Ember of Hope

The memories of that dark night assaulted him as soon as Tristan entered the mountain range. He landed on the peak that lay behind the mountain house and shifted. Tristan stood there, just looking at the place of nightmares. Even though he knew that it was just a prank pulled by his asshole brother and his cronies; he couldn’t, even after all these years, shake the dread that tried to stop him from nearing that place.

The night was approaching and soon it would cover the peaks in a blanket of darkness. Tristan; instead of shifting fully, summoned his wings to his presence hidden for as long as he could. Not that Titan would suspect him coming to the house ever. Instead of landing in front of the main entrance, he went to a window that opened in the kitchens and was only secured by a flimsy window screen.

Making as little noise as he could manage, he cut through the mesh using his claws and entered through the hole into the kitchens. On silent feet he scaled the first staircase that led to the hallway connecting it to the entrance hall. Tristan paused at the landing to listen for some noise. A faint sound of feet sounded from the floor above and by the softness of it he could tell it was a female. Odd. Carefully he entered the next stairwell.

Sure enough a woman was coming his way and upon a closer look he could tell she was a healer. She dabbed the corner of her eye with her finger and sniffled lightly. What was Titan up to? He descended the stairs back to the main hall and waited for her. As soon as she was in front of him he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his chest. Before she could even make a sound of surprise, he had his hand secured around her mouth and he pulled her in to an empty room.

“I’m sorry to have scared you”, he whispered in her ear, “I’m Prince Tristan. I just need to ask you something. Please don’t scream. I don’t want anybody to know I’m here”. After a little pause during which held his breath; she nodded and tapped the hand covering her mouth. Slowly he released her and she turned around to face him.

“Did Titan bring you here?” he asked, “Is he here?”

She nodded, “Yes Prince, I was brought here on Prince Titan’s orders”.

“Why?”

She hesitated a bit but then he saw her shoulders lift and her back straighten. She made her decision. “He has prisoners he wanted me to look at. He… uh… he had one of them tortured. There are two girls”.

“Girls? Do you know who they are?” he asked the healer while thinking for a reason as to why his brother was torturing females. This was a step down from even his level of depravity.

“No Prince. I haven’t seen them before. They’re humans…” once again she hesitated and averted her gaze.

“Go on. Don’t be afraid. I won’t harm you” he encouraged the poor girl softly.

“Maybe… maybe you could help them” her eyes held hope, “I must go now before my absence is noted”, with that she bowed her head and left.

There was a guard stationed in front of the tightly shut door that held the human prisoners. Tristan waited for him to move from his post because even though he was cloaked; he’d still need to open the door to slip inside. His opportunity came half an hour later when the guard was called to bring dinner to the girls and Tristan slipped inside unnoticed on the heels of the guard. When he left, Tristan put his ear to the door to make sure he’d gone to have his own dinner and won’t be back for a while. Tristan now had a few minutes to get to know the situation.

As soon as he lifted his cloaking spell, one of the girls opened her mouth to scream; her eyes wide with terror but the other one put a hasty hand on her mouth and the scream died down. She then whirled on him with narrowed eyes, “Who are you? What do you want now? Didn’t he have enough fun?” her voice was a hiss of barely controlled anger and her green eyes looked livid. Even after being Titan’s captive her fire hadn’t died down. Impressive.

“I’m Tristan and you don’t have to fear me. I’m not with that asshole”.

She snorted, “Yeah right, and I totally believe you”.

To glean any information out of her he would have to come out with his own truth. The realization was bitter yet necessary. “I’m Titan’s brother and I hate him as much as you probably do. I have many reasons to hate him but right now I need to know why he has you locked here? What have you done?”

“Why? What’s it to you?” her eyes narrowed suspiciously. She was smart to be wary in this shithole. The other one was silently watching the exchange, giving the redhead the reigns to the whole situation.

“We don’t have much time before the guard comes back. Please tell me. Maybe I can help you then”, he asked in urgency and maybe she realized she had nothing to lose, she let out a tired exhale and started talking, “I’m Raegan and this is my friend Sarah. We are from Evreux. Titan kidnapped us and is now torturing me because I killed one of his buddies. And he is also under the impression that he is going to make me his bride one day soon” she rolled her eyes. The tense set of her shoulders finally loosened as she narrated her story.

“Wait... wait a minute. You killed one of Titan’s dragons? How did you manage that?” Tristan asked incredulously.

“I stuck him like a pig with two throwing knives. It wasn’t that difficult to be honest… not the sharpest of your kind; that bunch” she flicked her hair with nonchalance and he just kept staring at her in awe. Faint footsteps echoed outside in the hall and he put a finger to his lips to shush the girls.

“Someone’s coming, I’m cloaking myself and then I’ll leave. I’ll come back as soon as I can and I promise to try to figure out a way to help you out of here. Don’t worry”.

With that he vanished from their sight.

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