Severed

Chapter 23

Hallie was lying on the couch, resting but eyes never closing to sleep while I paced around the room trying to craft a plan to keep her alive. "Stop it" Hallie said blandly, like she wanted me to stop, but truly didn't care whether or not I listened. I had to gain her trust to convince her to leave with me so I stopped pacing and sat at the kitchen table. We waited for quite a while, sitting in silence, neither of us moving. I was about to suggest we discuss the flimsy plan I'd come up with when I looked over to Hallie and stopped. She had finally shut her eyes and, sleeping or not, it was an improvement over her empty stare. I just about couldn't sit still any longer when the door burst open.

Leonus flung into the house and slammed the door behind him as I jumped up to meet him. "What's going on?" I whispered as to not wake Hallie. "There's been an attack on Vekesh, a faerie army marches on Zeneth as we speak" he said breathlessly, stumbling through the house. Then he saw Hallie and stopped dead. "What the /hell/ is she doing here?" He yelled, storming over to me. "Shut up, she's finally sleeping" I grabbed his wrist and drug him back outside. "Kashina how could you? Fist I find out that faeries are attacking my realm and then I found /her/ in my house? Kashina do you know what they'll do if they find her with us? We have to send her back"
I couldn't. I wouldn't send her back. "No, we can't" I thought for a moment and added, "let's go to Vekesh. Let's take Hallie and go to the demon realm"

Leonus didn't like that one. "We can't. You know how the demons react to faeries. And now, with the army... It'll only be worse"
"But she's not a faerie anymore. Come on Lee, we don't have another choice" I retorted.
He sighed, "fine. I'm not looking forward to going home though. I might get a worse welcome than Hallie, all things considered"

We both went back into the house and rested for a while since I wanted to let Hallie sleep. She woke up around dinner time, by which we'd already packed our things. I handed her a spare pair of boots, the coat she'd used earlier, a winter hat, and a pair of gloves. Leonus and I had already suited up to go out in the cold so we gave Hallie a few minutes to get ready before heading out. She didn't say anything when I handed her the lightest backpack and we set out into the cold.
---
Hallie didn't say anything the entire time we walked and neither did Lee. He was mad at me, I knew it. It didn't matter though, as long as he wasn't mad at Hallie. She didn't do anything wrong.

We walked the rest of the day until the sky darkened and then we stopped at a hotel. Our motley group hasn't yet made it out of Portagus, the spirit realm, yet as it was a relatively large territory. A little town called Durellei greeted us with a run down hotel, tavern, and other dusty shops. Going east would have us reaching Vekesh in around 3 days, but we would have to stop each evening and find somewhere to sleep since the night brought brutal cold with it. Once we purchased two separate rooms for the night at the pathetic price of 180 Ranes each. Leonus just took his bag and left for his room while I brought Hallie to ours. As soon as the door clicked shut, she sighed and started taking off layers of clothes. We hadn't been walking for long, but it was very cold and the roads had been snowy so we were all tired. Hallie didn't waste any time after removing the giant coat and boots she wore before falling onto one of the creaky beds. She was out cold before I even turned around.

That night I had a dream. It was all white and snow, so cold that even in my unconsciousness, I shivered. The road in front of me was iced over and the trees above jingled with ice that reached for the dirt. It was impossible to see your hand in front of your face so I didn't dare take a single step for fear of slipping. The dream didn't last long, but it remained long enough for me to realize that it was less of a dream and more of a vision.
---
The next day, I let Hallie sleep while I ventured to Lee's room. I knocked and he answered, but before I could say anything he said, "I've had some time to think and I'm not mad at you for bringing her".
"Good" I replied "but I have other news. I had a vision last night. We're not going to be able to travel today. There's going to be a snowstorm, a bad one"
"Ah okay, let's go see what else Durellei has to offer. We can pick up some breakfast and any more supplies we need. Plus buying a Shiyah and carriage isn't a bad idea"
I nodded, "but let's not bring Hallie. She won't eat and she's really weak"
Leonus also nodded and we both headed back to our rooms to get ready.

Leonus and I met in the hotel's lobby, all bundled up against the impending snowstorm. I'd left Hallie a note just in case she woke up while we were gone. It was short and explained where Lee and I were and told her to wait until we came back. It was unlikely she'd see the note at all seeing how little she had slept in the past few days. So we left to explore the little town without her.