Immortal

28. Family feud

Eliam's cold hardened eyes bore into mine from the dim flecks of the fire. I squinted up at him. He was staring at me and I could hear faded voices in the distance yelling. I tried to move but the second I did I tasted bile in my mouth. "You can't stay here." Eliam spoke calmly but he sounded like he was speaking through a pillow. There was a war that had broken out, and I was no where near it. My mind could only think of Finn and the others. I wanted to run, but with the state I was in it was unlikely I would get very far.

I could only sit and deal with the festering annoyance of my brother's presence and the reality that he brought with him. "When I said you could find your own way, I didn't think you'd end up in Silvas." He stated coldly. "You won't help these people." I ignored his statements as best I could. I didn't want to hear his parent like lecture. I needed to help Silvas and not sit here in a dark secluded corner. I hadn't even been here less than a week and a war had already broken out.

"Silvas is my home." I muttered weakly. I was abandoning all ties to my own family in saying those words. My own flesh and blood hadn't brought me much fulfillment anyway. The only ache I felt was leaving Alaric, although I was sure he would follow me. His bond to me was strong, I had no doubt that he too would try to join Silvas. My mind drifted and, I wondered what was going on with Jala and Finn. What happened to Esai? I barely knew these people but somehow my mind focused on them. "Silvas is your home?" Eliam stated and scoffed at my comment. "Such a help you are for your home." His tone was ice cold. I watched him get up from where he was perched, I closed my eyes as he grabbed me by the shirt. "Your home huh?" He said inches from my face. I wanted to scream from the movement, something was definitely broken. Eliam didn't bother to be gentle with me he slammed me against the trunk of a tree.

"You really think YOU could benefit these people?" His tone made it sound like I was a joke. I didn't understand what I'd done to bother him. "You're a hinderance to them." He snarled. "Look at yourself, you can't even survive your own territories wars and you think YOU can help?" I could tell his words were aimed at discouraging me from staying. He was trying to force me to realize that I had little significance to the territory of Silvas. I twitched only slightly at his words, I still didn't understand why he was so against the values and way of living Silvas created. His discouragement also only made me want to stay.

I tried to move to wiggle out from his grasp. He let go of me. There was a momentary lapse in his eyes that I noticed as they seemed to draw a blank. I wondered if he'd cleared his mind. In that moment though my brother took hold of something else. My wing. I didn't think much of it. The pull hurt slightly, and I figured maybe he was picking a leaf out of them. That was my mistake, I took notice too late and before I knew it I was screaming. My wing had only rested in between his warm palms for a moment before he forcefully snapped one of the bones in my wing. At the sound of the crack he let go briefly and the wing hung limply in an unnatural angle. There was a pause and then he made another break in a little further down yanking it hard. I felt and heard a crunch and popping sound. The pain came moments after. It hit me in waves.

The pain caused my vision to become blurred. Hot tears welled in my eyes. I knew I was screaming but I couldn't hear myself anymore. Everything went mute. I couldn't fly. Eliam snapped the wing in two places and let it drop, he then kicked me in the stomach while I was already in a crumpled heap,from the broken wing. The kick made me lose the little air I had and I fell forward into the dirt.

Alaric, who had witnessed it,  pried him off me jumping quickly to my aid. Eliam still being stronger threw him sideways reflexively, the motion seemed so natural. It was just one easy swipe and Alaric hit a tree and yelped loudly, crumbling to the ground. The look in Eliam's eyes then was something I had rarely seen before. A cruelty and anger that was completely unlike him. It was only there briefly before he blinked and snapped out of it. It was almost as if he was regaining awareness of what he was doing.  He registered what he had done and his face twisted slightly in slight remorse or regret.

He moved to help me. "Dont touch me!" My voice came out as a whimper instead of something stern and angry. He backed up and focused on Alaric, while I tested the movement and use of my broken wing. There was no way I would be able to use it or even make it budge. Any slight movement brought out hiss and a new list of swear words. I managed to get to my feet. Staggering I watched him check Alaric who was fine, he was breathing. I wasn't going to stand around any longer, I took off into the woods. My vision was awful but I followed the sounds of screams. I didn't realize how much of an obstacle avoiding trees on foot was and my judgement on distance was terrible. It was long until I collided with one, I could hear my name being screamed from somewhere behind me.

I was running into crossfire, probably making this one of the stupider stunts I'd pulled lately. Although at the moment, running head first into a war zone seemed like a better option than facing off with Eliam again. Everything in me was screaming to stop moving, my wing dragged limply behind me. Getting shot or attacked would be reason enough to stop moving but the adrenaline in my veins made me press forward. My body was gradually getting heavier, it almost seemed like another ass kicking from temperance would be better than this. Just as I could feel my body giving out I collided into Finn.

My body dropped like a sack of rocks at her feet. I could barely make out her frantic words. "Ambush." I all could stutter out with the last shreds of energy I had.