"I envy people that know love. That have someone who takes them as they are."
― Jess C Scott, The Devilin Fey

Glory

"What else did they say?" She interrogated the servant as they hurried down the winding stairs leading into the great hall.

"Not much, they're all in pretty bad shape. One of them was unconscious, another collapsed the moment we let them in and the third fainted after blurting one name, "Deathbringer."

"Two IceWings and a SandWing you said?"

"That's right."

"Place them under immediate care."

"Yes your majesty."

Aphrodite

Aphrodite opened her eyes to sunlight and warmth. Sitting up she found Boreal sitting near her in clean clothes. When he saw she was awake, he smiled.

"You had a fever," He told her. "But we're all okay now."

"Is this it?" She asked, looking around in wonder. "This is the Rain Kingdom?"

"Yes it is, welcome."

A beautiful young woman entered the room. She had long, blond hair and glittering emerald eyes. She carried herself with a grace and poise that left now doubt of who she was.

"Queen Glory?" Aphrodite asked.

Glory smiled. "Just Glory. You're Aphrodite?"

"I am."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Boreal here has told me what he knows, but I must here it from you too. Is it true then, that Deathbringer is alive?"

Something in her eyes when she said his name made Aphrodite's heart sink.

"Yes, last I saw. We planned for all of us to escape together but we were caught. He stayed behind to give us time. I don't know what happened afterwards."

"I see," Glory looked down and chewed her lip thoughtfully.

"Can I ask, how do you know Deathbringer?" asked Aphrodite. "Why do you care for him so much?"

"He's . . . " She seemed to stop and consider what she was about to say. "He's someone very important to me."

"Oh."

Glory raised her head. "What is he to you?" she asked suddenly.

"Some one important to me, " Aphrodite echoed the Queen's own words.

"Indeed."

There was an awkward silence as both women seemed to suddenly understand what the other was implying.

Glory's hands clenched around her abdomen and she stood up.

"Thank you for coming here, and for telling me everything. I promise you shall be very well taken care of, you needn't fear any more. Call me when your friend wakes up," she nodded at Frostbite who lay beside Aphrodite, still unconscious.

She made to leave the room, then stopped, and turned around to look Aphrodite directly in the eyes.

"I'll have you know," she said. "Deathbringer is a person who knows exactly what it is about him that draws others in, and he's not afraid to use that to his advantage." Her eyes were cold.

"Don't make the mistake of thinking that you know what his intentions are."

Then she turned back around, opened the door and swept out.

Boreal began to chuckle. "So that's his lover. It seems you have some competition on your hands Aphrodite. Actually no, I don't think there's any competition at all. You should give up."

"I never give up." Aphrodite snapped. 

Boreal's smile dropped slightly. "I would be careful about what you say to her." He warned. "The RainWings might have once been known as the softest tribe in Pyrrhia, but there Queen certainly isn't. Don't lets take advantage of her hospitality."

"I wasn't planning on it." Aphrodite said. "But I'm not planning on letting her get everything she wants either."

Time didn't exist in the small, dark, cold room. From time to time he would open his eyes and wonder how many hours had gone by, but then he would fade back into nothingness.

Finally, and unknown amount of time later, he didn't fade. After several minutes simply staring up at the ceiling, he found his mind begin to regain some of its clarity.

He tried to sit up but a wave of nausea hit him like a blow from a battering-ram and he lay back down again.

His ribs hurt like hell. He knew without a doubt that at least two of them were broken.

His throat and lungs burned after their fight for oxygen and lack of water. 

His head throbbed and hummed with intense pain so terrible he wanted to crawl out of his skin.

Blood coated the side of his face and the rest of his body. It all would have been bearable if it hadn't been for the sense of hopelessness that polluted his heart and sickened his mind. He would die here, in this place.

Finally the nausea subsided and he was able to sit up, leaning against the wall for support.

What's going to happen to me?  

"I'm Hyena, what's your name?"

Sadhi shook the hand that was being offered to him warily. "I'm Sadhi." He said.

The boy had spiked black locks and brilliant violet eyes. His grin was lopsided and a few freckles dotted his pale face.

"Why were you crying?" Hyena asked.

Sadhi looked down at his hands, which were still red, raw and bleeding.

He held them out for the other boy to see. "I accidently forgot the words to the morning prier. The Father said that it was the Devil trying to stop me from being pure, and so he hit me with a stick."

Hyena laughed. "Is that all?" he rolled up his sleeves displaying several long cuts running up his arms.

"Why did they do that to you?" Sadhi whispered, stepping back at the ghastly sight.

Hyena shrugged. "To "cure" me of course, at least that's what they say."

"What did you do?" 

"I was born . . . wrong."

Sadhi eyed him up and down. "You look normal to me," he said honestly.

Hyena let out a bark of laughter. "It's not the outside. It's the inside. I was born with something rotten inside, something unholy."

"So was I," Sadhi admitted. "They told my mother that the devil is inside me, so she left me here to be cured. I can go home once he's gone."

Hyena laughed again. "No you can't. Kids like us aren't sent here to be "cured", they're kept her to keep everyone else safe. No one ever goes back home. You either stay here till someone kills you, till you kill someone else, you die, or until you do yourself in."

Sadhi felt panic flare in his chest. "What do you mean?" He asked.

Hyena lowered his voice. "A few weeks ago, there was this one kid here, his father sent him here cuz he kept lighting things on fire see, and then a few months later, a fortnight ago to be exact," he lowered his voice even more and Sadhi had to lean in close to hear what was being said.

"A fortnight ago, they found him in his room. His wrists had been slit, blood everywhere. He was dead."

Sadhi's heart began to pound. "Stop," he said. "Stop, I don't want to hear anymore."

"I was there you know," Hyena paid no attention to Sadhi's pleas. He continued his story. "We shared a room. After he died everyone was saying I did it."

"But you didn't, you didn't, did you?" Sadhi whispered.

"Hyena!"

Hyena grinned. "I didn't hold the blade," he said. "But it was me. I killed him."

"Hyena!" Sadhi jumped as a sharp vice interrupted their conversation. All at once his vision was filled with long sandy hair and blue eyes. 

Velvet stood in front of him protectively. She glared at Hyena, her eyes cold and sharp.

"That's enough, Hyena." She snapped. "Don't scare him."

Hyena's face melted into an ugly scowl of hatred. "Go knit a sock you stupid old doxy," he snarled.

She wasn't fazed by the insult. "Get away from him, now." She ordered.

"On who's authority?" Hyena demanded.

"Ours." She answered. "Sadhi doesn't want you here, do you Sadhi?" she asked.

Hyena laughed. "Yeah he does. We're the same, he and I. He knows I'm the only one who understands him. You never will, wench." he spat.

He didn't know exactly what it was that made him angry, but he was.

"Don't say that to her," Sadhi snapped at the other boys face. "We aren't alike at all. Go away."

Hyena looked surprised for a moment, then he grinned again. " Fine. I will. But you'll come back to me, I know you will, and when you do, I'll welcome you, as a friend."

"You'll never be my friend." Sadhi said.

"Not yours maybe,"  Hyena nodded. "But I'll be his."

"Don't listen to him Sadhi," Velvet said once they were alone. 

"Is it true?" Sadhi asked. "Is it true that he killed that other boy?"

She shook her head. "Hyena did not use his hands to do it, but yes. Yes he did." She sighed and knelt down so that they were on eye level. 

"You see, Sadhi, " she said, brushing some dust off the front of his tunic. "Hyena's parents did some terrible things to him when he was small. Things that made him feel angry. He hurts people because in his mind that's the only was to restore balance to his life, if he feels like everyone else suffers as much as he did, he'll feel better."

"Can you heal him?" Sadhi asked.

A look of deep sorrow past over her eyes. "I tried." She said. "I tried to befriend him and show him that people in the world can love him, but he was too damaged, and the Father didn't help,"

She glared off into the distance, then down at him again. "Promise me Sadhi," she said fervently, taking both his hands in her own. "Promise me you won't let them break you. I couldn't stand it."

She had such beautiful eyes. He thought. Such beautiful hair.

She was beautiful. 

He reached a hand up and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I promise," he said

Hi,

Just a quick question:

Who is your favorite of my original characters? If you have one. If you don't, then that's perfectly fine :)

Aphrodite-

Ginger-

Sarai-

Sadhi-

Hyena-

Velvet-

Boreal-

Frostbite-

Other-

(As the story progresses you shall learn more about Sadhi, Sarai, Hyena and Velvet)