The Mountains Blade

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine- Despairing Wounds

Elwyn Greywater sat in a deep red lounge chair in her sister's room. There was another beside it that was a deep emerald green. Her dressers, bed frame, and canopy were gold.

Elwyn twirled a small blade in her hand as Avelina's maid helped adjust her ankle. She winced and hissed as Libby propped the tender sprain on a pillow.

"How did you know that the cub was there?" Elwyn asked as Libby left. Avelina propped a book on her one raised knee. "I felt it." She said. Elwyn chewed her lip; at any other time, she would make a snide comment. But Avelina was a Nephilim with powers; she could very well have the ability to heal.

"What did mother say to you?" Avelina replied to the question.

Elwyn frowned. Her sister's interruption had sent her mother into a spiral she had never seen. Hope Greywater had shut the window and sealed it shut, with guards stationed on the roof and at her door. Elwyn had no time to question her mother as she locked her in her room until morning. She promised to speak with her, but she had been unusually absent from her balcony, where she normally took her morning coffee.

By morning, the guards were back to two and less tense. Elwyn felt incredibly offended that her mother thought she couldn't protect herself. No one was interested in a simple human girl. The only magic she held in her was speed and agility from her father. She was slightly faster than a normal human, but still much slower than any other being.

"Nothing." She said, pocketing the blade with a huff. Elwyn slumped in the seat and looked at the golden star on the seal. The constellations were thoughtfully painted, and their stark whiteness contrasted nicely with the golden ceiling. "Why do you think they want you?" Avelina asked curiously.

Elwyn's eyes snapped up at her sister with a quiet anger. "How should I know. I am nothing to anyone. I don't understand why anyone would want to come for me."

Avelina brushed her fingers against the spine of her book. Elwyn watched her sister repeat this and pinch her eyebrows together in concentration. "You are a good warrior." She offered.

Elwyn rolled her eyes at her sister. "Just leave it, Avelina." She sighed, exiting the lounge chair and heading to the bedroom door. "I'm sorry about your friend, Maxwell."

Elwyn turned to look at her sister. Avelina stared at the bedsheets, glancing up at her sister.

The warrior blinked with a hollow expression. "Thanks, Avelina." She said softly.

Elwyn turned again to leave.

"Elle?" Avelina said, drawing her sister's attention back to her.

Elwyn turned, and Avelina held her gaze. "I don't think you're just a human. You are much more than just that."

Elwyn's jaw tightened, but she forced herself to smile, nodding thanks to her older sister.

"Get some rest." She said before taking her leave.

~

Come dawn, Elwyn Greywater would be in the human world. So, that afternoon, she practiced until all she could smell was sweat and earth. Opal and Dane took turns sparring with each other.

After being fed another face full of grass, Elwyn waved in defeat. "Break." She said between pants.

Opal and Dane didn't argue, reaching for their canteens.

Elwyn chugged the water so much that it spilled over her shirt. It was refreshing. After finishing the bottle, Elwyn fell backwards into the grass and let her back muscles relax.

"The shadow humans are created," Opal said, sitting beside her and taking a swig of a small flask.

"How do you know that?" Dane said, beating her to the question. Elwyn sat up, using her elbows to support her upper body.

"Your aunt investigated. She knew some practicing witches and went to speak with them back in her day." Elwyn looked at the sky in concentration, trying to imagine her aunt. It had been several years, and her parents rarely spoke of her. She remembered that she had pale skin, striking blue eyes, and red-blonde hair. She also recalled the fact that she was a vampire.

"I thought witches hate vampires?" Elwyn asked.

"These are no ordinary witches; humans want to be supernatural."

Elwyn blinked up at Opal. "Meaning?"

"Meaning that they used dark magic," Dane said ominously.

Elwyn looked between the two, waiting for them to continue.

"They aren't like the ones in our world who have magic flowing in them. They crave it so badly that they reach for the darkness. There is a sort of empty void in between the worlds, and that's where used-up magic goes. It's expired magic that is supposed to stay there and release itself into our world. It's like watering a plant, only the magic is the water, and our world is the plant.

Elwyn's eyes widened at Opal's words.

"I'm assuming you've noticed the dying plants," Opal replied.

Elwyn nodded as Opal sighed. "If we don't figure out who is doing all this, our world will slowly wither away."

"Can't you use magic to keep things going?"

Opal took another gulp of her flask, smacking her lips together.

"No one is strong enough to fuel our world, even hundreds of us couldn't keep the world running."

"What happens if the world dies?" Elwyn asked quietly.

"The human world bleeds into ours. Their pollution and corruption will begin to kill our plants and animals. And the void will start to kill everything in its path."

Elwyn felt impossibly frigid despite the sweat she dripped.

"How do we stop it?" She breathed.

"The only way we can," Dane said, meeting her gaze. "Find the person who is leading all of this, who is destroying humans and supernatural alike...and kill them." Dane's voice drilled into her brain, flashes of blood dripping from broken glass.

Her gaze quickly had become unfocused as she was pulled back into her memories.

However, Opal's hands clapping in her face quickly brought her back to reality.

"Hey, " she hissed at Opal, who glared at her. "You are going to have to deal with your problems if you want to survive, child," Opal snapped.

Elwyn scowled at the white haired witch of a woman. "How do you suppose I do that?" She bit back.

"Therapy like the humans do?" Dane offered half seriously.

Elwyn squinted in annoyance at his statement. "Or just use your sword," Opal added, standing and drawing her blade.

Elwyn watched as she stepped back and sent it straight through the head of one of the dummies; instead of hay, sand spilled out of it.

Opal and Elwyn held each other's gaze. Opal's white skin glistened, her white hair flowing over her half-buttoned black tunic. The fall air clipped against them in unwavering briskness. "You were bred a warrior for a reason," Opal said.

Elwyn felt the weight of her words as she soaked them in. Somehow, she knew that what Opal said had another meaning that she was yet to learn, behind her words.