A court of Night and Fire

territorial bat

Asterin POV

We check the route we chose from a distance. Most of the Illyrians will go for routes such as the breaking on the opposite side of the mountain as they're the ones that are known and passed down in stories. It never occurred to anyone that you could potentially climb the opposite, steeper side. We'd scouted ahead a few days before the rite, flying over the mountain and assessing possible routes. 

We were making our way towards our chosen start point when something moved in the trees next to us. We freeze, but a second later, four figures burst from the tree line. The larger male, probably the leader, comes straight for me and two of them go for Nyx and Ash. The fourth follows the leader, coming for me but stops about 5 metres away. The leader launches himself at me and I dodge the blow aimed for my face. I feel something burn along the side of my head and something warm drips down the side. Blood. He has a knife.

How the hell did this Illyrian manage to get hold of a knife? It doesn't matter now, I tell myself, just work on avoiding it. The fourth Illyrian just stands there looking conflicted as I go onto the defensive. "I'm going to kill you" the male growls as he lunges forwards once more. I don't have chance to look to Ash or Nyx, I'm too busy avoiding the knife "Stop!" yells the fourth male and both me and my attacker turn to him. I recognise him then, he was one of the one's I trained with in Windhaven. The leader growls at him and flicks his wrist. Before he releases the knife and before I can make a decision properly, I'm running, faster than ever before. I throw the male to the ground just as the knife would have hit him.

Suddenly, there's a sharp, searing pain in my side. From somewhere around me, Ash screams. My ribs, chest and lungs are on fire. It hurts. I'm bleeding. The leader stalks towards the two of us, grinning like a predator. "run" I gasp to the male beside me, who wastes no time in making a beeline for the trees. Ash and Nyx are shouting my name. The approaching Illyrian laughs as I force myself through sheer will power to sit up. Ash is far away, roaring as he snaps the neck of the male he was fighting, running towards us. The male pays no attention to him as he crouches down and clutches the handle of the knife sticking out from my ribs. He grins manically at me "My face will be the last thing you see before I kill you" he says, twisting the knife in my ribs. My vision goes dark at the edges as my body screams at me in pain but I force my head to clear, pushing my mind away from my body and ignoring the pain. The male pulls the knife out and drops it to the floor, pulling me by the chin to look at him.

"it's ironic really" he says "my father told me where he left the weapons from his blood rite when they were snuck in. he was destined to kill the witch. Now, I shall kill one too" My fingers search the grass, closing around the wet blade of the knife, following it up and grasping the handle. "you made two mistakes" I gasp, fighting the spinning in my head and light headedness. The male looks amused "did I now?" "firstly, you dropped the knife" I say and the male looks down to it, surprised when he see's it clutched in my hand. I gather every bit of remaining strength and ram the blade home, through his ribcage and into his heart. "and secondly, you missed my heart" He gasps and falls back. 

I pant and pull myself up using a nearby tree, turning to face Ash who's running towards me, looking like he's about to destroy the world. He goes pale at the sight of the blood coating me. He calls out my name, but everything sounds muffled. My head is spinning. My ribs are screaming in protest at the movement. I take a step towards him and the world tilts as I collapse.

Ash POV

I race towards her, screaming her name. The male is crouching over her. I will kill him. I will make it hurt, I will make him... He falls backwards. Asterin is there, panting. I keep running towards her and watch as she manages to pull herself up. She sees me and I shout her name. I'm only a few metres from her. She takes a step forward and collapses. I manage to catch her before she hits the ground. Nyx appears beside me, crouching down as i fall to my knees, yelling her name. Nyx reaches out to her and I growl at him. "calm down Ash, I'm helping her" right. 

He tears off the shirt from the body of the male next to me, wiping the excess blood and examining it, before tearing off strips of the shirt and binding it around her ribs as tightly as possible. Her skin is pale and blood soaks her down one side. "we should find somewhere to rest. We shouldn't move her too much" he says, standing up and scanning the surroundings. He's pale. He's worried. When he catches my gaze and the question in it, his eyes darken "the knife missed her heart. It might have gone through her lung though" he didn't need to say the rest. A knife through her lung without her fae healing abilities was just as much of a death blow as a knife to the heart, it just meant a slower and more painful death.

She wouldn't die. She couldn't die. I clutch her limp body to me, pressing my forehead to hers and breathing in her scent. I steel myself and stand up, clutching her body to me. She will not die. I will not let her die.