Chapter Text
Ayda flew at a steady pace, wings straining with every flap under the weight of two other people and all their weapons. Fig was tucked under one arm, clinging onto Ayda like a koala as the Fallinel countryside rushed below them. Kristen was under the other, handing more like a limp sack, what with her lack of dextral expertise and Ayda's need to have most of her back free to maneuver her wings.
Ayda was following a steady line straight towards what she now knew was Calethriel. They had done a tad bit of research, once the bond had been given and Ayda could track her sisters, before immediately flying off. Enough to know where the sisters were being held and what defenses the place had, at the very least.
It had taken some time- too much time in everyone's collective opinion- but finally they were on their way.
Ayda followed the thin Thread that was Aelwyn in a straight line now, barely deviating from a direct course to her.
She could only sense Aelwyn, at the moment. When the bond had first been established- smashing into Ayda from a distance with the force of a boat- Ayda had been able to distinctly feel both of her siblings and the threads that bound them to her.
Aelwyn's was a string, like one would pull from cloth as it slowly unraveled. Weak, but sharp and steady as it guided her.
Adaine's, on the other hand, had been as thick as a ship's chord. If it was a physical thing Ayda doubted she would have been able to wrap her fingers around it given it's size. But perhaps Ayda was misremembering, she had only been aware of it for a few minutes before the connection had been blocked off somehow. She knew where Aelwyn was, but Adaine could be miles away and Ayda wouldn't have a clue.
That did not mean there wasn't just as much reason to be concerned for Aelwyn. As they flew Ayda kept getting distracted and dipping too low and the information her bond with Aelwyn was sending her.
Your Thrall "Aelwyn Aguefort" has dropped to zero hit points.
Your Thrall "Aelwyn Aguefort" is stabilized.
Your Thrall "Aelwyn Aguefort" has dropped to zero hit points.
Over and over again in a nonstop look that had been going for over an hour now.
Ayda hoped, desperately, that it was simply a strange glitch in the obviously rushed spell work Aelwyn had performed.
But Ayda was a divination wizard. She did not put much stock in hope.
She had tried to call out to Aelwyn a few times to offer comfort or ask for information, but had gotten nothing more than raw emotion back. And not pleasant in the least.
"I see it!" Kristen called from Ayda's arms and Ayda blinked, readjusting her focus to find the tower sticking out of the landscape.
"Do you know where they are?" Fig asked, having to shout to be heard over the wind despite her mouth's close proximity to Ayda's ear.
Ayda nodded and tilted her wings to bank to the left. "Aelwyn is in the top left room. That window there, I believe." Still no detection to Adaine. "Have the others taken down the defenses?"
"Not yet!" Kristen said, pointing with her staff to the courtyard at the base of the tower. "Look, there are still portals all up."
The cleric was right. The courtyard was aglow with glowing runes and stable portals. Ayda shifted into a hover, anxiously shifting the girls in her arms. They had to wait for the defenses to drop or they would be swarmed by mages immediately. But every moment they hesitated was another Ayda was informed of Aelwyn's injuries. Again and again and again she was dropping. Never dying but never being sufficiently healed either.
But then the runes below flickered once, twice, and completely died. The area immediately losing a glow that was only noticeable now that it was gone.
As soon as the magic died Adaine's bond opened back up to Ayda. It was even stronger than she had first thought, many times more solid than Aelwyn's, and coming from the very base of the tower.
Ayda! Adaine's voice exploded in her head. You're here! You came!
Yes, Ayda answered back, quickly taking in the newly developed situation. No alarms were being raised so that was good. She spoke to both her sisters as she asked, are you alright?
The only thing she got from Aelwyn was painful distress.
I'm not hurt, Adaine said, even her mental voice sounding shaky and raw with emotion, I don't- I don't know what's happened to Aelwyn. I've been separated. I don't know...
We are coming, Ayda reassured her before turning attention back to the girls in her arms. "Adaine is at the bottom of the tower and Aelwyn is most likely injured."
"I'll get Adaine," Fig said immediately, "I can be fast. You two heal Aelwyn and deal with the bad guys."
Kristen nodded and gripped her staff tighter and that was all the planning Ayda needed before diving headlong into the window.
Thankfully, with Fallinel being both extremely old fashioned and far enough south that it did not get significantly cold, the window did not have any sort of glass to speak of and Ayda was able to easily glide in and drop her charges to the floor.
The sight that greeted them was horrifying to say the least.
There were a few high elves in the room- most of the ones that had taken Aelwyn and Adaine in the first place, in fact- and they all froze in surprise at Ayda’s sudden entrance. There were also a few plant constructs standing to the sides like bodyguards.
And on the table in the middle of the room was an unconscious Aelwyn. Blood was scattered around in droplets and puddles. Her clothes were torn and ripped away to give better access to her skin where a tapestry of scarring now covered practically every inch.
Ugly, red scarring, like the wounds had not healed properly, though there was no possible way they could have naturally gotten to that point in the time Aelwyn had been gone. The scars were also not random slashes but traced out clear specific patterns into Aelwyn’s flesh.
Most of the markings Ayda only vaguely recognized, political symbols and even words carved out in Elvish. But there were a few that she could instantly tell where something more.
Runes. Magic runes hacked into Aelwyn like she was a piece of furniture.
One of the elves, a younger woman with a dripping knife poised over where she had been cutting into Aelwyn’s side, blinked up at them all with obvious shock. “Oh… sh*t.”
Despite her plans to immediately leave, Fig let out a horrified, strangled sound, and cried, “get away from her you freaks!”
Her magic exploded from her voice, and a few of the elves swayed and stumbled as the Confusion sank into their minds. The young woman with the knife shook it off but Kristen smacked her with her staff and with a yelp the elf disappeared, banished.
Ayda turned to the constructs that lunged at her friends and spread her wings wide, letting the fire of them keep the plants at bay. “Kristen, Fig, help Aelwyn and Adaine!” She barked over her shoulder as she cast Burning Hands.
Fig hesitated for a moment but, seeing that Ayda had things handled at present, nodded once and whipped her skateboard from off her back. The tiefling ran out of the room, jumped, and began grinding down the rail of the spiral staircase.
It was the sickest thing Ayda had ever seen.
Behind her, Kristen gently grabbed onto Aelwyn’s torn up shoulders, and breathlessly whispered, “oh gosh please don’t be dead please don’t be dead.”
Ayda knew that Aelwyn was not dead, that every grievous injury had been stabilized by a messy Mending Cantrip almost immediately, but she was relieved when the healing magic poured from Kristen’s hands, lighting up some of the scar runes as well, and Aelwyn gasped, sitting bolt upright.
She was less relieved when Aelwyn- expression manic- grabbed Kristen’s face in front of her and pulled the cleric into a deep passionate kiss.
Kristen’s eyes went wide in shock and, obviously not wanting to shove the heavily injured Aelwyn off, settled for waving her hands wildly in the air like she could make Aelwyn let go with the force of the wind alone.
“Aelwyn!” Ayda cried as she flapped her wings and slashed at one of the recovering elves with her talons, keeping them away from her sister and friend. “Let go of Kristen.”
Aelwyn did immediately, sending Kristen tumbling back, face bright red. But the gaze Aelwyn directed at Ayda was pure rage and she practically snarled as she spoke. “Don’t tell me what to do. ”
She raised a hand, pointing a finger and Ayda froze as she recognized the disintegrate spell gathering on Aelwyn’s hand. Before Ayda could cry out or even flinch the spell went off.
And soared right over her shoulder, hitting a man Ayda hadn’t even noticed that had been about to cast Dominate Person on her.
The man screamed in pain and then was cut off as he turned into nothing more than a pile of ash.
Aelwyn started cackling as she rolled off the table, almost falling to her face as she struggled to get her injured legs under her. “How’s that immortality treating you now father? Burn forever f*cker!”
Ayda’s divination whispered to her just in time to break her out of her stupor and lunge to take a blow in place of her sister. She grit her teeth around the pain that flared in her wing from the damaging spell. “Kristen!” She called to where Kristen was standing pushed against a wall, blabbering nonsensically about how she was flattered but already taken. “Please help us.”
That snapped Kristen out of her post-make-out haze and she nodded as magic gathered once more. “Right, right, sorry. More healing coming!”
Ayda straightened at the soothing spell and grabbed Aelwyn’s arm as she swayed woozily.
Aelwyn shoved her off, eyes blazing with anger and pain and fear in equal measure. “They’re getting away.”
Indeed, Ayda saw a few of the straggling elves dart out of the room, fleeing from the fight or perhaps chasing after Fig.
Aelwyn staggered after them, catching herself on the wall and forcefully pulling her battered body into the hallway.
Ayda did not let her get far out of sight- worried both for Aelwyn’s physical well-being and obviously unhinged mental state- but didn’t have to go far as Aelwyn had stopped outside the door, gazing down the stairs with unbridled fury. “You think you’re all so untouchable with your age and magic. You don’t even think about anything else. Like how hard stone hurts. ”
Her hand pressed against the wall started to glow and the tower around them started to rumble and shake.
“Aelwyn, stop!” Ayda cried, horrified, grasping Aelwyn’s wrist to try and cut off the Earthquake she was attempting to cast.
The spell miraculously stopped as Aelwyn wrenched her hand away and spat at Ayda. “Stop ordering me the f*ck around!”
Ayda frowned as she took a step back, giving Aelwyn a little more space. “I understand you are upset and I do not wish to prevent you from getting your revenge. But we have not found Adaine yet. If you collapse the building now she and Fig could be injured or killed.”
This got through to her. Aelwyn’s steely gaze faltered and her posture sagged. “She… they took it. They dragged Adaine away. I don’t know where…” She looked down at her own hands and the scars that ran up her arms, beginning to tremble. “If they hurt her as well…”
“We will have our revenge,” Ayda reassured her again, “let us make sure we distract the attention away from her and Fig.”
Aelwyn nodded and began stumbling down the stairs.
Kristen came up behind Ayda, looking wary. “Hey, does uh, Aelwyn have magic kisses?”
Ayda turned, blinking at her. “What?”
But Kristen just shook her head and rubbed at her ear. “Nothing. I just… I thought I got psychically attacked after I healed her but maybe that was something else.”
Ayda frowned heavily, taking in that strange piece of information and putting it to the side for now. “Let us go meet up with Fig and leave this place. We’ll worry about everything else after we are safe.”
***
It was not hard for Fig to figure out where Adaine might be. Ayda had said bottom floor and reaching the bottom floor revealed a very large and obvious vault door built into the wall.
Fig didn’t have a key but the boys and hirelings had taken out the magic defensive around this place so she just Dimension Door’d to the other side. Inside was everything one could expect to find in a vault. Treasure, weapons, books and scrolls, and- tucked away in the back- an Oracle.
“Adaine!” Fig cried, rushing to her friend. Adaine was floating, suspended, in a translucent magic orb. She was dressed in ornate robes and fancy makeup, one hand pressed against the side of its prison and the other wrapped tightly around a peacefully croaking frog.
When the two of them locked eyes Adaine, for some reason, looked startled. “ Fig ? What… what are you doing here?”
“Kristen and Ayda are helping Aelwyn so I broke off to find you,” Fig quickly explained, her eyes flashing over Adaine, trying to see if she was as brutalized as Aelwyn had been. It didn’t look like it, thankfully. “Are you hurt?”
“No, but…” Adaine verbally stumbled, blue eyes wide with disbelief. Like it wasn’t sure if Fig was real. “What are you doing here ? You don’t… you don’t want me. So why…?”
Fig took a startled step back. “Did… did you think we weren’t coming? Oh, Adaine…” Fig pressed her hand against the orb so her palm lined up with Adaine’s. “Just because I can’t own you doesn’t mean I don’t want you. I love you, girl.”
Adaine’s face screwed up as tears started rolling down its cheeks before she tilted its head forward and nodded while sobbing, squeezing the frog tight. “I- I love you too, Fig. I really really do.”
Fig smiled softly and tried to ignore the guilt rolling at the idea that Adaine had been alone this whole time, thinking no one even cared. “Let’s get you out of here. Can you cast dispel magic?”
With a flick of her wrist Adaine dispelled the orb. Fig reached out to steady it as Adaine stumbled to the ground and had a surge of worry when Adaine gasped and froze with terror.
But when nothing happened after a few seconds Adaine relaxed and looked around the room with a curious blink. “You turned off the magic runes.”
“Yep, the boys dealt with that,” Fig said, giving her friend another once over now that it was free. Adaine seemed fine. The back of one of her hands was messed up and she was wearing a collar of all things but that was the only weird stuff Fig could see. “I like your frog. Very round.”
Adaine squeezed the creature- that could only be a wizard’s familiar- tighter. Like she was afraid Fig was going to wrench him out of her grasp. “Thank you. It’s m-my- my familiar. His name is Boggy.”
They probably needed to hurry up and escape but Fig took the time to pat the frog on the head. “Nice to meet you, Boggy. Have you been keeping Adaine safe?”
She meant it as a joke to ease the tension but Adaine’s expression fell into something of pure distress. “Fig, something… something’s wrong. With me. I’m broken. I-“
Fig squeezed Adaine’s shoulder. “Hey, no. I’m sorry I made you feel unwanted but there’s nothing-“
“No I broke, ” Adaine interrupted, voice almost shrill and breaths coming ragged in panic, “I don’t know what happened but something changed and now I can’t… something’s wrong. Very wrong. I-I-I-“
“Hey, hey,” Fig tried to sooth, rubbing a hand up and down Adaine’s arm, “okay, I believe you. Is there anything you need to make you feel… less wrong?”
Adaine shook its head before her eyes went wide. “Medicine! They didn’t… didn’t let me have…” Adaine was definitely having a hard time breathing- clutching onto Fig’s jacket to keep itself standing- but jerked her head enough that Fig was able to follow the motion and see a collection of stuff on a nearby counter.
Adaine and Aelwyn’s stuff. Aelwyn’s watch, Adaine’s clothes, and most importantly Adaine’s anxiety medication.
Fig quickly passed the bottle to Adaine and began to shovel everything else into her bag. There was also, next to the stack of stuff, a pile of papers with scribbles all over them in what Fig recognized to be Aelwyn’s handwriting.
She shoved those in the bag too haphazardly. Just in case.
When Fig turned back around Adaine looked significantly better, no longer gasping for breath, and handed the pills back with a quiet thank you.
“Hey, no problem,” Fig said, slipping the bottle into her bag as well. The robes Adaine was wearing evidently did not have pockets. “Do you feel okay now?”
Adaine shook its head, ears pinned back in embarrassment. “Something’s still broken, but I’m not going to panic about it uncontrollably anymore.”
Worried, but unsure what to do while they were still in this vault, Fig just nodded. “Okay. We’ll figure that out next. But let’s get out of here first.”
“Yes, Fig.”
Fig dimension door’d the two of them back out of the vault and almost landed on top of the others.
“Adaine!” Aelwyn cried, grabbing on to her little sister in a bear hug that Adaine eagerly returned. “You’re alright.”
“You’re not alright,” Adaine replied, eyes wide as it took in the sight of Aelwyn’s f*cked up skin, “wh-what happened?”
Aelwyn did not answer. Instead her eyes started to flutter and she slumped in Adaine’s grip. “I’m… so glad you’re okay. I’ma… f*ck sh*t up now.”
Then a bang echoed through the tower as Aelwyn released a pent up spell and passed out in Adaine’s arms.
Instantly, the ground began to shake and the stone around them rumbled in a very ominous I’m-about-to-fall-down kinda way.
“Ayda!” Adaine cried frantically, clutching Aelwyn’s now limp body. “What should I do?”
Ayda grabbed on to Adaine’s robes and Kristen’s arm and Fig jumped forward to wrap her own arms around the phoenix’s waist. Then without a word she teleported them all away from the collapsing tower.
