𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒

𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲

Woody streams of smoke filled her nostrils once more as the heat from the fire raged around her, The roaring of the flames became harder to ignore which left Isolde with no decision other than that of having to move away from her position in the forest. Her tired fingers thrust themselves down on the dirt beside her in order to provide some stability for the movement she was preparing to undertake.

Mustering up the energy to pull herself up, she did just that. The hands that were by her side moved in front of her as she stood up on her feet like a child pulling themselves up for the first time. An aching sensation flooded through her legs due to the adrenaline levels in her starting to decrease.

"This is going to be a fun few hours isn't it?" She spoke aloud to no one in particular. Feeling more stable on her feet, Isolde started the trek out of the forest, or at least what she believed to be out of the forest. In all honesty the only thing she had to go on is that the area around her seemed to be filled with the same kinds of trees that were around her when she was with Henry.

Just thinking of his name made her blood boil, not only had he ratted her out he also took her salve, her blades and most likely anything else that would have been of value from her person. If she ever saw him again she would make sure she was the last thing he ever saw.

Quickly running her fingers through her hair, Isolde paused at the realisation that she no longer had her hair tied meaning that the bastard had also stolen her runes which meant that returning to Basgiath was not an option. "That greedy son of a bitch." She huffed out. Soon a large presence filled her mind as her feet weaved in between the piles of ash and the actively burning logs.

It was faint but comforting as she recognised it as the portal of communication between her and Tairn. "Tairn. Tairn can you hear me?" She paused and prayed that he would respond to her. Isolde reached out once again. "Isolde?" His monotone voice filled her mind and she never believed that she would have been so happy to hear such a drab voice in her life but upon hearing his words a few tears entered her eyes.

"Yes, I'm here and I'm ok." Suddenly, two lumps in front of her caught her eyes causing her to lose focus her attention on Tairn. Flames continued to consume the forest with a relentless hunger, filling the air with choking smoke and the acrid stench of destruction. Trees groaned in the distance, embers swirling like fireflies in the chaos. The oppressive heat streamed down upon everything.

Isolde stood still praying that the bodies in front of her were a figment of her imagination and not actually the two boys that she was slowly becoming friends with. "Please do not tell me that you sent Xaden and Garrick into this mess to find me?" Tairn stayed silent for a moment. "I ordered him to do no such thing, he was merely curious about your whereabouts and I pointed him in the right direction." That was no most pernickety answer she had ever heard someone say.

She muttered angrily as she forced her way through the burning chaos and closer to the two boys that she was going to end up killing because of their stupidity. Xaden was slumped against a fallen tree, his usually imposing figure looking infuriatingly pathetic which in any other circumstance would have filled Isolde with an immense feeling of enjoyment but this time she was unable to crack a smile. Garrick was sprawled nearby, looking equally useless. She stared at the pair of them, torn between disbelief and fury and wondering how on earth she was meant to move them.

For a brief moment she contemplated leaving them in the forest in the hopes that someone else would stumble across them but she quickly shook her head free from the thought and decided to help them herself.

Storming over to Xaden first she crouched beside him, pressed her fingers to his neck and found a faint pulse. "Oh, great. You're alive. Fantastic. That means I get to kill you myself for this later." Moving to Garrick she checked his breathing, which was shallow but steady. Luckily this meant that whilst the situation was a disaster, it was better than her having two dead bodies that she would have had to deal with.

Without a second to spare, she pulled Xaden's cloak off of his body and placed it over her own so that if they were to wake up on the way back to the school they would not be able to see who had returned them. Thankful for the muscle she had spent year honing and defining Isolde bent down into a modified squat and threw both Garrick and Xaden onto her back in a fireman's carry and used all of the strength that was stored in her reserves to plod through the forest and to the border of Calldyr.

About thirty minutes passed until Isolde reached the border of Calldyr with no energy left in her system. The village they had ended up in was lively, filled with drunk villagers who were too busy dancing, eating and chatting amongst friends to notice the odd situation that was doing its best to subtly pass through.

"Tairn. I need you to meet me in Calldyr to take Xaden and Garrick back to Basgiath. My runes are gone and I can't go back to the school without them." She dropped the two men onto the floor before checking their pulses once more unsure as to why they were not regaining their consciousness. "Where will you go?" Isolde stayed quiet as it seemed that for the first time in her life she didn't have an answer.

"It's not the first time I've had to hide Tairn. I'll be ok." The sound of his humph filled her mind and it seemed to perfectly convey the disbelief he held as it mirrored the self doubt she was also feeling. "But will you come?" A sombre and reluctant yes entered her mind in his dulcet tone but she was happy that she would be able to see him after the night she had endured.

The next ten minutes consisted of nervous pacing and an unholy amount of panic coursing through her body. But as she heard the familiar, ground-shaking beats of wings it felt as if a cold bucket of water had been poured over her and allowed her to be fully present in the moment.

"You have no idea how pleased I am to see you." Isolde stalked forward and more or less threw her arms around the base of Tairn's ankle in as much of a hug as she could manage. A huff of warm air embraced her back before she felt the scales press against her back from where Tairn had rested his chin in an attempt to return the sentiment.

"You ought to find some lavender for your face. It will help with the scarring from the burns." He spoke nonchalantly as he felt her pull away in order to drag Xaden and Garrick to Tairn. "I will, I believe I saw a bush of it about fifteen minutes before arriving here." A moment of struggle overcame her as she attempted to lift Garrick onto Tairn's back before he lowered his front leg in order to create a ramp for her to drag him up.

"Thank you. Please get them back safely, and if they ask; they were found by a concerned citizen and returned to the borders." Tairn stayed silent. Looking down at the two boys in front of her Isolde was unable to control the hurt that lapped her chest, in such a short period she had grown so incredibly fond of them and was unable to dismiss her feelings as she saw them, with such peaceful looks on their faces.

Climbing down, a hand wrapped around her hand and pulled her back down to the boys. Xaden's hand clutched her wrist, causing her to fall unceremoniously back down between the pair of them. His lips opened ever so slightly and the sound that left his mouth caused Isolde to stop in her tracks.

"Vayne." Her blood stilled in her veins.

A/N

Hey guys. Thank you so much for 4k reads. I love you all so much. Sorry for the short chapter just found out my brother was in a car accident and he is completely fine but I think it just shook my family up a bit but I'm also aware that life doesn't stop and that it has been 7 days since I last posted. Chapter has not been proofread but I will get to that tomorrow :)

Question of the day: Fave song and why