The Prophetess of Caer

Chapter Five

Firínne swung onto her horse, watching Ási place Aisling onto his horse, a chestnut mare, and then swing up himself. As soon as everyone was on, she checked in with them, and then they took off. They rode for hours before they had to stop to check Aisling's injuries.

"Does this hurt?" Firínne asked, prodding a spot under the bandages.

"No, but if you move your hands one inc-OW!"

Firínne had poked the spot harshly, soon after she said "I'm sorry. I'm going to replace your bandages, and then we have to keep going"

Firínne unwrapped the bandages, revealing the wound underneath. It was mostly closed, with only a thin cut. She soon checked all the others, and the shallower ones had closed completely, and only the deep wounds were left. Firínne took out a new roll of bandages and tightly wrapped them around the wounds that were still closing. She then unwrapped the bandages that had prevented Aisling's arms from moving, and winced. The bandages had been wrapped very tightly around her arms and left them a purple bruised mess.

She looked back up at Aisling, and saw her wincing as well, looking at the mess her arms had become.

"When nurses are inexpirenced, they can end up harming their patients instead of helping them" Firínne said, her eyes heavy.

Aisling replied "Ah, that makes more sense"

"But, besides your arms, you're all good to go! No more laying down on a horse for you!"  Firínne said, smiling.

"That's great. But we left my horse right outside of the city, remember?" Aisling spoke.

Ási finally included himself in the coversation. "You can continue riding with me. It's no hassle"

Firínne nodded, putting in her own 2837 cents "We should get going, we need to reach the prophetess or one of the palace healers to dispell the magic."

When they got to the city, there were guards at every corner.

Aisling walked up to one of them and asked "What's going on? There usually aren't this many guards,"

The guard replied "The Queen of Caer was kidnapped and has been taken hostage. Oh! Prince Aisling, it's you, thank the gods. I will escort you to the palace immediately!"

Aisling smiled, and then followed the guard as she took the quickest route to the palace. Aisling walked up beside the guard, and asked "What's your name? I haven't met you before,"

The guard replied, saying "My name is Ellis, pleasure to meet you Princess,"

Aisling's eyes narrowed at that, but she pasted her smile back on her face and continued chatting with Ellis. They walked on cobblestone streets, their feet clacking, and Aisling's high ponytail bouncing to the rhythm of her steps. When they got to the palace, there were almost as many guards as there were trees in Caer, and Caer was mostly forested. The guard-Ellis, walked over to one of the others and said "Code Alpha-India-Sierra Papa-Romeo-India," the other guard replied with "Conformation Ais Pri, Code Alpha-Sierra-India Romeo-India-Papa". Ellis replied to this with "Conformation Asi Rip," and that ended their strange exchange.

The gates opened, and Ellis walked inside first, saying that she would go check it out. It took her around five minutes to check it all out, and she beckoned them in with a warning of "Don't make any noise until we get inside, even if what you see terrifies you beyond belief". They all walked in, and very soon after stopped walking.

Aisling opened her mouth to speak, then remembered the soldiers words, and closed it.

All around them were corpses of the same kind of Unseelie Fae that had attacked her on her sixteenth birthday. Their blue blood colored the garden in a morbid winter. Somebody gasped, most likely Firínne or Ási, it was shocking to see your own kind slaughtered, even if you had been at war with them for hundreds of years.

The group walked towards the palace, their footsteps quiet and cautious. As soon as everyone got inside, Ellis closed the doors, and then turned towards everyone else, whispering "We're inside, but for the love of God, be quiet".

Aisling gave her another strange look for that, and when she looked at the others, they were also looking at Ellis strangely. The same blue blood that had been in the garden, but it was everywhere. On the walls. On the the tapestries depicting heroic adventures fighting all manners of terrifying monsters. On her mother's body.

Aisling's head hurt from all of the information she was absorbing, and her mother-her mother, her perfect, beautiful mother. Was dead.

Aisling ran to her mother's body, Ellis following close behind, as Aisling bent down over the body, trying to protect it from the world outside.  Ellis placed an armored hand on her shoulder, and the two stood there until Aisling stood up and turned around.

Schwing!

Aisling pulled out her sword and put it at Ellis's throat, her cyan eyes cold and dark.

"Who are you really?" Aisling questioned, pressing the scimitar against her throat. A single line of blue blood traced its way down Ellis's throat, and the group stifled their gasps, recognizing the girl as a disguised Fae, or a changeling.

"You don't recognize me? I suppose you wouldn't, you were only a baby," Ellis responded, smiling as she gently pushed the sword away from her throat and stepped back, removing her helmet, revealing a copy of the Prophetess's face.

"Nice to meet you, little fate-stealer!" Ellis continued, rolling her eyes, her voice bitter. "Let me tell you a story, about a little girl, and her

"Once upon a time, there was a girl. Her name was Aisling, and before she was born, her parents were warned about letting her near any humans, as if she was, then her life would be destroyed. Her parents disregarded this warning, as they were a war hero and the most beautiful woman in the land, with achievements more than they could count. When their first child was born, they threw a gargantuan party for her, and invited every kingdom, one of which were the Kingdom of Caer, or the Dream court. With the Dream court, there came one child, the Prince Ellis, the daughter of the king and queen. Soon after this party, anyone around the girl would get hurt. Two of these hurt people were the two princes of the Kingdom, Ási and Croí. The three were friends from birth, and anytime Aisling was around them, her magic would go haywire. Eventually, the Queen summoned the family and said that they would either have to give up their child or give up their life. The parents loved their child, but they loved their prestige even more. So under the cover of night they snuck into the Kingdom of Dreams, and performed a ritual to switch the Prince's fate with their child's, and this had the consequences of switching their memories, and appearances. So, the children grew, and no more accidents occurred, and everyone had a happy ending!"

Aisling's eyes were wide, her mouth in an o. "I-I'm sorry," she said. 

Ellis smiled sadly, held her hand out and said "Dispel magic!"

Aisling's appearance flickered as if through water, and it faded, revealing pointed ears and a green tint to her skin, Ási turned bluer, and his ears grew as well.

Ellis walked out, and quickly said "M-The Fae that attacked you's magic is still lingering, we need to get to the Prophetess. She held her hand out and a staff appeared, a copy of the one that had attacked her, and after a few seconds, branches grew from her head, making her appear exactly like the Fae that attacked Aisling.

"Come on, we shouldn't waste anything, come stand by me"

A bright flash enveloped the four of them, and they appeared in front of the Prophetess's palace, the wards around it removing the magic from Aisling's body, and they stepped inside.