2 ⌇ the sanguine

The door had lead right out and down the side of a terribly steep mountainside, heavily forested so much that branches keep catching onto her cloak as the horse bolted down the hill. There was no path to the door, no path leading out, and the horse simply zig-zagged its own path through the immensely tall trees while she gripped onto its mane to stay on. 

The land beyond the wall was eeriely dark, clouds covering the sky, a slight fog hanging in the air. The trees were wet as if it had just rained, and the ground was damp. 

As soon as they hit flatter land, still heavily forested, the horse slowed and Haneul took a moment to breathe. Glancing around, she saw nothing. No one following her. She was safe for now. In the blink of an eye, lightning flashed, the horse reared, and rain began to pour. Haneul managed somehow to stay on, and the horse danced skittishly, prancing between trees. Her hope for the cloak's protection from weather deteriorated as it collected the rainwater and began to weight down impossibly heavy on her shoulders. She shed it as the horse took her through the middle of no where, and her hair and dress were instantly glued to skin, soaking in the pouring rain. Her dry rations would have some flavor, at least. 

While it was still bright enough to be day, the horse moved on. As evening approached, the rain never ceasing, Haneul wondered what would come out in the woods at night. She should pick a spot to sleep or continue riding in hope of finding a village?

Her question was answered as the trees began to thin and a path emerged. The horse took to it, walking along slowly, tired from its excitement Down the path, a few small cabins came into view, small houses with no one around. Hesitantly, she stopped the horse just before they reached the houses, and a blood-curdling scream pierced the silent air as she slipped off the horse. 

Haneul was frozen. She in a breathe and whirled around, only to see a flash of bright red light through a cabin window and then the glint of a sword. The horse jumped away, and Haneul shrieked as something rather red and vicious lept out of another cabin. The sword at her side did her no good as the red being leapt for her and she turned back, tripping over her own feet and falling face flat in the mud. 

"Get up! Get up!" a voice was suddenly over her, and she obeyed it, scrambling onto her feet and racing backwards. 

Through the mud and the rain pouring down her face, she watched as a man, cloaked in black and carrying a sword snapped his fingers before the red being and lightning struck the being, killing it within a second. Haneul in a breathe, shrieking as another man appeared literally out of thin air. 

"Come, come, we will not hurt you," the second man beckoned. "We must get out of here. This place is infected." 

Her horse was gone, her cloak ruined, her dress soaked and sticking to her body obscenely. There was mud on her face, and Haneul wondered what a sight she was to see. 

"Infected? Who are you?" 

"One refugee is too little," the first, lightning-bearing man mused, eyes glancing around. "We must keep searching, Jongin." 

"No. We should not be gone for long. Baekhyun needs us. Girl, come. We will take you to the Citadel." 

"The Citadel?"

"It is safe there, and only there. Come. You will not be allowed in with anyone but us. If we stay here any longer, more sanguine will come." 

As if he had summoned the being that shot it, an arrow whizzed through the air and stuck her right in her back. Haneul choked, staggering foward, and Jongin was gone in a flash, slick sound of sword slicing through being. 

"We must go!" Jongin cried, turning back and running to them. 

Haneul was suddenly very faint. Her lower back was in agony, and her body was white-hot in shock and pain. Before she could slip to her knees, the lightning-bearing man caught her. She touched her lower back, her shaking hand coming away painted red. 

"This will hurt." 

The man broke the shaft of the arrow and ripped it out of her, and she writhed and screeched in pain. 

"The arrow head is still in you. Do not move too much. It will slice deeper. Jongin, she will not make the day's trek to the Citadel." 

"We do not have Yixing, either, Jongdae. What are we to do?"

"Save me!" she yelped. Her heart was pounding, and she was pouring blood. 

"Jongin," the man holding her up examined his hand after gently brushing the wound, his fingers coated in a green ooze, "she's been poisoned. She will be hopeless even if we take her to the Citadel."

"Then, we leave her." 

"Jongin, the Spring—"

"They will know if we go," Jongin twirled his sowrd in agitation. "And, I cannot teleport us there. The magic there is too strong."

"It is a half-day's ride," Jongdae glanced down as Haneul fell limp and weak against him, "and no matter how hurt she is, she will heal there."

"They will know if we go, Jongdae!"

"And?!"

Jongin teleported from one spot to another, his own form of pacing, "I do not like it."

"She does not have much time. We go now, or she will die."

Haneul was trying hard to focus her blurring vision. She glanced at her arms, only to see multiples, her veins a bright green. She choked in surprise, feeling the warm blood trickling down the back of her leg. She was really a mess at that point. 

"She is just one human," Jongin sighed, looking away. 

"If you will not take her, I will. This is our purpose, do you forget?" Jongdae hissed. "Come, girl. I know it hurts, and I am terribly sorry that my foolish brother will not help. Can you hear me?"

Her eyes were falling closed, the whites of them tinted green. The poison had spread fast, but Jongdae knew it would kill her slowly. Slowly enough that she had just enough time to make it to where she could heal. She nodded once, head lolling, gaze fogged. 

"I will see you at the Citadel, then." 

"So be it."

Jongin was gone in a distorted flash of brilliant colors, like light reflecting through a diamond. 

†

From what she caught in glimpses of between her bouts of dizzying fatigue and agonizing pain, Haneul could tell the forest had gone they had hit meadows and grasslands. Jongdae had summoned a horse for the both of them, somehow, someway. He held her wound as they rode on, hooves pouding ground hard as he pushed the horse to a gallop. At their pace, they would reach their destination quicker than he had anticipated. The hours were still long, and she cried in pain often, sometimes screaming. The poison was doing its work. Every vein in her body was green through her skin. Jongdae urged the horse to go faster. He could not believe Jongin had walked away from an innocent life so easily. Their very purpose was to save those still pure, and he had chosen just to leave her. Jongdae hoped Jongin would not loose faith as the others had. The world would surely slide into destruction if that were the case. 

An emerald grove appeared before them, and Jongdae halted the horse. They could not go any further with it. He slid off and pulled the girl into his grasp. The wind blew, vines on trees shifting in curiousity, and Jongdae stepped forward without hesitation. Haneul was beginning to shift, and he knew should be writhing in only seconds. A vine lifted from the ground, her hair as he stepped passed, and Jongdae smiled. The forest liked her. They were welcome. 

The spring was as still as could be, looking like glass. Jongdae knew better. Haneul choked, blood staining , and he hurriedly lied her at the water's edge and backed away. The water bubbled curiously, rippling the placid blue spring, and a being of water manifested. The nymphs had felt her pain. They knew she was poisoned. He gestured to the bleeding girl striked with green, and the nymph disppeared back into the water's surface. Jongdae knew to be patient with the shy creatures, and he bit his lip, hoping desperately the nymph would save the innocent girl. They could not loose another. 

Watery arms protruded from the water's edge and wrapped around Haneul, pulling her in. The water bubbled, and Jongdae let out a breath of relief. Nymphs, one by one, shyly rose from the water's surface, pulling the girl in, her hair, cleansing her clothes, their touch making the green go away. 

"Thank you."

Half the nymphs went back under at the sheer sound of his voice, but the rest dutifully healed her. They let her float back to the shore, and as she hit land, she coughed, sitting up. 

"You are okay now."

"W-what?" she breathed, shivering from being soaked. 

"They will know we are here, but I hope they will not care. We must go. It will be a long ride to the Citadel. Would you like to rest for a while? Or, maybe, we should not because they may come in anger." 

"Wh-who?"

"My other brothers," he painfully smiled. "Ones that have left our family." 

"What is the Citadel? What happened? I wa-was in pain, but now..." she glanced back at the water behind her. "Where are we?"

"A very special place. This is the Spring of Summer. One of my brothers placed lots of power here, and it therefore remains entirely pure. It is one of the few places left untouched and unspoilt."

"Unspoilt?"

"There is corruption. Didn't you see the sanguine? Don't you know? Girl, where do you come from? It is as if you walked out from under a rock."

"The mountain, I came from the top. I've lived there as long as I can remember."

"You are being serious?" he furrowed his eyebrows, leaning close. "Then... then... Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Suho, Sehun, do you know these names, girl?"

"Yes! How do you?!"

"You lived with them? Why? How? They do not care about a human."

"You don't say," she sneered. "They are some of the most irritating and insufferable people I have ever met! That is why I left! They claim that I, a simple human girl, am dangerous!"

Jongdae hummed, eyes skimming the area around them. Leaves ruffled, the water rippled, and vines slithered. "We must go now. They kept you for a reason, and they will know we are here, and they will come. I should have known when the forest accepted your presence... it knows you are on good terms with at least one of us."

"Let them come after me," she hissed, jumping to her feet. "They cannot take me again."

†

"I know where she is."

"You're going after her?"

"Suho, what good is she?"

"She's already found them. We shall go. She is ours, not theirs."

"We shall go? I'm not running after a foolish human."

"Where is she?"

"Leaving the spring. They are headed for the Citadel."

"They?"

"Jongdae is with her. If he tries to interfere..."

There was a lapse of silence. 

"Kill him."

A/N: I'm back! Sorry for the delay, I was sick!