New World

21 | Riders Return pt.1

Kit woke some time in the night. He'd had an iratze from Lila and it burned on his arm. The infirmary was lit by warm yellow light. He could see the rooftops of London, Victorian and sturdy under the dark sky.

He rolled onto his side to go back to sleep and found that Lila had fallen asleep on the bed beside his, her stele in her hand. He found an iratze was also burning on her forearm, and he remembered her falling. She must've not had time to heal. She was under the covers and her dark hair spilled over them, almost like clashing colours.

He fell asleep with a memory on the edge of his mind, a memory of being very ill when he was young, someone sleeping by his side all night. His dad? Who else would have stayed with him? There was nobody else.

He decided he wouldn't think about it. It was part of his earlier life. He had friends now to stay by his side if he were ill, friends like Lila who promised without the words to stay by his side no matter what, shown by her actions: staying by his side in London, making sure he got through the portal by going with him, staying beside him now.

For however long that lasted, he would appreciate her, Ty and Livvy.

—

Lila was woken by Livvy shaking her shoulders, whispering her name.

"What?" She groaned, blinking tiredly.

"The Riders are back."

She tiredly sat up, rubbed her eyes and then tried to stay awake as they ran down the corridors.

Everyone was standing at the windows when Livvy and Lila entered the library, looking out at the courtyard and the entrance to the Institute. Emma and Julian burst in moments later.

The five faeries were standing in the courtyard. They were on horses, their swords unsheathed an held in hand.

"They can't get in the Institute," said Ty.

"No," Magnus replied. "The wards keep them out."

"Nonetheless, we should get away when we can," said Kieran.

"We need to contact Alicante," said Livvy. "They need to open their side of the portal so we can go."

"We can't do that without telling them the Riders are here. We could still portal away from here, if not to Idris." Julian spoke and then looked to Magnus.

"The thing is, I can't make my side of the portal right now. I didn't think we'd need to send Alec and the children away, or heal Kit."

"There's a portal in the crypt. It only goes to the Cornwall Institute, though," informed Ty.

"The Institute is abandoned, though," said Julian. "The wards are probably stronger here."

"We'd just be trading institutes, really."

"What about Catarina Loss? She got us out of the Los Angeles Institute," Said Livvy.

"The wards which keep the Riders out are the same ones which stop anyone being able to make a portal from the outside," replied Magnus.

"What about the Seelie Queen?" Asked Emma. "Wouldn't she help us?"

"I have to hand it to you," Magnus said. "I never thought Jace and Clary would be topped by anyone else in terms of insane, self-destructive decisions, but you are giving them a run for their money."

"I really had nothing to do with this," Kieran said stiffly.

"I think you will find many poor decisions led you here, my friend," Magnus said. "There are a few things I can do to try to bring my energy up. All of you—wait here. And don't do anything stupid."

He strode out of the room, swearing under his breath.

"He's getting more and more like Gandalf," said Emma, watching him go. "I mean, a hot and younger-looking Gandalf. But I keep expecting him to start stroking his long white beard and mutter darkly."

"At least he's willing to help us," said Julian. His gaze sharpened. A Rider was coming through the gates. The sixth rider, this one with a slighter build, a spill of long bronze hair.

"Can I go back to bed yet?" Lila muttered to Livvy, rubbing her eyes.

Livvy sighed. "No." She was standing next to Lila on the third step of a staircase in the library, looking out the window. They could see the Rider holding a girl's collar, sitting on the horse too. There was a dagger pointed at the girl and she looked terrified.

"Get back from the windows," Julian said. "Everyone get back from the windows. If they don't think we're looking they're less likely to hurt the girl."

"We should go down and fight them," Mark said.

"We can't, we'll be killed," Julian told him.

"I killed one of them before," said Emma. "I—"

"They were caught off guard," Julian interrupted. "They didn't think it was possible."

"The Riders of Mannan have never been defeated. Emma is the first ever to kill one. They have taken the child to lure us out, for they know they will have us in their power when they do," Mark said.

"They'll kill her," Emma said. "She's a baby."

As Julian reached out to Emma, she bolted for the library doors. Everyone was calling after her, then as they heard her go, and heard the loud smack of the Institute doors open and close, they cluttered around the windows, watching the scene below.

"We should go with her," Livvy Said. "Emma could get hurt."

"Give it a minute," Julian Said.

"But—"

"Lila, she's okay." Julian tapped his forearm, where his parabatai rune sat. "I'll know if she isn't."

They could see Emma talking to the Riders, and Lila chewed anxiously on her lip. What if something went wrong suddenly? Livvy linked her arm with Lila's, the sisters knowing how worried the other felt.

The girl was pushed from the horse just then, after Emma spoke and raised Cortana. The girl fell to the ground and then scrambled to her feet, running as fast she could down the street, looking back occasionally.

Then the Rider dropped from the horse, and Emma and she started fighting. Once Emma had been caught on the shoulder by another Rider, Julian said, "Find gear. We're going to help Emma." Then he thought for a moment just as people started to move. "Someone wake Kit. We'll need him, too."

Livvy and Ty looked over to Lila. She huffed and ran out of the library, down the long corridors and quickly grabbed gear from the parlour, where they'd kept them just in case anything happened. She quickly changed out of her dress and heels and into gear and boots, tied her hair into a ponytail quickly and then ran back to the infirmary. She could hear Dru and Livvy calling to each other down the corridor.

Kit was still asleep when Lila went into the infirmary, looked so peaceful, his blond locks of hair falling over his forehead as he slept. She felt pained to wake him.

She shook his shoulders slightly. "Kit!" She said, "come on, you need to wake up." He groaned and rolled over. Lila simply walked around his bed to the other side and shook him again. "Come on, Kit!"

"What?" He asked tiredly, blinking at her. His eyes dropped the more he blinked, almost falling back asleep.

"You need to get gear. The Riders are back."