Rage

Titania arrived at the far side of Klain, smiling cruelly to herself. She had her suspicions about the girl Derek had brought home, but that didn't concern her just now.

She'd left the girl in the far wilderness where she could do nothing at all. Even if the child had had some sort of plan to interfere in the battle, it would be worthless now. Then, Derek could marry her and father an heir, and Titania would no longer have to tolerate the disloyal Duncan.

Now that Derek was sure to provide an heir sooner rather than later, everything would take a turn for the better. Duncan had been stubbornly refusing to provide Rhone with new heir, as if he'd known... but he couldn't have known. Titania smirked. Not in Duncan's wildest dreams would he have imagined the truth.

Having come out of the Darkness, she now examined the wall at a distance. The guard pacing atop the wall did not spot her easily. It was night and she held no light with her. She did not need one.

She took her bow, and lifted it. Blowing another mighty hole in the wall on this side would send the city into a full panic. The soldiers would rush here to find nothing but a single woman. Splitting Klain's troops into chaos as they searched for the enemy would give Duncan's troops the chance to fully enter the city and commence its utter destruction.

Nocking an herb-laden arrow on its string, she aimed carefully about three steps ahead of the patrolling guard, who still had yet to spot her, the simpleton. Was this the best Klain had to offer? It was pathetic, and she let out a dark chuckle as she reflected on how easy humanity was to subdue.

Derek showed some promise, that was true. He played the game carefully though he did not know all the rules. The fact that he had not openly crossed her was his saving grace, at least so far. Once he'd fathered a child, perhaps his usefulness would have run its course. It depended on whether he continued to play with her, or tried to bend the game to his own whims.

Once Duncan was gone, Derek would abandon all thought of betraying her.

She loosed the arrow, and it soared to its place. A satisfied look fell across her features as she watched it lodge just ahead of the patrolling soldier. He jumped back, startled, just as--

Nothing happened. The arrow sat there, plainly, like any other arrow. Mundane and useless.

The soldier came to his senses and sounded the alarm. A horn blew and soldiers ran to his side, ready to do battle with whatever invisible enemy awaited them.

Titania stood in blank shock as the soldiers raised their swords, pointing them into the darkness outside the wall, waiting, searching.

She let out an inhuman scream of utter rage. What had they done? How could they stop her magic? These cockroaches were refusing to die by her hand, and she hated them intensely for it. The shameless disrespect for the wishes of a Queen! How dare they continue breathing when she willed otherwise. It was absolutely intolerable.

Her scream shook the air with its alarming pitch and intensity. Several soldiers dropped their swords to cover their ears in panic. As the sound cut off, Titania snapped and disappeared back into the Darkness she had come from. There was no use remaining here when her powers were all but useless against the city.

Her craving for what lay under the mountain had burned for so long. She had been patient, endlessly patient, in the Darkness. She was so close, so close, to getting it, but needed these Klain out of the way.

She cursed the Sorcerer and the remnants of his magic. Klain must have found a way to strengthen and extend the invisible barrier which protected the depths from her reach. As long as people still lived in the city, she would not be able to get underneath it, and her spies had not been able to penetrate the defenses for her.

How had they found out about it? Everything she knew from her informants said that Klain lived in ignorance of their world's origins, and the existence of magic and other races. She raced through the Darkness to the battle. If she couldn't get through magically, she would have to enter the city herself and slaughter her way to what she wanted.

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Roland and Ezra moved quickly, keeping up the running pace Rhone had made itself known for. Drawing the younger man away from battle had been much simpler than Roland had anticipated. He had simply said "Come with me," and Ezra had followed without hesitation. The young man would likely have many questions once they stopped for breath.

Moving rapidly over the rolling hills, Roland tried to ignore the sounds of battle fading behind them. He was breathing heavily already but wanted to reach the meeting point as soon as possible. Hopefully Finn was already waiting there for him.

His stomach growled slightly. He couldn't remember when he'd eaten last. He wondered if Finn had managed to make something edible out of the random ingredients he'd thrown into the sack. If his wedding meal was awful, it was going to be due to his own fault, not hers.

A glow shone behind him, and he glanced over his shoulder as flames briefly stretched their fingers toward the sky. He grimaced. No matter which side that was, he didn't want people hurt if he could stop the fighting. Pushing harder, he put more strength into his run.

"Ezra," He panted. "Have you ever been to a wedding?"

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Finn was moving as quickly as she could over the uneven ground in the dark. She wished she hadn't put out the cookfire so that she could have a torch to light her way. She could, now, if she stopped long enough to use the flint to make a new fire, but she'd already left behind the forested areas and wood was scarce here.

Her eyes were growing used to the dim starlight, and she began moving more quickly. It would still be many hours, or days, before she could reach the meeting place. Titania had called it two days and nights' walk! The devious woman obviously suspected Finn was up to something and set her far out of the way. It was infuriating to be so helpless.

Being pulled through the Darkness at such alarming speed that her feet had barely touched the ground left her in terrified awe of the Queen's power. Yet, here she was, blatantly disobeying the instructions to stay where she was until the battle was over.

Running from an evil sorceress who could travel many times faster, and probably had a way to locate her easily, especially over the bare rolling hills that had little in the way of cover apart from the tall grass. This seemed like a suicide mission, spending so long running towards Roland, when he might give up and leave long before she arrived.

How many people would die before then? Even if the curse was broken, would the soldiers on both sides have such deep enmity by that time that they would continue fighting to the death?

To watch someone you care about die was an immensely heavy burden. To watch them die at someone else's hand, she could only imagine the hate that could build up in the hearts of people. Every moment she delayed, soldiers would watch more of their friends killed at the hands of the other army.

In the very far distance, she could make out some lights of Klain. Something was happening, but she was still too far to tell exactly what. She closed her eyes and bit her lip, hoping that everyone she loved was safe.

"Gwen! If you can hear me... I'm all alone here. Titania brought me far beyond where I can hike back in time. I need to get to Roland, and quickly. No one would ever know if you took me closer to where I need to be. Please help me."

A tear escaped her full eyes and ran down her cheek, and she angrily wiped it away. Tears were best reserved for after the danger was over. Crying now would only get in the way. She had a long hike, if the Fae did not intervene, and she couldn't afford to get dehydrated.

Light appeared and Finn breathed a sigh of relief. "Gwen!"

The Fae came through not in her human form, but as her natural one. A figure of something between light and fire shimmered in the night, reaching out to Finn. The young woman extended her hand, unsure if that was what Gwen wanted, and suddenly found herself moving swiftly over the land.

When Gwen had taken Finn and Mayra from the mountains to Klain, it had been in human form. They had disappeared and reappeared, seemingly in an instant, and Gwen rested between each time.

This was entirely different, more similar to Titania's mad flight through the Darkness than any experience Finn had with the Fae.