Fiona || Freya

Thursday, August 3

A gurgling gasp pierced Fiona’s ears. She opened her eyes just as the naga, lifeless now, fell onto her. Behind the dead creature, Sam stood, daggers bloody.

Fiona pushed it away, clawing at her bare, bleeding arms, trying to wipe any residue from the snakes off her. Her head jerked from side to side, looking for another attack, another cry or hiss of rage. She could hear her heart hammering in her ears, blood rushing through her veins, boundless energy, waiting to be used, but there was nothing left to fight. The adrenaline evacuated her system as she realized it was over.

Sam stood still, eyes glassy, and beyond her, Darren lay on the ground.

“Darren!” Fiona rushed past Sam to his side. He lay on the rocks, blinking, eyes bewildered and distant. “What happened?” she asked.

There was no spreading pool of blood, no gaping woods, but his eyes grew foggier by the moment. He tried to take a breath but couldn’t suck something in beyond a few gasps. Fiona tried to support him as he struggled to sit up, but his arms gave way, even with her help, and he slid back to the ground, shaking. Convulsing.

“Shit shit shit.” Fiona rummaged through her bag for an antidote, her past efforts to meticulously organize the pouch proving useless. Finally she dumped the whole thing out, scattering the content across the ground. She snatched the little orange vial labeled ‘antidote’ and popped the lid off and jammed it into Darren’s mouth.

He spluttered a bit but kept it down and after a surprisingly short few seconds, was breathing normally again.

“It bit me. The one unconscious now. Got me. I didn’t even realize until I was dizzy and-”

“Shh shh, you’re alright.” She rubbed his hair as the venom in his system was neutralized. “Do you need any actual healing? Anything more serious than the bite?”

“Mmm, maybe.” He blinked several times. “Did you kill the last one?”

Fiona shook her head, eyes misting up. “Sam did.”

“Sam?”

“Yeah, she’s alright, she’s-” Fiona glancing over her shoulder. She did a double-take, noticing Sam lying on the shore, shivering and covered in blood. “She is not alright. Stay here.”

Fiona reached Sam. She hadn’t noticed several large gashes on the girl’s side.

“I’m sorry Sam,” she said, brushing a hand over one. Sam flinched and her eyes opened.

“Fiona? Can you heal me?” Her voice was almost as faint as Darren’s.

“Of course. I’m the only one to have actually practiced it. You’re lucky.”

Sam closed her eyes, wincing at Fiona’s touch. “I feel lucky.”

Fiona pulled out her wand and closed her eyes. She focused on visualizing exactly what was wrong. Shock, caused by blood loss. The first thing to do would be to clot the damaged areas. So that was what Fiona did. She engaged in her empathic channeling, feeling Sam’s injuries as if they were her own: the coldness in her limbs, the growing dizziness, the pains of the slices and stab wounds. Pain slashed through Fiona’s body but she kept her mind clear, continuing until she could feel her own heart rate slow, her own arms and legs grow heavy and dead. She opened her eyes and grasped for Sam’s hand with her empty one. Focusing a second longer, she held her wand to the side of Sam’s abdomen, where most of the damage was. Fiona closed her eyes again, drawing on the energy she felt in herself to soothe and repair, to ease and fix, to heal and cure. The wand grew warm in her hand and she felt the energy she had been using to heal herself escape through it.

Fiona’s eyes snapped open and she caught her breath as the blood rushed back to her head. On the ground next to her, she could hear Sam’s tremors slow. What had been open wounds now looked weeks old. Sam’s eyes flicked open.

“How are you feeling?” Fiona tucked her knees to her chest, resting her head on them.

“Less bad,” Sam said. “You look very bad, though.”

“Tired. Not bleeding out. And Darren’s ok, so.” Fiona turned back to make sure that she was actually right this time. To her relief, Darren was now sitting upright, rummaging through Fiona’s belongings on the rocks.

“Blue for rejuvenate!” Fiona called, teeth chattering. “Sam needs something for the blood loss and energy and stuff.” Her voice trailed off into a mumble. Raising her voice had made her dizzy and she put her head back down on her knees.

“Make that two,” Sam mumbled, also trying to raise her voice.

Fortunately, Darren had the foresight to bring over multiple potions. The girls helped themselves to a rejuvenate each.

They sat in silence for several minutes, letting the potion flood their systems, bringing their energy back. After a little longer, the three CITs finally rose shakily to their feet. Fiona’s injuries were starting to bother her, but neither healer had anything left in the tank, so she took a tend.

“What do we do with them?” Sam asked. She stared at the two downed nagas.

“That one’s alive,” Fiona said, pointing at the one Darren had hit. “Just knocked out. Other one’s dead though.”

“We’ll leave them,” Darren said. “The others are just waiting for us to leave. They can deal with them.”

Sam hung back, staring at the bodies, face unreadable.

“Hey, hun?” Fiona said, touching her arm. “Thanks. For saving me.”

Sam nodded. “Didn’t the heroes break their eggs all the time?”

Fiona’s chest was already tight and she wasn’t about this line of thought. “Let’s just go. You can ponder it on the road.”

“You’re riding with me,” Darren said as Fiona staggered to her horse. “Sam can lead the others, but you look ready to pass out.”

Fiona nodded and let Darren help her onto his horse.

She barely remembered the horses moving. She flitted in and out of a doze, eyes opening every now and then. The stones grew darker every time, the sky blacker, the air chiller. It was fully night by the time they stopped for camp.

“Let’s just set up camp,” Darren said. “We don’t have to wake her.”

“Ok,” came Sam’s quiet response.

“She’s done a lot today,” he said, picking her up off the horse and resting her on a blanket. “Get some rest, Fiona.”

---

Fiona didn’t wake up until the morning dawned, bright and sunny. She felt a world better and both Sam and Darren were cheerier and lively. Fiona helped them take down the camp, sore but recovered.

The forest had grown thinner as they climbed in higher. Brooks and streams were becoming rarer. The terrain also grew rockier and treacherous. Despite the drastic increase in altitude, however, they had a surprisingly easy time with the change in elevation. And the horses were impressively good at navigating the steep inclines.

Fiona looked over at Sam, who was once again, leading the way. Darren would occasionally call out directions when Sam started heading in the wrong direction, and she’d murmur in Allyna’s ear. The horse would whinny or snort and Sam would laugh and say something in response.

“I swear that horse can understand her,” Darren said.

Fiona craned her ears.

Sam was instructing her horse, helping her maneuver around. “No, try going around that boulder… Yeah, like that. And probably left here. No right? Oh, I see, I hadn’t noticed that.”

Darren shook his head, an amused look on his face. “Oh Sam.”

The mountains continued to grow more treacherous, any remaining trees were scraggly and thin, spaced apart more and more. There were a few scattered bushes, which the horses nibbled at whenever they took a break, but by sundown, even those had all but vanished.

“Fiona.” Darren pulled up next to Fiona, pulling out his map. “There’s a problem.”

How Darren managed to read off that map was a mystery to Fiona, but the general gist was that the path would twist around the outside of the cliff until it got so narrow the horses couldn’t proceed.

“So we’ve got to leave them here?” Fiona flexed a leg, feeling ever sore muscle complain. “How long is the walk?”

“Maybe five miles? We should definitely stop for the night before. It won’t be too bad. I just don’t want to have to be the one to tell Sam.”

Fiona looked up at the girl, who was talking idly to her horse. “I got this.” She rode her horse up a bit. “Hey, Sam.” Sam smiled brightly at Fiona’s presence and Fiona felt bad about breaking the news. “So, uh, Darren and I were looking at the map. We’ve got about a few miles til we get to the Njoku and the path is gonna get real narrow from here.”

Sam grinned. “Sounds fun.”

“Well yeah, but we thought maybe it’d be best if we didn’t bring the horses along. He says it’s nearly two miles of super thin pathways, basically vertical climbs, with ten thousand feet drops.” She offered a sympathetic frown. “It’s just not safe.”

Sam’s eyes widened. She looked at Allyna, and Fiona could swear for a moment, she was considering staying behind with the horse.

“Sam, we need you. The pathway leads us really close to the Order but if we’re attacked, or ambushed, like, we’ll need everyone.”

“I know, I know,” Sam said, voice small. “I wouldn’t stay behind. Allyna can look after herself and keep the other two in line. Can we have a moment?”

---

They broke for camp right before the path started hugging the cliff.

Sam was quiet for much of dinner so Fiona gave her a little company.

“How’s Allyna?” Fiona asked.

Sam looked solemn. “Not happy,” she said, shrugging her thin shoulders. “She has abandonment issues since what happened with Myrah, her old owner. She doesn’t want us to leave and not come back. And I told her that was a possibility. I told her if I hadn’t come back to her in two days, she should take the other horses and get back to the castle. She’s scared, Fiona.”

Fiona wanted to laugh at how bizarre this was, but Sam looked so stricken, she held her tongue.

“We look after each other,” Darren said, walking by them to hang his still damp robe. “She doesn’t need to worry. You’ll be back. We’ll spend tomorrow night at the Order and you can come back to see her sometime the next day.”

Sam nodded, but still looked glum.

“So,” Fiona said, unable to help herself, “the biggest worry you have about potentially dying is the emotional baggage it’ll leave on your horse?”

Sam looked down at her hands. “We’re connected somehow. I can’t just throw away the trust she’s put in me.”

Fiona didn’t push the matter. “Alright. Well tell her good night and get some sleep. I’m taking first watch.”

---

At around midnight Fiona was alerted by the sound of flapping. She scanned the dark sky, illuminated by pinpricks of light, and a dim, crescent moon. Something flashed through the air and she heard a high pitched shriek, piercing but not quite loud enough to wake the others.

The shape soared down before she could get a better look at it. Her shoulder flared with pain as It grazed her arm with its claws, before flying back up. Gasping in pain, Fiona grabbed her bow and fumbled for an arrow.

Silhouetted against the moonlight was the largest bat Fiona had ever seen. It had to have at least a four-foot wingspan. There was no time to make out more as it dove her again. She dodged its second pass and whipped around, to face it. The glowing embers, the stars, and the moon were all she had to see by, but she knocked an arrow.

“Alright Freya, don’t let me down,” she muttered, taking half a second to aim before letting loose. The bolt connected solidly with the bat and a grin spread across her face. It gave a piteous, half-strangled squeak and crumpled to the stony ground. Keeping an eye on it, to make sure that it was dead. Fiona healed her arm. This time the process was much easier and she sat down, smug with her success.

The next morning Fiona and Darren were woken, once again, by Sam’s voice. Before either could fully wake up, Sam whipped open their tent. “Fiona, Darren!”

The two jolted awake, pushing away from each other, simultaneously trying to appear awake and alert, grab for weapons, and untangle themselves from each other. Sam watched them for a few seconds, before lifting her eyes to stare intently at the top of the tent.

“Something attacked a bat last night,” she finally said, the urgency leaving her voice.

“A what?” Darren asked.

“Um, a bat. Like the thing that flies at night. It died last night, right in front of the tent, and I don’t know what killed it but we need to secure the area.” The urgency was starting to return to Sam’s voice

“Ohhhh…” Fiona said, drawing out the word, leaning back, a smile on her face. “You saw that?”

Both Darren and Sam turned to her. Sam bobbed on her feet, still ready to go. Darren cocked an eyebrow.

Fiona just shrugged. “Well it was just a bat. I could easily take down a giant bat.”

Darren’s second eyebrow joined the one already raised. “You should have woken us.”

“It was literally a bat.” Fiona grabbed her vest and greaves and climbed for the door. “Don’t be so spooked.”

“Wow,” Sam said. “I was a little nervous but…” She shook her head. “That thing’s freaking huge.”

Fiona beamed. “One arrow. In the dark. Ya girl’s good.”

They packed the tent, leaving most of the packs on the horses, taking only enough food and water to last a few hours. Sam said goodbye to Allyna, promising to be back, but warning her what to do if she didn’t return. The horse nuzzled her, whinnying softly, sounding eerily like a human crying.

Sam bit her lip, stroking the mare’s mane. “Don’t worry. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. You’ll be fine,” she whispered. “I’ll be back. I promise.”

Fiona rubbed a hand against her eyes. “I’m not crying,” she said. “I’m not crying over a horse.”

Sam turned away, heading towards the others. “Alright,” she said, jaw set. “Let’s go.”

---

Leaving the horses had been the right idea. The pass was treacherous, miles of pathway clinging to the edge of the marble cliffside. Occasionally the path would narrow to only a foot or so wide, causing several minutes of heart-pounding fear as the three precariously maneuvered the perilous trail. Fiona held her breath at times, terrified equally whenever she had to cross one of these parts and when she had to watch the others cross them. Sam led the way, being the lightest on her feet and least afraid of heights. Fiona and Darren followed cautiously behind.

A few hours had been optimistic. It was starting to get dark when the path in front of them narrowed significantly, barely six inches wide.

“Nope,” Fiona said. “No way. Going back.”

Darren glanced down at the map. “This is the last leg,” he said. “The Order’s literally around that corner.”

Sam held up her hand, analyzing the pass. Then she nodded. “Don’t walk til you’ve found handholds. You’re going to need all your strength and focus to get across. Don’t lift one foot until all the others are secure.”

“Sam, wait,” Fiona said. “We’re supposed to be conservative and not take risks. Carter said.”

“If you are at all unsure, you don’t have to go,” Darren said. “But if you think you can-”

“I can go,” Sam said. “If I don’t think it’s possible, we’ll head back.”

Fiona didn’t want to agree, but they were so close. Besides, they couldn’t spend the night on the cliff face and Darren’s light orbs weren’t too bright.

Sam took a step onto the ledge, grabbing one of the rocks jutting out. Her fingers slipped once or twice on the marble before she secured her grasp. Fiona knew this was a bad idea before Sam even started, but pure stubbornness propelled the girl forward. She took another step.

Sam was a natural at this. Her eyes were narrowed slits as each foot made connection with the tiny ledge, each hand finding an ever small handhold. She was a few feet away, almost close enough to just leap across. Then she reached for another handhold, gripping it firmly and took another step.

The handhold broke away as soon as she put weight on the arm. She lost balance and her feet slipped off the ledge. She scrambled to get her feet back on the ledge. Her eyes, now huge, looked ahead at the walkway, still too far ahead of her, and then back at Fiona and Darren. Her lips were forming little ‘nos’ and she reached her free arm out to them, way too far away to help.

“You’re ok!” Fiona shouted. She dropped to her knees, crawling as close to the edge of the wide path, hand outstretched. “Just find your footing, try to-”

Then the look on Sam’s face froze then and Fiona could see her fingertips sliding off the edge of her precarious handhold. Sam’s eyes darted up to her hand and then back at Fiona and Darren.

Then she fell.