Two Worlds

Chapter One - Aelin

Rebuilding the kingdom was hard, and after six months, Aelin wanted no part of it. Constantly being herded by advisors to a meeting every few seconds wasn't exactly what she had planned when she had defeated Erawan and Maeve. The only good things in her life were the hunting trips she and her friends went on. The fresh air, the freedom to run around, and nobody but her friends and family around her was one of the only things she looked forward to. 

She was preparing for one of those trips now, putting arrows in her quiver and strapping daggers to her body, when Rowan came in. She looked at him and grinned. 

"Ready?" she asked, slinging her bow over her shoulder. Rowan nodded.

"You do know we're only hunting deer and rabbits, right?" he said as she sheathed Goldryn at her side. She shrugged. 

"You never know," she said. She rolled her shoulders a few times. "I'm dying to get out of this castle, though." Rowan nodded his agreement. As much as she loved her kingdom, she needed a break. If she had to sit through one more council meeting, she wasn't certain she could refrain from setting the room on fire with what little power she had left. 

Aedion poked his head in through the door. "Are you two ready?" he asked. "We're all waiting for you and I don't like the way Manon is looking at the servants." Aelin sighed. 

"Yes, I'm ready," she said. She walked out of the room, Rowan following behind her. 

"Finally," Aedion mumbled under his breath. Aelin chose to ignore it and beamed at the servants as she passed, but they all kept their heads down at the floor. Aelin frowned. She'd have to work on that. Her smile returned as she saw all of her friends waiting for her in the throne room. Dorian and Manon were there, Manon indeed looking like she was seconds away from snapping out those iron teeth of hers and turning them on whoever was unfortunate enough to cross paths with her at the wrong moment. Lorcan and Elide were also there, along with Lysandra and Fenrys. Chaol and Yrene weren't there, the two preparing for their child's arrival. The group was chatting amongst themselves, but the talk stopped as they spotted Aelin, Rowan, and Aedion.

"Let's go," Aelin said. "I need to get out of this palace." She and her friends left the castle as one, each of them bearing a weapon of some sort; swords, daggers, bows and arrows, even some spears. Manon, however, had preferred to go weaponless, saying that her iron nails and teeth were more than enough to hunt. Aelin had merely shrugged before leaving to suit up herself when Manon had told her. 

They were in a forest within a matter of hours, and Aelin unslung her bow and nocked an arrow. She made her way through the forest silently, the others following behind her. She stopped suddenly, holding out her hand. She nodded to Lysandra, who slinked ahead in her Ghost Leopard form. She returned a few minutes later in her human form and mouthed one word: wolf. Aelin shot her an inquiring look, and Lysandra shook her head. It wasn't a Fae. Good. Aelin grinned; she hadn't had this much fun for a long time. Too long. She shot that grin back to her friends, and nearly all of them sighed. Lysandra just stood there, impatient. She shot Aelin a look to hurry up. Aelin only rolled her eyes and gestured for Lysandra to lead the way. 

Lysandra led Aelin and the others along a root-infested path for about a minute and paused. Aelin spotted a brown bear feasting on a fox carcass in the middle of a clearing. She looked back at her friends, and Dorian, Rowan, Aedion, Elide, Fenrys, and Lorcan shook their heads. Aelin understood; they would sit this one out. Wait for the next animal they encountered. She gestured for Lysandra to flank left and for Manon to flank right. They took up their positions on either side of the clearing until the bear was surrounded. 

Aelin struck first. Not with her bow, but with a dagger. It embedded itself into the bear's hind leg, and the animal let out a growl. It turned to Aelin, eyes crazed. Blood leaked from its leg.  Lysandra and Manon pounced as one, Lysandra back in her Ghost Leopard form. They wrestled the bear to the ground, and soon the bear's fur was matted in blood. Lysandra and Manon were covered in small scrapes here and there, but they ignored it. The bear fought and pushed against them, but Lysandra and Manon held it down as Aelin nocked another arrow and took aim. She'd make it quick and as painless as possible. It was a bit hard with all of the thrashing to get a clean shot, but Aelin let the arrow fly. It embedded itself into the bear's neck, and she let another one fly soon after. That one went straight through the bear's skull. Lysandra and Manon got off of the dead bear, and Aelin walked up to it. Quickly, she skinned eight squares of hide and held them up for the others. 

"For the collection," she said. Manon greedily snatched one from Aelin's hand, but the others shook their heads. 

"How many times do we have to tell you, Aelin?" Dorian said. "We don't keep collections." Aelin rolled her eyes. 

"But you could start," she said. 

"You say that every time," Elide said. Aelin was about to snap a reply back to her when all of the Fae males stiffened. She turned, but then she felt it: a sudden shift in the air, then a wave of strong power. 

"What is that?" she asked, more to herself than the others. But everybody else only shook their heads. 

"It's nothing I've ever encountered," Fenrys said, and Rowan and Lorcan nodded their agreement. Elide was wide-eyed, but the others had theirs narrowed. Aelin prowled around, scanning the perimeter of the clearing, dropping the squares of bear hide, when she heard Elide gasp. She followed her line of sight to the center of the clearing, where it looked like—

"A portal," Manon gasped. Lysandra shot her a look.

"A portal?" she asked. "How is that possible?" Aelin shrugged. 

"Who cares?" she said. "Let's go through it." The others all shot her an incredulous look. 

"Are you crazy?" Aedion asked. "Don't answer that," he added quickly, after seeing Aelin's answering grin. 

"Aelin, you can't just run into a portal. You have no idea what's on the other side of it," Rowan said. 

"If it's somewhere on Erilea, it'll be fine," Aelin insisted. 

"You don't know it's going to be on Erilea," Manon cut in. "It could go to a whole different world entirely." There was silence in the clearing, then Aelin asked, 

"What are the possibilities of that?" Before anybody could react, she ran forward and launched herself into the portal.