Disclaimer: I do not own the Throne of Glass series or any of the wonderful characters and stories told by the lovely Sarah J. Maas.
Summary: "Elide, my darling girl. It's time to come home." (OR what if Vernon doesn't go down without a villainous, manipulative fight). KOA what if scenario.
"We need to know what's happening up there," Chaol stands next to Nesryn and Sartaq, as they gaze up the cliffside at the edge of camp.
The camp was settling down for the evening, despite the heightened feeling of alertness and uneasiness after the spider attack. They had been lucky with no deaths and only a few severe casualties that had been immediately treated by Yrene and the other healers.
"We do," Sartaq answered, "but it seems foolhardy to fly up there blind, especially with the shifter still roaming. We need to trust the Fae and Aelin, while we stay vigilant down here."
Chaol sighed and swiped his hands down his face in frustration.
"They will not fail," Yrene's quiet confidence was a balm to his worry. Chaol's gaze drifts to her, while she methodically organizes the field medical supplies that had not been needed.
He had just knelt down to assist, when a commotion arose behind them from the center of camp. He immediately straightens back up, positioning himself in front of Yrene, while all of them grab for weapons.
"What could possibly have happened now," Nesryn muttered, tensing as the voices grew louder, then immediately relaxed, at Fenrys' arrival.
"About time, what's happening up there?"
But Fenrys doesn't spare a glance for Chaol, his pleading gaze instead locks on Yrene.
"Tell me what you need," Yrene's tone is determined steel.
"It's the Valg. They took Elide. We need your help. Lorcan needs your help."
"Take me there now."
"Yrene, wait–"
But Yrene had already reached out a hand to Fenrys. They were gone.
Without a word, Chaol, Nesryn, and Sartaq sprint toward the ruk enclosure.
The blade's hilt is embedded with an emerald enamel that casts an eerie glow on Lorcan's face. Blood pools over her hands, soaking his chest, her dress.
No.
Elide's hands are shaking as she thrusts them away from the blade that she buried. No. No, the blade the Valg buried. She senses movement happening around her, but she only seeks Lorcan's gaze. His eyes are clenched shut, his jaw tense as he pants short, staccato breaths. Elide's hands hover, uncertain above his chest.
This is real.
"Yes my pet," the creature croons, "now let's do it once more and be finished. You only prolong his pain."
Elide's body shudders atop Lorcan.
No.
Her hands drift back toward the emerald hilt. Lorcan's breath stutters. Fingers curl around the smooth, cool enamel.
"Don't you dare touch him." Elide voice is guttural and raw. Her hands abruptly change course and she's clenching his chest. Those hands seeking and finding the heartbeat.
"You missed his heart," the words are quiet as a sigh.
Lorcan gasps in pain, but his hands raise to rest on her hips. He whispers, "Elide."
"SHE IS MINE," Elides head jerks back as the Valg shrieks, Lorcan tightens his hold as her body thrashes. Then she's completely, utterly still.
"No more," Elide's voice is resolute before her entire body crumples forward.
Lorcan uses his flagging strength to flip and straddle Elide's prone body, the blade still embedded in his chest.
"Elide," he says it louder and soulless black eyes open and meet his. Her body writhes beneath him as the creature hisses obscenities. She frees one hand from Lorcan's grip and brutally pulls the blade from his torso. Lorcan roars in agony and pitches to the side. Elide screams.
"KILL ME. KILL ME AND SAVE HIM. SAVE LORCAN."
"NO" Lorcan bellows from the ground beside her. His hands clasped over his wound. Desperation leaches out of him as he watches Gavriel and Rowan move in to keep Elide restrained.
"Yrene, can you do it?"
Aelin's voice is pleading as she and Fenrys enter Elide's field of vision.
Yrene doesn't hesitate as she approaches Elide's writhing form. Yrene sinks to her knees and brings her hands together as if to clasp hands. White light flares and she collects that ball of energy between both hands.
Then thrusts that energy directly into Elide's chest.
A loud crack splits the air. Everything pauses. Stills. Then Elide gasps as her body arches off the ground. Her body encased by a writhing, living shadow as Yrene's light pulses above her heart.
Lorcan curses as he lifts his body off the ground to a seated position. He barely registers that Fenrys and Gavriel had switched places and Gavriel was kneeling at his back, healing him.
Yrene's hands are gentle and soothing. Encased in white light, her magic ripples as she reaches for the clasp at the base of the choker around Elide's neck. Lorcan watches Yrene take a deep breath and then her magic flares even brighter. He reaches out and clasps Elide's hand.
Elide screams, her body writhing as Fenrys pins her feet and Rowan braces her head. Yrene presses both hands into Elide, one on her chest, the other on her neck. Elide quiets, but her body continues to tremble.
Aelin is beside Rowan, stroking Elide's hair, whispering to her.
A black, smoky residue oozes out of her. Then Elide is coughing, choking.
"Turn her," Yrene gasps as she pulls her hands away from Elide.
Rowan obliges and Elide starts vomiting black smoke. The choker clatters to the ground, a deep crack running through it. Fenrys swats it away to the far side of the room. They hear it shatter.
Elide wretches until a black ball of sludge drops to the ground. Then slowly disappears with a low hiss.
Lorcan reaches for her as her body crumples.
Elide felt like she was drifting. She was a creature of darkness. She was no one. The creature was gone. But, she was tired. So so tired. And Lorcan, Lorcan was—
She pauses at the flash of light. There for the smallest fraction of a second. A flicker in the dark. Then it flares, soft and soothing.
The opposite of Maeve's chill, this magic was warmth. It was radiant.
"Elide, Elide, come back to us." The voice was familiar.
"Elide, come back to me." Another voice, more familiar.
Elide lets out a sigh and lets herself smile as she falls into the light's embrace.
"Chaol and Yrene are back at camp," Sartaq was catching Fenrys up, Nesryn standing nearby, "she was exhausted and he wasn't helping the situation since we don't have his chair up here. How's Elide?"
"She hadn't woken up yet, but that was before I was on watch to find Vernon. Lorcan also wasn't up either, although he insisted he stay with Elide."
To their immense frustration, Vernon had escaped in the madness. But so far none of the ruks in the aerie were unaccounted for and there was no other way out of the fortress except to climb. And while Vernon was a coward, he was no idiot. They knew he was still here.
The group turned left at the next hallway and entered a small room. It must have been a servant's quarters. It was simple, with a small table and washstand in the corner with a cot. No windows and the doorway the sole entry into the room. Elide laid there with Aelin sitting on the small table beside her knees pulled to her chest.
Lorcan, meanwhile, was prone on a straw mattress they had pulled in from another room. Gavriel currently kneeling beside him.
The group walked in to Lorcan's growl, "I'm fine, Gavriel."
"You're not, you need to rest."
"Gavriel, have you ever successfully had Lorcan follow your instructions, you know it's pointless," Fenrys steps into the room, rolling his eyes as he watches Lorcan swat Gavriel away and pivot toward Elide's form on the cot.
Aelin had already stood and moved towards the doorway.
"We'll be out in the hall. Fenrys is right, you two deserve space. Maybe you can reach her," Aelin's voice sounds soothing but her eyes flicker with sadness as they take in Elide's still form.
"Thank you," Lorcan doesn't watch the group leave the room.
Aelin glances at Fenrys as she gently shuts the door behind her, "Chaol and Yrene are safe?"
Fenrys nods, "We owe her an unfathomable debt. I've known Lorcan a long time, some of us even longer than that," a glance toward Gavirel and Rowan, "I don't think I've ever seen him shed a tear of gratitude, let alone on his knees."
"In his defense, I don't think Lorcan could have stood up in gratitude with those stomach wounds," Rowan chuckles sadly.
Aelin lets out a long, depressed sigh as she leans against the wall.
"Elide is a survivor, she will wake up soon," Rowan's tone is reassuring as he approaches Aelin, "but we can't rest yet. This isn't over. We need to find that bastard Vernon, while keeping them safe."
Aelin nods thoughtfully, "Despite knowing that slimeball is somewhere around here, I think we stay. We can protect her. Less people, more stone walls, and we can't forget that shapeshifter is likely somewhere in camp. We need to give Lorcan a chance to heal and rest too."
Nods across the group. Nesryn speaks up, "Sartaq and I will return to camp to find materials to secure Vernon's transport when he's found."
"Good, I guess that means we're back on the hunt here. Who's coming with me to catch a rat?" Aelin stalks down the hall. The Fae take one quick glance at each other before Fenrys and Rowan follow on her heels. Gavriel takes his post as guardian and sentry.
Elide wakes up in complete darkness. She shudders and let's out a keening wail.
"Shh, I'm here. You're safe." Lorcan's voice is a balm as his darkness surrounds her. It croons and soothes.
"Lorcan?!" she shrieks, afraid.
His voice is muffled and the image fades as darkness takes her away once more.
The next time she wakes, it is calmer. She blinks a couple of times into her dusky surroundings and realizes she is staring at the back of Lorcan's head. He had sat on the floor beside her cot and appeared to be asleep.
Elide closes her eyes. She was here, she was herself, she would be okay.
"Lorcan," his name a sigh on her lips.
Lorcan's abrupt movement is panicked as he reaches for the lantern and light floods the room. He turns to face her and cups her face with both hands.
"Elide! How are you feeling? What do you remember?"
"Lorcan, Lorcan, Lorcan," she repeats his name like a mantra. Her hands lift up to clasp his forearms and she tilts her head until their foreheads touch.
"It was real, wasn't it? I don't think I want to talk about it. I don't know if I can talk about it," tears trickle down her face as she whispers in his face.
"It wasn't real, Elide. Not all of it."
"She made me believe it was real. It felt real. For a moment. And that moment, she swallowed me. Until she was going to make me kill y–" Elide couldn't finish the words and burst into sobs.
Lorcan pulls her to him off the cot, "I would take this pain from you if I could. I missed you, desperately."
Elide says nothing more, but pulls him closer as she curls around him.
They sit quietly like that for awhile. Elide the one to pull away, lifting her gaze to Lorcan.
"How about you? What happened?" Elide then gasped, "How's Yrene?! She must have been here too. It was her light I felt inside me, right?"
"Whoa calm down," Lorcan gently lifts Elide back to lay down on the cot, "Yrene is fine–"
They're interrupted by an abrupt knock on the door.
"Lorcan! Elide!"
It's Fenrys. Lorcan waves for Elide to stay in the bed as he rises to answer the door.
Elide misses the exchange, until Lorcan's sharp, "Vernon! Where is he now?"
Elide sinks into the bed, trying to fight the exhaustion she feels settling back behind her eyes.
Vernon? What was he doing here?
"I'll stay with her for the moment, if you need me too?" Fenrys offers as he clasps Lorcan's forearm. Lorcan hesitates as he looks back at Elide, but she warily smiles at him.
"I'll be fine."
Lorcan nods once, "I'll be right back."
Fenrys doesn't shut the door behind him and Elide feels herself drifting, unconcerned as she senses his approach. It's not until a scaled clawed hand covers her mouth does she recognize their error.
The creature moves quickly. Her body is weak and compliant in its arms, unable to cry out. Elide fights to stay conscious.
They arrive in the aerie, dawn just appearing on the horizon. Elide stares in horror at the Ilken standing at her uncle's side, the familiar stench of spoiled meat and blood.
"How?" Elide breathes, her body trembling in the shapeshifter's arms as he lifts his claw from her mouth and sets her feet on the ground.
Vernon moves quickly and reaches for her, "Oh my darling, girl. What an adventure we've had."
