The Outcast
Chapter 19: Reality

Lily stirred once throughout the night. The sound of hooves moving past the entrance pulled at her mind, but not enough to truly bring her back to consciousness. It was early morning when a paw swatting her face became too annoying to ignore that she finally opened her eyes and groaned out a noise of protest at the ache she immediately felt in her body.

“You’ll have to get used to that.” Oscar commented as he dropped to the floor beside her, laying down a freshly caught fish. “By my calculations, it’ll take us a good two days or more to get back home on foot.”

The tired eyes Lily turned to him held a glare that said more than she would ever need to at that idea. Oscar merely shrugged his shoulders in response before glancing down at the fish. “Get up and see if you can cook it; if not, your breakfast is going to be cold.”

With a tired grumble, Lily waved her hand towards the fish, “Agora.” Flames jumped to life around the fish and flickered healthily in the sea breeze.

“Your magic is looking better…” Kiki observed as she dropped a second fish into the fire before sitting next to it in an attempt to dry her fur.

To test the theory, Lily lifted her hand again and pointed it towards Kiki. “Siccali” she mumbled, shooting the familiar gust of warm air over the fur until Kiki was a puffed-up ball of fur and Oscar was howling with laughter on the floor. “You’re right, I can’t feel any hesitation now.”

“Try some fairy magic!” Oscar chortled, avoiding the swat Kiki aimed at him as he finally started to calm down in his laughter. Lily nodded softly and glanced around the cave; raising a hand with her palm facing upwards as she closed her eyes to concentrate. From her palm, light erupted in the form of small glowing spores that drifted up and into the cave, shining a light on the damp grey stone. Immediately, Lily felt herself smile and a weight on her shoulders vanished. She could still use her magic. Somehow, in the adrenaline of escape, she hadn’t realised how scared she had been of that outcome.

The smell of burning brought their attention back to the fish and with a flick of her wrist, some water, from where the sea was lapping at the raised stone of the cave, jumped up and extinguished the fire. The fish in question did not look appetising, their skins were charred and their eyes still staring sightless out at the world. But the growl in her stomach at the smell could not be denied, and there was no chance she would be able to walk for another three days without eating.

Picking up one of the fish she shuffled herself over to the edge of the rocks not covered in water and dunked her feet into the salty sea water. She hissed a little at the way it surrounded and coated the cuts on her feet. She’d have to do something about that too. Taking a bite out of the fish, grimacing at the odd crunch it gave she stared down at her feet thinking, absently noting that the two cats had tucked into the fish she had left behind.

Hopefully they would enjoy it more. At least she had the willpower to finish off every fleshy part she could replace, if only because she realised she had not eaten in the last twenty-four hours. Flinging the remains back into the sea, knowing other creatures to pick it clean, Lily pulled a face at the lingering taste in her mouth.

“We should stick to the sea until we get up near the woods.” She spoke knowing her companions would be listening, not sure if she was expecting a response.

Of course, she got one. Though it was muffled around a mouthful of food that Kiki was happily scoffing down. “That would extend the journey.”

“Yeah, but less witch settlements; and if my magic is working, I can use the water to move faster and shorten the time,” Lily shrugged, reaching up to pull her hair back from her face, watching as the light spores made her skin glitter as they caught the natural shimmer she had. It had been a long time since she had seen her proper colours. Beside her, she grew a flexible and tough vine, thin enough to be near ignored and plucked it from the ground. Once positioned near her hair, it snaked around the white locks and secured them back into a ponytail.

“Think they’ll be searching for us?” Oscar piped up.

“It’s a fair assumption that they will…” Lily sighed, replaceing a strange level of calm over her since she had woken up. The intense level of panic from the day before had faded and logical thought was a lot easier to process. “That alarm wouldn’t have sounded otherwise. Probably best to assume we are in danger than not.”

And that was a statement that set the atmosphere for the next few days, as predicted, it took almost three days to get back to the kingdom within the Fae Woodland. Utilising the water to move Lily along had a higher speed than walking had cut some time down, but they had found the area where the Fae woodland began was being guarded.

They had waited in the rockeries and reefs just out of sight from the beach until night fell before they made a move. None of them had been able to sleep while they kept themselves afloat, and the rising tension in waiting for sunset had left them all exhausted. When night fell, there were fewer guards around than there had been in the day - which honestly seemed foolish as Fairies could control shadow.

For the billionth time in her life, Lily wished dearly that she could fly. Then she’d just be able to go over them, instead of having to sneak through them. She got Oscar and Kiki to fly over; the less movement on ground level, the better. Once inside the tree line, Lily quickly pulled herself up into the trees with a couple of vines and kept herself out of sight from any eyes turning to the woodland.

From there it was a straight shot home. That thought brought down the weight of the last week down on her shoulders as a feeling of relief settled through her. She was nearly home where she could let the way her heart ached and stabbed in her chest overwhelm her. Maybe they would know what this feeling really was and how to make it feel less like it was suffocating her every time she thought back to the revelation Finn had given her. The closer she got to the area of woods that she knew well, the more the need to sink into her mother’s arms and sob became. Everything was sinking in now; she’d lost her first friends who probably now hated her, she’d been used, manipulated and fooled by someone who had trusted with all her heart, and she was holding evidence of a cover up that made each war staged and a manipulated slaughter of so many people. On top of that, some of those who kept the stage going were trusted leaders of their kind.

She’d have to try and replace Clara Lior first; she always seemed like the most understanding of them all.

Unfortunately, none of Lily’s best laid plans seemed to want to succeed recently. The moment she climbed the tree on the outskirts of the kingdom and crossed the barrier which immediately shrunk her and the cats down, she felt two sets of hands seal around her upper hands and pull her back from the branch she had been reaching for.

“What…?” She yelped in confusion as she glanced around to replace two shadow fairies gripping her tight with stern expressions on their similar faces. In the corner of her eye she could see their hawk companions take hold of Oscar and Kiki. The irony of them being held in talons again was not lost on her, but only lingered as a fleeting thought as they started to get dragged through the air towards the central trunk.

This did not bode well.

“Let go!” Kiki spat up at the hawk that tightened its grip around her causing her voice to hitch up to a squeak.

“You’d do well to hold your tongue; your fairy is under arrest and therefore you are detained” the hawk hissed back.

“Arrested?” All three exclaimed in disbelief.

“What for?” Lily demanded in a voice that was far stronger than she felt. She got no answer from the companions or the closed-lip fairies, one of whom released her to open the door into the city hall so Lily could be pushed unceremoniously through the entrance and down the halls as soon as their feet hit the branch below. Why they needed to keep the grip on her arm tight enough to add more bruises to her body, Lily didn’t know. Anyone who had known her for the span of a mere five minutes would know there was no chance she was about to run. Even if she wanted to, there was no logical suggestion that said she would make it.

Besides, she had a story to tell.

Though, as she was shoved through the main council meeting hall, she realised that it was never going to be that simple.

Layla Linwood stood in the middle with an ominously calm expression. Livius sat at the usual meeting table with a blank expression marred only by a cruel glint in his blue eyes.

“So?” Layla started with a raised eyebrow, examining Lily who straightened up, rubbing the bruises on her upper arm, noting that Oscar and Kiki had not been thrown in the room with her. “Our sources tell us that you are back to get us to lower our guard, and that you’ve even been conspiring with draconians.”

Lily’s eyes flicked from Layla to Livius and back. “Well, yes. But it’s just…”

“And you were dating a witch,” Layla cut in.

“No, that wasn’t…”

“And you’ve made no effort to change their minds, so by having us lower our guard, you are encouraging the massacre of your own people!” Layla snapped, ignoring the way Lily’s head shook in protest.

“No; there doesn’t need to be a war at all!” Lily exclaimed, darting past Layla who she knew she had no chance with and hurried to stand in front of Livius who was looking at her like she was something disgusting he had stepped on. “It’s all a lie. They don’t use our wings, they think we want their land.”

“Preposterous!” He snarled with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“It’s true! It’s all a lie. Designed by some old couple so they can make sure of the dead.” Lily could feel herself welling up in her desperation. Rounding on Layla, she pulled the scroll from her satchel and unrolled it to wave in Livius’ face. “Layla’s a part of it!”

The flicker of anger in Layla’s eyes could have been missed if Lily’s eyes weren’t unblinking in her heightened state of fear and anxiety. Thankfully that meant she saw the movement of Layla’s hand as it started and she lifted her own hand as vines shot out of the floor to detain her.

“Agora!” Fire burned the vines before they could get close to her. However, the gasps she heard from the door caught her attention.

“The witches have corrupted her! She’s a traitor to our kind!” Livius was the one who spoke, though the cruel victorious gleam in Layla’s eyes suggested that the idea of this corruption had been hers. Layla was never going to let her come back.

“Arrest her!” It was Clara from the doorway who spoke, stepping aside for the two previous fairies to come forth and shackled her wrists in a heavy metal that sizzled as it burned her skin. They were ancient, vicious artefacts, and Lily had never known anyone who had them used on them. They burned enough that the nerves struggled to utilise the magic within the body while they were worn.

Lily hissed as she was shoved into moving, the burn searing into the sensitive skin of her wrists. It hurt, but there was a rush that came with the feeling that kept her in the reality of the moment. It grounded her, even though she was certain they were going to scar, and the feeling kept the tears back that stung her eyes.

The door that slammed behind her once she was pushed into a room caused her to flinch at the sound. In the silence she could feel herself tremble but there was no control to be gained over her body which sank to the floor.

Just how naive and stupid was she? How had she not seen all this coming? She blindly trusted that the council would listen to her, blinded that the people who controlled their kind were going to be decent people, she had trusted Finn with everything; told him of her life, her fears, her loves… and she had loved him.

The whole world ground to a halt.

Oh. That was why her heart felt like it had been crushed. Lily had loved him, trusted him, and begun to plan things they could do in the future without a doubt that he would be in it. And he… he’d tied her, betrayed her, bruised her, lied to her, and attempted to take the very nature of what she was and leave her a dying, empty shell.

In the calm of the room, Lily couldn’t stop the choke that sounded in her throat as the tears spilled down her cheeks. She buried her face into her hands as the sobs shook her body. What had she ever done to deserve this feeling? She’d give anything to only know the feeling of being the outcast; to know what it was like to love and laugh and then to be suddenly left in a kind of cold she couldn’t describe, it made her stomach turn.

She wasn’t even being allowed the luxury of going home and sobbing to her parents. But would she want to? They’d think she was pathetic for falling for such things, for being naive enough to not see the signs. Were there signs? Sliding her hands up to grip the front of her hair tight she tried to swallow the tears. She hadn’t seen any. Finn had been charming, and fun, and made her feel like she was wanted.

Staring absently at her wrists, she noticed that the burn was beginning to draw blood under the shackles. It was only slight, but the way it oozed to the skin surface and dripped down her arms in one line, then two, was oddly fascinating. Once again, the pain grounded her; allowing her breath to catch up with her and her tears to slow.

This was just another situation where she hadn’t been good enough.

The blood that ran down her pale skin was slow, leaving a pink hue to the shimmer in its wake. It became a focus as her mind became little more than white noise. The pain of her wrists was easier to deal with than the pain in her chest, the fascination with the red of blood tainting her skin was better to focus on than the dawning realisation she was likely going to be locked up and stuck in those shackles forever.

At least it would numb the other pains.

Minutes rushed by as her silver eyes stayed on the droplets pooling in the crooks of her elbows. only disturbed when the door swung open and a different fairy stood in the door. She has a narrow face and her blue hair was pulled back from her face in a bun that was clearly far too tight. It made her eyes squint and added to the glare that Lily received from her.

“The council will address you now.” Her voice was colder than her expression as she turned to walk back out, “Follow me.”

Blood dripped to the floor as Lily pushed herself to her feet, obediently following the female out of the room. Each movement caused the shackles to shift a little and the burn to spread. The route they took did not lead them back to the council chamber, but outside of the main trunk. Even in the brightness of the light, it was clear the whole of the local fairies had been called out to witness this. They hovered above and around, giving her no real view of the world beyond them. There was angry murmuring that raged like the buzz of an angered hive.

“Lily!”

Her eyes snapped to her father who was being restrained alongside her mother by the same shadow fairies who had grabbed her at the boundary. Glancing up she saw two cages made of vines holding both Oscar and Kiki in spaces that were way too small. A blissful cool feeling surrounded her wrists, causing her to blink in surprise, looking down to realise ice was forming between her skin and the cuffs. A wink from her father told her to quickly pretend the ice wasn’t there.

“Lily Rosales” The crisp voice of the White Fairy Elder carried over the crowd, signalling them all into a deafening silence. All eyes were on the Elder, most judging, expectant, or angry. The only eyes that weren’t were her parents, who seemed to be silently pleading against what was about to be said. “You have been found guilty of corruption via witch magic. You are also guilty of conspiring with races who would see us dead.”

“But...”

“Silence!” Livius barked from where he stood just behind the White Fairy. The sound got a bored look from the Elder in question before they turned back to face Lily again.

“You are hereby banished from the Fairy Kingdom and all its outposts. This banishment will last your lifetime.”

A wave of muttering and jeers rippled through the crowd. Lily’s hands could do nothing but grip the strap of her satchel while the cats howled from their cages in protest.

“But, I…?” Lily started before the lump of terror in her throat silenced her. How was she supposed to survive without them? Where was she supposed to go to be safe? What would she do when unable to get their advice and support? Shaking her head, a little, pulling back a little to look at her mother’s face, wishing she could reach out and wipe the tears that spilled down her cheeks. “I’ll be ok.” She mouthed, trying to reassure them and herself. Trying to convince herself that she was able to do this alone, that they didn’t need to see her break down as well when they had enough on their plates right now.

“Now, hand over your belongings and say your farewells.”

Her silver eyes snapped back to the cold ones of the White Council Member. Her belongings had to mean the satchel. She couldn’t give that over to them. There was no doubt that Layla would destroy it or simply give it back to Quintina… or Cyrus. Lily glanced around, wondering if the ancient man was in the crowd watching this play out.

Stepping back, Lily pushed the satchel back a little to be shielded by her body. She may regret this. She wanted to hug her parents, but she couldn’t lose the only evidence she had that something was wrong with their culture wars.

“No.” Her voice shook a little but she stood firm. Glancing down to her arms where she tested whether her father’s ice would give her enough of a barrier so she could use her own. The ice spread up to her forearms as her confirmation.

“Hand over the satchel!” Layla snapped from where she stood, looking ready to go on the offensive.

Again, Lily shook her head and straightened her back with determination setting a fire in her eyes. “Sokari!” Without warning she stamped her food down as the spell left her lips, rippling a shockwave through the air that knocked the crowd backwards either into the air or onto branches.

The ice on her wrists engulfed the cuffs and solidified until the metal cracked and snapped, only then did the ice fall from her, taking the shards of her entrapment with it.

“Come on!” She called up to the cats, causing the vines that held them to rip apart. They were quick on her heels as she ran to the west of the scene, knowing she had to get as much distance as she could before the crowd stabled itself and came after her. Escaping a hoard that quite literally controlled the environment that you were in was not an easy task.

Sure enough, she only had a few moments before the branch in front of her began to bend upwards so that she could no longer run along it and voices behind her began to ring out in anger.

Raising her still bleeding right arm Lily didn’t pause in her movements. She just hoped this would work. “Saritu!” She yelled over the growing volume behind her and motioned her hand to the branch. A sickening crack echoed through the air, giving the fairies behind a startling warning before the branch split down the centre and Lily forced them apart, one of them being guided downward so she could layer it with ice.

If nothing else, Lily’s creativity may have saved her life that day.

Sliding on ice gave her speed which the fairies could not keep up with, and manipulating each branch into her path to give her a continuous slide meant that soon she was out of reach and not long after she was sliding straight through the kingdom barrier and barrel falling into the edge of the Archaic Densewood when the now tiny branch snapped beneath her.

“Think they’ll follow us?” Kiki panted as she landed beside where Lily was kneeling on the harsh debris on the ground.

“I doubt it if we keep moving,” Oscar nudged at Lily’s leg, motivating her to keep going. He was right, they were still in the light, still easy to replace and drag back to punishment unknown. The Archaic Densewood isn’t a place that any fairy wanted to step foot into, and so, there they would be safest right now. Especially as the Densewood was also going to be a safer option than out in the open where witches could see her

The Archaic Densewood was nothing like Fae Greenwood. The branches locked together above keeping all semblance of light from reaching the ground. That which did survive on the ground had to do so via the sinister lighting given off by deep red moss that littered the ground and tree trunks in patches. It was incredibly difficult to see where one was stepping, but at the same time, the eerie feeling made you think the darkness was a friend… because you couldn’t see what might be out there watching you.

Pushing herself to her feet and brushing the blood from the scrapes on her knees, Lily drew ice into place over those wounds as well as her wrists once more.

“Stay close.” She whispered to the cats before forcing her feet to begin stepping further into the unknown darkness. An ominous shiver ran down her spine as the light from the Greenwood dimmed behind her with every step.

“What do we do now?” hissed Kiki who was glancing around with her tail flicking nervously from side to side.

“We replace someone who will believe us…” Lily sounded less than confident.

“Who? Witches will probably kill us if we go back and we’ve just been banished.” Kiki pointed out.

A brief pause. “Xalina,” Oscar breathed. “We’ll go to see Xalina and her people.”

“That’s a long way without wings,” Lily motioned. “But I suppose it’s our best option and it will be nice to see a friendly face.”

Both cats nodded their agreement.

“So, which way?” Lily asked after a moment.

“Well, the mountains are on the other side of the Densewood… so, just keep going forward?” Kiki offered up with a slight chuckle.

“Right. That’s easy enough,” Lily let out a deep breath before doing just that and stepping forward.

The two felines glanced at each other in scepticism before humming an agreement to follow the plan. Though, their first task would be to replace their way through the Densewood so they could head towards the mountains where the draconian were said to reside.

Oscar nudged Kiki forward, encouraging her to walk in front of Lily while he walked behind; both of their eyesight was better than Lily’s and with the darkness so dense, the only light Lily could manipulate was that given by the moss. A dim red light was not all that helpful.

And so, in that formation, the trio took their next steps into the biggest unknown yet.

Artist Acknowledgements

I am not an artist. While I create and invent the designs of the Ryvalian world, I am not the person who could bring them to life in the artwork within this book.

I wish to thank the following artist that illustrated my front cover for me and allowed me to incorporate them within this publication.

> Sillaen

https://www.deviantart.com/sillaen

https://www.instagram.com/sillaen_arts/