Realm of Wings

A/n: Long... longgggg chapter! Enjoy!

Jade, entering the Tibetan Conclave through a small hole in the wall:

I’m glad that I had decided for Neil to stay in the car as he wouldn’t have been able to climb alongside the mountain’s ridges and certainly wouldn’t have appreciated having his clothes defiled with the natural waste of human beings.

My feet were trudging through the stinking liquid, as this was probably some sort of small sewer going outwards, unleashing its contents along the ridge of the mountain. It was dark, so right around us there was nothing to see, but in front of me a Fae had lit up a small light guiding us towards the room that they had cleared already. In there it was well lit, so the Fae shut off her light once we were all inside.

As you may have guessed, that happened to be the bathroom, of some sorts. The looks of it were rather primitive, surely as the Tibetan monks don’t care for wealth as much as they detest ownership of other humans or creatures. It was small but silent, so we knew that we could gather up here and prepare for our next step.

I looked at the green-eyed prince, scoffing internally for the fact that he had failed to mention the title that he was born into. A tinge of anger arose within me, for him not telling me this, but I couldn’t understand my feelings because of it. Why should it matter that he is a prince? It’s not like I’m going to be friends or anything. I’m just using him to get to his world, to find out where I came from and be over and done with, as he hadn’t been the nicest person to me ever since we came in contact with each other.

Right, focus on the matter at hand, rescue whatever monk is left alive and find the Fae who caused me all these problems.

“I’m sorry.” Kallan whispered to me, pulling me out of my focus. I squinted my eyes at him while I took my blades from behind my back and turned myself around towards the door, as I didn’t want to talk to him right now.

He took my hint of ignoring him as a cue for the rest to get ready and step out through the door. As I followed behind a few of our guards, the red and brownish bricks of the building surrounded us in a narrow hallway. Old and dark coloured wood adorned the walls and doorframes, guiding us through this monastery, room by room. Ancient bells and handcrafted tapestries were hanging everywhere as the only signs of decoration, yet never showing wealth or dominance.

Soon, a door opened in front of us and an unaware enemy stepped through while looking down at his tablet. Without him being able to alarm the others one of Kallan’s guards had approached him and snapped his neck. Together with another guard, they dragged him a room or two back, and without a sound returned to their positions.

Spoken sounds were heard at the other side of the door, but so far they didn’t seem to be warriors. More like they were talking about technology and complaining about inconveniences rather than discussing tactics or weapons, so we went in. Before I could have reached inside, the four goons that happened to be in there had been killed with ease, as they weren’t fighters at all.

The thermal images that we had seen on Neil’s laptop had indicated that there were plenty of living people inside this building, but we couldn’t see the difference between monks or morons. So when I was able to get into the room, I was happily met with the faces of at least ten live monks. I sighed in relief, knowing that the hired men hadn’t killed them all, even though they must have treated them horribly.

Their bodies looked emaciated, they had bruises and wounds and were clearly not happy with their current living conditions, as they shouldn’t. I put my blades quickly in the sheathes on my back and walked over to them. While talking in Chinese I tried my best to comfort them and ask questions about our common enemy.

The five that we have killed now were only a small part of the people that were in the building. But the monks couldn’t tell us how much there were exactly. They haven’t seen many others for days, not even their close friends and other monks, which worried me deeply. Could it be that these few monks were the only ones left alive?

I sincerely hoped there were more, as these ten couldn’t have been the only ones that were roaming through these hallways before they got attacked.

While guiding the monks to the bathroom that we had entered through, as that was the furthest away room from here, to keep them safe, we were getting ready to find the other hired men.

Room after room we stealthily explored the building, killing some of our enemies with utmost silence, knowing that should one of them be able to alert the others, we wouldn’t be able to get out of here alive. Like I said, the thermal images showed a lot of people in and around the building, but it wouldn’t let us show them to be foe or friend. So, should they all be our enemies, they could have easily outnumbered us.

I slit the throat of one of them, while Kallan interrogated another. We all stood silently waiting at the door and hallway, should more of them come around the corner, waiting for Kallan to get some answers.

Whispers and muffled voices sounded behind me, as Kallan had stuffed the man’s mouth with a dirty cloth that was laying around. He hadn’t required for the man to be able to talk, he just needed to think about the answers and Kallan knew their intentions. It was strange to know that he could read minds, and it was stranger still that he couldn’t read mine, but I guess that I still have to get used to all the magic and Fae abilities. And also find out what it is that is making me a special case.

Soon, Kallan found out that there were twenty-three more enemies, which was almost double our numbers, so we’d have to tread carefully. Even though we have magic, powerful magic even, most of us still aren’t bulletproof and we weren’t unable to die, so we couldn’t afford any rush actions.

“Retreat!” Suddenly one of Kallan’s men had yelled, while some of our foes had seen us standing around the corner. Shit! So much for treading carefully, I guess!

Bullets started to fly around us and immediately Kallan jumped in front of me with his blackened skin, as he had done in the hotel too, making bullets that came at him in a diagonal line, bounced off his body. I’m wondering though, should a bullet come at him in a frontal assault, would he be able to block it off that easily as well? No time to think about that!

I rushed my blades through one of the men as I followed Kallan on the frontline towards the hired guns around the corner while being followed by orbs of energy from the Fae that were behind us.

We didn’t know how many there were, but once we turned around the wooden column, about a dozen of them were ready to aim at our bodies. In a form of stupefied reaction from my brain, I dashed backwards, hitting my back against the wall, trying to get some cover even though I was on full display for our enemy to take their free aim. Unexpectedly, Kallan looked behind him, seeing that I had backed out, probably thinking that I had been afraid to take upon the fight. Yet nothing of these sorts of feelings ever occurred to me, as my moving backwards had been rather involuntarily.

I didn’t know what was going on, but I had to regain some sense, to get my brain in order again! I shook my head, lighting my blades with my energy, rushed forward and blocked a bullet or two by swinging my swords in front of them. Stopping them in their trajectory towards my body.

Soon I was back in business again, as now also the other Fae had joined us around the corner, fighting off the lousy humans. Roundhouse-kicking and sword-slicing, while purple illusions, watery pulses and roots sprouting from underneath us, surrounded me in a bedazzling fight of magic and pure raw strength.

I admired the fact that even though I had thought that fairies, or Fae in this case, were gentle and delicate creatures, these warriors from Kallan’s home were actually some fierce and unrelenting forces of nature. Even the female ones that were shooting their magic from the backline were looking strong and fierce, while their hair and wings fluttered wildly around them.

Suddenly, one of the Fae got shot down from her elevated height and fell on the ground with heavy curses. Luckily she was only shot in her shoulder, which wouldn’t be such a big deal to heal through I assumed, but the way her body and face reacted, it seemed to me that she was in some sort of other pain besides being shot.

Together with all our magic and fighting skills, we finally managed to get this group of rivals down to the ground. I walked over towards the Fae that had been shot but Kallan had been crouched down next to her before I got there.

“Your worth and loyalty into battle have been valued a lot, I’m deeply sorry that I couldn’t protect you better.” Kallan said while looking down at her. The woman looked ashamed, tears ran over her face while she nodded towards Kallan. She even told him that it had always been in her honour to have served as a royal warrior.

What the hell is going on here? Her shoulder has healed already, she is not dying!

“I’m sorry, but why are you talking to her as if she is dying?” I interrupted all of the sad faces, forcing them to look at me. A few gasps were thrown my way as if I had said something extremely rude, but I truly couldn’t understand the way all the guards, and Kallan too, were acting right now.

Kallan stood up and put his hand on the shoulders of one of his male guards that was about to scold me verbally as he had opened his mouth, to start to speak. He got interrupted though by Kallan’s touch and ruling dominance, at which I frowned my brows towards Kallan. What is he trying to hide from this warrior? I wanted to know what this was all about!

“Do you remember I talked to you about the fact that we take pride in caring for our wings?” Kallan asked me and I nodded in confusion. “Well, that pride goes a little deeper than just keeping them in top condition. Our wings are a statement of our power, our devotion to our lives and being a magical creature. Should our wings get damaged, we are no longer deemed worthy to keep up our title and respect. Hence the reason she looks so ashamed right now, as she can no longer function as a royal warrior, at which I truly cared for her loss. Can you understand that?” He asked me in full sympathy.

“Yes, I can.” I admitted, even though I found it a rather primitive way of thinking, as her skills to fight and the use of her magic, or even her wings, is still present. It’s not like she has just lost a limb or something. “Did the bullet go through her wing too then?” I asked him and he nodded, but it still kept me wondering.

“But what is keeping you from healing it then?” I asked him and his eyes grew wide. “What? Intimacy pushed aside, she could keep her title, honour and place in life, if you’d just heal her, right?” I continued my explanation but now a few of the warriors chuckled, scoffing towards me for saying such a seemingly ludicrous thing.

“Wings can’t be healed, Jade.” Kallan explained.

“Sure they can! I have healed Neil plenty of times, from getting shot or other wounds, how do you think he got this old as my companion?” I chuckled now towards them all and walked my way over towards the scorned woman.

“Get out of the way.” I said to one of the males and he stepped aside, even though his crossed arms suggested his dominance was telling me to back off. But I didn’t care what they all thought, I never had and I sure as hell wasn’t going to be bothered by their thoughts now either.

“Jade, what do you mean you have healed Neil before? Like with first-aid or something? Because that isn’t going to work on her wings.” Kallan asked me.

“No, you idiot! With my energy of course!” I scolded him, which resulted in me receiving more gasps and whispers.

“Come on girl, get on your feet.” I said as I took her hand and pulled her up. “Listen, I know it’s an intimate thing to touch your wings, but you have to trust me on this, alright?” I asked her. “You might even find pleasure in it too.” I whispered, which made her cheeks blush red in shame.

“All of you, get around the corner, this is something I will do to her in private.” I said to everyone, which made them reluctantly follow Kallan as he threw his arms up in the air in defeat. Even though I didn’t care what others thought of me, this girl seemingly did. And I’m no monster to deprive her of a little bit of privacy to this action.

As soon as we stood secluded, I asked her to show me her wings. “I- I don’t know if I should…” She stuttered at which I looked her in the eyes. “Come on, we don’t know each other, but you are a beautiful woman and a marvellous fighter, do you want to give your position up this fast?” I said while she wiped the tears from her face and shook her head. “Good, now summon them.” I commanded her and reluctantly she did.

Her ginger, pointy wings appeared and I stepped behind her. Indeed, there where her shoulder had been pierced with the bullet, a hole had coursed its way through her right wing. Soft sparkles ignited at the edges of the hole as if an electrified cable was hanging loose after being forcibly cut.

I guided my energy towards my fingers, just as I did when I let it slip through my blades and followed one of the veins from the centre of her back, to where the hole was located. She shivered upon my touches and even moaned when goosebumps started to appear in her neck. I smiled at her futile actions to keep her arousal at bay, but even so, as soon as my magic coursed its way through her wings I could see that it was working.

Of course, I hadn’t been able to be a hundred percent sure that this would work, as I had never healed wings before, but my determination to at least try had never faltered. I wouldn’t have cared one inch of shame, hadn’t I been able to help her in this way, because if it did work I would have saved her status in life and that was more worth than any shame I could have had otherwise.

Soon, my fingers reached for the hole and the sparkling magic expanded to fill the gap in between the shady cells of her upper wing. I nearly jumped up in a pinch of happiness as I had succeeded in my action and the female released a deep breath after fluttering her wings in excitement. She turned herself around and suddenly hugged me tight around my neck.

“Thank you!” She crushed me with her cheek while her gratitude verbally ambushed me as well. “I will be forever in your debt!” She continued and I tried to push her off of me. Only then she realized she was hugging a complete stranger and started to apologize to me.

“Stop.” I said to her while smiling gently. “I only did what everyone else would have done.”

“But that’s the thing, no one could have done this.” She replied.

“What do you mean?” I asked her dumbfounded.

“There is no one in our world that can heal others, let alone heal wings!” She said with an amazed, facial expression, leaving both me and her in a duality of confusion and gratitude.