Ch. 6 I Just Ran

Why did the day have to start off so early? I thought annoyedly to myself. I had barely gotten more than two hours of sleep by the time Lilly had woken me up from my night terror. I sighed, thinking about everything else that still needed to be taken care of. There was the council meeting that mother was supposed to be letting everyone know about right now. There was the possible meeting with the man from Scepterfall, if he decided to show up today, that was. And I still needed to find Gil and break the news to him, hopefully before the time of the actual meeting.

I yawned, figuring I should probably get started on that first one and pushed myself off the banister. My mother had told me I should get more rest, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. I headed out to the training field, where I figured I'd probably find Gil, but only Lorna, one of the oldest mages on the island who lived in and worked for her room in the Villa was there, fixing some of the leather pieces on the training equipment.

"Lorna," I said in greeting and the old empath looked up at me. 

"Oh, good morning, Lyra," she beamed, turning to face me on the bench she was sitting on.

"Good morning, have you seen Gil around anywhere?" I asked, gesturing around us. "Where is everyone?" 

"There was trouble down on the mainland. Something about last night. They all left in a hurry, along with your father. I'm surprised you didn't know," Lorna said, her eyebrows scrunching up.

"Ah yes, well, I was rather busy in a meeting with my mother this morning. Thank you for telling me, I should probably go and see what's amiss," I mumbled, giving her a quick nod before hurrying off.

The day was brisk, winter just getting ready to set in, but it didn't bother me. Not when I could pull my fire forward and warm myself whenever necessary. I rushed through all the makeshift buildings, ones that had been erected within the last couple decades with efficiency and space in mind, rather than comfort as I hurried to the land bridge. 

Nobody was there and I looked around for the nearest mage. "Gellert," I called the potioneer over and he came rushing over, one of his young children in tow. "Where is everyone?" I demanded.

He pointed out over the bridge towards the mainland. "Out there, Princess. A couple survivors were found," he breathed out. My head spun and without another word to Gellert, I rushed over the bridge. It was long, and by the time I had crossed the distance, I was breathing a little raggedly. 

"Where are they?" I demanded as soon as my group of mages came into view. Gil was supporting a man who I couldn't recognize with all the blood and bruises all over his face. 

"It's Hensley," Gil said, as if he knew what I was thinking. 

"Lyra, what're you doing out here?" My father's booming voice sounded from my other side and I turned to see him approaching. His chest and arms were full of blood and my eyes widened as I rushed to him.

"What happened? Are you hurt?" I asked, looking him over.

"I'm fine. It's not my blood. But we need to get over the bridge, there's a group of humans not far off. Too many for us to handle without bottle necking them, come on," he said, pulling on my arm.

"Help!" A scream sounded from the treeline and my father and I both eyed the trees.

"Trap?" I asked.

"Could be," he murmured, tense.

I looked around, Gil with Hensley who was barely conscious continued to walk past. I looked past them to Ellis, one of the other healers that worked closely with our Keystone healer, was supporting Jin. I rushed up to them, seeing Jin's eyes looking around frantically. Ellis gave me a wary look, gesturing at Jin. "I don't know what happened to him," she admitted softly. I rushed on with my questioning. I could worry about that later.

"Jin, was anyone else with you?" I asked and his eyes darted around, as if he couldn't see anything.

"What? Who? Help me," he pleaded. 

"We are, Jin. It's Lyra. I need you to focus," I said softly, encouragingly. Even as another scream rippled out from the trees. "Was there anyone else with you, Jin?"

"C-Carmella. Where's Carmella? She was right behind me. Hen, Hen, make sure Carmella is ok," he rushed out. His arms thrashing out wildly as if he were trying to fight someone off. Ellis did his best to calm the man's motions.

My heart froze. Carmella. One of the last of her kind. If humans got their hands on her.

I didn't think. I just ran.