Olsen blocked the first strike of Aleneo's sword. The blade was foreign, lighter than the type of sword he was used to using. Paired with his awkward footing, the muddy ground, and the rain, everything seemed to be against Aleneo.
Olsen didn't seem at all affected. He held the sword as if he'd been born with it. However, his technique, the way he stepped back and took his first strike, was not classical. Aleneo was baffled by the strange way Olsen came after him. He wielded the blade as if there was no rhyme or reason to it. As if he was just hoping to get a lucky shot.
Aleneo played it to his advantage. He had to move out of the way as men came toward him, not to fight him, but because they were fighting other people. He jumped back as one fighting pair went between him and Olsen.
Olsen shoved another fairy out of the way as he charged toward Aleneo.
Their blades clanged together. The sound of metal grating across metal resounded in the air. Aleneo clenched his teeth as he tried to hold his ground. Olsen crept closer until Aleneo was forced to slowly kneel so that he didn't lose.
The dark storm clouds served as a backdrop behind Olsen's head.
"This is your fault, isn't it?"
Aleneo was taken aback by the words. "What?"
Olsen glared down at him. "I tried to go back. I couldn't!"
He gave the swords a rough shove, knocking Aleneo back. He landed on his ass. The sword fell on the ground at his feet. Olsen pointed the tip of sword in Aleneo's face.
"I want out of here."
Aleneo glared back. "You killed my horse and my cousin. I'm not helping you with shit!"
He spat at Olsen's face or tried to. It fell short and landed on the man's camouflage shirt.
Olsen's face twisted into something ugly. He grabbed Aleneo by the front of his shirt and yanked him off the ground. He pressed the tip of the blade to Aleneo's stomach.
"Fight and this will go straight through you."
Aleneo panted. He clutched at Olsen's shirt as he was forcibly dragged across the mud terrain and toward the entrance of the forest once more. He looked back at the fight between the humans and fairies. There was so much bloodshed that it was hard to pick who was who out. But Teryn's body a distance away from the main battle was hard to miss.
Aleneo's gut clenched. He was weak in the knees. All his strength was zapped out of him and the fever that crept over his body was at full-force now. He sagged in Olsen's grip, but Olsen was stronger than he looked. He wrapped his arm around Aleneo's waist and practically carried him the rest of the way.
They were far enough away from the fight that Aleneo could only faintly hear it. Olsen pressed the sword harder to Aleneo's stomach as if he thought Aleneo was planning on trying to escape. He wasn't. There was nowhere for him to go. His leg was bad enough. The infection...he could feel it moving.
Olsen seemed to realize that Aleneo wasn't trying to get away, but instead, he was losing the ability to walk.
Taking in sharp takes of breath, Olsen pulled Aleneo to a part of the forest that was getting the least amount of rain. The sprinkle of raindrops on his face kept his awake for the time being. He didn't know for how much longer though.
He grinned up at Olsen as he was tossed like trash against a tree. "You're never going to leave here."
He'd never thought of death being something he would have to worry about. Death was something far away, unreachable, so distant that it would be decades until he had to worry about it.
But he could feel it now. It was a certain taste on his tongue. A change in the air, a faint touch of the breeze, and the color of the sky. It was all-consuming and somehow it narrowed down to a point which was Olsen.
Olsen bared his teeth as he sunk to his knees. "No. I'm going to get out of this fucking place. I wasn't even meant to be here."
He grumbled under his breath as he tore the fabric from Aleneo's leg.
Aleneo reached out with his hand to stop him, but Olsen smacked his hand away.
"Keep your hands to your sides or I'll cut them off," Olsen snarled.
Aleneo leaned back and away from Olsen, believing every last word. The anger in Olsen's eyes made Aleneo's heart race. He felt like a rabbit with its leg stuck in a trap and Olsen was the hunter, deciding if he wanted to eat Aleneo or if he wanted to help the helpless animal.
Aleneo's breath quickened as Olsen placed his cold hands on either side of the feverish wound. Aleneo yelled out as Olsen squeezed and forced the pus out.
Olsen cleaned away the pus with the clean side of Aleneo's ripped pants. He grabbed a tiny bottle from the bag slung around his back and dashed a couple drops on the open wound. The liquid stung and Aleneo gritted his teeth as he tried to keep as still as possible.
Olsen pulled another bottle out, this time plastic, and popped the lid. He fished out a white oval thing and pushed it into Aleneo's mouth.
Aleneo spat it out.
Olsen grabbed Aleneo's face and squeezed his cheeks hard. "Don't do that again."
He pressed another into Aleneo's mouth and forced his mouth shut. He pinched Aleneo's noise and did that until Aleneo was forced to swallow it or suffocate.
He gasped for breath when Olsen let go of him with a rough shove. His head smacked against the tree with the force.
Olsen worked quickly as he cleaned up Aleneo's wound. He wrapped it with clean fabric that he pulled from his bag. After he tied it around Aleneo's leg, he tore it and stuffed the extra back into the bag with the rest of the things he'd pulled out.
He got up from his knees. He staked the sword into the ground and reached down to pull Aleneo up to his feet. Aleneo didn't even have to act like he couldn't walk because he truly couldn't. He limped forward a bit, but that was all that he could really do.
Olsen didn't gripe about it. He handled Aleneo like he didn't weigh much of anything and that made Aleneo feel even more useless.
Olsen grabbed the sword, but he didn't threaten Aleneo with it.
He didn't need to.
Aleneo could feel the end of the dark forest before he saw it. It was an unmistakable feeling. His stomach felt like it was being torn apart. But even though there was a steady pulse of pain growing stronger the closer they got to the wrinkle, there was also this pull that made him want to get closer.
He was a fly being led into a spider's web.
The only sign that Olsen was feeling the same was the grimace that was increasingly taking over his face. His feet slowed in their persistent fast pace. He wasn't getting tired. He hadn't even broken a sweat. But he felt what Aleneo felt and it looked like it was affecting him more.
The end of the forest was abrupt. The trees stopped growing at an exact spot, forming a straight line that was off-putting and unnatural. Olsen stopped there at this line where the trees stopped growing. Past this point was an open field obscured by a thick fog over a prairie.
Olsen stared out into it.
"I wasn't meant to be here." He repeated his words from earlier.
Aleneo looked at him. His eyes roamed over the scars—the tiny imperfections that didn't seem at all to dull the natural beauty he possessed.
Olsen started toward the field.
Almost immediately, Aleneo felt something wrong. His insides recoiled, being pushed back like there was a magnet inside it and the field was the same charge.
Aleneo began to struggle. Olsen kept a tight hold on his waist. Aleneo beat and kicked as hard as he could. A scream was bubbling up inside him as he felt like he was being torn apart. He dug his nails deep into Olsen's arm as a last attempt to get the man to let go of him. Olsen was latched to him like a parasite.
His face was twisted in pain, but Olsen was determined to get out.
But just when Aleneo thought they were both going to be ripped into a million pieces, they were shoved back, thrown back onto the ground right before the trees.
Aleneo gasped and panted as he stared at the cloudy skies. There was no more rain, but there was an impeding storm that seemed constant since he met Olsen. Where the kingdom had always been bright with sun and warmth, now there was a darkness and everlasting chill oncoming onto the land.
Olsen jumped on top of Aleneo and wrapped his hands around his throat. "Why won't you let me leave?"
Aleneo clawed at Olsen's wrists, gasping for one little trickle of air. "I—"
That was all that he could get out. Olsen wasn't looking for an answer. Aleneo had already failed to deliver. Instead, he wanted to take his anger out on Aleneo and punish him for something that he had no control over.
Aleneo kicked his legs out. Olsen sat atop him so he was pinned to the ground with no ability to fight him off.
Dark spots appeared in his vision. His eyes locked with Olsen's as his lids slowly began to close. As the darkness began to eat away the last of his vision, he mustered the energy to smile.
Olsen really wasn't ever going to leave this place.
Aleneo hoped he suffered an agonizing death when his men found that Olsen had killed their prince.
But before Aleneo could taste the sweet kiss of death, Olsen's grip on his neck lifted.
Aleneo gasped in a deep breath. He attempted to turn over on his side, but Olsen was still on top of him.
With dark eyes, Olsen watched as Aleneo caught his breath. Aleneo was more than disturbed by the way Olsen seemed nonchalant about what he was doing. It was like Olsen had no feeling one way or another if Aleneo died.
Aleneo should have felt the same after what Olsen had done. However, there was still reservation inside him. He didn't murder because he liked it. He did it as a way to protect what was his and for revenge.
There was a difference.
Olsen got up. He threw the sword at a random tree. It bounced off the truck and landed in the grass. He placed his hands behind his head and turned his back to Aleneo.
Aleneo turned over in the grass. His leg didn't feel so sore anymore and when he looked down, the skin around the bandage wasn't as red. He didn't stop to think about what that meant. He jumped up and ran.
He grabbed the sword just in case, but he didn't stop for anything. He ran as fast as he legs would carry him which was a lot faster than he thought possible after everything he'd gone through.
He heard Olsen behind him, his heavy footfalls loud even though they seemed to be in the distance.
Aleneo didn't chance to look behind him. He kept running until he made it out on the other side somehow.
He spotted Wolf still with Teryn's dead body. The fight between fairies and humans had waned. There only seemed to be about a handful of humans left and they were being rounded up by the fairies still on horses.
Aleneo whistled like he'd seen Teryn do before. Wolf perked up, but seemed hesitant to leave his owner's body. Aleneo's heart ached for the sentiment and he promised to come back for Teryn's body personally and to give him a proper burial.
Aleneo whistled again and Wolf got up. He met Aleneo in the middle and dropped to his front legs for Aleneo to jump on. Aleneo didn't have time to grab the reigns and instead used his heels to guide Wolf on where he wanted the horse to go. Thankfully, Wolf knew what Aleneo wanted and started toward the creek that ran through the dragon's mouth.
Aleneo could feel Olsen there on the field, but he still didn't turn to look at the man. When Aleneo was more prepared, he would make sure Olsen paid for what he'd done.
Comments (0)
See all