Prologue
“Stop! Stop it,” I shouted.
The man simply ignored me, the boy’s screams getting louder with each blow the man dealt. I started picking up my pace, fearing for the boy’s life.
“I said stop it! You’re going to kill him,” I screamed.
Once again, the man ignored me. Now I was sprinting towards the pair. Without thinking, I jumped onto the man’s back and started pulling at his hair and face. He finally stopped attacking the boy and was attempting to fight me off. I tried to stay on his back, pulling his hair hard. The man grabbed ahold of me and threw me off his back. I landed on the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of me. Unfortunately, the man then climbed onto me and was now punching me in the stomach. I screamed as he started hitting me harder. Before he could keep landing punches, the boy jumped on him and knocked him off me. The pair tussled on the ground before the man pinned the boy once again. I shot up, watching the display in front of me in fear. The man started choking the boy. The boy grabbed the man, trying to rip his hands off him.
“R..R-run! Rrr--Run,” the boy said, struggling to speak.
I shook my head, too afraid to just run. It felt like I watching myself going through the motions. I moved to stand and felt my hand brush something. I looked down and found a dagger sitting there. Swiftly, I picked it up and rushed to my feet. The boy’s face was starting to turn red. Blindly, I ran at the man with the dagger raised. Everything became blurry. Next moment, the man was on the ground. Blood was pouring out of his back. The dagger was still in my hand, blood dripping of the blade. I snapped out of my haze and knelt down to the boy, putting the dagger on the ground.
“Hey, hey, wake up, please,” I said, shaking him.
Eventually, the boy started waking up. He blinked a few times before looking at me. When he started sitting up, I helped steady him and gave him support. He looked at me confused before looking around. His gaze fell on the man.
“How did you do that,” the boy asked, his gaze returning to me.
Shakily, I turned my gaze down to the dagger. The boy followed my vision. He stared at it for a moment. I fell back on my legs, my entire body shaking. The events that just transpired finally starting sinking in. I was staring at my knees, fear pumping through my veins. Gently, the boy took ahold of my hands and pulled me into him. He hugged me close to him. Tears pricked at my eyes and I held the boy tightly. He rocked us back and forth, whispering that everything was okay now. I cried into his shoulder, trying to calm myself. After a while, I calmed down and the boy let me go. I took in his facial features for a moment. His face was littered in cuts and bruises with blood caking his clothes and skin. I used my sleeve to wipe a bit of blood off his cheek. He stopped me, grabbing my wrist gently.
“That’s not necessary,” he stated, giving me a reassuring look.
“But you’re hurt and covered in blood,” I answered.
“I’m fine. I’m more concerned about you. He hit you pretty hard. Are you okay?”
“I’m all right, I’ll heal in a day’s time.”
“What about your wings? He was pulling hard on them when I first found you.”
“My wings are fine, just sore is all.”
The boy didn’t seem to believe me at first but nodded anyway. We sat in silence for a moment. I had no idea what to do aside from head back to the village. However, I didn’t want to just leave the boy here by himself. I sat there trying to gain the courage ask him to come back with me to my village.
“Hey, um.... do you--,” I started, my voice low.
Suddenly, shouting could be heard. The boy and I turned to look at the sound and saw a group of me running around the plains. They had torches and I caught the small glimmers of weapons in their hands. Fear coursed through me again. The boy shot to his feet, staring at the men. Without hesitation, the boy grabbed my arms and pulled me to my feet. He grabbed the dagger off the ground before grabbing my arm and running towards the forest. I barely kept up with him, but managed to match his pace. We ran into the forest, the shouting getting louder. The boy took us deep into the woods, trying to get us away from the men. After some time, the boy stopped and looked back. I was heaving, trying to catch my breath as best as I could. The shouting behind us was faint, but was still getting louder. The boy made me look at him, his features serious.
“You need to keep going. I don’t know what these men will do to you if they see you, so I’ll hold them off while you get away,” he said, his grip on my arm slipping.
“What?! No, I can’t leave you behind! They could hurt you,” I argued, grabbing ahold of his forearm.
“I’ll be fine, they were humans, they’ll probably assume I’m lost. But you’re a fairy, they’ll kill you!”
“You don’t know that! They could be bandits! Come with me, my village will keep you safe and help you!”
The boy gave me a conflicted look before snapping his head at the shouting. By now, it was getting progressively louder. I tugged his arm, trying to urge him to run with me. The boy looked back to me and held my forearm tighter.
“They won’t stop looking for us if I go with you. If they find me, it’ll stop them. I can’t let them hurt you,” he stated.
“How do I know you’ll be safe? What if there’s more in the forest? I’m too scared to go alone,” I questioned.
The boy thought for a moment before nodding to himself. He looked me in the eyes, his grip on my forearm tightening.
“I’ll be okay, I promise. On my life, you will be safe. Nothing will ever hurt you, not while I’m around. You have my word,” he said.
“You promise,” I whimpered out, my arm tingling.
“I swear. This is my oath to you.”
The moment the words passed his lips, a blue light brightly shone below us. We both looked down and saw a blue rope made of ancient runes wrapped around our arms. It bound our arms together, shinning bright before vanishing. The runes were imprinted onto our skin. We looked at arms confused before a scream snapped us back to our situation. The boy let me go and put the dagger back in it’s scabbard before placing it in my hands.
"Take this. You'll be safe with this in your hands. Now run, before they find both of us," he said.
Before I could argue, the boy took off towards the voices. I went to shout after him, but stopped myself. I did as he said. I turned around and ran as fast as I could. The voices behind me slowly died. Tears streamed out of my eyes as I made my way back home, the dagger clutched tightly in my hands.
