In your arms

[Elyna]

54 Ashan 717

Since she’d been held at knife-point, and dragged away from her lover, Elyna hadn’t been sleeping. A couple of breaks perhaps, before being woken by Elsie. Or the fitful rest of someone sleeping on a cold bed beneath canvas. Even returning to her parents and the comfort they could offer, and the familiarity of her childhood bedroom, sleep had evaded her. Now, curled up against the warm skin of the mortalborn, the skyrider fell into a deep slumber. Despite her wariness of being in their home, where such atrocities had taken place; she could not stay awake anylonger, nor on watch. She slept as though under a spell and only woke when the grey light of dawn filtered through the curtains.
Elyna stretched her arms above her head, beneath the pillow and arched. Rolling onto her side, she smiled. Malcolm was awake; staring at the ceiling. Outside she could hear the rush of wind beneath the trees and sent a silent prayer to Chrien that the snow and sleet would hold off for the morning, and let them take their belongings back to the city without damage. Moving was a miserable task and it would be made worse by bad weather.
“Good Morning,” her voice was husky from slumber and she propped herself up on her elbow to study his features. The sheets between them were twisted around his legs and damp with sweat, as though he’d struggled to sleep in the cool Ashan air. Elyna could understand his reluctance to let his guard down, here of all places. This was, after all the room the men had entered and dragged him from their bed. She shivered and kissed his cheek. If she’d had more awareness the night before, she would have suggested they stay in the guest room. Perhaps that would have helped him to sleep.
“You didn’t sleep,” She traced the line of his jaw with a fingertip, examining the scruffy beard, “I’ll make us some tea and toast with the leftover bread.” The skyrider kissed him again before edging back over the bed. Naked, she crossed the room to the dresser and picked out a clean shift and pulled it over her head. The soft fabric was followed by a woollen dress in deep Burhan blue.
The young woman had lost count of the times that she’d moved through the house and stirred the embers to life, stacking new kindling on top. She hummed to herself as she moved, fetching water to boil and pulling out the last two mugs that had been left behind. The tea herbs were split between and she started checking the cupboards beneath the surface. Pulling out and piling up, anything they had left behind. She was so happy, she could almost burst into song. Everything was going to be alright.

[Malcolm]

Elyna stirred him from his daze with a kiss, though far away, he had failed to hear anything she had said, and so only offered a warm smile in response. Malcolm had managed to get a few hours of sleep, but his rest had been broken, and more recently, he had awoken in a cold sweat, not sure if it was fear or guilt that pinned him to the bed.
His eyes had followed Elyna across the room, she was still beautiful to watch, even pregnant. He watched her stoke the fire through the doorway, and when she moved out of sight, Malcolm got to his feet and dressed to follow her.
Hot tea was a luxury he had gone without for the best part of the season, and sitting at the dining room table, he wondered what she must think of him. Without so much as tasting the tea, Malcolm left the table in trade for the bathroom and found his razor. He fill the sink with hot water from the fire and began his cleanup mission, leaving only a light smattering of stubble across the top of his lip and along the length of his jaw, his neck and cheeks now a lot cleaner than they had been.
Having returned to the table, Malcolm attempted to eat some breakfast and finish his tea when he noticed a wagon on the road through the kitchen window. Socks, the horse he had managed to steal back from Faction VII and ride home on, was up on all fours again and tucking into the long grass on the driveway. Malcolm sprang up and went to the door before looking back at Elyna.
“Where are my weapons?”

[Elyna]

Elyna watched her lover as he moved around the house, quiet. Prowling as he was sometimes inclined to do. The day before there had been only aching relief at his return, and none of the tension that had grown so taut between them over the past arc. She put his quiet down to his tiredness. Only able to imagine the pain he’d gone through, even before the marks had been etched into his broad chest. His tea was untouched as she leant against the counter and sipped hers. Watching out the window, she smiled at the sight of the wagon. How in Idalos was Emily going to react to seeing Malcolm? By all accounts, the Iron Hand thought he was dead. Yes, it would mean some paperwork when they returned...but he was alive and it was nothing short of a miracle to be celebrated.
The skyrider blinked, her gaze dropping to the bow and arrows beside the door. “They’re at the city,” she replied and set her own mug down. “Our friends bought them to the house, with some of Elsie’s belongings,” this was going to be hard on the man, she feared and so approached him. Reaching out she laid a hand on his arm, “Malcolm, it’s Emily. She’s come to collect me and the rest of our belongings.”
The woman pressed a kiss to his newly shaven cheek and moved to the door, walking beyond the barrier she wrapped her arms around herself, her smile impossible to contain. The wagon slowed to a halt, and three familiar shapes jumped down.
“Emily! Ben, Kathryn,” Elyna found herself almost running towards them. The trio exchanged glances, concerned at her sudden liveliness and turn of mood.
“Malcolm is alive,” she was breathless with excitement and caught her friend in a hug.
“Ely,” Emily warned, drawing back and trying to study her face, “you know that can’t be-” the words faded from her lips and she was left staring. “But the scars…”
“VII found someone similar and made the marks. They wanted us to believe he was gone,” Elyna had never been much of a liar, but on Malcolm’s behalf she could be convincing. “Emily,” she nearly squealed with excitement, turning to the dumbfounded Benjamin and Kathryn, “he’s back.”
“I’ll be damned,” Benjamin looked as though he’d been punched in the stomach. His eyes were wet.

[Malcolm]

Kathryn lifted her hands to her mouth in an attempt to mask her genuine surprise, and Benjamin jumped down from the wagon to paced towards the man. Malcolm too made a move and join the were hugging one another as brother do. Benjamin didn't let go, and Malcolm made no complaint, even if the heavy around around him caused the pain in his ribs to flare up again. Kathryn soon joined them with tear filled eyes, her body shaking as she was drawn into the hug. They had worked together for many years, and the thought of losing their leader had been hard to believe.
“You're back,” Kathryn cried.
Malcolm smiled. “I'm here.”
Benjamin stepped back and wiped his eyes on his sleeve, and Kathryn went to Elyna with arms extended.
Malcolm glanced at his lover and smiled before he was led aside by Benjamin, curious to know what had happened.
“Faction VII,” he told the man, just as he had done with Elyna, no going as far as to mention the Qe’dreki that had been in attendance, Yoreth Blackwood himself and even Marcus.
“It's time to wipe them out,” Benjamin shook his head, “no more of this bullshit about not having enough resources, ten dragon riders would put a stop to them soon enough.”
“The Iron Hand doesn't have the numbers, they are spread too thin,” Malcolm told him. “A lot of our forces are still back and forth between the eastern settlement.”
“A lot if good that is doing,” Benjamin scoffed, “There are rumours of Qe’dreki basically going running the place now, with more and more support rolling in every trial.”
“The Iron Hand is growing too.”
“Squires won't win the next war.”
Malcolm made a low sound, seemingly ashamed to agree with the man. “We continue our training.”
“Just like you to climb straight back on the horse.” Benjamin grinned.
“We’ll see about that.”

[Elyna]

Elyna gripped Kathryn tight and laughed. The sound came without prompting and the skyrider grinned across at Malcolm. He was home, he was alive and there was nothing to shadow the future.
“Are you still planning to move?” Emily glanced back at the wagon. Wondering if it could truly fit all of the furniture as planned.
“We are,” Elyna agreed and smoothed a hand over her stomach. “It's hard to relax out here and soon there will be another baby to look after, immortals willing.” It was too risky to stay outside the city walls. VII had proved that they could be bold enough to steal people from their beds.
“What about the sickness in the city?” Kathryn frowned, “you're less likely to catch it out here.”
Elyna pushed a hand through her hair and led the women inside the house. “I'm in and out the city so often - I've not been back here for most of Ashan so,” she shrugged. “What will be, will be and we will take every care that we can.”
“Are we taking everything?” Emily peered at the table before looking into the bedrooms.
“Everything,” Elyna agreed. “I don't trust that thieves won't come in our absence.”
“Might need a couple of cart-loads,” Kathryn conceded.
Elyna grinned and shrugged. It could take all season for all she cared. Malcolm was returned safe and as sound as the mortalborn man had ever been. It was another dull morning, and yet for the skyrider, the sun beamed behind the clouds. She just couldn’t see it. There was a sweet smell of spring on the air and the promise of blossom on the trees.

[Malcolm]

Benjamin walked down the drive with Malcolm to collect the riding gear that had been left there overnight. He took up the saddle, holding it over he left shoulder, and Malcolm bent to pick up the rest of the gear.
It was quiet out in the countryside, and Malcolm had always welcomed the silence, but since his experience, too much quiet or anything that might disturb it suddenly, saw the tiny hairs in the back of his neck stand on end. He flinched at a bird flying overhead from the tree they stood under, and couldn't help but scan the distant woodlands for movement.
“I can't stay here,” he admitted to his friend.
Benjamin turned about in the drive to begin the slow walk back to the barn. “Elyna will be pleased to return to the city,” he acknowledged, “but you've never been fond of Andaris.”
Malcolm kept pace. “It's true, I find it very difficult to like, the people and the vibe aren't what I'm used to.”
“But?” Benjamin felt he could sense one.
“Two children with busy parents?”
“There is more support to be found in the city,” Benjamin nodded. “My wife liked the idea of moving until the twins.”
“If we had closer neighbours perhaps, or lived on a safer road.” Malcolm had known the dangers of living between the main city and the docks, there would always be bandits waiting to take advantage of the cargo moved back and forth along the road on a daily basis.
“Will you return to Burhan?”
“I found Vaughn.”
Benjamin stopped dead in his tracks. “What! Where?”
Malcolm folded his arms. “Faction VII.”
“He's one of them?”
“Of course not!” Malcolm looked disappointed to think Benjamin would consider such a thing so. “He was captured by one of their scouts, he helped free me.”
“Then perhaps you look to Krome once more?”
“I don't know,” Malcolm said honestly. “A conversation to have with Elyna I suppose.”

[Elyna]

Because they’d lived with the intention of tidying as they went, it didn’t take Elyna long to pack up everything in the main kitchen. With Emily’s help any smaller items were put into a large crate the skyrider had brought from the city and then loaded onto the cart, along with the brick oven and then table and chairs. The room looked bare without the belongings and the Colonel left her Captain to clear the guest room. The intention had always been that Elsie would sleep in it, and have it as a kind of nursery, but the child hadn’t yet progressed from her parents bedroom. Perhaps in their new home, Elyna wondered.
She stood in the bedroom she’d shared with Malcolm. Her large bag opened on the bed. Starting at the top she moved through, emptying the drawers of clothes and the random items that seemed to be buried amongst them. There was the dagger from Vakhanor that she slid into her belt. Also, a small clay sculpture of her own face that she studied, before wrapping it up in an old, blood-stained shirt to keep it safe. Some odd pieces of jewellry that she didn’t wear and finally, what seemed like a hundred odd socks with no mate or home. They were thrown into the back. The bed had been stripped and the linen dropped into a basket. Her sewing kit was already at her parents. Most importantly, she kept the material needed to make Elsie’s clothing to hand, folded on top of her bag.
Emily and Kathryn came to move the dresser and she shuffled out of their way. The woman, in her advanced stage of pregnancy was forced to be content with simply watching her friends lifting the furniture, as she leant against the kitchen counters. Perhaps that was one of the worst things that came with pregnancy, the feeling of helplessness. That her body was no longer her own.

[Malcolm]

The men returned to the house surprised to find how much the women had managed to achieve on their own. Benjamin helped Malcolm with some of the heavier items, and what couldn't be packed up and taken for today's trip would be swiftly collected later in the afternoon.
Benjamin traded his place on the wagon with Elyna, and Malcolm helped her up into her seat. He laced his fingers together over her knee and smiled, “I’ll be right beside you,” the warden gestured to one of the horses that were saddled up and ready to go.
He had taken a weapon from Benjamin, feeling somewhat naked without one, and climbed up onto the black mare’s back. She snorted and swished her tail, rested, but a little lame after the long ride back from the mountains.
Malcolm was prepared to stay in the city for a while, in fact he quite liked the idea, and thought about the area they might buy in. It would cost them at least six hundred for a two bedroom place, and while he considered selling the old cottage to cover part of the cost, rent from both houses, he thought, would not go amiss. Cash is king, and the knight had enough to buy Elyna whatever she wanted.
He rode alongside the wagon, with Benjamin taking up the other side on Kathryn’s horse. The weather had held out, just, but the skies still threatened rain, and so they kept up the pace until the city was in view.
“We can look today,” he told Elyna, “it saves up having to move everything twice.”

[Elyna]

The woman could barely take her eyes off her lover as they moved. Her skin burnt from his touch and left her with her own hand on her knee. A city of possibilities. The young woman was concerned about the sickness that seemed to be spreading through Rynmere, and worse the growing unrest between the lower classes against the Knights of all people. It was bizarre and whilst she could understand their dislike of nobility, she couldn’t place their sudden hatred of the men and women who provided justice and law enforcement. Hard working people who had risen up through difficult circumstances to provide their own families with a better life. Knights risked themselves when they patrolled, they tried to recover stolen property and bought murderers to the court to be punished for their crimes.
If she hadn’t been pregnant...the woman let out a slow sigh. She was though and would be, Immortals willing until next season. Until her baby was safely delivered she couldn’t return to the streets and work on behalf of the people, it was too risky. Surely any other young mother would appreciate that?
“We’ll drop this wagon load off at house Burhan,” Elyna agreed with a small smile, before the expression grew, “you’ll get to see Elsie, maybe she should come with us as we look…” The baby was certainly developing opinions about most things. Elyna bit her bottom lip and tried to hold back a smile. Their daughter had learnt a new word, though she decided to let Malcolm discover that for himself. No. Everything was met with the word, no. Hopefully, with her Father back, she’d be more receptive...

***

It was impossible not to recognise the haggard look on Anna’s face as Elyna and Malcolm arrived. Without so much as pausing on the threshold, Elyna took theMortalborn by the hand and led him inside and up the stairs. In the nursery, Anna was trying to console a screaming child. Her own baby was held tight to her chest as Elsie held onto a wooden dowling rod and refused to give it up. Waving it frantically in her chubby fist.
“Elsie, pass me the block, please,” Anna reached out for the toy and the child snatched it against her chest.
“No!” Then her gaze fell to the opening door and she pushed herself to her knees and then to her feet. Unsteady as she advanced, all tears forgotten as she grinned, “Dada!” Her arms outstretched towards the man.

[Malcolm]

Malcolm was always hesitant when entering the house that belonged to Elyna’s parents. He knew how they disapproved of him and their partnership, and continued to live with Elyna anyway. As they moved up the stairs, the Mortalborn found himself looking around for the pair, hoping they wouldn't spot him before he got his hands on little Elsie.
They could hear Elsie even before they entered the room, screaming the house down, which Malcolm thought was very unlike the child, though Elyna had often boasted the child's capabilities. She was on her feet like a pro, and threatening to stumble towards the man as he entered the room. Malcolm reached down and scooped her up into a big cuddle, deciding then and there that his daughter gave the best hugs.
Elsie had closed her arms around the man and ducked her head against his shoulder, eyes wide and searching, as they often were, taking in the man she hadn't seen for just over a month. She touched his face and closed her hand around a thick curl of hair, making sure no one could separate them in a hurry.
“Elsie,” the man sang her name, his voice deep and soothing.
Unexpectedly, however, Elsie started to cry, an act that saw Malcolm turn around and look at Elyna rather helplessly, he wasn't used to her crying, especially whenever he picked her up. He closed his hands against her side in an attempt to lift her, but the child made herself heavy and clung to his hair.
Malcolm laughed, what else could he do but bring her in and wrap his arms around her again. “What's wrong, baby?” He moved her side to side, trying to calm her down.