Private Tales Dangerous Ground

[Sierra]

Kristine stuck her thumb in her mouth. A little old for the habit but Sierra had noticed when the little girl was stressed, she fell back to what felt safe. A nod to Cillian.

"If we can make people look pretty," she pulled out the drool-sodden digit and smiled timidly.

"That's a girl," Sierra gave her an encouraging smile. After a few more hours and a snack on the road, the kids were napping in the back as they approached the portal stone and came to a stop. The kids remained out and Sierra thought it best not to wake them. Less apprehension about going through.

Grabbing her things, she began saddling up the horse she started this journey with. A muddy-brown one with a white star mottled over one eye. Packs and saddlebags were tied down. After strapping her bandolier of knives back across her torso she finally turned to Cillian.

And stuck out her hand in offer of a farewell.

"Thank you, for everything." She felt the pull of those golden eyes and swallowed, pushing her feelings far away.

 

[Cillian]

Cillian took the hand and then used it to pull her into a tight hug. One large muscle arm wrapped around her shoulders whilst the other wrapped about her waist. He wasn't stupid; he knew the dangers she was going to be heading back to. Every time she stuck her neck out like this there would be a chance she could get caught and be killed. Or worse. He didn't want to think about the techniques that might be used on a renegade Dreadlord to bring them back under control.

"Take care o' ye'self Duchess," he murmured against her hair before releasing her with that cocky smirk of his. A hand ran through his hair. "If ye need me, just make a wish," and with that reminder he set the Portal Stone runes for Alliria, clambered back onto the wagon and drove FrauFrau through to the world beyond.

 

[Sierra]

She wouldn't forget that hug.

To be hugged like that again.

His warm breath fluttering against wisps of auburn and arms stronger than her own keeping her up.

___________________________________________________________________

Things were happening quicker than she planned. And Sierra was running out of time. There were sounds of booms somewhere far off. She could feel the shifting tide of emotions in the city. It was too late to get Rose out the way she wanted to. As if reading her thoughts, she felt a small tug on her tunic and looked downard.

Mop of dark hair so much like her father's.

But Sierra's eyes.

"Momma," the little girl looked at her with eyes that seemed older than she was. Rose was already three. Sierra scooped her into her arms.

"Yes my heart?" A hand eased back some of that unruly dark hair.

"We go away?" A quiet voice for a three year-old.

There was another boom across the city.

Sierra took a deep breath, nearly hating herself for what she was about to do. She didn't like relying on other magic. On others at all. But she knew no matter what, the cost would be worth it. For Rose, anything was worth hit.

Eyes closed and she held Rose tightly.

"Cillian. I wish you were here to help me."

 

[Cillian]

I wish... I wish.... I wish....

The wishes floated through his mind day in day out. He was old enough now to tune the majority of them out but a few wriggled through; those who wished with all of their heart and those ... like Sierra.

Cillian was a long way from Vel'Anir in the deserts of the far West. His shoe trade had taken him on yet another adventure to help some lass with her high ideals of a better world. He really needed to stop talking to people when he was away. Perhaps he should go back to that 50 year span where he just lived alone in the woods, those had been simpler times, he thought to himself as he poured the sand out of one of his shoes. At least luck had been on his side once again and he had made it out alive.

He was thinking of how good a bath would feel when he felt that little whisper at the back of his mind.

Cillian...

He froze.

"Sierra?" a soft whisper and then her wish came flooding to the forefront of his mind. Panic gripped him for he knew her pride would never let her call him unless it was an emergency. It weren't often that Cillian travelled through the fae lines but for her... he would. The Fae lines were actually the threads of magic that ran across the world. To travel them was a fine art and one Cillian was rusty at at best but it was the only way he would be able to get to her.

The world spun when he came out by the old faerie circle in the middle of the city. He wondered how their stomachs would turn to know that a scattering of rocks they thought was unimportant was what allowed fae in and out as they pleased. A sudden boom not too far from where he stood brought his vision into focus.

"Wha' tae fu--" fire suddenly shot across the sky with a woman - at least, he thought it was a woman - floated in the centre of it. He watched with his mouth wide open for a second and then he was running, running to where he had sensed the wish coming from.

"SIERRA?!"

 

[Sierra]

Sierra.

She felt an invisible tug. She felt him. Far off. She was surprised and relieved that she'd felt a brush of him down a bond she hadn't even realized had formed since last they met.

Eyes snapped open even as the city boomed again.

Screams filled the streets outside her house on the edge of the Academy. Rose tightened her grip around Sierra's neck. "Hang on," Sierra murmured and ran to her room, bending on one knee to grab a satchel she'd had packed for months prior. One bag slung over her shoulder. Then quiver, then arrow. Daughter on her other shoulder.

Sierra kicked the door open to the courtyard as screams filled the area. A cadre of undead were already filing inside. Across the way, two proctors were keeping another at bay, barking orders at some of the students.

Rose remained quiet. Eyes widening. Small fingers digging into her mother's armor.

I'mhereI'mhereI'mhere the dreadlord called urgently down the bond to the leprechaun. To her wish. Her leprechaun.

"Get behind me," she put Rose down and set an arrow.

Fired.

They made their marks.

A face.

A throat.

A heart.

But they kept coming.

The worst thing was?

They had no emotions to manipulate.

 

[Cillian]

Cillian ducked and weaved through the crowds of milling civilians as they ran in hoards for the gates. He wanted to tell them it wasn't any safer the way they were headed but they wouldn't have heard him over the noise anyway. Ash and debris were filling the street making it hard to see and breathe but he ploughed on, his feet sure of where they needed to go even if he wasn't. Sierra called him onwards so onwards he would go. Round this bend, through that alley, over the shattered wall of a house. He barely paid it any mind until an arrow whizzed past his face and buried itself into one of the undead creatures he had unknowingly been about to stumble into.

Several of their corpses littered the floor but even as he watched they were getting to their feet; it was as if they fell because they remembered what it was like to be human and knew such a shot should have killed them.

"I shoulda remembered tha'," he said warily, meaning how good she was with a bow than anything else. Golden eyes rose to meet those of a winters day's sky and despite the situation he couldn't help the smile. "Migh' I suggest gettin' tae fuck outta here, Duchess?"

 

[Sierra]

Heart leapt a teeny bit when she saw him. That mop of unruly dark hair. The twin suns of fire of his eyes. And that godsdamned voice.

He'd come.

A part of her had always doubted. Despite what he'd said. She just assumed..because of Hal. She assumed he couldn't come back. Wouldn't. But here he was.

She gulped even as her gaze remained steely.

"Do you have a way out?" She released another arrow into an eye. The body twitched and stumble. She shouldered her bow and scooped Rose up. Despite the chaos. Her daughter remained wide-eyed and relatively calm. Always studious. Sierra had to wonder if she'd inherited her own talent for empathy. That or maybe something else.

She ran toward Cillian.

"Rose, this is Cillian. Cillian, this is Rose." The little girl with eyes like her mother's turned them on the leprechaun.

 

[Cillian]

"O' course - an' nice tae meet you little lady," Cillian raised both eyebrows in surprise but he didn't question it. He only briefly glanced to Rose and offered her a small smile before turning back to confront they ugly sites of war that Vel'Anir's streets had turned into. He was loathe to draw his sword - always had been - but he did so now with a song of metal against metal.

The undead came at anything that moved and smelt alive. They were rabid, quick, horrid things that scuttled like spiders but leapt and tore apart people like lions. With Sierra watching his back with her bow and arrow - as best she could with a babe - he cleaved a way through the onslaught.

"Wha' tae fu-dge," nice save, "is going on here?" he called as he separated the head from body of one of the wretches only for the body to slowly drag itself back up again. If they could get to the fae circle he could get them out. It wasn't a long trip normally but with a battle to fight through on the way?

 

[Sierra]

Rose wrapped her little legs tightly around her mom's waist, small arms clinging around her neck. A spark of intelligence in her young eyes. A raise of her dark brows as the stranger man said fudge a really funny way. Which Rose immediately repeated even in the chaos.

Sierra released an arrow into a head next time, grimacing.

She was going to run out.

"Undead armies just showed up. Part of the walls are down. I don't know who is behind it," she grunted as she loosed another arrow. Taking a breath, she spread her magic out with a pulse of invisible energy. "These things don't have emotions but I can sense...there's someone pulling the strings nearby." Maybe if she could get to them. That flicker of someone's malice - of not belonging. Hard to get a read on their exact location and she had to wonder if they were shielded.

A breath and a moment to look him over.

"You look tanner than the last time I saw you."

 

[Cillian]

Another creature went down cleaved in two. Bile rose as the arms began to shudder but his attention was quickly pulled away from that when she made her last statement. He wanted to say it was a question - it certainly had the hint of one - but she was very pointedly not making eye contact with him. That signature little smug expression settled itself nicely onto his face.

"Jealous, Duchess?" he took them round another bend to a street that was surprisingly quiet in contrast to the one they had just left. Most of this place looked deserted; perhaps the undead were drawn to living heartbeats. "I was in tae West - tae Deserts," he lowered his blade a fraction but it was still at the ready should one of those things jump out at them. It felt like they were wandering through the eye of the hurricane. "When I got yer message. I dinnae have anythin' bu' what's on me person," then there was the ring of unassuming stones in the middle of the square. Cillian held up a hand and cautiously crept forward but the place was deserted.

"Alrigh', I can take ye both bu' ye might ge' a lil sick."

 

[Sierra]

He was smug.

The bastard.

That little smirk was itching to send embers into her veins. A low huff as she focused on one more shot, then slung her bow over one shoulder. She pushed away the fatigue that was already creeping into her muscles and along her bowarm.

These undead just didn't stop.

And she didn't know how long the city would be able to last against them unless something seriously changed.

Arm shifted around Rose as she looked at the empty square and the pile of rocks she'd passed by nearly every day. A frown drew upon her lips. Questioning glance to Cillian.

"There's nothing here," she breathed. "How...you came from the deserts, do I even want to know?" Another shake of her head. "And no," she finally drew with a low exhale. "I'm staying here. I just need you...want you to get Rose out for me."

"But Mommy," Rose drew her arms more tightly around her mother.

Sierra's eyes flickered between pain and resolve as they swept from Cillian's face to stay alert to their surroundings.

 

[Cillian]

"What?!"

A sudden wave of fire rolled across the skies once more burning away the blue of day and replacing it with ashy clouds that sent down little chunks of white soot. They nestled in his hair like tainted snow as he stared at the woman he had crossed a world for only for her to tell him she didn't plan to leave with him.

"Ye cannae be serious Sierra, look at this place," he throw both hands out to either side of him. The feckin' sky was on fire let alone the streets with the undead crawling about ruined buildings and feasting on the living. Pain etched itself into every line of his expression as he turned his palm towards her, offering a hand. "Please, just come wit' me, both of ye. I can take ye anywhere in tae world..."

 

[Sierra]

"I know," her throat closed up, a rare display of emotion on her face. Vulnerability. She didn't doubt Cillian's abilities or the intentions behind his offer. What kind of mother was she if she pushed Rose into his arms? Who did that make her?

But she knew if she went with him now - went with Rose, she wouldn't be able to live with herself. She'd fought for too long too hard to see and make a better Vel Anir. What about the children like Rose who didn't have anyone else to fight for them? Stick up for them? She just hoped Rose would one day understand if she didn't...no, NO. Sierra couldn't think like that. She would make it back to Rose. To Cillian.

No matter what.

She gulped and pried Rose' arms off of her and instead of taking the leprechaun's hand, she shoved rose into it instead. "When this is all over, I'll find you both. I promise." Battle-worn hands splotched with the undead blood gently cradled Rose's cheeks.

"My heart. My love. He will keep you safe."

That was the thing.

Sierra trusted him. Cillian. With all her heart.

"Mommy," she whimpered but no tears poured from the little girl's eyes.

"Be strong my love," Sierra stroked her tenderly once more and straightened to find Cillian's fiery orbs. "I can't walk away from this. Not yet. Cillian I love...just please, please keep her safe until I can find you both again."

She would owe him more than she'd ever be able to repay. As if the city deemed their reprieve past due, sounds of the undead began growing louder from around the edges of the buildings.

"Go," Sierra commanded, readying her weapons.

 

[Cillian]

He wanted to protest, to drag her if necessary with him to somewhere safe. Somewhere he could protect her which was far, far away from the hell that was unfolding here. Yet all he could do was stare as the small girl was bundled into his arms. As when he had handled Kristine all those months ago, he held Rose now with a tenderness and care that would make most people at first glance assume the child was his.

Go.

Cillian couldn't explain the pain as he forced his feet to move. A part of him screamed at him for doing so but... but he could understand. Once, a very long time ago, he had wanted to fight for what he thought was right too.

"It's okay Lass," he said softly to Rose, his hand gently cupping the back of her head as another explosion sounded nearby. One step... and then he stopped. If this was the last time he saw her would he forgive himself for not doing what he did next? He turned back and grabbed her hand. Before she could protest he pulled her close against his chest and seized her lips in a fiery, passionate kiss that made the flames about them feel cool in comparison. His hand slid from her hand and her fingers trailed up her side to cup her cheek in contrasting tenderness to the way his lips held hers.

Reluctantly he let her go and rested his forehead against hers.

"Come back to us," a soft whispered plea and then the leprechaun turned and strode off through the fae circle before his heart broke in front of her.