The Fire in the Shadow

Inner Circle

*Azriel POV*

Azriel did not look forward to seeing his half-brother again. Even after centuries he still didn't know if he could do it. They winnowed to the camp and he saw an Illyrian man bring a girl to the ground, in the middle of many other men, there was also an old woman standing close to the circle of men holding herself up and sobbing. Azriel already knew what they were going to do to the girl. They were going to clip her wings. He looked over to where he had been held captive when he was little and he saw the door open. His half-brother came out and with him he had brought a girl. A human girl, that seemed really angry. He looked over at Cassian and saw that he was about to explode by the way he was staring at the men around the girls. His eyes promised death.

*Celaena POV*

Celaena had decided that there was no way she would let these men clip Coraline's wings. She knew that she would fight hard to stop it. Coraline had saved her life and she couldn't let something as horrible as this happen to her. Suddenly a tall and dark man with purple eyes appeared in front of them. He seemed to be really powerful and he was fae. Beside him there was a heavily pregnant woman, also fae. And behind them two Illyrian men that seemed to be angry, really angry, one of them hiding it better than the other. "What is going on here" the tall and mysterious man said in a low but commanding voice. "This girl welcomed a stranger into the camp, and now we're going to clip her wings." the one that seemed to be the leader of the camp said while pointing to Coraline. "You do realise that I can now make you step down from your position as leader, considering you have broken two rules. First the clipping of females is not allowed anymore and second you can't kill any human that comes into your territory when they are not a threat." This man had to be the high lord and the woman beside him had to be the high lady. But Celaena's eyes kept wandering over to the Illyrian man with shadows swirling around him. "Fine then, I'll let them go. If the human girl can beat me in a fight, if not I guess I'll just have to step down from my role as leader. But I will still clip her wings and kill the human girl." "Fine, I guess I'll have to fight you then, but you are not allowed to use your wings. And no weapons, only fists and feet." she told him. He looked surprised that she had agreed to fight him, but he recovered fast. The high lord looked worried, they of course didn't know who she was and what she was capable of, so they didn't think she had any chance in hell of winning.