Moving on, moving forward.

Winged Beasts.

Gavriel sniffed at the air with a look of confusion on his face.
Aelin knew why, these creatures had a strange sent, one neither of them had ever smelt before.

How had they not sensed them? Aelin began to feel sick to the stomach, a strange ache building. Both Aelin and Gavriel snapped into action.

Aelin snatched the Sword of Orinth up from where it was resting and swung it at the nearest creature. She managed a graze before the thing danced back and thrusted it's own sword at her.

They each were clothed in full black, savage ebony masks covering their faces.
Brutal, yet beautiful swords pointed towards them as they charged. Gavriel pulled his sword up from where he had sat it earlier, by the entrance to the lounge, and ducked as one of the creatures swung its sword at his head.

These creatures were efficient and professional in their fighting and soon both Aelin and Gavriel had begun to sweat. They yelled and shouted and kicked over furniture. Aelin could only hope that Fenrys and Rowan would be back soon as they could not fight these things alone.

The sick feeling in Aelin's stomach grew. Her stomach cramped up and she struggled to stand. She reached for her fire but..... Nothing.
Aelin looked over at Gavriel to find him already looking at her, she could see the question in his eyes, the hope. She shook her head, wanting to be sick. A look of pure panic was etched into both of their faces.
Neither of them could use their magic against these creatures.
They made eye contact and the message was understood.

The creatures pushed them back further into the lounge, into the kitchen and they heard more enter, going up the stairs.
Aedion and Lysandra would be completely unaware, and neither of them had a weapon. Aelin looked over at Gavriel just as he had the same realisation and she mentally slapped herself as she glanced down at Aedion's sword.

They heard banging from upstairs, but no sound from Aedion or Lysandra, Aelin prayed that they'd both escape... somehow.

They managed to kill four of the creatures until they were utterly surrounded.
There was nothing they could do. With swords pointed to their throats, a creature came towards them with strange chains.
As they clipped the chains around their wrists a sudden sharp piercing pain shot up Aelin's arms and travelled through the rest of her body. Her knees threatened to buckle as she felt the emptiness of her magic sweep over her. The memory of clinking chains and slapping of whips resurfaced, bringing back that old fear, that old pain. She stared down at her hands. The memory of the darkness choking her.

Gavriel' s yelling snapped her out of her daze as one of the creatures grabbed her and dragged her towards the door.
Like hell she was going without a fight.
She thrust out her leg aiming for the creatures shins. The thing dodged her and growled. She thrashed and swung and lashed out as much as she could, Gavriel did the same. But these creatures, and these chains, what the hell were they. Where did they come from? They were not of this world, surely.
Had they missed something when they sent Erawan through that portal?
A crash and a shout echoed from upstairs.
Aedion.

She kicked at the creature.
"Stop that!" It growled ferociously with a deep guttural voice, and an accent she did not recognise.
Another one came over and grabbed her other side, both of them hoisting her up so she was no longer on the ground.
She couldn't see Gavriel so she yelled, "GAVRIEL!"
She heard a grunt, "Hold on!"
She twisted, but these things, they must have been using some kind of magic.
Yes, she could taste it.
Foreign.
Strange.
Deadly.
The two massive winged beasts hauled her out the door, the others following behind.
She twisted again and one of the creatures lost their grip. Her lips twitched with a barely contained smirk as she swung her leg up and kicked the beast in the face so hard he lifted off the ground. She then twisted and shoved into the other beast with all her weight and strength, knocking him onto his back. He grabbed her ankle before she could get away and she slammed her foot down onto his arm, the sound of bone breaking shuddered through her and she let out her smirk as the creature cried out in anger and pain.
She turned towards Gavriel to see him surrounded by five of the creatures. Looking at them now, they were about the same size as Gavriel, it was their wings making them look so large.
Five? Why the hell did he get five?
Three more of the creatures came rushing towards her as the one on the ground tried to stand. She brought her elbow down directly on the top of his head and he was out cold.

The three that came towards her had the massive glorious swords.
Gavriel was still fighting and he managed to get two down before more came along with swords.
They surrounded her and she thrashed out but one grabbed her from behind, pressing the sword to her throat.
She kicked out and the sword pressed harder. Her throat burned and she struggled to think of a way out of this.

Her hope of getting out of this was crushed as she watched as more of the creatures exited the house carrying her cousin, thrashing and yelling, out of the house. Blood and sweat slid down his face, dripping off his chin as they shoved him into an iron cell on the back of a wagon.
They followed with an unconscious Lysandra, shoving her into another cell.
No. No.
They were dragging her into one.
No.
She couldn't let this happen.
She looked to Gavriel, he was covered in blood just like her.
He thrashed as they shoved him into a cell.
Panic settled in her heart as she watched her friends being locked in cages.

She braced her hands against the door of her's as they slammed it shut and rested her forehead against it.
She wasn't sure if all of them would make it out of this one.
She called out for Rowan, but no matter how hard she tried, there was nothing.
The bond was either gone or shut off. For the first time in a long time, she wanted to cry.
She breathed a shuddering sigh as she felt the cart start into motion.
How could they have messed up so bad? How could they not have sensed them, heard them?
Most importantly, who were they?

And what did they want?