Two Fae Youngsters

Chapter 7

Hey guys I am back. This chapter is mostly from Rowan's percepective. I have wanted to write this for a very long time now but didn't have the scope of writing it . Do tell me if you like it and want more chapters from his PoV.

    Though all his instincts roared against flying while storm clouds were in sight Rowan shifted and started trailing the princess.  He knew 'Miss - I- am - Invincible' would manage to buttheads  with some or the other creature of the wild. A part of him wanted to let her rot with whatever she would bring upon herself but then there was the other part of him who had already been reigned by this blind selfishness and knew how it ended so no matter how much he hated her he ended up searching for her from the sky.
       His feathers were damp and the night had fallen. He was about to abandon the search when he saw tendrils of smoke rising from a distance. One sight of the site was enough to tell him that even with his help it would be a miracle if they managed to walk out alive from this level of chaos. Three skinwalkers were chasing her and she was sprinting towards a hollowed out tree but judging from her speed and the slope of land she would most probably fall and roll down the cliff so he dove without a second thought. 
     He caught her by her hands and was thankful that she hadn't been carrying a real dagger because she was struggling like a kid - kicking and punching and poking him with whatever makeshift weapons she had. The moment she stopped struggling he dragged her towards the hollow brak. 

       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  For the first time she had been grateful to see Rowan. In his grip she felt safe momentarily but a glimpse at his pine green eyes told her he too was as terrified as her yet he had come to rescue her. His face was a mask of calm but he probably had never faced so many skinwalkers alone. 
"The only way we are going to survive this is you shifting. Do you understand?" He whispered, interrupting her thought trail.
She managed to nod while he supplied her with a few daggers. She closed her eyes and imagined slightly pointed ears and elongated canines. Initially it didn't seem to work but gradually she ripped through her well of magic and commanded it to trigger the shift. Sweat was trickling down her brows when she felt the kiss of a cool breeze. Rowan was surely assisting her with it . Soon she felt a searing pain as Rowan slammed into her, no he wasn't the cause of pain he was merely covering the flash of light. 
" Going face to face with them isn't an option not when we are outnumbered , not when mortal weapons don't hurt them and not when my magic will do no harm. I want you to run at my command in the northeast direction beyond the cliff there's a stream hopefully water would keep them down till we escape. "
He said softly but firmly.
Another nod . 
"On your mark" He mumbled "Get set." And with these two words a strong wind blew towards the northwest direction. A distraction.  
"Go." As if her legs were waiting for just that command, she darted out of the narrow opening, not giving one inch of her mind to fear. All her efforts to not look back and keep her pace were in vain when a fourth monster appeared in front of them . Rowan somehow managed to decapitate it but injured his leg in the process. 
      That was when she couldn't bear it anymore and shouted as she neared the edge of the cliff, the prince had jumped already but a landing on his bad leg could cost him his life thus she shouted "shift Prince. " as she plundered.

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Rowan heard her scream. He debated the merits and demerits of shifting,  with his leg it seemed to be the best possible option so he decided in favour of it. He shifted in time to see her twisting and lighting up the edge of the cliff. If he didn't know better he would have thought she was insane because she never had mastered control yet here insane was their best choice. 
     He landed on the ground as smoothly as he could with the terrible state of his leg. Although the agonizing pain threatened to keep him down he lifted himself and moved towards Aelin who had retained consciousness until she landed but now had collapsed. He dragged her near the stream . The morning chill and wet sand enough to bring her temperature down. He concentrated all his power, without bothering to heal himself on suffocating the fires as the last thing they needed that morning was a forest fire.
  By the time he finished his work she was awake.She still looked dazed.
"Are you all right?" He found himself asking. 
"Yes, just a bit dizzy. " She replied .
"Please don't tell Gavriel about our adventure although after seeing us gone for a night he would have surely suspected that something's wrong. He's not going to leave me but if he comes to know about all this he would beat the pulp out of me." He hated himself for bringing this up at that time but it just escaped.
"Thank you and don't worry I'll probably make up a story just follow my directions and even you would be saved." Her lips twitching up slightly. 
"May I ask something? "
"Sure." After all hadn't it been for her he would've probably been dead the least he could her was some answer.
"Why do you never cross question Gavriel. You only seem to nod your head and put the regime into practice. You don't exactly look like the  'shoot first ask questions later' type to me."
   Within a moment of making it he regretted his choice. "I never wanted to be a warrior. " He resumed after a pause, "Though I had always been good at fighting, I could never quite bring myself to like it. Whenever my dad or mom used to ask what I was planning to do in future since I wasn't the crown prince and thus free of any responsibilities of Kings and courts, I used to reply I either wanted to be a  wildlife minister or a welfare minister. All I wanted was to keep my people happy and regardless of which one I became I would have opened a shelter home for animals because I can't bear to see them hungry." He didn't know why he confessed this but it somehow felt right. 
"When my parents faded , Maeve took my custody and with my extremely good combat skills she tossed me with her cabal of warriors not accepting any alternative fate for me." Aelin was listening more intently to him than anyone had bothered to in a very long time." Lorcan, the commander of Cadre has always been 'the- no- nonsense' guy and during the initial days of my training I used to be repulsive and as a result I often ended up on his bad side, " He hissed a bit as the memories of those days flooded his brain. " ending up with some punishment or beating so harsh that Gavriel and the twins couldn't look at the wounds without wincing while healing me but even the twins were relatively new members then and it was only Gavriel who went face to face with Lorcan  to protect the little child he saw in me and since then I have developed a strange sort of respect and faith in him." He completed while he wanted to share more, his voice was threatening to break.
"Sorry for teasing with Gavriel's name." Was all she managed to say .
"It is okay besides there are some things which even I shouldn't have said.  What about you, how did you manage to shift? "
"It was a mixture of fear and guilt of dragging you into this. I didn't want you to be harmed because of my stupidity. " She said to his surprise after a long pause. 
"Would you have shifted had I not been there ? " It was just a curious question. 
"I seriously doubt that I would have done that to save myself ." She admitted. 
Listening to this he suddenly felt a pang of sadness, he gave her his cloak as she was shivering from over use of magic and said, " You aren't leaving and we are going back to the fortress." 
Then he got the most unexpected reply. "On one condition,  you would let me heal that wound on your leg as you have drained your magic. I don't want to put up with your limping throughout the trek. Also, I had mastered the drop of healing as a child itself so don't worry."
She healed him perfectly and they went to the fortress.  He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to lie to Gavriel and after being caught would've to face far worse consequences and was thus hoping that Gavriel wasn't present there but the queen had orded him to take daily reports and out of all the people he would be the last person to disobey.  He went in and asked Emrys about the where abouts of Gavriel but his reply shocked him.
" Gavriel hadn't returned last night I assumed he was with you two, prince." Said Emrys looking slightly worried. 

--------------------------------------------------------------