A/N: I'd like to thank you all for reviewing me and normally, I'd be updating this story on Saturday, but that's when prom happens and I'll be super busy, so I decided to update it tonight. I hope you enjoy it, even if it seems rather rushed…
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Brynn stood in front of the rundown building for a few minutes, just staring at it. She felt like somewhere in there was the way to get into the Troll Market, but she knew that if it was, it wouldn't be as easy to get into it as it seemed to be. She sighed and hugged herself.
"This is when I could use Krauss or Abe," Brynn muttered, looking around. "Damn it!"
"Oh, can I help you, young lady?" someone asked and Brynn glanced to her right to see a little old woman pushing a cart of cats, coming towards her. "You seem lost."
Brynn took a step back, seeing the old woman for what she really was. A troll. She glanced at the cats and realized what they must be. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Dessert, and Snacks. A shudder went down her spine and she suddenly felt sick to her stomach.
"Yes…I am lost," Brynn said, playing along, but also admitting the truth at the same time. "I…I need to get into the Troll Market, but I don't know how to get into it."
"Oh…a newcomer," the troll woman said, smiling sweetly. "Follow me, dear girl. I'll give you the way."
Brynn followed the old troll into the building. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of decay and other putrid smells, but continued into the building. The old woman pushed aside a metal wall and revealed an ancient looking door. Brynn stared at it in amazement before noticing that the troll woman was standing next to a complicated looking lock system.
"Now dear girl, pay attention so that next time you don't have to depend on little old me," the troll lady crooned, putting in the right combination. "I wouldn't want you to have to wait for someone to open the door for you. It's very dangerous around here."
"Yes. Yes, it is." Brynn watched as the door opened to reveal a world she had only heard about. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," the woman said before walking off into the Troll Market.
Brynn stepped into the Market and started wandering around. She had never seen such strange creatures before. They were so like the creatures the professor had shown her in his books when she was a little girl, but even more strange. They were selling things she had never seen before and things that she didn't think they would have interest in selling. They were speaking mostly in a language that she didn't understand, but she caught hints of English mixed in the din. The longer she listened to it, the more confused she became.
But no one seemed to mind her wings. It was like she finally fit in the world, but this was not her world. She could not stay here for long because she had people counting on her back in the human world. This place would just have to wait.
Nuada…where are you?
She saw a strange looking creature that seemed to be holding a child. Upon closer examination, it wasn't a child but a growth that moved and looked like a baby. It stared back at her and smiled, waving at her to come over.
"You're very pretty," it said. "Are you lost?"
"Yes. I'm looking for Nuada…Prince Nuada," Brynn told the growth. "Do you know where I can find him?"
The growth looked at her through dark eyes. "I saw him go towards the back shops. Better hurry or you'll miss him, your highness."
Brynn didn't question the growth. There was no time. She turned and forced her way through the crowd, heading for the back streets. She caught a glimpse of a pale man wandering the back streets with a strange creature on his arm and felt her heart swell.
"Nuada!" she called, elbowing her way with even more force.
She lost sight of him as she made her way up some stairs. With a panicked look she turned around to face the crowd and didn't see him.
Turn around and continue this way…
Brynn heard that voice again in her head and turned around. She ran past old fashioned shops that sold magic scrolls and trinkets and finally found Nuada at the end of the alley where the sky opened up. A strange creature sat on his arm, its silver wings glowing slightly. He whispered something to it and it took off.
"Nuada! No!" Brynn said, running over and into him. "No! Call it back!"
"Brynn, what is the matter?" Nuada demanded, steadying her. "What are you doing here?"
"I…Kendra…told me…to stop you," Brynn panted, pointing up at the sky where the thing was flying away. "That…needs to …come back…back down."
Nuada followed her finger in the direction of the strange creature. "It won't come back," he said. "Not until it brings back a message from your father as whether or not he will hold an audience with us."
"Damn it!" Brynn cursed, spinning away from him. "I'm too late! Damn that troll woman for moving so slow!"
"What is the matter, my other half?"
"Everything now!" Brynn knocked aside the hand that would have reached out to touch her arm. "Don't touch me! I have to think…"
She walked away from him and kicked a wall in passing. Then she started pacing and ignored the pain in her toe. Nuada simply watched her with a curious expression on his face.
"So, I came too late…" Brynn muttered to herself. "Maybe the message will get lost or the messenger will have a heart attack or…maybe it'll get eaten." She shook her head. "No, those things don't get eaten. Nygax don't get eaten for by anything except bipedal creatures and bigger Nygax…and I don't think I'll get lucky enough to have it get chased by another Nygax…" Her eyes lit up. "Maybe if I fly after it? No…I'm scared of heights."
Nuada walked in front of her, cutting her off. "Why do you want the message stopped? I thought you wanted to meet your father."
"I do…I mean, I did," Brynn mumbled, looking at him with hope that he'd understand. "I just…Kendra told me that it wouldn't be such a wise idea for me to have him summoned to Earth. He doesn't mean well for the human race."
"All the more reason for him to come."
Brynn's eyes narrowed. "After everything you saw through my eyes, you still haven't changed your mind in the slightest?"
"I've held onto my hate for over two thousand years," Nuada told her, his eyes now searching hers. "Do you think that a few thoughts shared by you are going to change me?"
"I had hoped..."
"Then you hoped for a dream."
Brynn turned away from him and marched down the alley. He followed her. "Leave me alone, Prince Dark," she ordered, glaring over her shoulder at him. "And don't you darken my doorstep anymore. Understand?"
"I do not understand your sudden anger towards me," Nuada said calmly, putting a hand on her arm which she immediately pushed off.
"There's no point in explaining it to you, so I'm not even going to try."
Brynn turned and walked down the stairs, entering the crowd once more. This time, people seemed to notice her because some of them reached out and touched her wings. She wasn't bothered by this until a couple of the smaller creatures started pulling on her feathers. A silent gasp tore at her throat and she twisted away from the creatures, but there were more of them than she could get away from. They kept pulling on her wings, ripping feathers out with their greedy little fingers.
"Stop!" she cried, beating her wings but they were holding fast onto them. "Please stop!"
The little creatures chattered on in a language that she didn't understand. Brynn cried out and saw white lights pop in front of her eyes. The pain was growing too much for her to bear, but they continued to make it worse.
"Enough!" Nuada's voice boomed and one of the creatures fell to the ground dead by a spear point.
Brynn wrapped her wings around herself, seeing Nuada standing next to her, his weapon at the ready. The little creatures cowered before him, her feathers still clutched tightly in their fingers.
"My friends… look what you have done," Nuada instructed, glaring at them in turn. "You have made the last angel on this planet weep. You have caused her great pain and through our shared hearts, you have hurt your prince. Do you not feel her sorrow in your bones, deep within? Her beautiful wings are not to be plucked like a hen's, but revered. You have disgraced yourselves and your kind…and for that, death."
The creatures paled and tried to run away, but Nuada was much quicker. Brynn turned her face away, burying herself in her wings as tears ran down her face. All she wanted was to disappear, go to her mother and cry.
"Brynn," Nuada's voice said gently, his fingers grazing her supersensitive wings which sent a jolt of pain through her. "You must come with me to a healer…"
"I won't go with you," Brynn whispered, closing her eyes against her tears. "You told me that these were my people and look how they treated me. They pulled out my feathers! I haven't felt this kind of pain since…"
There was no point in saying it. He already knew what she meant through their bond. He knew everything about her and she knew almost everything about him. She hadn't felt this pain since her classmates beat her to ground and ripped out every single feather of her wings, leaving skeletal wings behind.
"Anyway, the healer can't make the feathers grow back…" she continued, raising a hand to touch her wings, but pulled it back before she could even graze a feather.
"A healer can take away the pain."
Brynn shifted one of her wings very carefully and saw that he was standing in front of her. She saw concern in his eyes, anger at what had happened moments before, and…was that fear she could see glinting within the fire of his eyes?
"Come with me, little angel," Nuada said, holding a hand out to her.
Brynn hesitantly reached for the hand and felt its warmth once it gently closed over hers. Nuada guided her through the crowds and back to the alley. Brynn felt someone touch her wing in passing and hurried closer to Nuada. A little smirk appeared on his face, but quickly fell once he felt her pain through the bond again.
"Perhaps you shouldn't touch me," Brynn murmured, lowering her eyes to the ground. "I don't want your sister to feel my pain through you."
"My sister will be fine," Nuada stated and he continued to hold her hand, pulling her into a store that she hadn't noticed before.
Brynn looked around the store as she was pulled through it. Strange smelling plants hung all over the place. They seemed to be growing on every surface except the floor. Brynn had never been one for herbal remedies, choosing to take a few Ibuprofen tablets instead to dull any pain and combat any fever. This time, she had a feeling that herbs would do the best to get rid of the electrifying pain that she was currently suffering from.
"Your Majesty," a strange looking creature said, approaching them. "What may I do for you today?"
"I need a potion that will cure pain," Nuada told the creature, pulling Brynn closer to him.
The creature looked at her in wonder. "For the angel?"
"Yes."
"I'll see what I can do, sire," the creature said, bowing and hurrying to the back of the store where vials of liquids stood.
Brynn leaned in close to Nuada and whispered, "I don't trust this guy."
"Terra has served my clan for centuries without treachery," Nuada stated quietly, glancing at her. "Do not fear her."
Brynn sighed and watched as Terra approached once more, holding a pale green vial. Terra bowed her head and held out the potion.
"It can take away the pain, but if she even has one drop of human blood in her, she will faint," Terra announced as Nuada took the vial away from her. "I catered to her angel blood, not to any human blood."
"This will do, my friend," Nuada said, passing the vial over to Brynn. "Do not fear little angel, I shall catch you." He glanced over at Terra once more. "Terra, do you have a potion that will grow back feathers?"
"For angels? No, sire I do not." Terra gestured at the vial in Brynn's hands. "That is the last potion I have that caters to angels. Since all the angels went back up to the sky or to Hell, I haven't had the need to brew any healing potions for angels." A soft smile appeared on Terra's face. "I thought I'd never have the honor of serving another angel again, sire."
"See to it that you serve her well," Nuada instructed before turning to Brynn once more. "Drink the potion. I shall be here when you come to."
Brynn pulled out the cork and tipped the mouth of the vial towards her lips. She gulped down the potion in two swallows, tasting something bitter and rusty. The world spun and then the floor started to rise up to meet her as the world went black.
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A/N: Brynn certainly knows how to get in trouble, doesn't she? Well, that's how it turns out in my head. Also, if any of you are too young to handle the things I'm going to write in the next chapter, maybe you should skip parts of it…when I get it up on here. Until then, I leave you with this chapter and hope that you review! ~ Scarlet