He Stoll My Heart - Connor Stoll.

Ch.18: Rescuing the Rainbow

Previously:

"Are you ready?" Rose said.

Katie gave her a sideways smile. "Ready as I'll ever be."

Rose took a deep breath as she looked at the small door.

Loud and clear, with as much authority in her voice as a military general, she spoke.

"O ianua, aperi!"

- - -

The small 4 by 3 foot door swung open as quietly as snow falling on a roof.

Rose and Katie quietly and carefully stepped inside, dagger and sword ready. Rose quiver was brimming with wooden arrows, and she was ready to use them if necessary.

The room was large and furniture-less. The walls were made of dark green metal. A few flickering torches of blue fire were displayed against the walls. There was a rectangle on the opposite side that Rose assumed to be a door without a handle on the inside.

In the middle of the room was what seemed to be a woman.

She was sitting on the floor, her knees to her chest, her head on her knees. While her golden blond hair was insanely clean, her long white dress was not: parts of the white cloth were burned, and other pieces were stained in a golden liquid. Much to Rose and Katie's shock, she was sitting in a puddle of the same shimmery, golden liquid.

Behind them, the small door closed without a noise, disappearing into the metal wall.

Katie stared at the woman in shock. Rose scanned the room.

No guards... Weird. And suspicious, she thought.

Without lowering her guard or her sword, Rose spoke up.

"Hello?" she said tentatively.

The woman looked up at them with a mixture of surprise, relief, and thankfulness, but also terror.

Her eyes shined with the colors of the rainbow, albeit with less vigor than she had in Rose's dream.

Iris didn't smile. Her eyes were wide and her lips started moving as if she were trying to speak, but no sound escaped her lips.

"Iris!" Katie said softly, eyes wide as she dropped her guard and rushed to the goddess' aid.

Rose followed, but she didn't drop her guard or her sword .

Katie gasped with horror.

"What? What is it?" Rose said, quickening her pace to reach them.

When she reached them her eyes widened.

On the goddess' back were two holes in her dress, where her wings would be, but the wings weren't there. Instead, two large stubs poked out of the holes, and golden ichor (the blood of the gods) streamed from the wounds, staining her white dress and forming the puddle of ichor the goddess was sitting in.

"Oh my gods," Rose whispered with horror.

Iris let out a sigh, shaking her head as if in denial.

"The empousai must've cut her wings off," Katie said shakily. 

No duh, Rose thought. 

She scanned the room again. No security cameras either. Either the empousai had a terrible security system, or it was too good to be seem.

Iris tried to point at her back with her chained hands, gesturing as if she wanted something.

Rose frowned. "We need to get your wings back?"