Ileus: The Dark Prince

Anastasia was slowly accepting the hatred she would face once she reached Draoidh, but this— this was beyond her imagination. They hated her to the extent that they wouldn't even allow her inside? Even though her husband didn't mention the plausible cause of not being able to enter the portal to its designated destination, it was no rocket science to understand that they had blocked her. Suddenly she felt a big void in her heart, she felt she was so unwanted… so alone… and Ileus helped her only because she was his mate. 

As she watched Aidan walking away from them and creating a portal, she fought the tears in her eyes. A comforting tendril of a thought entered her mind. "I am not helping you Anastasia, I am with you because I don't think there's another way of life." She closed her eyes with a sigh that was between worry and relief and stopped her tears from falling. When she opened her eyes again, she found the Mozia entering the portal created by Aidan. From the corner of her eye she saw Darla. She was looking at him intensely, with a forlorn look etched on her face. Her breath came ragged. Ileus pressed his chin over her head and curled both his arms around her waist. "I am going to get us inside Draoidh, darling," he whispered. "That's the place you deserve." She eased. 

As soon as the Mozias entered the portal with the wagon that carried Guarhal, the portal vanished. 

Kaizan looked at Ileus with a knowing look. "Should we go there and try our luck?" he said in a cryptic way. 

At first Darla looked at the two of them and then she smiled, which changed into a chuckle and then a loud laugh. "Do we have a better option?" she said. 

Not able to understand them, Anastasia asked, "Where are we going now?" 

A mischievous smile played on his lips and he said, "When Kaizan, Darla and I were young teenagers, we would look for ways in and out of Draoidh that were unknown to the others. My mother knew all of these illegal entries and so when she became the queen, she sealed them." He nudged Lovac forward and the horse began to trot leisurely along the edge of the ravine. Kaizan and Darla followed them. "But Kaizan and I created one or two passages for ourselves to sneak in and out."

"That's the wrong way to put it, Ileus," Kaizan interrupted. "We discovered these ways, not created them."

A large flock of white birds flapped their feathers and took to flight from nearby trees on the slope, annoyed at the disturbance. 

Darla was still laughing. She added, "I am not sure if you can actually say you discovered them. They were there and you boys simply crafted them better." Then she rolled her eyes. "And I was the one who had to always get the two of you out of the troubles! Gosh, I remember how Isidorus would chide me!" she tutted. 

Anastasia's lips curled up. She had never seen this side of Darla—funny and teasing. 

"Well, whatever," said Ileus. "So we are going there." 

They rode parallel to the deep ravine. "That's River Lifye. It extends throughout the Lore," Ileus said when she looked down at the river that looked like a blue ribbon between the ravine. Their pace slowed because of the gradual ascent and because the road became rocky and uneven. They didn't nudge their horse to gallop and risk falling off the edge. They rode till midafternoon and the three vokudlaks entertained her with the stories of their mischiefs. She forgot all about their predicament. It was a fresh change from what they had been through. She loved the way her husband strived for her wellbeing… always. On an impulse, she turned and planted a kiss on his chin, and was immediately rewarded with his erection that swelled behind her. "And what do I owe such a beautiful kiss for?" he asked, pressing him against her back. 

She chuckled. "What are we searching for?" she asked. 

"There should be a footbridge that Kaizan and I had made to cross this ravine. Of course, we forced Haldir into helping us. It took us several years to build it. That's where we are going." 

Soon the footbridge came into view. Ileus reined Lovac to a halt and then looked at his handiwork. But all of them became silent with tension when they noticed the condition it was in. The footboards looked washed and were broken at various places. The ropes were frayed and every gust of chilly wind swayed the bridge dangerously. Kaizan and Darla came to halt behind him. 

"I didn't know that it would be such a derelict condition," said Kaizan. 

Darla looked at the bridge as worry flitted on her face. "We simply can't cross from here," she breathed looking at the wooden boards. Even though it was wide enough for two people to walk side by side, it was impossible to take their horses across it. "If I place as much as my finger on it, it will break." 

"I know!" Ileus snapped. This was something he wasn't expecting. Out of frustration he stabbed his fingers in his hair. "Now what?" He nudged Lovac to move closer to the bridge that was swaying as if shivering under the impact of chilly winds. It rattled and when he looked at the river below, a sharp breath left him. He focused his attention to the other side of the bridge and fury rose in his chest. Someone had deliberately removed the bolts that held it in a place. He cursed in Russian. 

"If we can't cross from here, we will have to go back to the entrance of Draoidh and camp there until your mother allows us to get in," said Kaizan, as his face wrinkled in worry. "And that is going to expose Anastasia to the werewolves and wizards." 

"I won't go there!" he snapped at Kaizan, irritation mounting. He was thinking of retracting when Anastasia pointed to the east where the sun was still rising. 

"Did you all construct another bridge and forgot about it?" she said. 

Ileus whipped his head and then nudged Lovac to ride in that direction. The mist that was rolling around the tip of the cliffs shrouding the dense jungle that stood as a sentinel of Draoidh, rolled over it like the ocean waves they had encountered the previous night, only that these were gray. 

Astonished at this sudden new discovery, Ileus coaxed Lovac to move towards it. Darla and Kaizan followed feeling equally perplexed. The bridge was at a distance from their position and looked tiny.

As they moved closer, they were awed by its magnificent build. Built out of stones that blushed a pink when the sun rose, it had graceful arches. Tendrils of blue flowers that were quite similar to the ones Anastasia grew in her backyard at Vilinski grew wildly around it. However, the closer they got, the more uneasy she grew. "This looks pretty new, Ileus," she said in a low voice. "And unused." 

Ileus frowned as he stopped his horse in front of the bridge. The bridge looked… abandoned.