Chapter 10: Shadows and Light

The next day dawned bright and beautiful, the serene tranquillity broken with one very girly shriek, a sleepy "Wha…?", a manly yell of utter terror and a soft snoring being emitted from the boyos' room. The witches had been enjoying a bowl of cereal in the kitchen.

"I think they woke up." Morghann grinned, and the girls all fell over themselves (in Kalush's case, literally, when she accidentally tripped over Morghann's overalls) to rush into the next room. Lucivar was already there, smirking at the chaos before him. Aaron was desperately trying to fend Khary off; the Opal Jewelled Warlord was still asleep, clutching at Aaron and mumbling. Chaosti was sitting on the floor (having fallen out of the bed), staring at Morton in panic. Morton was rubbing sleep from his eyes and clearly wondering what the hell was going on.

"Red is fire… fire burns… don't get on the bad side of fire…" Khary clutched Aaron harder, despite Aaron's best attempts to shake him off.

"He's dreaming about Morghann again." Morton mumbled, before curiosity got the better of him.

"So what happen-"

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Aaron yelled, finally resorting to using craft to pry Khary off of him.

"I… He… We…" Chaosti whimpered.

"Don't worry, I can help him out. He woke up cuddling Morton." Lucivar elaborated, enjoying the boyos' discomfort.

"He did? Me?!" Morton looked back and forth between himself and Chaosti, before moaning, head in his hands.

"How did you get here so fast?" Karla asked, impressed.

"…." Lucivar raised an eyebrow.

Karla stared at Lucivar.

Lucivar stared at Karla.

The boyos stared at them.

The witches stared at them.

"He was here when I woke up…" Chaosti said slowly.

Karla snickered.

"You waited here all night to see it?" Morghann asked incredulously.

Lucivar just looked at Morghann.

"Ok ok!" Morghann backed down, Karla continued to snicker.

Morton looked slowly at Chaosti, before looking to Aaron who once again was trying to pry Khary off. (During their time of staring distraction, Khary had latched on again and was snoring softly into Aaron's arm.)

"We'll leave you to … sort some things out." Karla snickered, before the witches and Lucivar withdrew, leaving three very confused and worried boyos.

It took 3 hours and 15 mins, including Khary waking up, having everything explained to him, Khary throwing up, Chaosti mumbling "Why?!" approximately 73.7 times for them to work it out.

"Why m-" Chaosti began for the 74th time.

"Mother night, shut UP Chaosti!" Aaron groaned.

"It's not right…" Morton mumbled, remembering Karla's parting grin.

"Damn straight it's not right." Khary groused.

"No, we've slept in a room together before, we've been drunk before… and this never happened." Morton began slowly.

"We were never THAT drunk before." Khary corrected him.

"But still, don't you think it was a little too perfect? Why would we all gravitate towards the others? Maybe two of us would… like… Khary and Chaosti… but all four?" Morton pondered.

"Hey!" Chaosti growled.

"I resent that!" Khary muttered for the record.

"He's right…" Aaron began slowly, ignoring the looks of extreme discontent by Khary and Chaosti.

"Think, who would profit the most from this?" Morton continued.

"You… you think the witches did this?" Chaosti's face began to darken with understanding.

"Woah, we can't accuse them unless we're SURE." Khary cautioned.

"The look Karla gave me, their lack of surprise…. it was them." Morton moaned, embarrassed.

"Still, we need proof. Let's pretend everything is fine until we get it." Khary advised wisely and for once, the boyos didn't regret listening to him.

The coven (minus Lucivar) had decided to take the buggy and head out for a ride. The fresh air was inviting to the hung over boyos, and the girls being Queens; loved to feel the connection to the land.

It wasn't until they had left Maghre that Jaenelle's happy demeanor began to change, and when the Coven noticed she'd withdrawn into herself, they worried. She still hadn't regained all of her memories, and none of them wanted to go back to the frightening time when she'd disappeared without a trace, vanished from their lives.

"I've got to go, I'm needed somewhere." Jaenelle informed them solemnly.

"Where?" Kalush asked in concern.

"Near the border of Glacia." Jaenelle murmered vaguely, standing to exit the buggy. The rest of the coven stood as well, determined not to let her slip away again, and Jaenelle looked at them questioningly.

"We're going with you." Gabrielle said determinedly. Jaenelle looked at them in silence, calculating, as the coven collectively held their breath.

Would Jaenelle take them with her?

"Sisters… brothers…. Let's go." Jaenelle announced, and the Coven grinned at one another, before their smiles fell as they remembered that something was seriously wrong.

Since they weren't at a landing web, Jaenelle had to pluck the Rose Wind; showing the Coven who reached for it and caught the Winds. When Jaenelle signalled for them to descend, they weren't at a landing web either and the Coven had to blindly trust Jaenelle as they dropped off of the Wind. They were in a clearing surrounded by a forest, Jaenelle signalling for them to remain silent.

Karla, on edge as she was and having descended to the Sapphire felt the merest flicker of the Black as it rolled over their surroundings, checking for intruders, but no one else would have realised. Jaenelle looked at them, and Witch stared back.

"Let's go." She whispered.

They travelled sombrely through the forest until they reached another clearing, where the Coven instinctively gasped and recoiled. In front of them alone lay 3 dead Arcerians, stabbed, blasted with power, and a young Arcerian, also dead, it's throat slit. A vaguely obscene pink stained their fur, their own blood.

"The Arcerians managed to scare the group before they could harvest the fur." Jaenelle said, her voice tight with fury.

"Who would do this?" Aaron breathed in horror.

" Hobart." Karla spat.

Jaenelle cocked her head, before gliding into the forest and leaving the Coven with a dilemma.

"Should we follow her?" Kalush asked, weighing her friendship with Jaenelle's need for distance.

"Let her do what she needs to. We've got work to do." Chaosti decided grimly, staring around the clearing.

"Who will do what?" Khary asked, taking stock of the tasks.

"How about two groups: Karla, Morton, Aaron and Kalush, and then myself, Chaosti, Morghann and Khary? A healer in each group." Gabrielle suggested.

"What about the hunters?" Kalush asked nervously.

"I'd assume Jaenelle made sure they were gone, and if they come back, she can take care of them." Khary reminded her. With that, the groups separated into different directions, taking care to remember that they were dealing with wild, unpredictable and intelligent animals… Kindred.

Karla's group walked a little way through the forest before Aaron spotted a trail of blood. Following it through the undergrowth, they found an injured fully grown Arcerian who had obviously tried to hide. The Arcerian bared its teeth at them.

"We are with Jaenelle, and we want to heal you. Will you let us?" Khary asked cautiously, palms up to show no hostility.

.:Go Away Humans!:. came the weak reply on a white thread.

.:I can heal you! We want to help!:. Karla announced openly on a white thread.

.:Jaenelle's humans?:. the Arcerian asked grudgingly.

"Jaenelle's brothers and sisters." Morton replied.

.:Then… help the Kitten:.

With Gabrielle's group…

Gabrielle's group had found nothing so far, but Gabrielle and Chaosti, with the forest skills of the Dea Al Mon, were wary. Their instinct was warning them something was wrong, but it was just a feeling. Nothing seemed out of place.

"Stop moving!" Jaenelle's command floated out of the foliage seconds before she pushed through, carrying something carefully.

"Jaenelle?" Kalush questioned cautiously.

"These are my humans. They are here to help. They mean you no harm." Jaenelle announced to their seemingly empty surroundings, as the group waited. The air seemed to ripple, and one by one, five fully grown Arcerian's appeared as if out of the air. The group jumped.

"Sight Shields." Jaenelle said amused at the group's surprise. "They were hunting you." Kalush turned green.

"Come on, there are injured we need to heal." Jaenelle pointed with one hand, and the group followed.

With Karla's group…

.:Then… help the Kitten:. The Arcerian demanded.

"What Kitten?" Karla asked in confusion, searching the area.

The sightshield that the Coven never suspected was dropped, enabling them to see another Arcerian guarding a wounded cub. Karla rushed over to it and began assessing its wounds.

"Aaron, pass me the water flask. Kalush, could you help hold his paw still?" Karla began to heal.

As they were finishing up, Gabrielle's group and Jaenelle joined them, a small white bundle with pink streaks in her arms.

"Is he…" Morton trailed off.

"He lives. They killed his entire family." Jaenelle explained, looking at the Arcerian cub, which opened blue eyes to stare at the group.

"What's his name?" Khary asked.

"Kaelas; Kaelas is his name."

It was never specifically announced that Kaelas would be joining the group; Jaenelle simply never put the Arcerian down, and no one commented on it. Khary and Morton did enjoy the anticipation of Lucivar's reaction, however.

Said Eyrien returned to the cottage to find Gabrielle and Morghann cooing over what looked like a water-logged fluffy toy in their wash basin.

A water-logged fluffy toy that growled.

.:Brother Yas! Brother Yas!:. came Ladvarian's excited mental voice as Lucivar resisted the urge to put his hands to his temples; he could feel a headache coming on. He'd ended up instructing Ladvarian to call him "Yas" after the stumbling blocks of "Lu'var" and "Sihvar".

.:What Ladvarian?:. Lucivar asked, dimly wondering what the hell was going on.

.:Jaenelle has a Kitten!:.

Lucivar was pretty sure "kittens" didn't growl quite like that. Along with Ladvarian, he stalked over to their newest addition.

While Ladvarian was nosing up to the "kitten" (who tried to swipe at him), Lucivar noticed the details… such as the water was pink… stained red. Blood.

Ignoring the others, he went straight to the room Jaenelle was in, her back to the door.

"Why didn't you call me?" Lucivar growled, ignoring pleasantries. Jaenelle turned around.

"Your presence was not needed, Prince." Witch replied, before studying Lucivar and his frustration. A moment of silence ensued, Witch waiting for Lucivar to say the words he needed to say.

"You know I would have done whatever had to be done." Lucivar muttered hoarsely.

They both watched as the white Arcerian Kitten and the Sceltie puppy curled up together to sleep; Kaelas pawing Ladvarian whenever the puppy moved too much. Witch looked from Ladvarian to Kaelas, the pair taking strength and comfort from each other, seeing the paralells between herself and Lucivar. Lucivar would have done what ever needed to be done, but at what cost?

"I know, Prince," Witch answered with a sad smile, "I know."

Author's Note:

Another chapter done! I tried to inject more emotion into this one because I thought people were getting bored with this story... Thanks as per usual to Erkith who took time out of her schedule to Beta for me. She suggested I change the end of this chapter instead of leaving it where it was, and I changed it a little... but left it basically the same, so if you hate it, it's my fault! I wanted to end it on a solemn acknowledgement of Lucivar, who isn't quite as devoted as Daemon's absolute devotion, but would still kill or die for Witch.
Please... let me know what you think! Suggestions welcome!
xoxo