The Fae World: Arkal: Enid: An Early Morning Surprise (part 3)

[k_a_webb]

Part 1
Part 2

‘You’re right about that. Look, Enid, there’s a lot I need to do here, because Art is going around freeing the others from their collars and the girl who freed me… well, I can’t let her leave yet, not until we’re ready for everyone to know of our existence, but she isn’t very happy about it at all.’

‘Dray, you can’t keep her against her will. Talk to her, tell her why you need her to stay, and I’m sure she’ll help you out.’

‘She was looking for us.’

‘You’re worried?’

‘A little. I don’t suppose you sent someone looking for us.’

Enid shook her head. ‘No, I thought you were dead. There was no reason for me to be hunting for someone I truly believed didn’t live any longer, although I was obviously wrong about that.’ She sighed. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Sorry about what?’ Draven sounded exasperated. ‘You had no way of knowing what had happened to us. Even if you had there was very little you could have done. The only reason we’re free now is luck.’

‘What happened?’

‘The girl who freed us was stealing files on us, although I have no idea why, and she ended up being caught. Our owners thought her return was likely, so we were all commanded to watch for her. I grabbed her when I saw her, which meant she ended up in my room for the night, spending most of the time from the looks of her hands attempting to open the door, before she finally decided to take my collar off. Had I been awake enough I would have stopped her. Stopping anyone who tried to do that was one of the commands we were given when it first happened, but fortunately she picked just the right time. I doubt she knew that though. The only reason she did it was because she knew they would collar her.’

‘You’re hoping that whoever hired her will think that’s what happened.’

‘I am, Enid, because then I can go hunting for them instead. Hopefully, once I’ve explained everything to her, she will want to help – I don’t want to collar her, I know what it was like, but I don’t dare let her leave here if she won’t help us. The last thing I need, on top of everything else, is to deal with someone who was trying to find us for a reason I don’t yet know.’

‘Maybe they’re friends.’

‘How likely is that?’

As she brushed her tongue over her bottom lip Enid realised there was one question she had to ask. ‘Do you know how long you’ve been gone?’ The silence that followed the question told her all she needed to know. ‘Would you like me to tell you?’

‘No, but I think I have to know.’

‘Before I told you that we were thought of as nothing more than a myth and there is a reason for that. To this world you have been dead for almost a thousand years. It took a hundred of those years for people to stop hunting for you, five hundred for them to forget you entirely, and nine hundred for them to remember you as a legend.’

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.