Lunar's Bridge
Lunar's Bridge
The battle kept going, Rhysand was remand in the ground by the spears on his knees, his wings tucked extremely tight on his back, an useless try to protect them. In pain, he glanced, at his brothers, Cassian, who tried to reach him, and Azriel who got hit by a sudden wave of power that pulled every single one in the aerial legion to the ground.
“I am glad we finally meet –” the Commander said, his voice was being muffled by the battle sounds.
Rhysand used the Commander’s arrogance and speech as a vantage, using the daemati power, he saw that Commander’s shields were extremely strong, it would take a long time to broke into them without being noticed – if the blond one doesn’t kill him before it – a time that the High Lord didn’t have. He searched his brothers, couldn’t find Azriel, then went directly to Cassian, used his High Lord's voice right inside the taller brother's mind, ordering him to not come or try to save him, to take the no-traitors soldiers and retreat, go to the Underground, and to not go for Azriel if he doesn’t find him in the way.
The violet eyed's mental powers went to the Palace, to Amren, asked her to take Feyre to the Underground, to take care of her, to close the entrances and open new ones in different locations, begged her to not come for him. He also tried to send a message to Nesta, but she wouldn’t low her extremely strong mental shields, then he went directly to Feyre.
Asked his mate to go with Amren, apologized for everything he had done which hurt her in past, apologized her for the fact he had accepted the suicidal pact they made, promised her he would stay alive, apologized for the way he treated their children, then said he loved her then apologized again before closing the bond on his side.
“ – It seems like you are not paying attention.” The blond Commander snapped his fingers, a soldier came, stabbed Rhysand's left wrist with a narrow spear, pressing it in the ground, the High Lord barely had time to scream as two other soldiers grabbed his wings, twisting them until two snaps could be heard.
Rhysand screamed, placed his right hand to below his abdomen, his wings were broken in a way that he couldn’t tuck them since his bones was out of place.
“Don’t worry, my cousins will make you pay attention.” The tall said, letting scape a low laugh, then a dark haired female appeared behind him, she nodded at the Commander before winnowing, “You know one of them. You both were really close, for what I heard.”
The dark haired female materialized in the lower part of the ground, a few meters behind the blond, a strong wind came from her to Rhysand's direction, he felt her scent and the strong smell of rotten meat and wet soil.
The female walked towards him, the High Lord was finally able to see someone else behind her, someone with red hair, someone… It can’t be. He thought, couldn’t believe on his own eyes as terror came into his veins.
“She will take care very well of you while she help us.” The Commander said.
Amarantha walked towards him, her lips bloodless, dark black circles around her eyes, her face was bony, cheekbones prominent, her jaw sharp. On her neck, a thick black twine stitched her skin, holding her head to the body, in the cut there were what seemed to be dirty, clay and dry grass getting out of it; her hands were red, fingers purple; her skin on the arms, shoulders and collar bone had a leathery texture.
She was stepping towards him with a smile on her face, a smile he knew very well, Rhysand's gaze fell to the ground as he tried his best to ignore his own terror and pain, he used his daemati power while he still had time, to remove anything related to the entrances or the Underground itself from how many traitors he could.
oOo
“No, no, no.” Feyre repeated over and over, crying as she stared at her mate, as she watched Amarantha who was back as something between death and alive, walking towards him, tell him something before grabbing his head by the hair.
“Feyre.” Nesta squeezed her sister's arm, while staring at the enemies and traitors going to the Palace's direction as Cassian leaded the retreat, “We have to get out here.” Her voice trembled, her sister didn’t moved, Nesta felt the death coming closer through her power, Amren who was in the main window as well turned her gaze to her “DOWN.” Nesta yelled, grabbing her sister by the shoulders and threw the youngest and herself in the floor, Amren did it almost synchronized to them, a heartbeat later a fire cannon ball hit the window were they were, breaking the railings, crossing the place and hitting the wall, where it got stuck and the fire started to spread.
Nesta wrapped her arm around her sister's waist, crawling across the floor while pulling Feyre with her, the youngest kept sobbing and muttering no stop, a second fire cannon ball hit the place, in the floor close to the wall, leaving cracks in the marble, the room trembled.
Amren crawled beside Feyre, at her right side, pushing her with Nesta until they got close enough to the stairs, the older sister stood, pulling her sister in a catatonic state to do the same.
“Stand up, stupid girl.” The red lips said grabbing Feyre's elbow with the right hand, while wrapping the left arm around her hip as they started to down the stairs.
The Palace trembled, as the females got in the residential floors, where the stairs from the tower ended. The burnt smell was strong, the sounds of destruction loud, they crossed the corridor, getting to a open internal area where a entire wall in the left side has been destroyed and more cannon balls hit the place, some made entirely by pure metal, some were the fire ones.
“The shortcut is destroyed.” Nesta yelled.
Amren was already pulling Feyre and the older sister to her side, “There is another one in the guest's room.” she yelled back, it was 3 floors below to where they were.
Nesta tighten the grip around her sister, grabbing her upper arm as they started to run towards the stairs in the West side of Palace, when arrived on it, the structure violently shook, dust and debris fell on them.
“Here.” The red lips released Feyre's elbow, opening the door of the floor they needed to be.
They crossed the corridor, the place shaking even harder, the way leaded to a open destroyed living room and then another corridor, which they ran across it until the right door in the end of it.
The dark haired female opened the door, leading the entrance of the two sisters, as the three got inside of it, Nesta grabbed Amren's shoulder, tighten even more the grip on her sister, and throwing the three of them in the floor, a heartbeat later the wall at the left side got hit by another cannon ball, a metal one, which crossed the room, stopping only when hitting opposite wall, if wasn’t Nesta, it would have hit the three of them.
Debris fell on the females, they crawled in the floor as there was a hole in the wall between the window and the stone.
“It is under the bed.” Amren said as they were close it, “A hatch.”
They finally got in the bed, the red lips released Feyre as Nesta placed her sat with the back leaned in the wall, then the tied haired and the shoulder length started to push the bed until the black metal hatch with a golden padlock in the middle of the double door was fully revealed.
Amren, knelt in the floor beside Nesta, passed her hand underneath the bed, in the internal part between the wood and the mattress, she did it for a few seconds, dragging her arm to the front of her, revealing a key between her fingers, another shook in the structure, she used the key to unlock the padlock, putting both of the objects on the pocket of her loose pants.
Both females stood as they pulled open the heavy hatch’s doors, leaving it fully opened as Nesta reach Feyre, grabbing her right elbow, and wrapping a arm around her waist, the youngest was still catatonic, but at least she was walking, answering to the older sister's commands.
The Nesta took Feyre to inside the hatch, Amren followed them, closing the double doors and locking it with the golden padlock by the inside.
The place was narrow, – barely had width enough to the two sisters walk side by side – completely dark, Nesta had one arm tightly around Feyre while her opposite hand touched the wall.
Another shook in the structure, strong enough to make them almost lose their balance, they stopped for a few seconds, breaths heavy, Nesta pressed her hand harder against the wall, her arm so tight around Feyre's waist that the older sister wondered how she was still breathing as they downed the spiral stairs.
Amren placed a hand on Nesta's shoulder, while her other also pressed the stone, “We need to go faster.” She said as the structure shook again, “These stairs are one way directly to the Underground.”
“We can’t stay under this city.” Nesta said.
“Yes, from there we go right to Hewn City.”.