House Of Fire

Chapter 22

Her head was cushioned on a soft thing.

The thing tended to move from side to side a lot and when her eyes opened a soothing light filtered through the tiny hole at the end of the tunnel.

Her right shoulder pressed against the hard ground underneath. The nerves in her feathers were tender and sore from the amount of exercise they had to endure.

The blackness of her feathers absorbed the light, it shielded her body from the harsh cave walls her wings were currently pressed against.

"She's waking up."

The stern voice came from above. Raven's green eyes met pale blue. The girl was the one she had saved from falling before she passed out.

A large smile took over the girls' face. "Thanks for saving me, frelsari. You hold my loyalty."

What did she mean? Loyalty for what?

"What do you mean?"

"You have saved my life. In our culture we deal a life for a life. Until I have saved yours I owe you a life." Her voice was very young. She couldn't be over twenty and yet her eyes were older than her own.

"I am Quinn by the way. This is Ulla" she pointed to the old woman with greying hair and kind face "and that's Elaine." Elaine was similar to Ulla but her eyes held a wary gleam. Her greying hair was silver in the dim light making her appear otherworldly, as weird as it sounded.

Grunting as she sat upright she observed the tiny glowing lights in the walls.

Outside night was in full display, the galaxies twisted and turned, nebulas that were in a kaleidoscope of colours, shapes and forms. The stars twinkled and varied in density and light intensity.

"We have to move quickly if we want to lose the warriors. Why were you so close to getting caught?"

Raven spared her a glance. The light only showed half her face but the genuine concern made her heart warm.

"I was pretending to be a warrior. It only lasted a week though. They took me on a mission to find you. I've been hiding your tracks ever since."

"How is it possible that you have wings child?" Ulla spoke to her before Quinn could ask more questions.

"I don't know. But I was born on Earth not in Heaven. Humans raised me, I hunted with wolves and a Nightmare taught me to fly. I want to know how I am here as well. I came here to look for the answers but got mixed up in this civil war."

That, she had. Her own values and beliefs hated the males for their possessive, overbearing behavior. The women here had no choice, were forced to mate with whomever fancied them and work while they played around with swords and believed themselves to be politicians.

Sheathing her wings to make more room Raven was able to stand up and examine the small cavern.

"Any chance we can get out of here now? I'd rather not wait for them to double back and sniff us out." The three women looked at her before coming to a silent agreement. The stood and began moving to the exit.

Raven followed and almost missed it when Quinn ducked into a side tunnel.

Inside it was damp and smelled of dust and mud. The ground was squishy and her boots grew heavier as the mud stuck to her soles.

She picked her flame dagger out of her sling and played around with it. The tiny wormlights caught on the blood red blade and sprinkled the cave with red dots. The weight was a comfort in her grasp, a steady reminder that long ago she had had blade training with Liam.