"Mama, the moon's behind my head!" Niana giggled adorably, pointing at the water with one hand while the other tightly clenched her childish bouquet.
It had been an hour since they arrived at the meeting spot. The exhaustion from their earlier trip was starting to get to the little child. For a while now, she had been exclaiming everything that she was seeing, pretending to be her usual jolly self. Unfortunately for her, the adults knew her better.
Niana's eyes grew wearier, the pause between yawns grew shorter, and her once hyper movements grew sluggish. Carmilla was melting. She had seen children be stubborn; usually, she would be annoyed. With Niana, it was the opposite. The girl was too adorable to find annoying.
Vaeri stepped closer to her daughter, looking as fresh as she had when they left the cottage. If Carmilla hadn't actually seen her wipe the sweat from her brow, she would have assumed the woman didn't sweat at all.
"Aren't you tired, baby?" Her voice was laced with the sweet promise of a comfortable sleep.
She watched it take hold of Niana, whose eyes widened in quiet awe. Even Carmilla felt its effect, lulled by that same voice into imagining a good night's rest. She knew she couldn't have it—for obvious reasons—but she didn't deny the power of Vaeri's words.
Eventually, Niana shook her head, stubborn and childish. "No!"
The duo went back and forth. Vaeri's never-ending patience against Niana's stubbornness. A legendary battle.
Carmilla tuned out, though. Memories rushed into her mind. It came as quickly as the billow of the wind, yet imprinted on her brain like a vivid dream.
She found herself in the midst of different battles involving seven different people. The memories only showed a single second of it—each time from a different position. As she tried to make sense of the strange phenomenon, nausea rose within her. She felt a similar feeling when she went through that portal.
"Carmilla?" Vaeri's voice came from somewhere far away, muffled and strained, barely rising above the roar of the battle.
She managed to piece together a few details from the visions. First, their appearance resembled Vaeri's—sharp ears, similar attire, and the same hair color. Second, they carried two weapons: a bow and a dagger of some kind. Lastly, their surroundings matched seven different angles from the treeline.
Adrenaline kicked in as a spear stabbed her from the back. She watched the horrified look on Niana's eyes as her decapitated head rolled in front of her, as she stubbornly refused to fall.
The visions ended just as she fell to the ground, and Vaeri's voice screamed her name.
Vaeri firmly held her shoulder, pulling her to face her. Concern only reached distant panic. "Carmilla?" She tried again, with no response.
"Is she okay, Mama?" The tiredness was gone from her shoulders; she held onto Carmilla's pants tightly as she worriedly watched them.
When Carmilla snapped out of it, it was like she was staring at a ghost. "What happened?"
Carmilla's eyes darted around them. Her eyes found the locations that matched the one in her vision. There was nothing there for now, but she knew that that wouldn't be the case for long.
"What happened?" Vaeri asked again.
"I-I saw someth-"
Niana's decapitated head rolling in front of her came to mind.
She felt the death grip Niana had on her pants. Carmilla didn't hesitate to pull her from the ground and carry her in one arm.
The flower bouquet slowly unraveled as it fell onto the grass.
Niana wobbled and grasped at Carmilla, momentarily pulling on anything that her hands could grab. "Woah! Wait!"
Carmilla didn't flinch even as Niana pulled on her hair.
"Carmilla?"
"We're being watched."
As she continued to scan, she couldn't find anything to back up her claim. She looked at the same spots again and again, daring the elves in hiding to show themselves.
The leaves didn't look misplaced. Its lightweight swayed in the wind, shimmering in the moonlight. Everything was normal. Nothing has changed ever since they arrived at the meeting spot. Carmilla couldn't figure it out. How was she able to fight them off individually?
If it were her squad, they would have waited until their target was finally letting their guard down. They would have surrounded them.
Her eyes traced the locations in her memories again.
If it were her squad, seeing their target suspicious about being watched, they would work to separate and drive them into a panic.
Nothing moved out of place in their surroundings. The sound of rushing water felt louder in her brain as the silence stretched, but Carmilla was paying attention. Each change was silently catalogued in her brain.
Her hypervigilance and change in behaviour were starting to get to the little girl.
Niana's eyes started to water, and not a moment later, her mouth opened to a loud wail. She was crying. Her little lungs heaved as they fueled each sob that had her whole body vibrating.
The sudden loud volume broke Carmilla's focus.
It was what they were waiting on.
"Take Niana!" The sobbing girl buried her face in her mother's neck, hiding from the chaos just beginning to unfold.
Carmilla did her best to recover from her fumble. The moment Niana was out of her hands, she covered the mother and daughter with her body as an arrow flew to hit her in the shoulder.
"Fuck-!"
She could barely cuss before the two elves were finally here. They were taller than her and Vaeri, with longer limbs. Their weapons gleamed in the moonlight; they each had a pair of daggers with a bow strapped on their backs, along with a quiver filled to the brim with arrows.
Her gaze locked onto their feet, waiting for the moment a pair fully left the ground. Carmilla struck without hesitation. She lunged, seized him by the belt, and twisted sharply. Mana surged violently through her body, and with a forceful breath, she hurled the elf back in the direction he came from.
She didn't let herself stop.
The elf screamed at her in the same language she heard Vaeri and Niana speak. It must have meant something derogatory by the expression on Vaeri's face, but to Carmilla, it was just noise.
Carmilla went for his legs again, but the elf reacted instantly. Before he could counter, she changed up her movements and drove a solid punch into his chin. She closed the distance as he staggered, wrenching his weapons free. Another punch slammed into his stomach, forcing him to lurch forward—just enough for her to strike his face again and leave another bruise.
She tackled him, grappling his clothes to make her way to his knee. She felt between bone and tendon, mana gathered at the palms of her hands, and in a second, his whole leg was in flames.
The elf's screams woke the birds resting nearby. He fell to the ground, scrambling to get away from Carmilla. Carmilla didn't let up and curb stomped his face, knocking him unconscious.
She grabbed one of the daggers and hurled it in the direction she had thrown the other elf. Her eyes watched it catch the elf's shoulder and embed him in a nearby tree.
With two attackers inhibited, Carmilla moved toward Vaeri and Niana, making sure to grab the weapons on the burning elf's body.
"Come on, let's go!"
Niana's cry had slowly died down in the time Carmilla took to subdue the elves. However, Vaeri firmly held her head down, refusing to take a peek at what was happening.
Keeping a steady hand on Vaeri's lower back, Carmilla quickly ushered them out of the open. She motioned for Vaeri to duck, positioning herself as the taller, more visible target. Fear clawed at her, but she forced herself to stay alert for the people she was protecting.
An arrow wooshed to hit Niana. Carmilla tracked its trajectory and allowed her uninjured shoulder to take the blow. At least both sides were symmetrical.
She could feel how deep the arrows were stuck in her shoulder. If she hadn't reinforced her bones and muscles in training, then those arrows would have gone through the other side. Their close-range battles may be lacking, but they made up for it through their archery.
As soon as they entered the bushes, Carmilla snapped off the ends of the arrows from her back, turning to Vaeri. "We need to keep moving. They shoot like they're going to die the next morning. Neither of you can take that blow."
Vaeri stopped and said, "You need to keep moving with Niana. There must be some explanation for all of this. Dalyor would never allow for anything to harm me."
"What?" Carmilla's voice was incredulous.
"Niana's safety is the priority." Deep emerald eyes slanted at her, begging in a way that Carmilla had never seen before. It felt like torture to be under her gaze. The full brunt of her emotions hit her, the adrenaline in her veins heightening the emotions.
Carmilla remembered the vision she had seen—of herself and Niana lying dead, leaving Vaeri screaming into the night sky, her voice filled with anguish.
She let out a long, heavy sigh. In her time as a scout leader, she had never allowed her clients to split from those assigned to protect them. Going off alone wasn't just reckless—it was a death sentence.
"Mama?" The child called out in confusion as Carmilla slowly pried her off of her mother. Niana immediately knew what it meant. "Mama?! No! Mama, I'm staying with you!"
Vaeri kissed her on the cheek. "Carmilla will take care of you. Mama will be okay."
"You don't know that! Come with us, Mama, please!"
With one last look to confirm Vaeri's wants, Carmilla ran.