Valkyrie Demons

Chapter 28

We gather our food and move to a secluded spot, far away from the few people moving around. I don't know if it's just my imagination but there seem to be less people than yesterday. Martin groans as I help him to sit. Dacian was told to sit as far away from him as possible for the time being.

"Hey Val." Dacian says with a small smile. He pats the spot next to him. "Sit with me?"

I hesitate for a second and immediately his smile falters. I glance toward Martin for help. He nods in Dacian's direction. I sigh, walking toward him.

"What's up?" I say a bit to sharply. I sit down with a plop and stare at my food.

"Can't I hang out with my sister?" He takes a huge bite of his toast. For some reason the crunch noise he makes while chewing, annoys the hell out of me.

"Yea sure. Why won't I want to hang out with someone with so much control over their emotions?" I bite back.

He puts a hand on his chest like I actually hurt him. "Oh come now sis. Everyone loses control sometimes."

I roll my eyes. I decide to distract myself with my food. When I take a bite I have to keep from moaning. I close my eyes, savoring the intense flavors assaulting my taste buds.

" So... What's up with you and cripple over there?" Dacian tilts his head to the side and frowns.

I choke and start coughing."His name is Martin and we're just friends." I take a bite of my bread, glaring at him.

"Wow, chill. I was just curious why you're with him so much." He pats my back awkwardly, while I take a calming breath. The urge to slap his hand away grows with every second.

"We're just friends." I say again, softly.

"Well it sure -"

"Ok let's get down to business." My father interrupts Dacian, having just arrived with his plate of food.

"As you know Denali has been captured. We aren't sure by whom but we have information that it might be the Supreme Court."

"I thought they were just humans ? How did they capture the most powerful creature? " Dacian asks.

"They are, but we suspect that they are the ones who are capturing the elves. Their magic can defeat just about anyone if they band together." My dad says, looking worried.

"They - Martin's people - have sources inside the court gathering as much info as they can get." Finn says. "We were informed this morning that there will be a treaty signing between the trolls and the court taking place tonight." Finn says.

My dad nods his head. "We are taking a team of magic soldiers to go see if we can prevent the treaty from being signed. We believe the trolls are being forced." Dad looks at all of us like he's expecting something.

I was looking for Crystal because I wanted to ask her some questions on magic when I realized I haven't seen her at all since yesterday.

" The teams will be - "

" Where's Crystal? " I interrupt trying not to panic.

Dacian looks at me questioningly. "I thought you were with her last night?"

"I uhm... no I was..." I blush when all eyes turn to me. "I was with Martin."

Dacian gaps while Finn smothers a laugh. My dad has a knowing smile.

"And what were you doing with him?" Dacian spats out.

"Not important son. We have to find Crystal first." My dad says, standing up.

"Now that you mention she's gone, I haven't seen some of my people." Martin struggles to get up and I rush over to him.

"Call an emergency gathering. We'll figure out the teams later." My dad says.

He runs to the top of the cave, ringing some sort of bell. The noise was too loud and I dropped to my knees from the splitting headache going through my head. But it wasn't the bell, it was something else...

~~~°°°~~~

I open my eyes to someone shaking me. The noise that caused me to black out is gone, but the whole cave is in a panic. I look around and see some people fighting. Above me is Martin, deathly pale.

"Valery, Valery wake up. We have to go! They found us!" He grabs my hands and pulls me to my feet.

I feel dizzy, like there's cotton stuffed inside my head. The world tilts for a second and Martin has to catch me. How he managed that with his injuries is beyond me. We both limp to the side of the cave while I try my best not to vomit from the pain, but I'm fighting a losing battle.

"Who - Who found us?" My speech is slurred, feeling drugged.

"The court. We don't know how but they somehow knew you were the only one that could sense them coming, so they disabled you." He pulls me in the direction of the waterfalls.

"Wait, my father! Dacian, all of them! We can't leave them." I try to get away, but I'm surprisingly weak.

"They know the plan. Get you out first, then meet up at a certain point. Come on!"

I could still hear the fighting going on behind us, but it got softer the further we stumbled along. We went past the waterfall into a small passage. Martin kept glancing behind us.

"What was that noise I heard?" I gasp out after tripping over a stalagmite.

"We don't know. We didn't hear it, only you did."

"Must be... one of their... new... inventions."

I collapse after a few more steps. Martin, luckily, catches me... but he also falls down, with me on top of him.

"Well this is akward." He says. "I would probably laugh at the absurdness of this situation if I wasn't about to pass out from the pain!"

I clumsily scramble of off him. Sitting with my head between my knees. Martin lies there, taking ragged breaths.

"I can heal... your injuries so that you can at least get us out of here." I say, resting my head on the rock behind me.

"No no no -"

"Yes. Someone has to get us out and it's not going to be me." I crawl over to him, putting my hands on his chest.

"You can't! You're already drained. You'll burn out!" He grabs my wrist, pleading with his eyes.

"I'll stop before that happens. Promise." I don't give him a chance to argue.

I push all of my power into him. It takes a lot of effort and I can feel my body starting to shake, from my fingertips to my toes. I collapse on top of him after giving him everything I have left. I feel him push up from under me and my body being lifted of the ground. The solidness of his chest is the last thing I remember before I pass out.... Again.