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emilia3546 · 3 years

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Bring Him Home Part 4 - PoppyCas

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

*****

Poppy

The ground crunched beneath my feet, and I shifted uncomfortably, rolling my eyes when Kieran nudged my side, still in wolven form, he fixed me with an unflinching stare. I leaned against a tree, closing my eyes for a heartbeat, allowing my nerves to harden while I waited for the shouts and clashing of steel that would alert us to Isbeth's retaliation. Still, even with the draken waiting alongside our forces, we would have to be quick, quick to get in, quick to find Casteel, quick to get out again, or we'd all be trapped inside. I glanced down at the marriage imprint of my palm, and flexed my fingers, I hadn't realized that I'd been fiddling with my ring, but I didn't have time to worry about the way it had slightly faded with the shouting that erupted around us. Flame lit up the evening sky, illuminating the silhouettes of draken in the sky, raining fire onto Ascended and revenants alike.

"Move," I whispered, slipping through the servants' tunnel into the castle before us. Without a candle to light the way, I was blind in the darkness, and I clung to Kieran's fur, forced to allow him to guide me through the gloom. He led me down, down, down, right into the bowels of the earth, where the sunlight had never reached, right into the depths of Isbeth's dungeons. A faint glow appeared at the end of the corridor, and Netta snuck forwards, leaving just Kieran and Delano by my side. There was a muffled cry, and a snarl, then Kieran was moving again, prowling forwards on silent paws. The cell block that the vampry had been guarding was empty, as was the next and the next and the next. With each empty cell, my heart raced faster and faster, with each second we were down here, we risked being trapped, we risked Casteel being hurt again, or worse.

A shout broke the silence, and we hurried forwards, ducking into an empty cell block, and pressing close to the door. Someone looked in, his gaze passing over our heads as we froze, hardly daring to breathe in case he heard it. If they found us now we would have no choice but to run, whether or not we'd actually found my husband.

"Nothing!" He shouted, "But there's got to be someone down here, Roland was unconscious," a second voice shouted something back, and Netta winced, but I couldn't quite make it out,

He said to leave it, to make sure that Casteel's guarded. Kieran's voice was strained, even in my mind, but at least we knew that Casteel was definitely here. As the footsteps faded, Kieran gestured to stay still, sneaking out silently to check if it was clear. It was, and he seemed to have found a scent, perhaps the man who had been searching for us would lead us straight to Casteel. It didn't matter if they were guarding him, if anyone tried to stop me from reaching my husband, they would not survive to report back to Isbeth. Another set of stairs appeared, winding down into the earth, my eyes only just managing to make out rough shapes in the gloom. I made to step forwards, but Kieran whirled, snarling into the darkness, at the holder of a candle.

Armed with bloodstone, well dressed, clean, I lifted my gaze from his weapons, looking higher, and my heart almost stopped, my promise sounding in my blood as I stared into Prince Malik's eyes. Her was the man who had betrayed his people, who had betrayed Casteel, who Isbeth had expected me to marry. My hand dropped to the dagger at my side, and Kieran stepped in front of me, Netta beside him, but Delano made to pull me away, but I shrugged him off,

"You've come for Cas," Malik whispered, tears in his eyes, "He's down there, last cell on the left." I blinked in surprise, not quite trusting his words,

"Anything down there?" A voice from the gloom,

"Nothing! They must have gotten lost," Malik shouted back, immediately shifting his demeanor back to the one I recognized from Oak Ambler, "Let's do another sweep of the upper levels, no point in sending guards down here,"

"You would help us?" I whispered, the hand on my dagger relaxing slightly,

"Just get my brother out of here. Please. I can't help him while he's here, please, Penellaphe, just go." Those tears in his eyes were real, the pain in his voice, that was real, "From blood and ash, we will rise," he whispered, and slipped away into the darkness.

"Thank you," I whispered, and turned, practically flying down the stairs, taking them three at a time, sprinting down the damp corridor, and throwing open the last door on the left.

I let out a quiet sob at the sight before me. He was here, really here, but he wasn't.

"Cas?" I whispered, but there was no response, no response, because he wasn't just hurt, he hadn't just been denied blood, he was completely unconscious, had been that way for a while as far as I could tell. I dropped to my knees beside him, pulling his head into my lap, "C'mon, Cas, please," I whispered, his pain, his fear almost overwhelming my senses as I tried to combat the feeling of despair. I love you. I love you. I love you. I held him tight against me as my gift started to work, to heal the countless wounds adorning his body, the pain consuming his mind, but beneath it all, there was something else, chocolate covered strawberries, I reached for it, my eyes flying open as the decadent taste of toffee blasted through me. Hope. All this time, he'd had hope, hope for me, that I would get him out. "I'm here, Cas. I'm here, come back to me, please," tears dripped down my face, falling onto his as I held him tightly, sobbing again when his eyes finally opened, bright, brilliant, honey-colored irises met my gaze,

"Poppy?"

"Yeah, I'm here," I whispered, "We're gonna get you home, okay?"

"Am I dead? Dreaming?"

"No, Cas, no, I'm here, I'm really here." I pressed my lips to his forehead, "And I'm never leaving your side ever again, never, do you hear me?"

"How?" He breathed, struggling to rise,

"Malik. He saved our asses,"

"I hated him, I hated him, and he kept me alive, he fed me, Poppy."

"I know, I know," I muttered, glancing back to the door, Delano gestured outwards, and I nodded, "We've got to get out, do you think you can walk?" He nodded but, even with his injuries fading, the moment I pulled him to his feet his eyes glazed in pain. Something was really, really wrong, and I barely managed to catch him before he slumped into my arms. Delano was by my side in an instant, slinging Casteel's arm over his shoulders, and half-carried, half-dragged him out of the cell. I couldn't help, I couldn't even see once we'd climbed back up the stairs, blindly following behind Kieran as Netta shifted back to her mortal form to help Delano with Casteel. I had no idea where we were, where we'd come from, but Kieran knew exactly where he was going, I had to trust him to get us out, to get us home.

Light started to filter into the corridor, just a few more steps, just a few more steps until we could reach the others waiting just outside for us. I was still gripping Kieran's fur when he yelped, swaying on his feet, and crashed into me, knocking us both to the ground. Oh gods, that was an arrow protruding from his side,

"Get him out!" I screamed at Delano and Netta, "Get him out!" Kieran panted, struggling to his feet, but a second arrow slammed into his shoulder, sending him collapsing to the floor again. I lost control of exactly what I was doing, and simply reacted, throwing a shield of some sort up between us and the shapes emerging from the castle. The arrow in Keiran's side wasn't that bad, it was bleeding, a lot, but it didn't seem to have done too much damage, but the other one, the force at which it had slammed into him was too much, it was lodged in between his shoulder joints. The pain radiating from him was too much for a simple wound, and the fear, my heart stopped as I realized that the arrow must have splintered bone. "Shift," I muttered, "Kieran, shift." It was an order, nothing short of that, but he whimpered in pain at any movement, "Shift," I murmured again, numbing the pain as arrow after arrow slammed into my shield, distracting my attention. Kieran whined in pain again, but the next time I looked down at him, he'd shifted, and I pressed my hands against the wound in his side, trying desperately to stem the flow of blood. In a moment, Netta was beside us again, hauling Kieran backwards, and I made to follow them, but the moment that shield dropped, those arrows would be unleashed upon my people. I turned my attention back to the tunnel, to the people now concentrating on bringing that shield down. Revenants, a few Ascended with them, but mostly revenants. Without the draken, they would think themselves invincible, but it was the fire of the gods, not just the draken, that would bring them down.

"Poppy," Netta was almost at the end of the tunnel,

"Get back as far as you can. Get them out of here, I'll meet you soon." I didn't need the draken to kill the revenants, they used the fire of the gods, I was the fire of the gods, and that fire burned through my blood, erupting forwards towards my enemies. I was The Queen of Atlantia, standing between a brutal enemy and my people, I was the blood of the gods, I was a goddess, and I would not run any more, not now, now I was going to stand and fight for my people.

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