Chapter 46: Seven hours.

Operation save my mate from the Dark Fae Kingdom took a lot more planning than we thought and the time was ticking so fast. When we had finally come to a conclusion, an hour has passed. Six hours left.
"Hera, are we set?"
Hera appears how of thin air, holding a book. "What's that?"
"Just come with me" Coming with Hera meant her taking us to the pool of transition which was now unfreezed. I glance back at the pack house and it as silent as a graveyard, hopefully there won't be any attacks on my pack while I am away seeing that I am leaving Hera in charge.
Hera places the book beside the bank of the pool, kneels and starts to chant incoherent magical words. She then brings out a knife and asks me to stretch my fingers, I do, and in flash she swipes the knife over my thumb, blood spills out and lands in the pool.
I don't say anything as my thumb starts to heal. She knows what she is doing.
"What the hell!" Karen mutters from behind me. The pool starts to shake, and the water shoots up just like when Bella had touched it the first time, only now he doesn't stop until in its place is now a fucking tree with an ocean blue door attached to it.
"Holy goddess" Ryan exclaims. The door of transition. The real portal between Astrid and Earth. I had read about it, and it was during the Toraf war that it had taken the shape of a pool right in the Winter pack.
"You have approximately six hours before the door morphes back into the pool as my magic is temporary, only Princess Bella's magic can permanently keep it as it is. If you don't return in the next six hours, you might be stuck on Astrid" Hera explains in a serious tone of voice. That doesn't sound good at all.
"We got that" I tell her.
"Also, you will need weapons," she hands me a bag which I'm sure appeared out of nowhere. "Whatever you need for the next six hours is in there, now go!" I strap the bag against my shoulder, glancing at my little battle crew. I almost tell Leila and Karen to step back and not come with us, but I know they will insist and if I am being selfish, I need as much help as I can get.
I push the door open stepping through with Leila, Karen, Ryan and Logan, it isn't easy but I manage and I step foot on the other side of the door. The first thing I see is a field surrounded by trees and grass, the sun setting making the light reflect beautifully off the leaves, there's something almost mesmerizing about the whole environment and the way the light reflects off everything. It's breathtaking, just like the first time I was here.
Then I hear the rustling of trees from the forest encompassing the land. I immediately pull out the weapons from the backpack, Swords and daggers, allowing Ryan and the rest to pick out what they want.
Ryan and Logan grabs sheathed swords, while Leila grabbed two daggers. It is in a time like this, I am happy I trained her myself. Karen picks a bow and a a quiver holding tons of arrows.
"You can shoot an arrow?" Logan asks her. I think she is suddenly registering that is her as she tightens her hold on the quiver. With a shrug, she answers, "Obviously"
Logan looks away, the dark look on his face has deepened probably pissed off at her nonchalant attitude towards him. The tension emanating from everyone towards him is thick in the air. After all he was kind of the outcast before now.
"Let's move, shall we!" I snap and we all trudge forward, that is until we hear the rustling of the leaves again, bringing us to an halt. They know we are here, which is as much as a good thing than the bad.
It is a bonus to our plan. We will try to fight them off if they come for us, Starkev's minions of course, and eventually we will let them take us. It is an easier route to Starkev's hideout.
I don't have to wait long as five Fae guards burst out of hiding from the forest . One of them immediately takes a swing at me, my reflexes kicking in almost faster than his attack. The other one gets in front of his friend just in time as I dodge another slash that would have cleaved me in half had he landed it properly, I spin on my heel, using my momentum to kick him back into the dirt. He falls with a thud, and as he scrambles back, his sword clatters to the ground. I turn around and give the second guard a few blows to distract him while I snatch up the sword, holding it up in front of me as though it's the most important weapon in the world.
"Don't kill me.. Just get me to Starkev" I say, hoping I sound threatening enough to keep them away. Their eyes flicker to each other before the first two rush me, one swinging his fists wildly. I duck under the blow of the sword, grabbing the wrist of the man behind me and pushing my elbow into his gut.
He doubles over, wheezing, "I guess we are going with plan B then" The other guard stumbles backwards trying to catch his breath and I jump at him, my hands wrapping around his throat, lifting him high into the air. My fingers clamp down tight as I bring him right in front of my face. His eyes widen in fear, his mouth gaping wide in horror. I grin cruelly at him.
"Now will you take me to Starkev?" He is the only survivor, as the others has been taken down by my team, friends will be simpler to use now.
I cock my brow at the guard, "What do you say?" He nods frantically and I smirk.
Plan A it is, maybe we do not the map of Astrid after all.
***