Page 175 of To Free a Soul
“Give them my horns. They will be even stronger if you do.”
Lindiwe couldn’t help but laugh at that. He was so proud of himself.
In its own way, this felt like a... goodbye.
Her relationship with Sayrn had improved over the years since she first sat with him around that fire eighty-seven years ago. It was a quiet and distant relationship, as he was a solitary being, but he didn’t outwardly reject her anymore either. However, she could only be a temporary intrusion in his life before her lingering annoyed him.
He was one of the few children who tolerated her. Although those who were older were growing to be similar, so long as they consumed many humans.
I wonder if he’ll let me hug him,Lindiwe thought, when he went to hand back her baby. Just as her fingertips made contact with the baby Duskwalker being held out to her, there was a flash of colour, and they... disappeared.
Something fuzzy – a mixture of orange and green with fluffy wings – had darted between her and Sayrn. With what looked like many feet, it had snatched her baby from both their hands during the exchange.
Lindiwe and Sayrn shared a confused and surprised look, right before his orbs turned white and she gasped. At the same time, they darted after the Elven creature.
Sayrn shifted to his monstrous form to be on all fours and faster, while Lindiwe transformed into her owl form to go after the flying creature. Panic flooded her veins, and it made her wing flaps more frantic.
Sayrn was swifter than her, even as she flew through the air, but he was stuck on the ground. She was able to see the creature as she gained on it, and it looked to be a mixture of a moth, with fuzzy green antennae and eight legs, and a cat body and head with little antlers. Spots along its body glowed orange.
Just as she was almost upon it, her child held securely by its eight legs, she rotated her body to catch the creature in her talons. She didn’t get the chance to grab it.
Something else intercepted from the side; something large, and far, far worse. Much bigger than Lindiwe and nearing Sayrn’s size, a winged Demon flew off with the fuzzy cat-moth thing and, incidentally, her baby.
And due to their size, they were much, much faster than Lindiwe, who used every ounce of her strength to go after them. Within seconds she was left behind, as they were able to navigate the unfamiliar forest much better than her.
Lindiwe shriekedrepeatedly.
As if he knew she was calling out for help, Weldir said, “I cannot grab them. They are not within my mist.”
Shit! What was she supposed to do then?!
“They are indestructible. If they are eaten, we know they will eat the Demon from the inside out. I can help you go in the right direction.”Then, softening his tone, he added,“We will find them again.”
I wanted to leave them with you in the first place!If he hadn’t wanted to inspect the stone Merikh had, this wouldn’t have happened.
It may have been due to an accident, and because she wasfinallysharing a fond moment with Sayrn, but she hadn’twanted to bring either of her babies to Nyl’theria for this very reason!
But he was right; she’d find them. The question waswhenand what was happening with Ingram in the meantime.
She didn’t even have time to check, and Weldir’s silence regarding it didn’t make her feel any better.
All she knew was that he’d been captured.
Curses. Curses. CURSES. Fuck!
March 22nd, 2024
When Lindiwe finally managed to get her child back, all safe and sound – although a touch bigger – she immediately left Nyl’theria and its unknown dangers. She didn’t even go back to find Sayrn to finish their proper goodbye. Finding the entire endeavour an egregious waste of her time, she returned to Weldir’s realm. There, she learned that the child she shouldn’t have abandoned wasn’t just simply captured but was being tortured at the hands of merciless, cruel humans.
Weldir hadn’t wanted to tell her in case it was a distraction.
Lindiwe was at her wit’s end, being pulled in a hundred directions all at once. Orpheus, Magnar, and even Faunus, who now resided near them, had all been attacked – although they were fine now. Ingram was in the hands of Demonslayers, and even a few of her children across the world had been in danger, like in Englian, Unerica, and Eyropea. Pile on Sayrn going to Nyl’theria, and she was beginning to lose it.
Thankfully everyone but Ingram had managed to be victorious in their struggles, but that meant little to her.I wish Ihad the ability to multiply myself so I could be in a dozen places at once.
She exited Weldir’s mist bordering the Veil to fly straight to Zagros Fortress with vengeance boiling in her blood, wishing he could have materialised her right at their gates. The day’s flight felt long and gruelling.
For the first time in her long life, Lindiwe had the temptation to destroy an entire human settlement. To burn it to the ground with black flames until the walls melted and the people inside it were consumed in a fury-filled blaze.
