Tears of Avalon

Chapter 6: A Clash of Hearts

"No! Let me go!" Ilyia screamed. She thrashed in Taren's arms as he dragged her away from her demolished home. From her mother. She could still see the dark fairies pouncing on her mother's helpless body, and she shrieked in grief and despair. This couldn't be happening!

"Quiet," Taren hissed. "You're going to bring them down on us both." He kept his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, dragging her through trees, branches, and leaves.

Twice she elbowed him in the chest, and though he grunted, he didn't release her. If anything, he just held on tighter.

"They'll kill her!" Ilyia protested and struck him again. "Let me go! I can help her!"

"You can't," he argued. "The worst thing you can do is get caught. Your mother is theirs now. We have to go, Ilyia. She sacrificed herself for you. I'm not going to let that be in vain."

The words cut like a knife.

Sacrificed...her mother had sacrificed herself.

Did that mean she was dead?

Ilyia's breath caught in her throat. Suddenly, her struggles stopped and pain ripped through her heart. She was barely aware of Taren snapping her name as she realized the horrible truth. If her mother was dead, she had no one. She was truly alone.

And it was all Ilyia's fault.

Taren jerked her hard. "Ilyia, you need to fly. I can't struggle with you and defend us at the same time."

Ilyia blinked back the unshed tears in her eyes. She looked up at him. "She's dead. My mother's dead."

"I didn't say that."

"But you saw them! They descended upon her like vultures! She—"

Taren wrapped his hand firmly around her mouth and squeezed her cheeks as if to make a point. "If you keep screaming, we'll be the ones killed. We need to get away, and then we can plan what to do next."

More tears pooled in Ilyia's eyes and raced down her cheeks. Her breaths turned into shallow pants of grief and panic. She couldn't stop it. She thought her heart was going to explode. Her wings shuddered and dropped to her back, useless.

His eyes softened. "I'm sorry, Ilyia, but we can't waste any more time."

He freed her mouth then reached down to her neck, pinching a nerve.

Ilyia instantly fell unconscious.

~*~

She awoke sometime later and felt herself floating in the air. When she opened her eyes, she realized she was nestled against Taren's chest, his strong arms bracing her beneath her knees and behind her back. He stared ahead as he flew, his cheek bleeding. He ascended towards a tree and broke through a few of the leaves until they came to a hole in the trunk.

He landed gently and lowered her to the ground on a bed of leaves and feathers. When he saw her awake, he pressed a finger to his lips and pulled her back into the darkest corner of the hole.

"I think I lost them," he whispered to her. "Just wait quietly." He wrapped an arm around her, to comfort or restrain her, she wasn't sure.

She wanted to be mad at him. She wanted to scream and slap him in rage, but a sound outside made her cling to him in fear. He leaned over her, hiding her more from sight.

Something landed on a branch just outside of their hideout.

"Do you see them?" a deep voice asked.

"No. I was sure that I struck that lightning fairy in the back."

Ilyia frowned and glanced at Taren, but he kept staring at the hole.