Nights of Fire & Ash

Chapter 9

I'm running, running as fast as I can for the portal. I hear something behind me. It's chasing me so closely that I can't look back because I know that it will catch me. I see the portal ahead. It is so close.
Run, run. Don't look back.
I could feel the snapping of a mouth as it brushed against my lower back. I knew that whatever it was was huge. I was so close. I could almost jump from here. I stumbled over a rock and almost fell face first into a tree. My stupid, clumsy feet barely kept me up right.
The portal didn't look anything like the one back in the human realm. I could see the mountain on the other side. Did I have to say something? Was there a spell that I needed? I cursed under my breath. The last time I felt a suction drawing me towards it. I could't feel that this time.
I heard another set of foot steps behind me. I couldn't stop now. I had to commit. I tucked my head in my chest and leaped towards the portal.
You're stupid. You're so stupid.
I cursed at myself as the air felt the same as I dove through. All of a sudden, faster than I could process it. The world started to change. The air grew colder, my lungs filled with the unclean, polluted, human air, and my body slammed into the snowy ground on the side of the mountain.
I was home. I knew I was home.
That's when I sense that I was definitely not alone. I rolled over and held my breath. That was when I saw what had been chasing me. He came through the portal with me.
I stared into its silver eyes. Whatever it was, I knew that it was going to rip me limb from limb. It was going to kill me. The huge wolf was too big to be from the human world. It had a long sleek body with russet and white fur. I stared into its eyes, and it held my gaze. It huffed loudly.
That was when it turned its back to me and ever so slowly trotted back through the portal. It turned its head one last time and almost smiled at me as it dove through the portal. I felt it pull me from my core like it was beckoning me back to the Faerie Realm.
"Oh, holy fuck." I breathed. It was at least a half a days journey back to my home. I just had to keep my head down and trudge back through these woods. Whatever was lurking out here could kill me in a moment's notice.
I wondered through the woods. I heard a snap and my eyes shot over through the branches. I locked eyes with a doe about 100 meters to my side. I knew that I was that doe in the Faerie Realm. I was that doe standing in the woods with nothing to protect me, just waiting for something to come across my path, shoot me, and gut me on the spot.
I shook my head and kept walking. I couldn't stop.
"Don't stop until you get home. Your family will help protect you, but if you stop, Makiel will catch up. He will find out."
I kept my head down and kept moving. I couldn't not stop. I would not stop until I had gotten home.
I watched the moon slowly make its way from the East to the West. Time was moving, and I felt like I was moving like a snail trudging through the earth. I was barely making headway. I was an antelope and Makiel and his gang were cheetahs coming for me. I finally saw it, the opening at the cliff.
I sprinted towards the opening. I practically squealed and I saw the town lights again. I just had to head down the hill towards the little nook where my house was.
"Mom! Dad! Ty! You guys-" I skidded to a halt when I saw what was left. Ashes. There were ashes of what used to be my home. My breath caught in my throat. I just stood there. I had fought so hard to get back here. I had nothing here for me now.
I dropped to my knees and sat in the cold snowy wind cocooned me. I wrapped my arms around myself. I was gone. My family was dead. I was dead. I had nothing inside me. This wasn't grief. I didn't know what it was. All of the rage that I had against my parents for emotionally abandoning me, gone. All of the hatred I felt for my dad for his incessant drinking, gone. All of the anger that I felt towards my mother for making me another parent, gone. All of the good, it was gone too. I could not longer love my siblings. I couldn't tell them how much I love them.
What kind of death was it? Was it fast? Did it hurt? Did my mother fall asleep while cooking again? Did the stove burn and burn because my dad was drunk on the couch and couldn't think enough to get up and throw the pot in the snow?
As the sun came up, I still had nothing. I felt dead inside. It was like breathing and losing all thoughts and sounds. Everything around me was quiet. It was like the world felt my loss too.
Eventually, the sun shed enough light that I walked through what used to be my home. Snow and ashes started blowing around me. I walked into where my parents slept. I peered down at their corpses. Almost nothing was left of my mother's slim face and my father's broad shoulders.
I continued through the rest of the little shack. My brothers beds were empty. I dropped to my knees and found their bodies under the bed. That's when I started to weep. How could monsters kill children?
Only two of the boys were here. They had died holding each other. That means that they were most likely alive when the flames invaded their room. The fear they must have felt... the pain. I deserved that pain. I should have been here to help them escape.
My body was numb. I laid there stroking the burned corpses. I stood up after the sun made its way to the middle of the sky. I couldn't stay here. This was the first place my captors would look for me.
I rose to my feet. My knees wobbling and shaking under my weight. I tried to brush the ashes of my home off of me with little luck. I was practically covered.
The journey to the village was shorter than it ever had been. If only two of the boys were there, the last one had to be somewhere. They were so mangled I wasn't sure who I was looking for.
How long had they been there? Why hadn't the townspeople done anything?
Everyone starred at me as I walked down the dusty roads. I knew I must've looked disgusting. The only thing clean was my bad. I looked more like a walking black ashtray than a person. I was almost to the middle of town when a man and a woman approached me.
"What are you doing here, you faerie loving bitch?" The man stared at me with hate filled eyes.
"I- what happened to my family?" I stuttered.
"What do you mean what happened? The woman snapped at me. I just stared at her. More people started gathering around us.
"The night before Winter Solstice you and your faerie friends came and killed your family! You wanted to stay with them, and you didn't want anyone to look for you. Of course, you couldn't just let them be. You and your faerie lover came back and lit the place on fire in the middle of the night. We should have assumed. We always thought Fae blood ran through your family." The crowd around us started to grow. I couldn't fathom what I was hearing.
"Please, no you have to believe me. I promise I didn't. I wouldn't do that. I loved my family!" I pleaded.
"We should torch you, you witch!" I heard from behind me. I heard a mutter of agreement through the crowd. I looked around. These people had been friends. They had been with me my whole life.
Someone grabbed my shoulder. I knew that I had to get out of there. I couldn't stay here any longer unless I wanted to be barbecued too. I pushed them off and grabbed a dagger out of my bag.
"Stay back! Stay back!" I started swinging it around and pushing it in people's faces.
As soon as I saw a path clear, I made a dash out of the town as quickly as possible. I heard footsteps behind me. The crowd was going to follow me. I had to get out of here as soon as possible.
I sprinted back for our house- well what used to be the house. As I ran up the hill, I made a sudden turn towards the faerie portal. That's when I saw Heldius standing there.
"Well, looks like you have a problem." He muttered. I ran up to him and almost collapsed.
"Please, my family was killed and they think I did it. They think I'm a witch and they are going to kill me. Please!" I was so out of breath I didn't think he would be able to hear me.
"Well, then let's the the hell out of here." Heldius grabbed me and made a run for the portal. I squeezed my eyes tightly hoping that if I did it tight enough. I would wake up from this nightmare.