chapter thirteen

─── escort

          ℑn the years to come, Prythian was thrust into a long seven year war to free the humans. I upheld my promise to fight, leading the Darkbringer legions into battle with impossible odds, yet somehow surviving through it all. My sword had been stained with the blood, dripping red by the end of the battles, and I often found myself trying to wash the blood off though more always came.

I was never free of it.

By no small feat, we had won. I had lived, as had my mate, and that had been something to rejoice of though the death counts were far too high for my liking. Nearly a quarter of the Darkbringers were wiped out and we'd been holding funerals for weeks now.

I'd gone to every single one, needing to pay my thanks and say goodbye to the soldiers that I had led into battle. We'd received no thanks though, merely being shut back into Hewn on my father's orders. That had caused a lot of unrest, and I knew that my home was worried about implications and what would happen. I'd managed to keep them calm, knowing now, in the period of peace, we'd have time to rebuild and grow our home once more.

I'd begun to make the changes when I'd received summons from my father. I was to escort Mother to the southern war camps, where she'd been born, to meet up with my brother, Cassian and Azriel. I'm not sure why he decided to be benevolent, but here we were.

I was waiting in the forest a few miles from the camp, as they had barriers around it to prevent winnowing into it. We'd learnt from the last war, making all of our homes less accessible and less easy to access.

Cold winter air wrapped around me, and I ignored it to look at the environment. Hewn was colder than this, cold air seeming to culminate in the depths of the caverns that created our cities. I turned on my heel, kicking the snow beneath the toe of my boots as I waited.

My mother was late. I wasn't truly surprised, as I was the least favourite child, but I imagined she wanted to go north to see Rhysand on time. But then again, maybe my father wanted her to wait to see if I'd freeze to death.

My father hadn't been killed on the battlefield, as I had hoped, but Mendax had. Of course, I would not be telling anyone that I was actually the one who killed him, whilst he was asleep, in his own tent, and then threw his body in with the pile of the dead. If someone should ask, I would say that it was an accident. 

No one would know any better. Well, that was apart from my own legion, who had celebrated greatly that night, all of us happy that he was dead.

"Maiya!" I turned at the call of my name, finding my mother sweeping towards me with a warm grin. She opened her arms to embrace me, but I stepped back, my vision still filled with dead bodies and blood, so much blood. "You look well."

She was examining me, looking for injuries. There was only one that could be seen, a jagged scar marring the right side of my face and part of my lip. How it had missed my eye, I would never know, but I thanked the Cauldron every day for my sight. The rest of my scars were hidden below my armour.

"Mother."

"It's good to see you."

"I'm here because I have to be, not because I want to be." I shut down her pleasantries almost immediately. It might have been eight years or so since I had last had a proper conversation with her, but I would never forget that final conversation that ended with my banishment. I was just like my father in that sense, petty and capable of holding a grudge for years.

She followed along behind me as I continued to look around, searching for enemies that weren't there.

"Don't be so on guard. We're in the Night Court, not on the battlefield. We are safe." Reluctantly, I let my guard down, relaxing my shoulders. "How's the Hewn City? What have you been doing down there?"

"Nothing of importance to you." I muttered. I didn't want to be here, and quite frankly, they didn't deserve to know how Hewn was doing. It was none of their business. 

"Well, your father's been quite stressed as of late. He's trying to find a new replacement because Mendax died."

"Oh dear." Her eyes narrowed at the sarcasm in my voice, but she didn't comment on it. I rested a hand on my sword as the trees grew closer around us, reminding myself that they weren't enemies, just inanimate objects. 

"I've been creating new gowns for Starfall this year." My mother began to explain, as I sighed yet again. Why could we not walk in silence? "I made one for you if you want."

"You wish for me to be at Starfall?"

"Why wouldn't I want you there?"

"Do you want me to give you a list?" I shot back at her, as my mother sighed. Something was moving behind us in the forest, and I tilted towards it as she continued to talk.

"Maiya, this is the first Starfall after the war, of course you'll be there."

"Do I have a choice in the matter?"

"Enough." She glared at me as I watched her with narrowed eyes. "I'm trying to be patient with you, and understanding, but I do not understand what I have done that has upset you so."

"Do you not?" I shook my head. "This was a mistake for me to listen to father."

"Maiya, I want the whole family there; you, Rhysand, your father, Caras-"

She stopped with a choke as I paused and spun on my heel. My eyes widened at the sight of the arrowhead sticking from her stomach. I reached for my sword, looking around for the enemies as she fell to her knees.

"Run." She shook her head, crying out as I spun around once more. "You have to go."

They appeared before I could locate them in the snow. I recognised them immediately from the flowers lining their armour and their golden locks. It was the Spring Court, and from the looks of it, the High Lord of the Spring Court and his sons. How the High Lord had appeared into our court, I had no idea, as it was an act of treason to do so. Why had none of the border guards picked up on this?

"Is it not dangerous for two women to be travelling alone in a forest?" I stood, pulling my sword free to protect myself. If they thought that they could do this and then attempt to fight me, they were incredibly wrong.

"Run, Maiya, please." Blood trickled down the corner of her lips as she begged, but I refused to back down. I was the leader of the Darkbringers, head strategist in the war, and I would not retreat against some men.

"Where's your brother, girl?" I spat at the High Lord's feet, my lips twisted into a snarl. "The feral daughter of the Night Court. They forgot to teach you any manners, it would seem."

I turned, watching those who circled me, cocking an eyebrow. If all the sons of the High Lord were here, then so would Tamlin. He had been a friend of my brother's, though not someone that I had ever met. I only knew of him from Azriel, who would often provide me with an ongoing commentary of what was happening in the High Lord's tent and with my brother when I was not there. It had made me laugh in the dark times of the war, when I had been recovering in the infirmary after taking a sword through the gut.

"They taught me manners." I grinned, my hand ready to draw runes as I watched them. "But my manners never extend to men overcompensating for what they lack."

"You dare-"

"I am Maiya, ruler of the Hewn City and heir to the Night Court. You dare come to my home, harm my mother and threaten my brother," I laughed at the audacity of it all. I may not like my mother, but we had a reputation to uphold. "I killed thousands in the war. I ripped people's throats out with my teeth and hung their bodies from trees using their own guts, do you think that you scare me? I'll kill all of you and send your headless bodies back to your mother."

My mother was growing paler by the second and I knew that I needed to winnow her away, but these men had got on my nerves and now, I wanted them dead. I'd kill them quickly, and then get her to camp. She could survive for a few minutes. Quite honestly, maybe the pain would teach her a lesson. It all seemed like a form of karma.

Azriel. There was no reply from the bond and I realised that my mate would most likely be busy, but I tried again anyway. Azriel, Spring Court is here at my location. They've injured my mother.

I reached to tap the shadow, but found that it wasn't there. I couldn't understand this. Was my mate in trouble? I couldn't feel him down the bond, so where was he?

"Take the girl," I snapped my head back up, meeting my mother's eyes as she urged me to run, before spinning around and bringing my sword up to meet the first blow. The eldest of the boys rushed towards me, but I drew a fire rune in the air, scorching his hair, as he shrieked.

I assumed that Tamlin was the young one rushing towards me but I cared little, slicing my sword up and slashing at his armour before placing a well aimed kick into his chest. He howled in pain, but I didn't care as I took on the others around me.

Despite there being three of them, and my own powers having a damper on them, I was able to hold my own fairly decently. Twisting, I slid to my knees as a sword swept across where my chest had just been, before springing back up and breaking the arm that held the sword.

"Maiya!" I paused, my concentration falling at the sound of my mother's screams. Turning, I dodged a blow before my eyes went wide at the sight of my mother's wings and the blade against them. They would not...

"Mother-" Sprinting towards her, I was almost at her side before a force sent me flying into the tree. I groaned, looking up at Tamlin in disgust. He brought his boot down onto my hand, breaking the bones as I tried not to drop my sword and yell out in pain.

He dragged me over towards his father, pushing his entire weight onto my back as he held my face into the mud.

"Hold her there, Tamlin. She'll be next." I struggled against the hold, glaring up at Tamlin, who grabbed onto the back of my hair and pulled upwards, forcing me to look across at my mother as they threw her wings in front of her.

She was sobbing, trying to clutch onto her back where the wings had been cut away from as I struggled and tried to get out from under Tamlin.

"Mother!" I called, as she sobbed for the loss of her wings on her back. The High Lord chuckled, gripping her hair and pulling her upright as she struggled to stay balanced. The darker part of me raised her head, eyes narrowing as she reminded me that now my mother knew how I felt at age twelve, but the other part of me warned me that I needed to get her help otherwise I would be blamed.

"Don't look, Maiya, don't look." She pleaded as I shook my head, locking my eyes with her.

She sobbed louder as I struggled, trying to get free.

"Don't look, Maiya. I love you, I love..." I froze as I watched the High Lord's sword come down onto her neck. Tamlin kept my head upright, forcing me to watch as his father hacked away at my mother's neck, having not taken her head off the first time. Finally, he stopped as I looked at my mother's decapitated corpse, anger welling inside of me.

"Take the wings." His father called to Tamlin, who shook his head.

"Rhysand said that his sister had her wings removed years ago." My heart faltered. Rhysand had told Tamlin that my wings had been removed? A piece of information that I had only told to him and Azriel, and he'd gone and told Tamlin?

His elder brother grabbed onto my mother's wings, the other grabbing onto her head, before they winnowed away as I watched on in horror. 

Tamlin and his father had a conversation above me but they released me enough for me to struggled free and over to my mother. I touched her arm gently, a plan forming in my mind. I needed to trick them, to play for time and where was Azriel.

Azriel, please...

My cry was unanswered as I continued to try, pleading down the bond, even going as far as to remove my mental blocks to try and find my brother. I needed them here. I needed both of them now. But even when coming from a family of daemati, I could not find them and anger welled up inside of me.

I forced my head down, pretending to mourn, though I, in truth, felt little sadness of the situation. Maybe once I would have, maybe even eight years ago, I might have, but now, I felt nothing. My plan began to form as the High Lord of the Spring Court disappeared.

"Do you have any last words?" I turned my head, hiding my eyes as I found Tamlin, his sword pointed at my head. But he was trembling, I could see that.

"Foolish boy." I hissed, before bringing my hand up and grabbing onto the blade. It cut into my palm, but I'd fought on with injuries before. I stood, swinging around and taking his legs out before throwing his sword away as I advanced towards him. "You thought that I was crying over my mother so you could beat me?"

He tried to scrabble away and stand up, but I gave his knee a hard kick, hearing him yell as he fell back to the floor. I flipped him over, pinning his arms with my feet as I held him still and crouched atop his chest.

"I will kill everything you love." I pulled my knife free, grabbing onto his hair and yanking it backwards. "I will for years to come. If you have children, I will murder them. If you have a wife, I will behead her. I will do this until you are pleading for mercy at my feet, nothing but a shell of a man."

He began to cry out, begging me not to do this as I brought my knife closer to his face.

"Then I shall torture you for eternity, for betraying my brother and murdering my mother." I hissed, before grinning. "I'll stick your head on a fucking spike outside of Hewn and watch the maggots eat the rotting flesh."

"No, please, no!"

"I like it when you beg. Keep doing it," I tilted his face, before bringing my knife to the side of his cheek and grinning. "Now unless you want me to take an eye, stay still."

"Please, stop it! Stop it, I beg of you!"

"Should have killed me when you had the chance, boy."

∘☽༓☾∘

By the time I managed to amass enough power to trek the rest of the way to the Illyrian camp that my mother and I were supposed to have arrived at with Rhysand, it had been two hours. I stumbled as I felt the ground beneath me, my mother's headless body on my back.

"Shit..." I croaked, the world spinning as my hand and body ached with pain. I couldn't go much further.

"What's going on?" There was a female voice calling above the sound of blood in my ears as someone rushed towards me. "Who...? Oh gods."

The woman crouched down in front of me, golden eyes wide and I recognised her. I sighed in relief, watching her with tired eyes as she pressed her fingers to my pulse point.

"I-" I tried to find the words. "Where's Rhysand...?"

"Maiya, it's alright. Someone fetch Rhysand!" She turned, hollering above the clamour of people. "Help me get her to the infirmary, now!"

Hands reached for me, taking my mother's body from my back as more helped me to my feet. I stumbled, as they picked me up and carried me into one of the wooden cabins, helping me onto the bed as I stared at the ceiling. I groaned at the hands touching me, hating having to appear so weak.

"I need to talk to Rhysa..." I croaked, as the golden eyes reappeared above me, brushing my hair back and beginning to check me over. I pushed her hand away, forcing myself upright. "I need to-"

"Sit back down now." She hissed, glaring at me. I narrowed my own eyes, despising being commanded. "Rhys is coming, but you have to stay still. Maiya, you're injured."

"Spring Court." I muttered, exhaustion taking over as my eyes fluttered closed. The healer patted my cheeks, waking me up once more.

"Stay awake, Maiya. Spring Court?" The healer questioned. "Where is Rhysand? Tell him it's urgent and to get here now."

"Attacked us." I blinked sleepily, my muscles feeling like lead. "I tried...I tried, I tried, I tried."

"I know you did. You did well." It was all too loud. I just wanted to sleep. I heard my armour being unbuckled, pulled off of my body as cold air touched my skin. Yet, even that was not enough to wake me. "Stay awake, Rhys is almost here."

"I'm tired..."

"Stay awake for me, Maiya." The healer called once more, her golden eyes appearing in my vision, looking panicked as I let my head fall back onto the table. "Poison in her system, hurry the fuck up!"

That was the last I heard, my head falling to the side as darkness overcame me. I was just so tired.

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So, that was fun. Maiya's mum is dead, she's injured and it's going well for them. But good news Mendax is dead. There's a timeskip only because I can't write battle sequences to save my life. Anyway, we also had full on psychotic Maiya for this part which we love to see.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx