I was training in the valley before the Highlands, the sun shining brightly on my freshly polished armour. My carving knife was abandoned in the grass, while the sword I was wielding striked the puppet yet again. And again. I don't remember the exact moment the birds stopped chirping, the clouds covered the blue sky or when the day turned to night. But I do remember when a feeling of intense fright crept into my heart and made me want to run home and hide under my bed. But I stood my ground and picked up my knife. I carved a rune into the trunk and saw what was the cause: Adeline was again in trouble.
There has been almost a month since I left my world, as my parents warned that there will be consequences to face the next time I interfere. But how could they ask such a thing, when they were the ones that forced that responsability on my shoulders ever since I was taken? They only want to keep me away, because they know how easily I can expose all their secrets and dirty bargains. I hate this situation, but I preffer it over the alternative: where my home world would suffer and my kind's survival would become more uncertain than it already is.
But amid all the things that could go wrong if I go, an even worse thing might happen if I stay. So I ran to the old well at the end of the training fields and draw a travel-rune into my palm, spoiling the water below with my blood. I saw the glistering water below lose its purity, moss smearing the once-new grey bricks and mud covering the bucket hanging above it. I jumped inside of the well and found myself in the middle of a battlefield. A den of vampires were fighting a Lycanthrope girl and a huntress. Thalia and Adeline, I recognised them immediately. Known for their habit of 'playing with their prey', the vampires were in no mood for games this time. The den was fighting on an unified front, looking like a killing machine targeted on the under-armed Adeline.
The leader went for a one-on-one with the redhead, dodging immediately her knife and laughing at her. A tall and muscular girl caught Adeline and throw her across the glade, her body stopping at the base of a tree. I heard a few ribs cracking at the impact and saw that one of her legs is badly scratched. I immediately realised the deadly danger she got herself into so I tip-toed to the tree, climbing and hiding myself between the branches so the vampires won't catch on my smell. Luckily, they were more occupied with the Lycanthrope that was almost escaping their territory.
"Get up, now!" I whisper to the almost unconscious girl at the base of tree and her eyes immediately burst open. She slowly lifts her chin to see me and I adjust my hood better to hide my face. I know she saw me on Halloween and may not accept my help after that night. But I care little about what she accepts or not right now, as I'm more interested that she won't become the vampires' dinner. She dismisses my order and I continue to try to catch her attention.
But she stubbornly ignores me and I contemplate whether to leave her to die or get down there and expose myself, while trying to rescue the brat. I'm sure the vampires won't appreciate that my kind interferes in their battles, especially after we are the ones that convinced then to sign that treaty with the humans. My simple presence here is a violation of that act, but I'll have to face the consequences later. And try to avoid them until it is inevitable.
"Or you die!" I whisper her, but she doesn't even flinch at my words. Her friend manages to get past the vampires' border and disappear from sight. The vampires hiss and anger builds inside them, their veins turning even darker all over their bodies, shadows of darkness escaping their leader's fists.
As I was preparing to jump into the battlefield, I get a glimmer of hope when Adeline rises to her feet and seems eager to help me get her out of that ugly situation. But nothing goes according to plan as her leg injury is worse than I thought and makes her fall to her butt with a thud that brings the vampires' attention back to her. I let not a second pass, before I jump behind Adeline and grab her into my arms. I see the death promise curving on the leader's lips when he sees me re-carving the travel-rune into my right palm and disappear from their realm.
Back at the outskirts of the training fields, before the well that still looked so earthly with its exterior spoilt by time and people, I let Adeline fall from my arms and she landed directly on the grass. I want to help her get up, but she jumps to her feet, her hands in fists and her eyes wild with anger. I stop in place when I see a glimpse of surprise forming on her face, before hatred resurfaces. I knew she recognised me and was preparing herself to bit my head off. Had she not had that leg injury, she would've picked a fight by now.
"Hello, Adeline," I finally mutter when I see her crossing her arms, daring me to say something. Do something.
She straightens herself before she speaks. "So you know who I am," she asks and I nod in response. "And you are?"
"Tamarie Grey, pleased to finally meet you," I try to sound as pleasant as I can in order to not provoke her. But she still gives me a viper smirk, her eyes bitter and unforgetful as she speaks again.
"Oh, believe me. You'll regret soon enough."
I froze at her words, not intimated by her threat but blocked. The situation I'm in wasn't supposed to happen so I wasn't prepared for it. But I guess this is just the foreword of my punishment for not minding my business and possibly destroying a century-long treaty my kind clinged so dearly to.
"Your leg looks bad, mind if I take a look at it?" I ask and her expressions become down-right hostile.
"Where am I?" Comes the question I wasn't even remotely ready to answer to.
"Somewhere safe," I say, hopelessly praying that she won't push this subject. Which of course she does.
"Where am I, Tamarie?" She asks bitterly and I sigh. What a pain she can be...
"I hear that often," she giggles and I frown. I reanalyse my words, but that she didn't answer to something I said, but...
Maybe I won't be punished so badly, if she already knows the truth. But does she, or is the charm still holding? I need to be sure that this isn't only a hole in the magic surfacing and that she is actually fighting the containment spell.
"Do you really don't recognise this place?" I ask and she frowns, her eyes scaning the surroundings. She shakes her head and I frown, but I see a sparkle of surprise in her eyes when a mild breeze brazes the valley. She immediately falls to her knees, caressing the grass and looking at the trees like they were alive.
"Every fairy child may keep
Two strong ponies and ten sheep..."
"All have houses, each his own
Built of brick or granite stone;" I continue the lullaby I knew by heart. The Queen's mother used to sing it when Karrie, Eric and I were young.
"They live on..." she tries to finish the song but words fall short. I see her frowning and looking for the missing rhymes.
"They live on cherries, they run wild—
Just like you, my fairy child."
She looks perplexed for a second, before a frown brazes her features again, her eyes trying to see into my soul, like there was where all the answers she was perhaps hiding lay. "Who are you, Tamarie?"
I open my mouth to answer but my words are cut by the oath I took. I know that I'm not supposed to reveal her anything, but my heart aches to damn everything and splur the truth already. I sigh deeply and I shake my head, my eyes drifting to the hill behind her, to my home that is safely hidden right there. I remind myself of the purpose of all this, my mission to preserve the kingdom and ensure my kind's future. I'm not a selfish, I was raised to give everything and expect nothing in return. But sometimes, only sometimes, I wonder if it'd be so wrong to do what I want to do before what is right to do. And those egotistical thoughts become harder and harder to be kept leashed, to stop myself from materialising them and choosing the selfless decision. Maybe one day I'll be free, but not today.
"I should take you home," I tell her, already readying my carving knife.
"It feels like it is exactly where I am," she says and the words cut deep into heart, carving like the runes I made into the tree beside me. I tighten my grip on the knife and carve the travel rune once again.
"Until next time," I tell Adeline, before sprinkling some fairy dust on her eyes and saying a little sleeping spell. She slowly falls unconscious and I push her down the portal in the well right before she collapses on the grass. The portal closes as she passes through and a feeling of betrayal creeps into my heart as I remain alone in that valley.