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“My name is Arielle Clarissa Mayfaire, daughter of Winona and Erick. My friends call me Claire,” Claire smiled, trying to ease the tensions with her introductions.
If anything, the Fae warriors grew stiffer when she said her full name. “How do we know what you say is true?” The first warrior barked again.
Claire slowly sheathed her daggers, taking a breath when she noticed her Triad and friends also adopting a more non-threatening stance. When she released the hilts of the daggers, another Fae warrior’s eyes widened and he spoke in hushed tones to the first Fae. The twin Fae had yet to say anything, they were laser focused on Holly although their eyes bounced to Claire frequently as well.
The second Fae warrior, the one that had noticed Claire’s daggers, stepped forward. “Again, how do we know what you are saying is true? That you are not Council puppets coming to finish the job?”
Finish the job? Claire’s brow furrowed but she forced her face smooth again. “I don’t know what job you speak of,” she answered truthfully, searching for words or some type of proof she could offer that would satisfy them. “We aren’t with the Council, in fact we are here because they have become corrupt.”
“They’ve always been corrupt,” the first Fae sneered. “You will have to come up with better lies than that.”
Okay she had known they probably weren’t going to have a good reception but this was beyond what she had imagined. She was still searching for words that would prove they weren’t with the Council when the worst possible thing occurred.
Thirty yards off to the right, twenty men uncloaked themselves, their black and gold uniforms glinted in the sun. Council Guards.For the Realm’s sake.
“They lie!” The first Fae yelled, drawing his sword and taking a step towards Claire’s group.
“We didn’t,” Claire shot back. The Council must have followed them here. Or maybe they never stopped watching the Fae lands. Either way, they were screwed by both the Council and the Fae if she didn’t think quickly.
The Council guards advanced rapidly, pinning Claire’s group between them and the angry Fae. Claire drew the daggers, ignoring the Fae’s own advances at her movements. She deliberately turned her back on them to meet the Council’s forces. Bethany and Cody caught up with her plan and both exploded into their animal forms, flanking Claire as she strode towards the Council guards. Her magic was eager to meet the enemy but Claire reined it back as she focused it into the daggers.
In a move similar to the one she pulled off in the Elven Forest against the Feluas, Claire let the magic build in the daggers and crossed them in front of her, breaking the ‘x’, she shoved the magic away from her and into the approaching Council group. The force flattened half of them but the other half threw up shields and her magic bounced off. A few of them shifted into wolves and Cody leapt to meet them as Bethany flanked him.
The earth rumbled in front of her and Claire took a few steps to keep her feet as Holly opened the Earth around the few Council guards still on the ground and swallowed them up to their waist, incapacitating them from the fight.
A yowl left Bethany as one of the wolves caught her shoulder with his teeth and a blast of wind magic sent the wolf flying backwards. Bethany’s lion shot Zack an unamused look and chased back after her prey. Zack helped Cody with the shifters as Malcolm and Everett engaged some other guards. The close combat meant Everett and Malcolm couldn’t shift without potentially injuring some on their side and given the Fae’s frosty reception they definitely wouldn’t help their case if one of the Fae was squished by an errant dragon’s wing.
Speaking of the Fae, it seemed that half of them had joined the fight against the Council guards while the other half stayed closer to the barrier, protecting the doorway that Claire had created. She winced. The Council’s guards probably wouldn’t have attacked if she hadn’t exposed a weakness in the barrier.
Hands grabbed her and yanked her sideways as a fireball surged towards her. Desmond caught the fireball with one hand, the other hand still on Claire’s elbow and launched it back towards the guard who had thrown it. “Focus,” He chided Claire lightly before releasing her to intercept another fireball. The leader of the guards was the one who was able to cloak it seemed and had some impressive fire abilities.
Drawing the rune for water, Claire sent a bucketful down on top of him, temporarily soaking him and putting him out of commission for at least a little while. She looked around for who else needed her help. Puck was helping Everett, dive-bombing the Council guard with claws outstretched. Holly was having the earth swallow the guards that fell, leveling the playing field a bit. One of the twin Fae was sticking close by her side.
Off to Claire’s left, the other twin Fae was engaging two Council guards at once, oblivious to a third creeping up behind him, sword in hand. Claire ran towards the third guard, throwing some wind at him with a quick punch that knocked him off his feet. The distraction caused the Fae to look and he took a slice in his arm as a result. Claire positioned herself at his back, facing the third guard who had climbed back to his feet, anger searing in his eyes.
He came at Claire with a yell. Claire blocked his downwards strike with both daggers, shoving his sword off to the side and stabbing towards his stomach. The guard leapt backwards, avoiding the blow and came at her again with a flurry of blows Claire barely blocked. She shoved him backwards, her foot in his stomach. He righted himself and was going to come at her again when it seemed like the Energy was sucked right out of him and he fell to the ground. Claire turned to see the twin standing by Holly, holding a closed fist in front of him. Had he just sucked out the guard’s Energy? Was that even possible?
She mentally added it to the list of questions she needed to ask and turned to look for her next opponent. Except, there weren’t any. Most of the Council guards were either swallowed by the earth up to their waist, knocked out, or wrapped in vines. Her friends all seemed tired and Claire could see more than one injury that would need to be looked at but they all remained standing.
“I think you need to come with us,” the twin at Claire’s back said, his voice solemn and his expression serious, giving none of his thoughts away. Apparently all it took to get an invitation onto the Fae lands was a brief battle.
Claire nodded and the rest of her group followed behind her. When they got back to their packs, Zack scooped up Cody and Bethany’s. When Holly went to get hers, one of the twins picked it up instead. Holly looked away and Bethany herded her in between Cody and her, both still in their animal forms. The twins approached the other Fae still guarding the barrier. There was a long look before the Fae guarding the barrier stepped aside. That was interesting. From their first interaction, it didn’t appear that the twins were the leaders of the group but maybe that wasn’t the case.
They stopped just inside the barrier and as much as Claire wanted to look around, their injuries came first. While the twins seemed to have warmed up a bit to her, the rest of the Fae remained distant and the atmosphere was definitely chilly.
Claire approached Bethany first. Bethany’s lion headbutted Claire’s stomach but otherwise didn’t move as Claire hovered her hands over her shoulder, sending healing magic into the torn muscles. When she finished, Zack opened up Bethany’s pack and tossed clothes towards her so Bethany could shift back.
Malcolm and Everett didn’t have any visible injuries. She scratched under Puck’s chin as she passed them. Desmond had already moved onto Cody so Claire approached the twin that had received a cut to his arm due to her distraction.
“May I?” she asked, gesturing towards his arm.
He studied her for a moment and Claire was afraid he was going to say no at first. After another moment, he extended his arm out to Claire. She held it under his elbow as she placed the other hand above the bloody skin. She used a rune for water first to wash away the blood and show the wound better. It was a nasty slice but the bleeding was starting to slow. Claire was careful not to overload too much healing magic into him to avoid hurting him as she healed and the wound closed with a steady and slow pace.
“You saved my life,” he said, as the magic worked.
And nearly cost him it with the distraction, Claire thought. But instead she just nodded. “It was our fault the Council was there. We should have known we were being watched and followed.”
I should have known, was what she actually thought. If only she had control over her growing magic and could have used it to find the cloaked guards. If she had been able to do that, none of this would have happened.
