Elvirund | ✔️

Chapter Forty Two

Alethia had been gone an hour and a half when Caphriel started to worry. Nervous and unable to sit still, she paced in front of one large kettle where Sibriel was carefully stirring in a ground pegasus hoof.

"Do you think she's alright? Should we go after her?"

"Let's wait fifteen more minutes. If she's not back by then, we'll go."

Gritting her teeth, she growled and shook her head.

"I'm going now. I have a bad feeling."

Grabbing the knife she had taken from Alethia, Caphriel stormed out the door and leapt into the sky. She knew Alethia's scent well enough, roses and pine, but she didn't know the Silver deer grounds the same way the other girl did.

"Wait, we're coming!"

Pahaliah slid her dagger into her belt loop and tossed Sibriel his.

"What about the projects?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"My sister knows."

"And Uriel?"

"Charmeine is capable enough."

As they joined her in the air she took a deep breath and concentrated. North west.

"Fine. Let's go."

She swerved in the direction Alethia had gone, following the trail. The wind tugged at her hair, made her eyes water, dragged at her clothes. The forest passed under them, a sheet of green that yielded little of its contents.

"We're getting close," she shouted.

Indeed, when she landed she could catch Alethia's scent easily. They were very close indeed. The trees had been too thick to get any closer by wing, however, so they had settled for walking to find her.

"Perhaps it would be easier to look for the deer's body?"

"Maybe. Keep your eyes peeled."

Caphriel hissed softly as she pulled the knife out. These woods raised all of the hairs on the back of her neck. She placed her steps with caution, afraid of disturbing some forest predator. Alethia was very close, she could feel it. When she rounded the next tree, that's when she saw her.

"Alethia, what have you done to yourself this time?"

Her still body was sprawled against the carcass of the deer, a long gash down her side oozing ruby droplets. Caphriel sighed and went to pick her up only to realize that Alethia's hair was soaked with blood.

"How much did she hurt herself?"

"She didn't do it to herself."

Sibriel held up a clump of matted brown fur. Elvirian Forest Bear. Why had the bear left her nearly unharmed, then? She could ignore that for now.

"We should head back. Are any of your friends healers?"

"I'll call Freya down as soon as possible."

Pahaliah shoved the deer over her shoulder and nodded to Caphriel. They sped back to the shop, unsure of the extent of the damage. It looked as if the deer was still in good enough condition to consume; if it was they would feast like kings for a solid week. She set Alethia down near one of the fires, carefully combing through her hair for the source of the blood.

"Dove, why do you do this?"

Finally she found it. A claw mark reaching from behind her left ear to her hairline at her neck. By now the blood had caked up and stopped flowing, luckily enough, so the only blood they would have to worry about was the other wound.