Dark flight - Lore of the angelic book 1

Hope

Alice

The rest of the wedding was uneventful, as I spent it with my friends. The tension between Wolf and I remained, heavy in the air, but neither we nor our friends said anything about it. In the end Wolf insisted on walking me back to my room, especially because I was quite drunk. He gave me another kiss on my doorstep, as sweet as the one between the willow branches...

Now, it has been hours, but I cannot sleep over the oppressive silence in my room. I long to speak to Wolf, about the things I feel, but truth be told, loving him is a commitment I am not yet ready for, no matter how good and right I feel when I'm at his side. I need to think on it, really think on it, like he said.

My restless legs carry me to the large windows. I draw the curtains aside and stare out into the gardens. A soft glow hangs over them from the windows normally, but this late, mine is the only one illuminated. I feel the nights here are longer and darker than in my own realm... or the human realm, I guess. Maybe it's just alien because... well this place feels distinctly different now that the excitement of visiting a new place has surely worn off. Not in a bad way, the air is just heavy with something. It smells different, tastes different.

My eyes latch onto a shadow across from me. one of the deep doorways of the palace seems... off. I detect movement, unknowable to the untrained eye, but I haven't been entirely unsuccessful in my training efforts.

The figure snakes out of the doorway, and its eyes flare like a cat's as it makes eye contact with me. A wing drags behind it, broken... no, it's bleeding. Someone shot it. I see a feather pricked scalp and a pair of pointy ears as it sculks back into the doorway. "Harpy" I think and remember the talon at my window. Could it have followed me here?

I quickly step away from my vantage point and get dressed. In practical clothes, a green top and brown pants to help me blend in. I shoulder my bow and fly out the door, as quietly as I can. I need to get to Wolf and warn him, I alone can't defeat a monster like that. My bare feet pad along the stone floors as I round a corner.

When I hear an unfamiliar language, I press my back against the wall and wait. It sounds like elvish, but harsher and more frantic. I curse my inability to understand, and ready my weapon. I crouch down and watch the dark hallway with my bow ready to draw. I ignore the way my heart is hammering in my chest. All my training for me to hide in a corner and wait for the danger to pass...

I peek around the corner to see who these unfamiliar voices are coming from. Across the hallway, I spot six or seven, it is hard to tell at a glance, figures in dark robes and vestments, carrying wicked curved blades at their sides. These do not look like elven guards to me, even though their hoods obscure my faces. I vaguely remember what Deliah said about the various kinds of elves, and the uneasy peace between them.

The strangers seem not to have noticed me, as they move along the hallway, away from where I'm hiding. I take a deep breath and sprint in the opposite direction. I know where Wolf's room is, though I've never been inside. It's up near Fern's quarters, which means I have to find a staircase, and ideally a servant's staircase. The grand staircase seems far too obvious a choice.

I chide my past self for not paying attention to the comings and goings of the palace more in my month spent here. I really ought to have been more tuned into the side paths and exits that pepper these hallways. My feet carry me to the inevitable end of the hallway and to my great relief my hunch was correct. I find a narrow stairway behind a subtle white wooden door, and I slip inside without making a sound.

My back continues to press to the wall as I shut the door as quickly and soundlessly as I possibly can. The quiet click of the latch falling into place sounds deafening in the total silence, alongside my fast, shallow breaths.