Crescent City: A Court of Thrones and Glass

Chapter Nine: Bryce

A/N: Thank you booklover241014 and @Whimsically_Reading for voting and commenting! I really appreciate it.

They were falling. Bryce was tumbling through the sky, after being launched through a fucking wormhole. Strong, capable arms wrapped around her middle, slowing her fatal descent. Hunt flared his wings and carried them safely to the snowy ground.
"Stay close," Hunt warned, drawing his sword and readying his lightning. Bryce did the same, palming a dagger and a hand gun. Bryce's magic was in the back of her mind, waiting to be unleashed. It seemed to be stronger here, wherever this was.
"Hunt, does your magic seem better here?" Bryce asked while keeping an eye on her surroundings. Hunt was scanning the forest for threats.
"Yes, it does actually. It's more....awake......alive," he responded. Lightning wreathed his scar-flecked hands. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Bryce's ears perked, her body on high-alert. Someone was in the woods. No, two people. She whispered to Hunt, "Someone's coming. Two people, 10 o'clock." She sniffed the air. "Males. Not human." Hunt turned slightly to the left, ready to fight whoever walked out of the forest. His face was hard, menacing. The true face of the Umbra Mortis.
Suddenly, two males broke through the trees. One was devastatingly handsome. His delicately pointed ears peeking out from under his jet black hair, a fae, no doubt. The other had huge bat-like wings, not entirely unlike Hunt's. his ears were rounded, though. He was a species Bryce had never seen before. As soon as they cleared the trees, the males spotted Bryce and Hunt. Saw the weapons in their hands and felt the magic in the air. Immediately, the winged one drew a beautiful sword from his back, and some strange, red gemstones started glowing. The handsome one just stood back, hands in his pockets, cool indifference on his face.
"Who are you?" Hunt barked, the promise of violence lacing his voice, sword at the ready.
"Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court, at your service," the handsome one responded, "But the better question is, who are you?" Immediately, there was another presence in Bryce's mind. A worm wriggling to get in.
"Get out of my head!" She yelled, clapping her hands over her ears, trying to fight back.
"Nice of you to call me the handsome one," Rhysand drawled, casually, as if he hadn't just violated Bryce's privacy. Bryce bared her teeth and snarled.
"Stay the fuck away you stupid pieces of shit!" She shouted.
"I think not, sweetheart." The winged one responded this time. Quickly, an irritated Bryce fired off two warning shots with her gun, narrowly missing the males' heads. They jumped, shocked. Even Rhysand seemed startled. Like they have never seen a gun before.
"You need to come with us," Rhysand said, not a hint of flexibility in the command.
"We don't need to do anything," Hunt countered, "but you can start off by answering our questions. First off, where are we, and what the Hel is a High Lord?" The pair seemed to be thrown off by the question.
"Well you're in Prythian of course. And a High Lord is the ruler of a court." Bryce and Hunt just tightened their grips on their weapons and glared. They were unsure what to do. They had no idea where they are, what kind of world this was, who were friends, who were enemies. These two males were obviously warriors of some form, and were wary, yet friendly enough. Bryce and Hunt were far from home and in quite the predicament.

RHYSAND

Cassian and Rhys were just sweeping the woods, looking for a clue as to where the escapee had run off too. The hard part was they had no idea what the prisoner looked like. It could literally be anyone. Then, they stumbled upon the pair, who radiated enormous amounts of power. Maybe the summoner had found an ally. Just then, Feyre's voice filled his head, Dorian and Celaena are secured in the Court of Nightmares, Azriel is guarding them, hasn't started interrogation yet.
Good, he told his mate, I've found another pair of visitors. Maybe the prisoner. I didn't see a portal, but it may have already closed.
Be careful. I love you. Feyre's words bolstered his confidence.
I love you too. Stay safe. He cut the conversation to focus on the new found threats. From their little conversation and his short time in the female's mind, Rhys deduced that the female's name was Bryce, and the male was called Hunt. From her scent, Bryce was half high fae, half human, but Rhys nor Cass could tell what Hunt was. He had huge, feathered wings, like the peregryn from Dawn, but his were black. And he had lightning magic. Interesting. Another issue was that they were both holding an odd-looking weapon. Rhys had never seen or heard of such a creation, as it seemed to shoot metal pellets at high speeds. Also interesting. But shocking. From the way things are going, neither of them were going to talk or cooperate.
Cass I don't think these guys are from this world. Neither of them is the prisoner, Rhysand said into Cassian's head.
Okay. Let's bring 'em in, see what they know, but we need to be cautious. The male looks especially lethal, Cassian thought, knowing Rhys was listening.
Rhys had barely scratched the surface of Bryce's mind, getting the barest of details. From the looks of things, she had quite the story to tell. Hunt, on the other hand, had an impenetrable barrier around his mind. A solid wall of steel. Interesting and unusual. Rhys needed to get them to Velaris.
     "Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot. Let's have a civil conversation in the city," Rhys suggested, begging them to agree. Hunt and Bryce shared a look, weighing their options. Hunt answered for both of them.
     "Fine. But we're flying. Absolutely no peeking in her head and we follow you."