Chapter 63
The two older girls looked at each other before settling the babies down and stepping forward, careful to keep the younger girls behind them. Crouching down, they dug their hands into the dirt before looking up at the crowd before them, their eyes glazed over as roots and vines shot out from the ground and began to wrap around the legs of the soldiers, winding their way up around their torso and arms.
The vampires among the soldiers made effort to free themselves though, the humans for the most part were completely stuck in place fighting against their little cages.
Freeing herself from the vines, Seraphina bent down to get onto their level and opened her palm out skyward. Whispering words in the air, a small handmade doll appeared in her hand as she held it out to the girls.
One of the older girls froze in place as she recognized the item in Seraphina’s hand.
“This is yours isn’t it?” She passed the doll to the girl who stared at it in hopeful bewilderment.
The girl’s eyes darted from Seraphina to the army behind her before nodding her head slowly.
“My name is Seraphina, we are here to help you, we’re bringing you back home, to you parents, they are all waiting for you.”
“Prove it,” the other girl demanded as she never took her eyes off of the army and continued to trap them within vines.
Moving her attention to the other girl, Seraphina crept over and settled on her knees in front of her.
“Open your mind to me,” she kept her voice low and gentle.
The girl closed her eyes and drew in a long breath. Taking this as her compliance, Seraphina placed a hand over the young girls small, dirt covered hand and closed her own eyes.
Projecting a vision into the girl’s mind of the children’s parents all gathered at the manor, crying and holding one another as they desperately awaited the return of their babies.
When she opened her eyes, she could see dimples in the girl’s chin as her lip trembled, tears spilling freely from her eyes.
“Mama, my mama is waiting for me?” her voice was barely a whisper.
Seraphina nodded at her and opened her arms out, the girl threw her self forward, wrapping her small arms around Seraphina’s neck as her body shook with sobs.
Taking the girl into her arms, she carried her over to where to others sat cowering against the tree.
“Hey there sweeties, we’re gonna get you home to your mama’s and papa’s okay? Oh, come here sweet babies, its okay,” Seraphina opened her free arm out as the two sniffling toddlers flung themselves into her, shortly followed by the babies crawling onto the limited free space on her lap.
The first of the older girls still sat knelt in the dirt cuddling her doll into her chest, tears streaming freely down her muddied, chubby cheeks.
“You- you’re really taking us back to our mama’s?” she choked on her words as she looked over at Seraphina.
Seraphina nodded her head and smile warmly at the young girl.
“My mama… before we were… she was with child, is-is the baby here?”
Seraphina’s smile grew as she nodded her head again.
“Yes, she’s here and she is beautiful and very excited to meet her big sister.”
Aurelia tiptoed forward to wear the girl knelt alone and placed a soft hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, you’ve been very strong and very brave to protect the others, there’s a little warrior spirit in you girl,” she pulled the young girl into her chest and hugged her tightly as she ran a hand over her matted hair.
The rest of the group they had travelled with stood still, motionless as the looked on at the scene before them. All of these young children, cold, scared and alone and for how long had they been like this?
Isobella knelt down beside Seraphina and lowered her voice to a whisper.
“Seraphina, we must move quickly, I can sense people nearing though they are shrouded by magic, so it is hard to tell how close they are.”
Seraphina gave Isobella a worried look, getting the children out of there was their number 1 priority. They had already been subjected to gods know what, the last thing they need was to see a battle; and with the vengeful looks on some of the soldier’s faces, possibly even a massacre.
“Girls, gather round, I need to talk to you,” Seraphina voice was calm and controlled but inside, anxiety was gnawing away at her.
Aurelia carried one of the older girls over to where Seraphina sat with the rest of the children.
Isobella positioned her body towards the girls and ushered the other mages to come close.
“I am Isobella, this is Isla, Seamus, Eloise, Hanna and Oisin, we are going to take you back to your parents.”
The older girls smiled hesitantly though, the 2 toddlers jumped onto Isobella and Hanna, giggling as they pulled on their long, dark locks.
Seraphina smiled to herself. How forgiving children are, they have been left out here, afraid and alone and yet here they are, laughing and smiling as though it hadn’t even happened. Children truly are resilient creatures.
She cleared her throat before turning her attention back to the group as a whole.
“Now girls, I am a Dhampir like you but, I am a little different. Do you know what a familiar is?”
The two older girls nodded.
“Well, I have a familiar,” Seraphina pulled the sleeve of her dress down to show them her marking. “Can you guess what it is?”
“A Flutterby,” one of the toddlers shouted as she threw her hands up in the air.
“A very good guess,” Seraphina lightly tapped her on the nose. “But not quite-“
“-A dragon!” one of the older girls gasped as she stared at the markings.
“Yes, very good. So, I am going to shift into my dragon and you are going to fly home on my back with the others. Now my dragon is very big but, she’s very kind and gentle so, you don’t need to be scared, okay?”
“I not scared,” the toddler on Hanna’s lap announced with a proud smile.
Seraphina suppressed a chuckle as she handed the babies over to Seamus and Oisin before standing to her feet. She rolled her head and shrugged her shoulders as she called forth on her dragon.
Now that she was more in control of her magic, she was able to transform within seconds, the whole process over within the blink of an eye.
Gasps where heard all round from the soldiers; very few outside of the palace or the manors walls had seen her dragon, many even refused to believe that another dragon even existed.
Seraphina crouched down so the mages could get on easily, Aurelia helping pass the children over once they were on board.
Oisin waved his hands and conjured some blankets to wrap around the children as Seraphina prepared to take off.
“Credence, get ready to follow Seraphina. Antoinette, Drusilla, you two as well,” Aurelia ordered.
The three nodded before sprinting of behind the trees to change out of their clothes.
Moving towards Seraphina, Achilles rested his forehead against her snout before placing a lingering kiss on her smooth scales.
“I’ll see you on the other side, my sweet flower. Be safe up there.”
Seraphina huffed two puffs of smoke from her nostrils in response before rubbing her head against him.
Achilles ran a hand over her head one last time before stepping back to give her some room to move.
Looking up above her, only brief breaks of the sky could be seen through the foliage of the trees. Following her gaze, Seamus waved a hand above his head, moving the leaves and branches out of the way to grant them passage.
Not wanting to waste another moment, Seraphina took off to the sky with Credence’s eagle at her side and Antoinette and Drusilla racing along the forest floor below.
She had barely made it through the tall tree tops when she heard the screams from below.
“SAVAGES!!”
The sound of metal honing and clanging as swords were drawn rang in her ears, she turned her head to look behind her when Isobella’s voice cut through the noise.
“DON’T! Just go, they will be fine.”
Seraphina nodded her head before picking up speed and continuing on.
With her dragon speed, the flight back to the manor should only be about 20 minutes but that was still 20 minutes of worrying about Achilles, Aurelia and the others.
She called out to Achilles in her mind, wondering, hoping he may have shifted and could at least let her know that they’re okay.
Sending a silent prayer to the gods that all would return safely home, she tried to shake the distraction from her mind and concentrate on the task at hand.
Aurelia is protected by her spell, Achilles is a strong warrior, as are the others. Savages are no match for the royal army. They will all be fine, won’t they?