Abandoned (Born From Shadows #2)

Despite the first days of winter passing by, the sun in the desolate land still managed to warm Tatianna’s skin to a sufficient temperature. The winds were still warm as they blew through her caramel hair. Her legs were swinging side to side when a noise in the distance caused Tatianna’s ears to twitch in discomfort and confusion. Her unusual eyes widening as realisation dawned upon her. It was as if someone had suddenly walked over to her and slapped her hard in the face for no reason at all. She was still in shock unable to comprehend that she had just been struck by the most horrific screams.

“Are those…people?” she quietly asked Tyrion who just gravely nodded in reply.

They weren’t close but her heightened senses could hear it, smell the decay of flesh in every breeze. Burnt flesh. Alive screams. Everyone around her just continued forward, ignoring the noises as if they were as common as hearing a cricket call in the night.

“Shouldn’t we help them?” she asked, not knowing how much longer she could bear the distant cries.

“Those souls are beyond our reach. The humans construct of justice has a price, ” Tyrion replied. The prison camp, she deduced after Tyrion’s words. The same place they were going to send Freya and Riley. “It doesn’t matter to them if they are innocent or guilty, made a small crime or are a psychopath all are sent to that death trap to labour away their lives then burnt in a mass grave, tossed to the side like a used toy.”

“That’s…wrong,” she said.

“That’s life, unjust in every way it can be.” That she understood better than most, and a part of her knew that Tyrion was well acquainted with the unfairness of the world, just as much as she was.

“Gods there must be thousands of them,” she muttered more to herself as the day went longer. She had heard them for hours and she was begging them to stop, just like they were begging for an end.

“There is,” Tyrion replied. You are the first Elf that I have ever met to say the word ‘gods’.” His words did not surprise her based on what she knew of the Elven beliefs.

“I was raised surrounded by humans, they rubbed off on me,” she replied.

“You still believe in them. That there are gods watching over us?”

She paused for a moment before replying, “yes.”

“When you live long enough such things seem childish, a wish to believe in something greater so you can deny reality.”

“Sometimes it’s the only thing that can keep people going,” she replied.

“All you need to do is believe in yourself, not some powerful being to pick you up when your down but for you to do it on your own.”

She did not like him questioning her beliefs, but she always held an open mind and could not deny his principles. “Whatever gets me through the day,” she replied.

The Queen ahead of them raised up her hand. Tatianna had not even realised that night had come for them. The horses each halted, everyone dismounted from the animals as they settled into camp for the night.

She laid in her sleeping bag tossing and turning to the sound of the screams. Even with her hands placed on her ears, her nose shoved into her pillow she could not drown them out.

Tatianna stared intently at Nylif as the distant fire crackled lighting up the night sky. A thought shot into her head and her eyes immediately moved towards Tyrion’s resting body. She had no idea if he was asleep or not. She debated on asking in the morning before Tyrion’s tired voice mumbled, “I can’t sleep if you stare at my face.”

“Sorry,” she muttered in reply. Realising that she could now ask her question she continued, “It’s just I remembered something you said and had a question to ask.”

“Well, I am awake so may as well ask now,” the tired Fae said in reply.

Tatianna thought for a moment on the best way to ask before deciding to just wing it and hope she didn’t sound like a stuttering mess. “You said that every Fae and Elf fused. Yet you walk alone, did you reject the connection?”

It was silent for a few moments as she awaited his reply, now realizing that the absence of another may not be due to rejection, but to something else entirely. She immediately wanted to take back the question, but you can’t remove something from another mind once it had been placed there. “The one that I was fused with is no longer around,” Tyrion finally replied to her astonishment. She didn’t expect him to admit to it.

She wondered what happened but also remembered another thing that Tyrion once said. Separation…it’s the worst pain and Elf or Fae can go through. After spending her entire life moving from one traumatic event to another, she knew the worst thing to do was bring up a bad memory, so she asked him, “what were they like?” in hope that she would cause him to recollect a happy memory. One not caught in the pain of loss, but of brighter days.

Tyrion’s small chuckle indicated that she had achieved what she intended. “He was a complete dick,” he answered to her surprise. That was not the answer she was expecting.

“Seriously?” she said in disbelief.

“Yep,” Tyrion replied with not a moment of hesitation. “He did not give a fuck what people thought and treated them all like dolls that he could play with. He was as arrogant as they come and selfish.”

Tatianna raised her eyebrows in amazement. “What a dick,” she agreed.

“Yet I loved him all the same,” Tyrion said.

“Love is like any other emotion. You don’t get to choose when and who it is directed towards. If you could then no one would be sad. He may had been a dick, but he was your dick…that sounds so wrong,” she realised after saying it, causing Tyrion to crackle out in laughter just like the fire spitting out embers.

“It definitely does,” he agreed. They didn’t speak after that, but let the stars whisk them away to sleep. Tatianna a grateful that nightmares did not chase her through her subconscious, but rather dreams were laid out like a soft pillow for her lay on. The screams were now a background noise to her mind, no more present than light waves through the night sky.