The Remains of Dawn

Chapter Eighteen

Oriel made sure that Tassian was comfortable leaning against a log before surveying the rest of the forest line around them. She noticed Draya following her at a distance. 

"You can come up and ask me what you're wanting to ask," she called out to Draya. Oriel stopped to let Draya catch up to her. 

Draya searched Oriel's face. "I told you that you had untapped potential."

Oriel sighed. "I need to figure out how to control this. The only reason it was unleashed was that I was in a panic." She looked behind them to see Tassian rolling his eyes at whatever Borus was saying. Borus was sitting in front of Tassian and flailing his arms around probably telling him some kind of story. 

"I felt helpless, Draya," Oriel let out breathlessly. "I couldn't do anything. I couldn't get to him."

Draya placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You willed the rest of your power out and stretched it towards him. You saved him, Oriel."

Oriel looked down at her hands and nodded. "Do you think I could do it again?"

Draya nodded. "Yes, I do. Try to create a barrier around us. Feel the earth and split it. Picture the area around us and split the ground in a circle." She stepped back and motioned for her to do what she said. "Try to remember how the earth felt when you split it the first time."

Oriel pursed her mouth in a thin line and nodded her head. She bent down on her knees and placed her hands on the ground. Closing her eyes, she moved her fingers along the ground, getting a feel for how the earth felt. She pushed out her feelings and felt a new presence. This presence she knew was friendly. 

She was feeling the earth. 

Oriel relaxed her body as she felt the presence of the earth around her. She felt the ground, trees, and plants breathing. She felt the water of the earth flow over and around her. Her lungs were filled with pure air. Oriel reached out for permission from the ground to manipulate it. She had seen and read about people with this kind of power asking for permission from the earth. Some people never asked for permission and that would leave a disaster for both the earth and the person trying to manipulate. 

Oriel felt the ground push up against her hands and took that as its permission. She pushed against the ground and envisioned a medium-sized crack surrounding the small campsite. She kept her eyes closed as she heard the earth start to shake and crack underneath her hands. Oriel waited patiently until the shaking and cracking stopped before she let herself open her eyes. 

"You did it, sweetheart," Draya told her proudly. She had walked over to Oriel and was holding out her hand. Oriel grabbed onto it and let Draya pull her up. 

Oriel looked around them and was surprised to see what she had envisioned. The earth had let her create a barrier around them to keep them safe. She looked over at Draya and gave her a thankful smile. 

Draya tugged on her hand and led her back to where Borus and Tassian were watching them. "You need to rest, Oriel. Both you and Tassian need to rest. I'll have Borus go out and hunt for some food so we could eat something."

Oriel nodded in agreement as she sat down next to Tassian and leaned her head on his good shoulder. She looked down at his hand and was happy that she was already seeing an improvement. Half of the puncture wounds were already gone. 

"My shoulder is healing extremely well," Tassian told her as he placed a kiss on her forehead. 

Borus started to stand up and gather his two daggers. "It is." He smiled down at both of them before walking towards the forest line. She watched as he got a running start and jumped over the barrier. 

"You're incredible," Tassian's voice brought her attention back to him. She looked over at him and cupped his cheek with her hand. 

"I need to inspect that shoulder." She moved so she was straddling his lap. Grabbing the hem of his shirt, she carefully pulled it over his head. He hissed and winced in pain as he had to lift his shoulder. 

Oriel looked behind her and chuckled as Draya gave each of them a knowing look before sneaking into a tent. She couldn't remember when that tent was put up, but she didn't care. 

"With Borus gone, we have close to half an hour until he comes back," Tassian teased her as he lifted his hips slightly. 

Oriel looked back at him and shook her head as she laughed. "Very tempting, Tassian, but not while you're injured."

Tassian smirked as he looked down at her lips. "All right, Eagle." 

Oriel leaned forward and met his lips with hers. She ran her hands up his chest, making sure to stop before she touched his shoulder. She pulled away before she let it get too steamy for either of them. She bit her lip as she started to inspect his shoulder. The puncture wounds on his shoulder were already halfway healed. They were just starting to scab over. Again, she was thankful that they each had their ring and necklace to protect them from incidents like this. 

Tassian brought up his good hand and pulled her bottom lip out from her teeth. "I wouldn't bite your lip if I were you, Eagle. Torn up shoulder and hand, I'll still take you right here and right now."

Oriel felt her cheeks get hot as she watched his eyes turn dark. She pushed against him slightly. "Later, Tassian."

Tassian sighed as he leaned back against the log. "When later comes, I'm going to fuck you hard."

----

Dyso had been running for what felt like a long time before the three of them stopped. He placed his hands on his knees and worked to control his breathing. He looked out of the corner of his eye and watched as Calak leaned casually against a tree. Dyso inwardly cursed at him as he noticed that he wasn't breathing hard at all. 

Xara behind him was wailing. Dyso turned around and saw her down on her knees hugging her only panther. Her golden tears were pouring down her face and landing on the panther's fur. 

Dyso and Calak stood there in silence listening to Xara's wails. Eventually, her wails stopped and she just sat there on the ground, hugging her panther. Tears still flowed down her cheeks, but her eyes weren't sad anymore. Dyso looked at her and met her eyes. He saw the anger in them that he had been waiting to see the entire time. 

"I want her dead, Dyso," Xara's voice cut through him. 

Dyso shook his head. "We can't kill her, remember?" 

Xara stood up quickly and was in front of him in seconds. "She took one of my babies away from me. I. Want. Her. Dead." She growled at him. "Hell, we'll just kill both of them. That's what the Queen wanted anyways. She was never going to let you keep her. When you bring her into that throne room, she was going to kill her." She slammed her hands against Dyso's chest, knocking him back. "You're the reason my baby is dead. If you didn't have this weird, damn obsession with Oriel, my baby would still be alive."

Calak appeared behind her and placed his hands gently on her shoulders. He leaned down and whispered something in her ear that Dyso couldn't hear. Whatever he was telling her created a sense of calm around her. The anger in her eyes disappeared quickly and the normal look of calm returned. 

She gave Dyso a cold smile. "We're going to be doing things my way now, Dyso. Do you understand?"

Dyso swallowed his fear and nodded. "I understand."

Xara reached up and patted his cheek. "Good boy."