Chapter 19

The longer apart souls are from their original forms, the harder it is to keep stability. Flashes of memories pass by, dreams slip in reality and reality blurs with nightmares. Cold hands reach out, never grasping and eyes look but cannot see. It is a cruel fate. Not quite purgatory, but as close to that damned state.

She had stepped into the room to find her parents and two underdressed figures.

"Uh… Good evening, Sir. Madame.” Ten-year-old Evera curtseyed in respect to the strange couple. She kept her eyes to the floor as much as possible but their peculiar attire kept her gaze flickering up.

The strangers smiled. The man stood and rifled through the tan sack he held within his hands. He offered the child a golden coin pulled from the bag. The coin was embellished with a rose carved into the small frame. The young girl flipped the coin over. A butterfly was decorated opposite the rose. Evera’s green eyes widened with disbelief as the wings of the insect began to dance with the slightest of movements. She looked bewildered at her parents as she cupped the coin in her hands as though it were too elegant to even grace her touch.

The abnormal woman walked to the youth and kneeled in front of her. She gazed into Evera’s forest green orbs with her own jade colored eyes. Something about the woman calmed Evera.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Madame, who are you?” The two visitors glanced at each other. Evera’s parents stepped closer.

The older man gave the gold filled sack to her father and nodded. Greedily, her father grabbed a fistful of coins and raised them in triumph. Evera’s mother glanced at the young girl and sighed with annoyance.

"You will go with these two.” The woman smiled to comfort but showed no sympathy towards her daughter. The child’s vision blurred and tears streamed out in silence.

“M-m-Mother?” Evera tried to stifle the oncoming cries.

“Listen to her!” His anger turned her face away in obedience. Her father took himself, his wife, and their gold coins away through the kitchen door leaving the three individuals to themselves. The elegant foreigner stretch out her hand.

“It will be fine. Do not worry sweet one.” Evera gasped for breath in bewildered fear. Though she felt the words of the stranger to be true, the young girl turned to the door her parents had just left.

“Mama!” Evera cried into the empty room. “Papa! Mama, I am sorry! I  will not mess up. I do not mean to disappoint you. Wait! Papa don’t leave. Mama!” She struggled to the door, the two strangers holding her back. “I will behave. I did not mean to…” Her shouts gave way to sobbing.

Her parents had left through the front door leaving behind no sympathy or soothing words for their only daughter. The green eyed woman stroked the girl’s hair, lulling her to stillness. Evera accepted the foreigner’s hand with timid sensations, not knowing her world was to change forever.

It demoralized Evera to discover her parents were not so, and that her life and her existence had been a fallacy. When the two Tae came to herald what would happen to her, she had been unbelieving like all souls are bound to be.

Evera shook her visions away. The sickbay returned to focus as she tried to slow her pulsing spirit. Breathing was harder to control when you are not with your body and Evera’s breath was racing.

Murmurs and coughs sounded through the large hollow. Young Fae come and quickly leave, receiving healing for their combat training wounds. The air was filled with the stale smell of illness. It was not a place Evera wished to be.

Her spirit kneeled on the ground beside her bed and folded her hands. Prayer to God was unheard from Fae but some Angels still helped their unwelcome kin.

“Oh beloved Angels, those who still answer our cries, watch over William. Let no harm befall him, not by the hand of any Fae. I ask this in hope one day, all will be better. With your love, I pray it so.”

Evera’s spirit fell on her back, slipping into another dream. Memories clashed with the present, leaving Evera’s mind to slip little by little.

William picked wild berries from a nearby bush and threw them in his mouth.

Gone. The word still rang in his ear as night began to fall. His already burning fire lit the woods in the fading sky. He started to feel numb. Of course if asked, he would deny having feeling for her. He would tell how he would not care if the girl he loved would never come back. He is Human, therefore he could lie.

“Where to now, William?” He asked himself aloud, wanting to hear anything but the forest and the night sky. Only week ago he would have loved to hear nothing but the cries of nighttime creatures of the wind sighing through the trees. He would have marveled at the sight of the endless wood, uneven ground, the soft un-treaded soil. Now, the night seemed continuous and dull while the forest made him feel small and lost.

He wondered of where he would go next, not feeling time slip through his fingers. By the time he remembered what felt it like to breathe, the sun had set, leaving the moon, the stars and the fire.

William stared into the night sky. Little dots of light flickered as intensely as the burning wood in front of him. The grey clouds covered part of the moon, hiding the beautiful natural light then releasing it slowly between the trees. When he turned his sights on the path which was drizzling with moonlight, he noticed a figure walking slowly towards him.

An ankle-length skirt swished over long walking legs, bare feet hidden under the swaying fabric. A pale stomach whitened with the rays off the moon only covered by loose strands of long copper colored hair. The underdressed young woman tossed her hair behind her shoulders, revealing her barely covering sleeveless blouse. The young woman was well endowed and before long she stood and leaned upon a tree at the edge of the small campsite.

“Are you lost?” The woman’s voice rolled over the surprised man, calming his desire to reach for his knife.

“No.” She took a cautious step toward the tired man and smiled, amused by his reaction to defend himself,

“What is with your hostility? I wish only to stay the night by this fire.” She knelt down beside him and laid her hand on his which rested on the blade. Her beauty swayed the young man’s insecure will and he released his grip. Her legs unfolded from beneath her as she sat on the ground next to him. “You seem lost.”

“There are people who could say that I am.”

“Why?”

William furrowed his eyes. He knew this woman was of Evera’s kind. Her green eyes reflected deception and secrets but he cared not anymore of being scared of the trickery of Fae. He only wanted peace.

“It does not matter much.” He smiled staring at the fire. The woman was unnaturally close. Did she not notice the intimacy? Or was she creating it by leaning closer to him. Her hand was on his arm, holding her steady.

“Where did you come from,” William asked as she leaned closer than he wanted. She drew back and pointed to the trees she came from.

“A moment ago, I was a moment farther away in that direction.” She pressed her cheek to his, as if guiding his sight to a specific spot that was evidently not there.

Her lips brushed over where her cheek rested as she whispered in his ear.

“Lay with me.”

William was taken aback at this stranger’s blatant attempts to seduce him. He pulled his head away from her lips but did not completely move away from her.

“Why do you want me to?”

The young woman smiled. She looked young with freckles around her cheeks but mature with her movements. Her hand moved to caress his face as she closed distance between their faces.

“I see in your eyes you desire to. What kind of people go against their natural ways?” She kissed his lips, her unnaturally cool skin felt pleasing against the heat of the flames. Her hand pulled him to her, his resistance failing. The smell of her skin intoxicated him with its overindulging natural scent. A beautiful woman giving herself freely to you would be hard for any man to resist.

William should have known it was a trick. Somewhere inside him, he guessed it so but still let his downtrodden heart be fooled. With his eyes closed, lips against hers, the Fae girl reached under her floor-length skirt, revealing a hidden sheath just above her right ankle. Instead of a knife, this slim pocket held a slender glass bottle containing amber liquid.

She pushed herself forward, having him lean back on the tree behind him, her body more on than off of his. His hand began to roam her back, trying to forget the past week and enjoying the pleasure now.

She broke the kiss and unscrewed the cork of the glass.

“Here is a toast to desire. May life be enjoyed.” She held the opening to her lips and pretended to sip. The flask was handed to William. The young man sniffed the unfamiliar liquid.

Should I dare? He was not convinced about this woman. She looked harmless but he could tell from the stare in her eyes she was a danger.

Throwing all reason into the wind, he gulped down over half of the amber liquor. The syrupy drink warmed his throat harshly, causing him to cough.

She placed one last kiss on his lips removing her cool skin from his. He was about to protest when his vision started to blur.

“What…” He slumped over fighting off the unconsciousness reaching him. His arms and legs did not listen to his mind, screaming at them to move.

Three green eyed men came up the path a few moments later, looking at the woman.

“It is a shame. He was a good kisser.” She pressed her body to one of the Fae men and touched lips carelessly before letting him pass her to the swooned Human.

William passed out completely and was lifted onto a stretcher. His body was tied down before they began to walk. The four Fae set off, heading for Morag.