Maidens & Killers

Where The Hell Is Violet?

      “Remember when I said this was the dumbest idea ever?” I ask Craobh as we circle the courtyard and flight field from the air for what feels like the fiftieth time.
“Yes, rider. I remember.” Craobh replies as he flies lower between the two stone buildings and I keep my eyes open scanning the grounds. Something has to have gone wrong, they should’ve been out of the vault and running for the rider’s quadrant by now. I decide to make one more pass before landing and investigating what the fuck is actually going on when I notice a slight movement along the left wall of the castle.
“I saw it too, rider. Let’s see what kind of trouble stirs this night.”
Craobh pretends to fly off in the opposite direction and suddenly bares directly left at the last minute. A lesser rider would have easily slid off of their dragon’s back, but Craobh and I have become almost like one entity up here in the air after so many months of riding. I easily sway and lean my body into his turn.

      In making that dramatic turn we nearly run into a completely unsuspecting Solas, sporting some new wounds courtesy of Tairn. 
“Sneaking around again there Solas.”  Craobh taunts the large orange dragon, who appears to be creeping around the courtyard from above.
Solas snaps and shoots fire in our direction as a response before shooting off back into the sky again.
“Should we follow him?” I ask my dragon as I squint my eyes, trying to see the direction he went against the black night sky.
Before Craobh can respond there is even more commotion coming from the courtyard now. Ridoc and Sawyer are both knees to chest running towards the Rider’s Quadrant.
Craobh and I zip down to land in the courtyard causing Ridoc to nearly jump out of his skin.
“Did you get it?” I ask jumping off of Craobh’s back before he has even come to a full stop.
“Yeah. We got them.” Ridoc manages to say while bent over gasping for breath.

      Violet and Rhiannon  come running up to us with Aaric trailing slightly behind cradling his arm slightly as though wounded.
“Rider! Solas has informed Major Varrish of our presence. Tell the squad to scatter. Now!”  Craobh informs me in a panicked voice.
“We have to go! Varrish is coming.” I yell to my squadmates.
Ridoc groans before running off full speed again towards the dorm building.
I turn to Craobh as everyone scatters and he nods his head at me, “Go rider, I will cause as much distraction as I can. Get to your bed and stay there until morning.”

     I take off running across the courtyard for my dorm as well and make it behind the closed door in record time, probably just as fast as the time that I got the brilliant idea to sneak out to the infantry quadrant to see Soren. Despite the anxiousness rolling through my blood right now I can’t help but smile as I think of that night and the way Garrick slugged my ex boyfriend. What I wouldn’t do to have Garrick now to punch a few people in the face.  Thinking of Garrick is starting to get to the point where it isn’t just painful, and I can remember all of the wonderful times we had together. Yay, mental health. To celebrate my good mood I end up curling up in my bed with a stack of Garrick’s most recent letters and the large shirt of his that I secretly kept behind that somehow still smells like him after months. Some kind of boy magic, I swear.  I read his words until I pass out from sheer exhaustion and endorphin release.

     The next day all of us are on edge, wondering if we truly got away with stealing the journals or not. I haven’t had a moment alone with Violet thanks to classes to even ask her what the journal contained and if it was worth all of the risks that we took to get it. Creating a ward the size that she is talking about is not a simple thing, and I hope that she found something useful. As I am sitting in yet another Battle Brief class, I make the decision that I am going to seek Violet out after classes today and find out what she was able to find.

    My afternoon opens up after lunch though when Rider’s Survival is strangely canceled. No Major Varrish or Professor Grady to be found, but there is a note taped to the door of the auditorium where someone has hastily written CLASS CANCELED.  A small crowd of us have gathered in the hallway outside of the room looking around curiously at each other. I don’t think I have ever heard of a class being canceled like this before, generally an announcement would be made at formation that morning. With the healers quadrant here, I highly doubt that Professor Grady is sick, so what’s the deal? Taking it as a sign that I should be grateful and go find Violet, I head back to our second year dorm hallway, only to find that Violet’s room is as locked up as it was the other night. I rack my brain on where she would have gone when class was canceled.  I assume that she is headed to the Archives with Jesinia and shrug it off though. I can always catch up with her later. I scurry to my own dorm room and change out of flight leathers and into more gym appropriate clothes.

     The gym has always been my happy place, and that hasn’t changed. I find lifting weights to be almost meditative in nature and can lose myself for large chunks of time.  I proceed to do just that tonight, missing dinner due to repetitive sets of lifts. People come and go out of the space and I take absolutely no notice of them. The only person who could have gotten me out of my zone right now is a certain tall, chocolate eyed man that won’t be walking through that door anytime soon. By the time I am finished lifting, I am so exhausted that I bypass Violet’s room all together and head for the little sanctuary I have built in my room with a leftover sandwich from lunch and all of Garrick’s letters that I can read until my dreams take me.

      One day of canceled Rider’s Survival is one thing, but when it's canceled again two days later, my suspicion is fully raised. That topped off with I haven’t been able to find Violet for two days now, have me heading directly to the third year barracks and Dain’s room.
“What do you mean you are sure she is fine Aetos? She’s missing. Rhiannon said she staked out her room last night and she never came back to it. That’s not normal!” I try not to yell at my wing leader but he isn’t making any sense.
Dain shrugs, “Maybe she got leave to go to Samara?” 
He is obviously trying to rush me out of his room and downplay this whole situation.
“Yeah, because everyone wants her to spend more time with Xaden. That makes zero sense and you know it Dain. What is going on?” I say unable to not raise my voice at this point.
Finally Dain massages his temples like I am giving him a headache. “Look, stay out of it okay? Please. Violet has made the bed she must lay in now, I am trying to help her as much as I can. But you don’t need to get dragged down with her.” He says, refusing to make eye contact with me.
“Fuck you.” I spit out at him before turning on my heels and storming down the hallway. I knew that Dain wouldn’t be much help, but he did what I needed him to do which was confirm my suspicions that something is in fact amiss.

     I head down the hallway towards another third year’s room with my suspicions. I’ve never been to Bodhi’s room, but he must be more social than Garrick and Xaden because the very first person that I asked in the hallway was able to point it out to me. Bodhi answers his door after my first knock, looking like he is fully dressed for flight in his leathers.
“Something is wrong.” I whisper to him, causing him to wave me into his room and shut the door.
“I take it no one has found Violet yet?” He asks me with a raise of his eyebrows.
“No. And I talked to Dain just now and he basically told me he knows where Violet is and that I just need to butt out and keep my head down.” I tell him, feeling tears begin to spring behind my eyes. This is the closest proximity I have been to someone who reminds me so much of Garrick in months. I can’t help but do a quick glance around the room, and note the differences between this room and Garrick’s old one. Both are kept unusually neat and in order, very military of them.

     At my admission of what Dain has let slip, Bodhi curses and shakes his head. “I had a feeling some shit was going down, I just didn’t want to be the one to tell Xaden. Look, I am leaving now for Samara. Shit is going to hit the fan when I get back, like nothing will be the same hit the fan. If I was you, I would pack anything that can’t be replaced into your rucksack and keep it at the ready. Don’t spread this information around, but let anyone already in on things know. When Xaden lands here all hell is going to break loose.”
My heart rate is through the roof, “What can I do?”
Bodhi doesn’t stop throwing things into his rucksack as he responds, “It’s going to take me a good chunk of the day to get to Samara, then discreetly find Xaden or Garrick and formulate a plan. Stay as calm, cool and collected as you can, but prepare yourself for war.”
“I feel like that’s all I’ve been doing.” I say as he races out of his room, probably for the last time.
“Good!” He yells down the hall at me and leaves me standing there with the weight of the world on my shoulders.

    I immediately race to my own room and throw two changes of clothes and as many of Garrick’s letters as I can into my flight rucksack. I leave space for me to store some extra food items that I can sneak out of the dining hall and I wait for the other shoe to drop.