Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
We are being led through the forest, keeping quiet by Oleander's strict instructions, until we are far away from where Embrys found me. All I can hear is Embrys tripping and cursing as the rest of us walk along in silence. I keep my hand locked in Marissa’s the whole time, feeling that if I let her go she is going to be taken from me again, and still not quite believing that I found her…
or she found me, I guess. I continue to stare at her and squeeze her hand a little harder.
She looks back and gives me her cheeky little smile, squeezing my hand in return.
She looks so sure of herself and comfortable playing this new role of rebel.
I think I never really knew her before. Was that popular girl act fake?
Do we have more in common than I thought?
The Marissa I thought I knew would have been grossed out by the dirt under her nails and the bulky clothes that don’t show off her assets. Who is this girl?
I really like her.
Oleander halts by a moss covered stone wall and lifts her hand, motioning us to all stop.
She knocks three times on the stone, one slow and two fast, and then waits.
The stone makes a grinding noise as a door that was perfectly concealed within the designs of the moss and lichen rolls open, revealing a hole, barely big enough to fit me standing upright.
We squeeze in, some having to crouch, as we make our way down the pitch black tunnel, single file.
The floor is fairly even and the walls nearly hug my sides so it is easy to feel our way through.
I can hear the grinding of the stone door as it closes behind us, leaving us in true darkness as it shuts with a suctioning sound.
The tunnel turns a few times, first right, then left, then right again before straightening out.
The rasping of breaths and shuffling of boots are the only sounds.
“Stop,” Oleander says, and I halt, unable to see anyone or anything and just trusting that we are all still together.
I can hear her repeat the knocking pattern of before and another door swings open, letting the bright orange light of dozens of candles flood into the tunnel, momentarily blinding me.
The sound of many voices overlapping signals a room full of people.
“We are here,” Oleander says as she moves into the large cave that houses the rebels.
The cave itself is three times my height and is deep enough to fit two long wooden tables flanking the left side wall, with cut up stumps for chairs and a woodless fire, no doubt Oleander’s handy work, with logs for seating situated in a circle in the middle of the space.
To the right there is an alcove that appears to be some sort of communal kitchen space with a big stone slab jutting out of the wall for a work table and little shelves dug out for storage.
On one end of the alcove there is a little waterfall pouring through the rock and into a carved out trough that then drains back down into the stone floor.
I wonder if this is natural or being manipulated by a water Elemental like Nerius did at the estate.
I can see the openings to two more tunnels at the back of the cave that I assume lead to sleeping quarters or perhaps an alternative exit.
The place is full of fae, and creatures-of-fae, some sitting at the tables and some around the fire all conversing and filling the space with sound.
When we enter the chatter quickly dies down and Oleander motions for another large fae male with foxy looking ears and grey curly hair to come assist with Embrys.
“Well, now you know where they live so is that enough of a show of trust, Nuria?” Marissa says, pulling me down the stone steps, towards the fire.
“Oleander means well… she’s just a little brutish sometimes,” she says as we sit down on a log.
She fusses with my hair, flipping it over my shoulder and smoothing down my fly-aways while making little tut tut tut sounds with her tongue.
“You’ve let yourself go a bit feral big sister.
” I meet her eye and she gives me a little wink, just kidding!
she chimes down the connection of our mind.
“I’m still getting used to that. I guess it could come in handy, eh?” I say, taking a moment to study her face, seeing the same little sister but feeling that she has changed so much from the sister I knew in Easthelm.
“Mar, I feel like you are a completely different person. What happened?” She just rolls her eyes and levels her sassy stare at me whilst blowing out a sigh.
“Easthelm is a bitch-eat-bitch world Nuri. I did what I had to, to survive. Not all of us mere mortals can just not give a shit like you.” She thinks I don’t give a shit?
“I felt as if I had been living in Mom’s shadow my whole life.
I’m sorry, I know this is harsh but you are the adopted daughter…
no one had any expectations on you from the get go.
Everyone saw me as a mini Mom and expected so much from me.
Dad expected so much of me…” The sass has been wiped off of her face and is replaced with something softer, more vulnerable.
A whole new understanding dawns on me about our childhood.
She had never felt she fit in either… but just mastered her mask better than I.
I knowingly nod at her then look over her shoulder, watching Oleander stride up to us after having conversed with a group of gnomes near the kitchen.
She seems to be something of a respected figure amongst the rebels and I wonder how old she was when she joined their ranks, when Pyralis tried to marry her off.
“We may continue our discussion if you wish.” Oleander sits down, keeping some space between us.
She gazes into the fire, leaning her elbows on her knees.
The flames dance and leap in her presence, as if they had missed her while she was gone and are dancing for her return, like a puppy who was left at home all day.
“Where did you take Embrys?” I enquire, trying not to sound too interested.
“How much of our conversation did you hear?” I turn to look at her.
She keeps watching the fire and I can’t help but stare at her wild beauty.
Her cascading hair is fire incarnate and it is changing colour in the flickering light of the flames.
“He has been taken for questioning by Fenrick, our senior Metamorph. I heard enough to know it was not The King’s minions that took you, as I had once thought, which is why our rescue missions were fruitless.
We were searching in the wrong place. Why my father wanted to apprehend you in the first place is what I am unsure about,” she says, peeling her eyes away from the fire and looking at me.
“I also saw enough, Nuria…” Fire dances in her irises.
At the utterance of my name the flames dim and skitter as if the coldness in her tone might threaten to douse them. As she meets my eye I am met with the flash of an image of Embrys on top of me and our mouths nearly touching. I clear my throat, dropping our eye contact, feeling my cheeks flush.
“I’m not sure what you think you saw but whatever it was, it meant nothing.
” I raise my eyebrows, “I needed information from him, I still do, but he bested me,” I say, but I don’t know why I feel the need to explain the moment Embrys and I shared.
It’s not like Oleander and I mean anything to each other.
She did use me after all, but I see what I think is a flash of envy cross her face as she furrows her brows and glances down at my mouth for a split second. Interesting…
“And let me get this straight, we don’t know exactly why The King wants me and we don’t know why Pyralis wants me but…why did you guys want me?” I ask, tilting my head to the side in question.
Marissa butts in, pulling my shoulder a bit so I will look her way.
“They wanted to save you and recruit you into the Order of the Sylvans, Nuri. The Wolf King is a tyrant that is dividing the fae into classes. This new religion makes the Elemental fae out to be superior but they… we, were all made by The Divine Mother as her children. Equal in rights but all with our own unique talents,” Marissa says, lifting her chin, sounding as if she is reciting the facts from a textbook.
I look at her, one eyebrow raised, in shock at her sudden interest in the rights of living beings and the wellbeing of the Earth. Definitely a different Marissa.
“Well, I see they have brainwashed you…” I narrow my eyes at Oleander.
“Seriously Oleander, she is a sixteen year old human and our parents probably think we are dead!” I turn to my sister, “Marissa, what about Mom and Dad?” I ask, knitting my brows together as the thought of their broken hearts and panic resurfaces yet again.
Marissa winces and looks down at her hands.
Oleander chimes in. “She is grown enough to make her own choices. I was younger than she when I left home,” her eyes brazenly flare.
“She has also shared that she witnessed her mate being murdered in front of her eyes. No one should have to experience that. She needed to fight back, seek retribution, and this is her way of doing so. A noble cause I might add.” Oleander nods at Marissa and Marissa beams at the compliment.
“Your realm would not make sense to her right now,” Oleander says, looking back at me with slightly more sympathetic eyes.
I can understand her point, returning to Easthelm after finding out this fairy tale realm exists would feel strange and I know Marissa is just as fierce with a sword as I am.
But the thought of her getting injured or worse is just more than I can handle at the moment.