As dawn broke through the trees, so did the realisation that my time for getting a wink of sleep had ended. My eyes opened grudgingly to Sabre's sleeping face, making me freeze in panic. She was so close to me that I could feel her soft breaths against my skin. At least one of us had been able to get some rest.

I resisted the urge to stroke a finger against the cheek of her peaceful form and sat up to find Lorella watching me. She cast her gaze towards Sabre and then back at me, shaking her head.

"What?" I whispered, noticing Auron was still asleep too.

"Nothing," she replied. "You should still try and get some sleep. They haven't arrived with our horses just yet." In fact, the whole village still appeared to be under the blanket of slumber.

"I think I'll pass." No matter how much time we had remaining until it was time for us to set off, I doubted I would make any further progress toward falling asleep. "What about you? Can't you sleep either?"

Lorella frowned. "I got a little, but then I woke up to the fact that nobody was keeping watch, so I took over that job."

My eyes widened. None of us had thought about watching out just in case the fae that lived here tried something. They didn't seem like they would do anything, but appearances were not always the same as what laid underneath.

"You should have woken me up, I wasn't doing much else. We all could have taken turns."

Sabre sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, before I could continue. "Good morning." She stretched her arms out in front of her and noticed Auron was still sleeping, causing her to wince at the fact she could have woken him.

"Morning," I greeted back with a smile. Her hair was mussed from the turning she had done in the night, but that didn't deter from her beauty. My heart thudded loudly in my chest at the thought. What was I doing?

"Good morning," a grumpy voice sounded from behind us. I turned to see it was Ralnor standing with his usual serious expression. "Our trackers should be back at any moment with your horses, so I thought I'd let you know so you can prepare yourselves." If they came back at all. With the warnings we had been given about the dangerous creatures that lurked in the forest, I had to wonder how these trackers were easily able to come and go during the night.

Sabre shook Auron awake gently. "Auron, it's time to go. The horses will be here soon."

He jolted awake, panic filling his eyes and then settling once he realised where he was. "Sorry, I must have overslept."

"There's no need to be sorry." Lorella placed a hand on his shoulder, her fingers caressing the fabric of his shirt. "We should get as much rest as we can."

After we packed up our measly belongings of nothing but air and our preparedness, we followed Ralnor to the outskirts of the village. When we got there, we only had to wait a few moments before we heard strained whinnying and the snapping of twigs underneath heavy weight. Our horses.

Two figures emerged from the door at the entrance to Bellgrave. Each of them were bedecked from teeth to toe in armour and weapons. Some of them were made from a smooth stone, but most were carefully crafted from wood and sharpened to perfection. From the features they bore, it was easy to tell they were twins, but impossible to make out what gender they aligned with. The people who I assumed were the trackers knelt before Ralnor, pressing their heads into the grass despite the exhaustion radiating from them.

"We're back and we have retrieved the horses, Ralnor." The tracker to the left explained in a form of greeting.

"It was a little difficult as the horses kept getting scared by the noises of the forest, but we managed to get it done," the other continued. "We also attempted to give them some water, but they kept refusing."

"Are they okay?" Sabre's golden eyes darted between the trackers and the entrance, her worry for Cirrus clear as a freshly cooled piece of glass.

"They are unharmed, yes." Their words didn't do too much to ease her nerves.

"Thank you for bringing them over." Ralnor nodded his head in appreciation. "Do you mind also guiding our guests back out to the main path? It would be a real waste of our resources if they happened to die on the way out."

"Of course," the tracker to the left responded. "We will prepare ourselves."

After the two trackers rose to their feet and headed back out the door to the village, the Elder turned back to us. "Now, I hope I do not have to explain this fully, but if we find out that you've put Bellgrave Village in danger somehow when you return back to your lives, I will personally hunt you down and end you myself. Do you understand?"

Despite his frightening tone, I could sense the protective parent hidden underneath. He only wanted what was best for his people. "Perfectly," I replied with the best smile I could summon, exhaustion still wrapped around me. The rest of our group nodded in agreement.

"Good. I wish you the best for your journey. My husband would have joined me to say farewell, but he's busy with other matters at the moment."

"We appreciate both of your help," Auron thanked as we took one last look around the village, one we probably would never see again.

It was heartbreaking to know that there was a village of my kind hidden out in the Racaea forest that I would never be able to see again or tell anyone about. Though, I supposed it was for the best. If the wrong person got ahold of the information we possessed, it could really be just me and my mother left as the last two fae in existence.

We made our way to the horses and greeted them with cheer and relief. Everything that we had left in our saddle bags — all of our food, water, clothes, and other belongings — was still there too. After everything we had been through, things were starting to look up. Like a ray of sun bursting through dark clouds that promised rain. However, with the fact that we still needed to get out of the forest in one piece and find the Idaphite shard for Mace, that ray of sun might as well have been a strike of lightning.

When we were ready to depart, the two trackers emerged, leading us forward on their own strange-looking mounts. The steeds were much smaller than horses, letting the trackers' legs nearly touch the ground as they trotted along, and bore antlers much like a reindeer's. Not only did their appearance differ from our horses, but they were also much faster. Something I betted was convenient when needing to escape whatever monstrosities these trees hid.

"I hope you don't mind me asking," Lorella began, nudging her horse forwards in order to keep up with the trackers, "but what are you riding?"

One of the trackers petted the head of their mount before replying. "They're Stynx. We discovered a herd of them not too long ago and they've warmed up to us quite a bit."

"They also like it when we use them as mounts," the other added. "It was a little strange at first, but they also seem to know their ways around the forest, so we're not complaining."

"Are they... hostile at all?" Sabre asked, pushing her heels into Cirrus' sides to make her speed up so she could get a better glimpse at them. It was strange how we had never heard or seen anything like them before, they were like something from a fairy tale of sorts.

"Only when they're hunting smaller animals, but you'll be completely safe with them," the first tracker reassured, noticing her hesitance around them. Their attention was drawn away from the conversation as they focused on the path they had to take, guiding the Stynx around the trees to get us back to the main path.

Before, I had thought that it was the trackers that knew the forest they lived in like it was their own bodies, but now that we travelled with them, I could clearly see it was their steeds that held the knowledge instead. The creatures only sniffed the ground occasionally as they ran and that led them on the path they needed to go. It was fascinating.

After a short while of the light being stolen from us as we ventured deeper into the trees, we emerged back onto a familiar path. Relief visibly settled across us. We were now able to get back to our task of finding the Idaphite shard for Mace, but I had a feeling the time we lost would hurt our success. People back at the Racaea castle would be searching for us and it wouldn't be long until they found us and took us back to where we were safe.

We let our horses walk along the path while we tucked into some of our food, letting our steeds take a break from keeping up with the Stynxnx and also continuing to head towards the Sephirans' home.

The rest of the journey towards our destination was mostly quiet, all of us being too exhausted and wrapped up in our own thoughts to start up a lengthy conversation. With a few stops to sleep and let the horses rest, we soon arrived at the Sephirans' residence in only another day's time.

The usual trees that lined either side of the main path like stoic, loyal guards cleared to our left, leaving just enough room for a small cottage. While the walls were crafted from ageing blocks of stone, the roof was thatched with fresh hay, so fresh that it appeared like it had only been meshed together not too long ago. Fences boarded off the house from the path and the vibrant flowers that had been planted in the front garden. For a home so full of life resting all by itself, it was odd nobody ever talked about it or its residents.

There was something I didn't notice while I had been entranced by the cottage, something that had my heart drop in my chest. Fear and anger quickly rushed to take its place.

Leaning against the fence, using a dagger to pick the dirt out of his nails, was none other than Mace himself.