Summer Garden

Trei

Trei coughed, spraying blood across the ground. He couldn't move. Couldn't even twitch his eyes. As if his connection with this body had been severed, whilst somehow forcing him to remain inside it. He could feel a familiar feeling creeping up towards him. The shadow of death. At this point it was becoming an old friend.

The spear piercing his chest and into the ground was solid. It was the only thing holding him upright in his current condition. Forcing him to watch as Summer bled to death, her still beating heart held in Vastras' hand. Watch as the light slowly faded from eyes. Watch as the dust on her skin crystallised, shattered and faded away. Watch as the wings on her back dried up, shrivelled up and faded like cobwebs in the breeze.

The mage sat next to her, crying silently. The heart in her hand was slowing, but still beating. She watched it intently, as if she were afraid to put Summer out of her misery. As if she wasn't the cause of all of this in the first place.

Hatred boiled inside him. If it weren't for the elf he would be trying to tear the woman apart. Rip her limb from limb. Break her neck. Rip out her eyes. She'd killed the only good thing to have ever happened to him. She'd engineered his life so that he would fall for Summer, just so she could kill her. Vastras was nothing but a monster. She deserved to die, inch by inch.

The elf crouched in front of him, "This is the Spear of Algar. The weapon of the Guardian of Alfheimr. No magic, nor force of will, can resist it. Do not try, little dead thing. You will only waste away quicker, and it would be preferable for me if you were to survive."

"Don't blame her too harshly, Trei." Vastras whispered and Trei felt his anger reaching new peaks, "Her name is Alphege Algar. She really is the guardian of Alfheimr, the realm of the elfin folk. She... Owes me. This will pay a debt. The elfin kind cannot break a vow, once given. They tend to die horribly when they do. Something about the goddess who created them. Well, almost a goddess. F'rir made them, before she ascended and became a Fate."

He blamed her. He blamed both of them. He would kill them. They would die, for Summer. For what they had done.

The elf touched his face gently, and Trei felt the numbness in his chest beginning to recede, replaced by crippling agony. The elf watched him, expressionless, blue eyes fixed on his, and a voice spoke musically inside his skull, "Do not move. Do not acknowledge. I can save you. I can't interfere and save Summer. My vow is binding. But your actions, are your own. You have a chance, a small chance. You must wait until the healer arrives. Then eliminate Vastras."

Trei struggled not to smile.

He would kill Vastras, and then he would kill the elf. But he was grateful.