The Witching Hour

Ch. 37

Avalonna

Avalonna could not believe the stories Connor told her. His travel was rather short, but he experienced much in that time. Eversong had burned at the hands of the Nitehardts, her home was gone. Connor had mentioned something of a fortuneteller that stirred up a long lost memory within Avalonna. Something that happened long ago, before Connor was born and Avalonna was an only child, but she could not quite place what it was. Time and the impact of the rest of Connor's story made it impossible.

Connor appeared to be equally as surprised by Avalonna's stories. She studied his face as she described her growing abilities, Drow coming along, and her encounter with their mother. This created a somber moment between the two siblings as they remembered their parents. They locked eyes and knew the Nitehardts could not get away with this. They had to be stopped, this could not be allowed to happen to others.

"So what do we do from here?" Connor asked her.

"Well, the plan was always come here and learn from the Council. Although, I doubt the Red King and Queen will grant us that privilege." She replied.
"You mentioned the elves, are you sure they'll aid us?"

"Yes, Lydia and her mother have both said as much. I'm sure they and your Dwarven friends will be great allies."

"I agree, with both armies and our own magic, we may still stand a chance. However we both know we can't underestimate the Nitehardts. We need a plan." Avalonna added.

"Perhaps," Aurora said approaching from behind the siblings,
"You should discuss that with some of your elder allies. You don't live as long as I have and not gain experience in life."

The elf queen stood beside the Bishop siblings, and Avalonna noticed for the first time how weary the queen looked. She seemed to be centuries old yet no older than Avalonna all at the same time.

"I have just discussed strategy with Lydia for the impending war. She is informing Nera of our idea," Aurora continued,
"Separating our forces is not our favorite strategy, but we believe the best solution. The Nitehardts cannot easily defend their stronghold on two sides and once we gain the upper hand we can regroup and storm the castle. We use this as an elven strategy, since we are usually many in numbers and attack from further away. Your thoughts?" She asked. The way she spoke made Avalonna unable to decide whether or not she really cared for their opinions, or had already made up her mind.

"I don't quite like the idea of separating again, last time we almost were not reunited." Avalonna replied.
"Although, I do see the effectiveness of your plan. If we can move swiftly enough and attack on both sides, we may surprise them and reach our goal."

"I agree it is a clever strategy," Connor added, focusing on his hands as he spoke,
"However, what if separating us makes us too weak? We could be divided and wiped out if the Nitehdarts don't act as expected."

"We need to have faith in ourselves, Connor. The Nitehardts don't have magic and our allies in this room can easily take out most normal men." Avalonna replied.

"We know that they cannot be underestimated, Val, but if you think it is a good plan then I will support our choice. Sadly, I am sure that Aurora plans to put us on separate teams, don't you, my queen?" Connor added with a hint of a grin.

"It would be wisest, I myself should probably be apart from my daughter. We must do whatever it takes to defeat the Red King and Queen." She replied.

"When will be leaving here?" Avalonna asked.

Aurora thought for a moment and looked out the window on the far wall.
"I do wish we were here under better circumstances, I would like to stay longer. It has been ages since I last joined the Council. However, we should depart quickly, I believe tomorrow evening. We can discuss our plans in the morning and have the rest of the day to prepare. I will talk to Nera about signaling the elves and dwarves. I never thought this day would come but I am ready now that it has. I hope you two will be ready as well." She said and left with a nod.

"We have much to prepare for. I think Aurora's plan makes sense. We just have to be careful not to spread ourselves too thin." Avalonna said.

"I agree, and if we can't handle it then we come up with a second plan when we discuss with the Council tomorrow." Connor replied with a nod.

"Good thinking, for now I feel we must rest. These fights recently have taken a lot from all of us. Goodnight, brother." She added, embracing Connor.

As she left, Avalonna looked back at Connor staring out into the night. She knew he would not be sleeping soon, the dark magic growing inside him would not let him. The realization that not only was Lydia a monster, a vampire, was almost to much to bare at first, and learning Connor was now one too made her want to collapse. In a way, she felt alone, more alone than she had felt in quite a long time. Everything had changed around her. Drow had returned, but he was not human. She herself wasn't even fully human. Her family was still alive, but they were not who she knew. Lydia was never the person she though her to be, and Avalonna herself had changed so much recently. However, she knew the blame was on the Nitehardts, not her family. She made a silent promise to herself to cure her brother of the darkness. She did not hate her family for who they became, but did not wish them to stay that way.

"Am I interrupting?" Drow said as he approached and embraced Avalonna.

"You seem to be having quite a conversation with yourself." 

Avalonna smiled and shrugged softly. Drow knew her well enough to know when she was lost in thought. 

"It's nothing, Drow, just thinking of what we have to do for tomorrow and the days ahead." She replied.

"Ah, yes, one can lose themselves from the present if they get stuck thinking on what has yet to come." 

"Is that your wisdom, or Caspian's?" Avalonna said with a grin. 

"Very funny, but I have been known to have my wise moments." he smiled and kissed her softly.

"After we defeat the Nitehardt's, I want to take you away from all of this for some time. We never got the time to ourselves we wanted."                                                                                                                     

"A little optimistic aren't you?" she replied,smiling,

"I do agree though, we do need some time alone. After we finish this war, we shall see."

Drow nodded in agreement and embraced her again before they both went off to prepare for what was ahead.