The Fae Witch || Twilight

08

Bella squinted forward, barely seeing a white light down the cavern. "Yes."

"We're almost there."

The light at the end of the cavern kept getting brighter and brighter, finally clearing up. Bella gasped at the sight before her, tears forning in her eyes.

Faeland was a mesmerizing sight. The first thing you would see would be the rolling plains, the sea of grass blowing in the cool breeze. Bella ran forward, absolutely flabbergasted. The air caressed her skin, raising goosebumps. She saw a thick jungle in the distance, thousands of oversized flowers were clear to her eye. That was the heart of Faeland.

Faeland was a medium sized island, with a dark and murky river that flowed across the east side of the island. That river was home to the Kelpies, Unseelie Fae. Kelpies were undead, water horses that prey on fae children, eating them for food.

To the west, Bella recognized the brilliant mountains from Edgar's stories. Those mountains were home to the Gnomes. They reside inside the mountains, now hollowed out from years of mining.

Cynthia came to Bella's side, taking her hand. "Welcome to Faeland."

They made their way down the plains, heading east. It was the quickest way to the heart of the island, unfortunately passing by the Kelpie River.

It was hours of walking, skipping over rocks and roots. Bella couldn't help but admire the marvelous scenery, she didn't even feel tired from the hours of walking on her bare feet.

"Why am I not tired? We've been walking for hours," Bella's brows furrowed.

"We're in Faeland. The magic here is extremely potent and this is the birthplace of it all."

Bella had wandered ahead, her feet ghosting over the now moist grass. They were close to the Kelpie River, even though Cynthia had warned Bella of the river, she had wandered too close.

Bella inched closer to the edge of the water, gazing at the murky waves. How deep was it? It looked endless. Something caught her eye, something glowing. She leaned in closer, noticing a pair of ice, blue glowing eyes. They drew closer to her, earning a low gasp from Bella. What was that? The creature took more form, a horses head forming together. This was definitely something that Bella had never experienced. She wanted to pet the horse. Why was it hiding in the water?

Bella reached out gingerly, hoping to feel the beautiful horse. But the horse had other plans, for it snapped out of the water at her, its strong jaw latching onto her forearm. Bella cried out in shock and pain. The horse wouldn't let go! It was trying to drag her into the river!

Cynthia seemed to appear out of nowhere. She called out for Bella in desperation, leaping over the boulders in her way. She reached them just in time to hiss loudly at the hungry Kelpie. The power from Cynthia's hiss, the wind she emitted, shoved the Kelpie back into the water. The Kelpie jumped back out of the water, hissing right back at Cynthia.

Faelynn and Edgar hurriedly came to Bella, dragging her away from the river.

"No, Cynthia!" Bella cried.

"She'll be okay, Bella. Come, come. Let us get away from the river," Faelynn's chipper voice piped up.

Bella watched in horror at the scene before her. The horse had taken on a new appearance. And it was ugly. The horses coat was dark, washed out. Bits of dead skin hung from its exposed skeleton, its eyes were sunken in and still glowing. Only much more intimidating. Its jaw was broken, hanging its such a way that made Bella sick to her stomach.

"Be gone, foul beast!" Cynthia roared at the Kelpie. The magic came through in Cynthia's voice, making her the most powerful being in that moment.

The Kelpie reared back, whining in frustration and annoyance. It stamped its hooves, glaring in Bella's direction. The Kelpie finally gave in, trotting back into the river and disappeared into the murky waters.

Cynthia made her way back to the main path, placing her hands on her hips when she reached her sister. "I told you not to wander too far, honey."

"I'm sorry," Bella mumbled through silent tears.

"Here, let me see," Cynthia carefully examined Bella's arm. It was a nasty bite, it was already infected.

Hadassah came to Bella's side, wrapping her limbs around the scared girl. Moss grew thick upon the dryad's body, making Bella lean in comfortably. Hadassah then picked up Bella's injured arm to her lips, placing a sweet, barked kiss.

Bella's arm immediately started healing, the broken skin knitted itself back together and the infection seemed to burn away. Bella tightened her arms around Hadassah, she still felt scared.

"Why did it attack me?" Bella whimpered.

"Kelpies are Unseelie fae. Anything is food for them."

Bella gulped, nodding. She just wanted to leave the river.

"Come on. We're almost to the heart of Faeland. The queen wants to meet you," Cynthia smiled, walking forward.

"The queen?"

Cynthia didn't answer, she just kept walking. She was more worried about putting distance between them and the Kelpie River.

The rest of the travel went by quickly, now that they were getting closer to the heart, Bella could practically feel the potency of the magic. She almost forgot the incident at the river. Almost.

Pretty soon, the were walking through the dense jungle, full over oversized flowers. The flowers rivaled that of skyscrapers on earth. The jungle became thicker as they neared the entrance to the courts. They came to a stop, at a large wall. There was a medium cave entrance, covered by hanging flowers.

"Now, we are now entering the courts, Bella. This is their most sacred domain, so please, be respectful."

"Of course," Bella nodded feverishly.

And they entered.