The Forgotten Prophecy

Chapter 66

The moment Ines drank the potion she felt a strange sensation spreading all over her body. At first a sudden dizziness overcame her and made her lose her footing. She closed her eyes and reached out for Matthew's support. He immediately grabbed her arm and held her against his chest, stroking her hair in worry.

As the seconds ticked by, Ines sensed a change inside her; she felt like she had become smaller and lighter. It wasn't painful or off putting, just different. She held onto Matthew until the odd sensation subsided and then she opened her eyes, only to be greeted by the most peculiar sight.

Everything around her had become bigger; the houses, the trees, even Matthew himself had grown huge compared to her. Was that a hallucination potion?, she wondered and looked around her in bewilderment.

Everything was towering over her, as if the world wanted to engulf her. She glanced up at Matthew and saw him staring at her with wide eyes and parted lips. She opened her mouth to speak, to ask him what was so surprising, but when she tried to voice her question, the words never came. Only a loud series of harsh chirps were heard in the silent alley.

She tried again to speak but she failed once more, the chirping sounds growing even stronger. Wait, is that coming out of me?, she thought and stared seriously freaking out.

'A falcon?' Matthew suddenly said. 'Is that what it does? Turn you into a falcon?'

What?, she wanted to say but only managed to kack repeatedly. She looked at herself and all she saw were dappled feathers and brown wings sticking out of her back. No matter how long she stared down at herself she couldn't believe her eyes. Before she could fully process the absurdity of the situation, she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her tiny body and lift her off the ground.

'I know it's too weird to grasp, but right now we don't have time,' Matthew said. 'You have to go. Go!' At those last words he lightly tossed her up in the air, urging her to fly away and towards the elves' city. 

For a second Ines found herself hovering midair, the wind ruffling her feathers. She was about to complain about the unfair treatment she was undergoing but then gravity suddenly took hold of her, and she felt herself slowly falling down to meet the gravel road.

Ines immediately panicked and began frantically flapping her wings. She had never been prepared for becoming a bird, so she had no clue how to control those flexible but strange limbs. She struggled to synchronise her movements, trying to gain height, but it was just too complicated.

When she had almost lost all hope and was ready to give up, she gradually became better at using her long wings. She fought and fought the unforgiving gravity until she was able to defy her. She didn't waste time. She gave Matthew one last glance and took off.

With each beat of her wings, she soared higher into the darkening sky. Those wings were the answer to her prayers, a chance to find a solution to their predicament. She moved ever onward in the hallowed space between heavens and Earth, that graceful bird of umber-wing.

A breathtaking world stretched below her. What the winter landscape lacked in wondrous greens, it made up with perfect whites and blues, an infinity of homely hues to melt any icy heart. The mountains had turned into snowy dunes and the sky a palette of warm colours.

The aerial view lent her a sense of perspective that often only distance may provide. She pondered the dangers ahead of them and the hard choices they would have to make. No doubt there were a hundred ways for them to fail but, if there was at least one that led them to her people's salvation, she would take the first step towards that path. Beneath the silky layer of white, the most-welcome crops of summer would spring through as a symbol of prosperity. She hoped that exactly like that peace would flourish again after those warlike times.