The Elven Curse

Chapter 24

Aerin sat so frigidly still that if he was sitting beside a statue, the only thing that would betray him would be the constant trembling of his fingers as his hands laid upon his lap.

He stared at the witch's fingers, and how she moved the glass in her hand, the red liquid swirled in it, so slowly as if it was mocking him in a strange way.

"I'm sorry you're involved in this now, but you did bring it on yourself", she said with a casual smile.

"Bring what to myself?".

Lady Zullir frowned and looked at him sternly. Aerin almost flinched, did he do something wrong?

"I thought you were smarter", she sighed, "well, putting it simple... you're going to have to work here, hard."

She stood up from her seat, she was lean and had long legs, but she wasn't as tall as the people he'd seen. She faced one of the many windows, and took a book that was leaning on it.

"We witches have great power, don't think otherwise. But elves have something we don't," she dragged her index over the cover of the book, frowning as dust clung to her finger, "and those are healing abilities".  

"But we don't have those anymore", Aerin said.

Lady Zullir snorted and turned to look at him.

"You really don't think...", her eyes widened, "you don't know?".

"Don't know what?".

"Oh my...", she rubbed the back of her hand on her forehead, "I can't believe this."

She walked towards him and leaned, placing her hands at his sides, clutching the arms of his seat. He backed his head until it was painfully pressed on the chair, he gulped as the only think he could see were the colored eyes of the witch.

"You still have those, you idiot!", she laughed and twirled her finger around one of the leaves behind his ear, "you really don't know that?".

Aerin was at a loss for words, the only thing he could do was shake his head. Lady Zullir stood straight and groaned.

"Great, now we have even more work to do".

"Listen, it might be hard at the beginning, it always is. It was even painfully slow for me, but once you get the hang of it", she clicked her fingers, "it gets sooooo easy".

Aerin's chest started to hurt when he still didn't know what she was talking about. The look on her face twisted, giving away that she knew what he was thinking.

"Oh my, you are so slow", she smiled playfully.

"In other words," she pointed at him, "we are going to drain from you even the tiniest bit of magic you have to our favor".

Aerin stood up abruptly.

"Like hell I am g-".

A series of messy steps stumbling up to the stairs interrupted him. Then, the door was slammed open the handle of it hitting the wall beside it, creating a nasty mark on the wall.

Rowan quickly stepped inside, with Omar behind him, his cheeks tinted read as he tried to catch his breath.

Omar saw the small sofa in the room and his eyes brightened instantly, he ran to it and let himself fall on it, sighing in relief.

Rowan instantly looked at Aerin and he was quick to envelope him in a hug.

"Are you alright?", he asked him.

Aerin tried to nod, but his head was trapped between Rowan's arms and chest. He murmured a quiet "I think so".

Rowan nodded pleased, but he frowned as his eyes settled on Lady Zullir.

"Don't you dare try to do anything on him", he growled.

Lady Zullir rose he hands and smiled.

"I would never, but we both know that is not the correct way to talk to me".

Rowan ignored her and pulled at Aerin's hand.

"Let's go", Aerin nodded and let himself be pulled by his hand.

"Goodbye Aerin," Lady Zullir sang, "I can't wait to see you again".

Rowan snarled and slammed the door shut. Leaving Lady Zullir and Omar inside.

***

"My father is not here today, but you'll get to meet him tomorrow", Rowan said.

Aerin nodded and looked around his room. Rowan said it used to be a small library, but he'd ordered for some space to be made so that Aerin could settle more comfortably. And Aerin had to admit, it looked beautiful. The place was definitely old, but he could see it had been well taken care of. The wooden floor was clean, even if there were some gaps between the wooden planks.

A bed had been placed right beside a large window, where flower pots rested on. Some of the book shelves were left there, and a rug stretched in the middle of the room, almost covering half of it.

He felt Rowan's stare behind his back and he smiled.

"So... do you like it?", Rowan asked, his voice a little tense as if he was worried about Aerin's opinion.

Aerin nodded.

"Thank you", then he leaned on the tips of his toes and kissed him on the cheek.

He held a snort as Rowan fell apart and started stumbling over his words.

"Ammm... the... I have to talk to the king, I guess... I'll see you tonight?" he asked.

"Sure".

Rowan nodded with a smile and disappeared from Aerin's view.

Aerin's eyes closed, suddenly tired from everything: the trip, Vienna, his mother, and Lady Zullir, he knew his thoughts would travel to Mara, so his shut his mind before they did.

He flopped on the bed and relaxed, the warmth of the sunlight from the window hitting his arms and back, the thin layer of clothing doing nothing to protect him.

He woke up when his room was painted in red, the sun was setting and his room was starting to welcome the coming darkness. Everything was tinted in tones of orange, and he knew he slept for an hour or two. But before he could think about anything else, a high-pitched scream sounded alarmingly near.

If he had been blinking tiredly before, his eyes were now wide open. He looked around, trying to discern where the scream had come from.

He could almost hear his heart beating as a numb silence settled over the place.

They screamed again.

Even a frightened scream would've been slightly better, but whoever was making that noise, they were in pain.

He could've stayed there, cover his ears with soft pillows until the screaming stopped, but then, Mara's grunts and screams of pain settled in his head with nauseating agony, he couldn't stay there and do nothing.

He looked outside the window and saw a girl being dragged by some people dressed in black cloaks, the girl wasn't small, but none of the people here were. He knew she was a kid when she started screaming for her mom to help her, her two braids flying around as she shook her head in desperation.

The two people that were holding her arms started to drag her down the street, wrapping a cloth around her mouth tightly to muffle the sounds. Shivers traveled down Aerin's spine, but his legs move on their own as he ran down the stairs and street. His steps quiet since he forgot to put anything to cover his feet, he tried to hide in the darkness that the night brought.

He followed them quietly, biting his lip as he thought how no one in the many houses that were around heard the disturbance the scene in front of him created. He shook his head, trying to focus on what he was trying to do as he continued chasing after them, his movements precise and inaudible.

As the two figures went inside a building, weird masks covering their faces, they shut the door behind them, the sobs from the girl instantly disappeared.

"I hope Rowan is late",  Aerin silently hoped as he walked towards the building.