Lights [COMPLETED]

8 - Escape

"We have no choice, Aidan.”
He reluctantly took Niall on his back. Silently, the Human let his body rest against the Archer. He was exhausted.

The Plan was, quite frankly, weak, but I didn’t know how else we would have gotten out. I just refused to stay there and watch Niall get killed. I knew it would come to this. I would not let that happen.

We only managed to leave the room before two Guards appeared:
“Meira, daughter of Elsyia, get back to the room”

“He needs fresh air” I gestured towards Niall. My words not making sense. Overdrive mode.

I heard Niall moaning.
“Please, whatever my mother told you, please, help us.”
A wall. Hopeless.

“Let us go.” The voice was deep, assured, with a hint of danger.

It wasn’t Aidan.

The Guards let us past, the room suddenly filled with tension. Outside, the Community gathered, impatient to see the High Priestess in action. Everything seemed to happen in slow-motion: The three of us getting out of the Council, Aidan stealing a horse (or, in his own words “borrowing, Meira, borrowing.”) no one going after us, and the night descending all over the OtherWorld.

I glanced at Niall. His eyes had changed from the warm chocolate tone I knew to a cold, piercing blue. He looked at me, very kindly, and I knew I couldn’t tell Aidan. He, just like Niall, was out of reach.

The Dark took over, then. A very simple spell; it freed us from everything we knew, and now I was all alone with It.

“Let’s spend the night here, Aidan.”

We had been walking for a while – hours maybe, and we were nowhere close to home.

“Niall won’t make it to the house. Not in that state.”

He was still asleep, against Aidan’s back.

“Aidan, you look awful. Come on, let’s have a break.”

We stopped in the middle of the same forest we travelled through just a few days before. Everything looked different. Eerie. Threatening. I was not used to such thick darkness, and it made the trees look like wild creatures, ready to jump at me.

“Help me light a fire.” Aidan was already on his feet, collecting branches. We made a very basic camp, using the horse’s drapes and Aidan’s Council cape as blankets. I carefully woke Niall to walk him near the fire, hoping the Dark was gone, that my friend was back, even for a few minutes.

His smile said otherwise.

We all sat in silence, Aidan soon drifting to sleep. I wondered how all of this affected him. My mother’s betrayal, our escape from the Council. The threat of the Dark suddenly becoming so close and so real. I worried about him, about his reactions. We weren’t always in agreement, but I trusted him with my life; he was my guide, the only one I’d ever had. And I only brought destruction. I’d lost my mother, earlier today, and I realised that maybe I was losing Aidan too. That feeling of loneliness crept back, just like it did at Niall’s.

He moved next to me, resting his head on my shoulder.

“Hello, fellow fairy.”

It was subtle. The voice had notes of Niall’s. The eyes had the shape of him. The smile had almost the same warmth. But everything about him was colder, sharper.

“It’s a nice night, don’t you think, Meira?”

I said nothing. He continued.

“Look at the stars. Full of energy. It’s stunning. I missed that.”