Etherea: The Lost Daughter

10

Nia awoke in the darkness, her eyes struggled to adjust, for a moment she forgot where she was. Panic trickled through her, until her eyes fell upon a sleeping Rian by her side. A breath of relief fell from her lips as she scanned the crumbling room, Uaine lay across the floor but Torrin was not there. Nia rose softly, careful not to wake the sleeping Fae and ventured out into the night. She wrapped her cloak around her tightly as she stepped out of the building. She could see Torrin, he had not ventured far, seated on a stone bench. 

He glanced up as she approached and smiled, Nia cursed the blush that crept up her cheeks "can't sleep?" He asked and gestured to the empty spot beside him. Nia sat at his side and nodded her head "I can hear... Everything" she sighed "the world is like an old house, cracking and creaking at every moment" it was the best comparison her tired mind could manage "it must be exhausting" Torrin could only understand from the fraction he had experienced when that darkness had shot from her. The screams he heard had been harrowing, he could not imagine hearing them daily. "The longer I spend here, the more my mothers spell wears away, I have remembered pieces of her teachings and they have helped me to keep the darkness at bay" Nia paused, pursing her lips before deciding to continue "but I fear if I remain ignorant to either one, then whichever I push away will be unmanageable". 

Torrin looked at Nia in the moonlight, admiration filled his eyes, it knocked the wind from her lungs "your mother would be proud" at that, a sob rose from Nias chest. It was a thought she could not bare, what would her mother think of her? For all Riona had done, with her armies and her curse on Ciar, Nia felt as if she had achieved nothing in comparison. Torrin embraced her, his warmth offering comfort in the darkness "I am not so sure" Nia admitted as another sob bubbled up her throat "I have done nothing to help her".  

Torrin shook his head and held her tighter "Nia, I have known you a short time and you have proved to be nothing if not selfless. You wrapped yourself around a stranger's child and let a beast tear you to shreds to protect him. With no knowledge of your power, of your heritage, you would rather die to protect a stranger. I have no doubt that your mother will be brimming with pride at the young woman she has raised and we will  find her" Nia pulled back as her breath steadied, his blue eyes bore into hers. The urge to close the distance overwhelmed her, yet Nia resisted. Torrin almost groaned as her eyes flickered to his lips, her beauty radiating in the moonlight, it would be so easy to just press his lips to hers. Torrin loosed a breath and pulled away. They sat in comfortable silence; Nia rested her head upon his shoulder.  

Uaine found the pair, Nia bundled under Torrins arm, when he woke some hours later to take over the watch. Torrin rolled his eyes at his friends unsurprised expression "don't start Uaine" he whispered, for fear of waking Nia from her peaceful slumber. Uaine raised his hands in surrender "I said nothing" "your face said enough" Uaine laughed at that. Torrin looked once more at the sleeping girl curled beneath his arm "she is  breathtaking" Torrin admitted "in all the years I have known you Torrin, I have never seen you look at a woman as you look at her" Uaine admitted as he leaned against a towering tree. "I have never met a woman such as her" Torrin breathed, it unnerved him- the care he felt for her.  

Nia woke with a start, a stench in her nose "we must leave, now" she jumped from the bench, ignoring Uaine and Torrins surprised looks. Nia pulled Rian from the building, they fell to the earth as a snarling bear barrelled through the adjacent wall. Its claws slammed against the ground where Rians head had rested. Uaine flung a bolt of lightning towards the animal, striking it down in its path. Rian looked around with laboured breath, his eyes still filled with sleep  "how-" "there is no time, Rian get up, we must go" Nia scrambled to gather her weapons. Uaine and Torrin followed suit. When Rian did not rise Nia scooped him into her arms and took off north, in the opposite direction of the horrible stench permeating her senses. Uaine and Torrin did not dare question her as they followed. Soon they had their answer, an agonising shriek pierced the silence of the woodlands they had entered, followed by a horrendous growl and the rumbling of paws pounding the earth.  

Their pace quickened at that. Nia did not fully understand how she had known they were coming, but she had felt it in her slumber. A wrongness creeping towards them. As the Faelcu chased them, Nia begged her power to guide her. By some grace, it answered. A path of light opened before her as she darted left, praying the others would follow; they did, but Torrin and Uaine cast a look between them as they ran. Uaine watched the light cascade before them, like a guide from the Fates. She had turned towards Rulaine, a sector of the Silver Court, and neither wanted to set foot in Lorcans territory.  

Nia sensed their hesitation and ignored it, as she ignored the burning of her lungs and limbs. Rian clung to her as she ran, no longer confused, now deathly afraid of falling as Nia ran at a pace he could not describe. Nia saw their salvation ahead and allowed instinct to take over. She crashed through the invisible barrier before the riverbank, her eyes allowed her to see the silver wall of light that separated the Courts. With Rian safely- albeit a bit aggressively- thrown across the water, Nia skidded to a halt and turned to the treeline. It seemed to mark a barrier between lands, Nia could see where the curse began to seep through the decaying trees leading towards the Sapphire Court. The sight fuelled her anger. 

Torrin and Uaine slid to a stop at her side as she faced the border. The sounds of the Faelcu grew closer. Torrin grabbed Nias arm, her neck almost snapped as she turned her head to glare at him. Her eyes glowed blood red once more, Torrin released her arm, and she glared back to the forest. Uaine choked on the power rolling from her as Nia raised her arms. She stepped past the barrier. Uaine opened his mouth to protest, for his eyes also allowed him to see the divide between lands. As the snarling shapeshifters stepped from the forest- ten in total- Nia clasped her hands together with a clatter. A gust of wind barrelled towards the beasts; it knocked each back with such a force they whimpered. Nia drew from the raging river at her back and an angry wave rolled over their injured forms, it washed them back towards Avenere. Only once the howls stopped, did Nia let herself relax. 

She turned with a start then "oh Rian I'm so sorry!" She shouted sheepishly to the young Fae covered in mud across the river as he brushed himself off "we should not stay here" Uaine told them as he knew that as soon as they had stepped foot over the barrier, warning bells had rung in the minds of the Silver Princes. Nia hoped that if any were to find them, that it be Lorcan. They trudged across the river, Nia was grateful it only reached their waists, to join Rian and set off again; slightly off course now. Neither Torrin or Uaine wished to venture any further into the Silver Court, yet both knew they were safer within its borders. Nia shot another apologetic glance at Rian as they walked, she had essentially manhandled him. Rian supposed he couldn't be too mad at her. After all, he would have been minced by the bear that burst through the wall of their camp if she had not acted so quickly. He glowered at his inability to help, he had only embers of the magic he should possess and he knew in his heart he should have grown by now. They had not discussed it, but Rians stunted growth had become suspicious in recent years; most Fae his age already looked like men, Torrin reasoned that Ciars curse which limited their powers had trapped Rian into a painfully slow growth cycle.

Too soon, the sun began to dim while they walked. Nia cursed as its light receded. They had lost most of their supplies as they fled the Faelcu. The older Fae shared the same thought. As they continued through the wet grass, the sound of the babbling river breaking through their silence, Uaine stopped as a light came into view. The sound of hoofs in the distance sent the four of them scrambling to hide. "Nia?" A soft voice called out in the darkness and Nia could have dropped with relief as she scrambled from Torrins grip. He had pulled her along with him, to a nook beneath the riverbank. Droplets of water fell from her cloak and she resisted the temptation to glare at Torrin as she grinned up at the blonde woman in the carriage. "Erin" Nia replied, the others cautiously joined her side  "what are you doing out here? Are you mad?" Erin questioned as her eyes scanned the forest behind them "quickly, get in".

They did not need to be told twice, and as the four climbed gratefully into Erin's carriage, the blonde said a silent prayer that none had seen her aid their enemies.