Red String {EDITING}

A Rather Short Battle

"Something's wrong." Thorn mumbled, rather calmly, considering they were falling through the air towards the ground which was currently a frightening distance away.

"What?!" Lyra yelled, struggling to hear him over the roaring winds.

"The pavilion lights are on full brightness." He said, pointing at the castle below. "They should be dimming by now to reduce light pollution. Not to mention there's a very strong scent of blood in the air." Red eyes narrowed, a pair of white fluffy wings emerging through the well-positioned slits in his coat. "I'm going on ahead." He said, glancing at her once before he dived down, falling at an even greater speed than Lyra as she flailed about mid-air, screaming her lungs off until she remembered something rather important.

"Oh yeah..." She blinked. "Lunaria taught me how to fly..."

Red crackling wings appeared on her back, slowing her descent as she fell with style towards Stonewall Castle.

Her eyes instantly locked on her mate, who was currently fighting a few of the intruders quite far below her. Two people were on either side of him, helping him hold back the horde of attackers with various weapons. She scoured the field with her gaze, locating all of the people she assumed to be Elders, before sending down a bolt of red lightning, grinning as red streaks of light danced between most of the enemies down below.

Rylan blinked. "Red lightning...?" He whispered, his eyes darting from side to side as he tried to find his mate. "Lyra?!"

His father's eyes narrowed too. "Please don't tell me she's here..."

Lyra chose that moment to land, throwing up a cloud of dust and dirt as she hit the ground.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing up here like that." Two swords were at her throat in an instant, a pair of icy blue eyes meeting hers alongside a set of steely grey ones. "Rogue Queen."

Lyra blinked. "Huh?!"

"Leopold, we can handle things here." The grey-eyed one said. "You go ahead and finish this battle."

"OK." The pale blue-eyed man clapped the other Elder on the shoulder.

"But-"

Rylan was dragged away by the blonde woman whom Lyra assumed to be his mother. "We need to finish this battle, Ry." She said. "Stay sharp."

Sharp metal bit into Lyra's throat, pulling her attention away from her mate and onto the two Elders in front of her.

"Try anything funny, and you'll be in for a world of pain." The icy blue-eyed one spoke, gritting his teeth when red lightning sparked in her hands.

"RYLAN!" The shout made her freeze, and then a dagger was buried in her shoulder.

The strange thing was that she felt no pain, even when another one was plunged into her chest.

"You can't say we didn't warn you." The grey-eyed Elder said, blinking in shock as Lyra started rambling under her breath.

"No pain... Why doesn't it hurt anymore?! I don't get it." She muttered, sinking to her knees, shivering ever so slightly. "I'm not in that room anymore."

Red lightning crackled around the two Elders rather suddenly, the two of them having lowered their guard once Lyra had sunk to the ground. "Lyra..." Her mother was by her side in the next second, cradling the girl in her arms, rocking her back and forth as she whispered words of comfort to her delirious daughter. "It's OK. You aren't there anymore." Her eyes burnt red as she stared at the daggers in her chest. "Dammit... Where's Finar when you need him?!"

Lyra stared up at the sky, blinking when she realised something soft and white was falling from the sky. Snow. In August. Brown eyes narrowed. "He's here... Frost is here." She sat up frantically. "No. He's going to take me back..."

"Forgive me, Lyra." Liberty whispered, slamming five fingers into her stomach, Lyra's body crackling with red lightning that wasn't her own moments before she fell to the ground – her body paralysed from her mother's Lightning Stitches. "You're not in the right state of mind to be fighting right now..." She whispered, tears leaking down her face as the girl continued to mutter under her breath. "Even if Lunaria has taught you a load of new tricks..." Liberty turned to the battlefield, her eyes darkening, a small growl escaping her throat when she spotted her son-in-law about to be stabbed. Red lightning crackled around her feet, but dissipated just as quickly.

Someone had already beaten her to the punch, after all.

"What the hell are you doing standing there like a bloody moron at the end of the battle?!" Brown eyes locked on Rylan's, a scowl evident on the guy's face.

"The end of a battle?" The Alpha King blinked. "As far as I'm aware there's still a load of enemies over..." He trailed off, staring at the sea of corpses littering the red field.

"Oh, don't look so surprised." The guy waved a hand dismissively, having already spotted the red blur darting around the field. "My mate has already dismembered them."

"Mate... Dismembered..." Rylan blinked again. "You're the Rogue King Damien."

Damien ran one hand through his brown hair, winking at him. "In the flesh." He smiled, making a peace sign with his fingers as he grinned widely. His grin soon turned dark, though, as he grabbed Rylan by the shoulder. "Break her heart and I'll rip you to pieces."

Rylan's shoulders sunk. "Will that be before or after your mate castrates me?"

Damien turned, walking away swiftly, a wide grin on his face. "After, of course!"

-----

ILLENIS HERE

Hey there. This chapter was a bit shorter than I'd like, but Alphas and Elders don't mess around in a fight.

Until next time.

-----