walk towards us. In my periphery, I see Adrien stand up straighter as Casper and Naidia approach. Naidia has a sword strapped to her belt and Casper a bow strapped across his back, they're both sweating and grinning like idiots as they reach the table.

"Guess who just annihilated her older brother?" Naidia states, wrapping her arm around the boy beside her. He grins slowly, wiping his brow.

"Morning," Isla says smiling at them and the whole world seems to brighten a little. Naidia narrows her eyebrows at us,

"So... everything cool over there?" She says suspiciously and I feel Isla flinch beside me.

"Despite the threat of invasion, yeah," I say for her and Adrien laughs, "What?" I turn towards him in annoyance.

"Threat of invasion? You mean, trying not to kill the stupid humans that think we killed their kind?" Isla glares at him in response to his comment and I take a breath. This is all just so confusing. Meeting all these people- things with Isla. I thought it would all be okay because I was with her. But it isn't. It wasn't. Isla seems to sense my tension and pulls me away from the situation,

"Hey, shall we start on that training..." She whispers in my ear and I feel her breath trickle down my spine. I bite my lip softly and nod slowly.

"Adrien, will you update me on this situation tomorrow?" She says in her formal tone and as he nods slowly, she begins to leave, motioning for me to follow. And as we walk slowly across the miles of grass, I see the respect in people's eyes as we pass. The admiration from the younger girls watching from the windows of houses nearby, the way her knights look at her as if they aspire to be like her. It's so different than in the village. There, all the boys want to train as guard members while the girls are expected to cook and clean back home. I sense the Queen stiffen beside me as men part to free the path to the weapons shed which is situated next to a separate field. There are what must be around thirty Fae- all with weapons- training on an open carpet of green. They move with such elegance and grace, like snowflakes dancing upon clouds. You can barely hear a soft rustle of the grass as they leap and duck- just the cling as metal meets metal. Most are young- girls and boys of around fifteen, all grinning as they lunge for their next attack. Isla comes up behind me, pressing a sword into my hand.

"You ready?" She whispers in my ear and I nod slowly, letting every brush of her breath linger on my skin. A bitter silence hangs in the air as the Queen strides across the training field. Every Fae on the grass, stood taller and their weapons fell to their sides. I can't imagine what they might've been thinking- their queen walking casually onto a public ground with a human. I could feel gazes piercing into my back. They knew. Isla turns to me, watching the scarlet slowly rising in my cheeks.

"Everyone. Continue." It's as if she were their puppet master because as soon as she says the words, the congregation of people who had once been staring in curiosity, turned their backs and proceeded to continue what they had been doing, almost as if the two of us had never been there to begin with. I turn to her in surprise and she just smiles softly at me.

"Feel better?" I nod, too hypnotised by the care and authority of the girl stood in front of me to utter a word. She holds her own sword out in front of her and stands opposite me.

"I'm going to attack you slowly, try to block my advance," She says, latching our gazes together and taking a deep breath in.

I watch her blade swing to my side. It makes no disruption in the air- just a perfect arc, cutting elegantly through the sea of light blue. The sword is heavy in my hand and as I pull it upward to defend the attack, I'm surprised at the weight of the steel. There's a soft cling as metal meets metal and a cold twinge runs down my arm, rattling my bones. She twists the sword as if in slow motion and steps into the action. I pull my arm back quickly and feel my fingers release pressure around the hilt of the blade. It clatters to the floor. The beautiful blonde picks the blade up from the floor and presses it back into my grasp. She stands behind me and puts one hand on my thigh and the other on my shoulder. I draw in a quick breath.

"Keep this leg behind the other, not in line," She presses her hand into my thigh, guiding it behind my left leg, "Now, when you swing, pull the sword back and bend your elbow, if you keep it straight you might pull a muscle." She guides my right arm back towards the side of my chest and forwards to block, turning my hand slightly sideways as she reaches the top. Her breath lingers on the edge of my spine as I eagerly absorb every little piece of information she gives me.

I repeat the movement a few times while she watches and then again with her sword against mine. Then she sends an attack at me from the other direction and I twist my forearm, waiting for the soft crash of metal. She smiles at the way I applied the motion she taught me to a different task. Time began to fly past as the constant ringing of metal seemed to silence in my ears and the only thoughts in my brain were on the next task ahead of me. I couldn't tell you how long we spent, moving back and forth. Deflect, move. Deflect, move. I learned that constant movement was the most important thing when facing an opponent. By the end, the sky had begun to fade and sweat was dripping leisurely down my brow. I could see that even Isla was looking worn out; her attacks lower and her eyes fluttering more and more often. I draw back from her lunge and wipe my sweat coated face by pulling up the rim of my shirt. I watch her gaze as I drop the shirt and I smirk to myself at the look on her face. Surprisingly, there are still quite a few people locked in intense battles with each other, I glance to the side to see what I think is a girl and her brother using all their force to press their blades together. The girl gives in to her brother's strength and rolls to the side to block his imminent attack. A voice regains my focus,
"You ready to eat?" I look up at the girl and walk slowly towards her.

"Yeah," I say softly, reaching up to place my hand on her neck. I can see the confliction in her olive-green eyes before she steps back from my grasp.

"Let's go then." I watch her turn and leave me standing alone. Why do Faeries have to be so confusing?

A/N

Hope you enjoyed! Thank you so much for reading!