Two Fae Youngsters

chapter 5

Guys this is my longest Chapter but it some how felt wrong to divide it. Hope you like it . Reviews and suggestions are always welcome. Please ignore the typos.

Frozen Hell was the only name Celaena could think of for those useless mountains. She had made a trek to Rowan's 'training area' . Now she stood beside Rowan with clattering teeth, Gavriel in front of them.  Standing amidst what looked like ruins of some long forgotten God's temple, she was contemplating what sort of hell was going to break loose on her.
"First lesson, princess : OBEY." Gavriel shouted. " I believe I had already warned you to keep your smart ass mouth shut." 

No pleasantries then . "Sorry to hurt your feelings." Celaena scoffed and gave Gavriel a smarmy smile . " Now can we start the training? "

Gavriel rolled his eyes . " Don't test my patience girl. And Rowan the wood chopping duty is yours for the next month. Better keep your temper on a short leash if you don't want to spend next few months chopping wood ."

"But sir…" Rowan started. 

"Excuses Whitethorn." Gavriel interrupted. "I must say I expected better . Seems like our little princess has been influencing you."

Celaena scowled but kept her mouth shut. She was also fighting to keep her laughter at bay as the prince's expression then was worth watching. 

"Let's begin, kids." Gavriel said sensing the rising tension between them. " Aelin, shift and Rowan you may go for your usual run ."

   SHIFT!! Celaena had never mastered that not as a child at least and for the last ten years she was more than grateful for the fact that she wouldn't have to face that form of hers again. Hell her magic just oozed out of her in the fae form and if she had one fear then it was her uncontrollable magic.

"No." Celaena retorted. "No way."
 
One moment she was standing there and the next moment she was on the ground tasting mud and her own blood. It was again a kick on her leg precisely like last night and she didn't have to so much as look up to know Rowan was standing there. Either she had taken all the time in the world to reply or Rowan was a damn fast runner. She got up to give him a fight but only to dodge the first two blows before getting punched in the face. She was sure that it was gonna be one of the most nasty black eyes.

"You earned it." Gavriel remarked and with that all her rage came spilling out.
" I don't know how to and you can't blame me for that , for that past decade there wasn't even a drop of magic on my continent. Aren't you people supposed to teach me . Oh I forgot for you bastards teaching means giving out commands. Why bother? I am quite rich I can give you as much gold as you want just take me to her immortal Majesty because I don't have years to waste on this stupid 'master disciple' act." Celaena yelled.

"Pathetic. You are pathetic." Roared Gavriel. " You want a shortcut? Go into the barrow,face the wights, come out before Rowan and I will take you to Doranelle tomorrow itself. As it is I thought I would give Rowan a first hand experience with the Wights. Let's see which one of you has more strength if you are so eager to test yourself. You can use any of your forms provided you know how to shift. If you lose Aelin you are pulling double kitchen duty."

"Fine. " Celaena growled . It was after saying it that she realised, she had no idea what Rowan's animal form was and even if he didn't shift to it he had the advantage of fae speed. Anyway she would deal with it.

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   She didn't know what she was expecting but it was surely not a circle of dried grass around the barrow . She knew the Wights were greedy beings who protected the gold of tombs and hated light so the possibility of them showing up was eliminated as it was daytime. Gavriel left the two of them an inch away from the field and had said that he would be waiting for them on the other side. 
    Rowan wasn't shifting neither was Celaena. From the moment she stepped into the field,  she felt all her instincts roaring at her to bolt. The place was dark and cold. Ahead of her lay the thing that made her heart race, the central mound. It was all that lay between her and the answers so she forgot about the hungry creature residing in there and started walking stealthily. Running only attracts the predator's attention; she reminded herself . She didn't care to look behind because it would have sent a clear statement of her fear to the silver haired fae behind. With each step towards the mound she could hear the rustling inside grow but it was the pounding in her ears that caused the butterflies in her stomach. 
    She rounded around the corner and was mere feets away from the exit when she saw a dark figure leaning against the central mound. Celaena could just get a glimpse of those depthless black eyes before a wall of darkness slammed into her and the pounding in her ears increased immensely. 
     In that dark she saw a glimmer of light and ran towards it. Even before she could take in the interior of the place, the otherworldly reek told her where she was. Everything there from the girl who was stirring in a pool of blood to seeing the lifeless faces of her parents made her spill all the contents of her stomach on the ground. She ran from that room only to be stuck in another nightmare, on the bed was Nehemia, carved up, mutilated . 
      She sprinted to find an exit when it occurred to her that Rowan was also out there somewhere so she shouted, "This is not REAL. RUN. "  and then repeated the shout twice or thrice . She knew this might cost her an early visit to Doranelle but no one deserved to be trapped in those memories not even Rowan. While running out she shifted ,it was her fire that forced the darkness recede and guided her.

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He crashed into a wave of darkness. Unaware of the position of the assailant, even his fae eyesight was useless in that oblivion. As his vision slowly came into focus,  he saw three birds,a baby hawk wedged between a white tailed hawk and a dove.Two parents perfecting their child in the art of flight. At the sight of them tears began to roll down his face. Till date when he felt lost his eyes searched for that hawk and dove in the sky. Then the scene shifted and he found himself in the middle of a ring of five fae warriors attacking him from all directions expecting him to defend himself. No amount of shouts or wounds or blood stopped them before those two hours of training were over.He felt trapped and in his helplessness he soiled his pants.
"This is not REAL. RUN. "
"This is not REAL. RUN. "
"This is not REAL. RUN. "
Thanks to those screams he snapped out of that nightmare, then came a flash of white light followed by fire which led him out of the darkness. 

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       Gavriel saw some strange black smoke rise from the field so he rushed towards it, he reached there to find the two stubborn children had emerged from the field at the exact same time but it was their state that startled him. Aelin was in her fae form and was covered with vomit. Rowan, oh Gavriel had never seen him like that, not even during the worst days of his training, his eyes red from crying and he had surely soiled his pants. And as if they both were only waiting to get out of that field , they collapsed just outside the barrow. He dragged them to the nearest tree and healed them, Rowan gained consciousness. Gavriel told Rowan to report to him after dinner with Aelin before heading back to the barrow. 
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      Celaena opened her eyes and found a pair of green eyes staring back at her. She suddenly became too conscious about her state but seeing that Rowan himself had soiled his pants she felt at ease
"Aelin, I am sorry for that," Rowan said while pointing towards the black eye."and thank you for shouting that warning. "
Damn it ! She couldn't afford to have this stupid ass think that she cared about him. " I said that more to myself than to you." She lied.
One of his eyebrows flicked up . Is it so princess?
She held his stare. It's the truth if you don't want to accept it, you can very well go to hell.
"Anyway Gavriel said we were supposed to meet him after dinner." 
Celaena nodded and with that they headed back to the fortress. 

A/n : I have published one of my poems by the story name A Girl's Perception,  I wasn't willing to share them but my friend told me to so it would be great if you people read it. If you like it and want more pls vote or comment. Thanks.