When Corrin had cried out Isabella's name and dove down to the courtyard, we all followed suit. Now we were all standing behind Corrin, frozen, as if we couldn't quite believe this and didn't want to shatter the fragile reality.
There, draped across one of the stone statues arms, lay Isabella, seemingly asleep. Her face was peaceful and her body devoid of any cuts or bruises.
Corrin stepped tentatively forward, as if he wanted to wake her, but at the same time, not. Then, before he could even get to her, she suddenly sat up, wide awake. He jumped back a step, shocked.
Isabella's eyes grow wide as she saw us all standing in front of her. "What . . .?" She gasped, shocked. "I never thought I'd see you all again. Oh by the way did you see? There behind me. There . . . there's the broken glass spire, the one that's mentioned in the poem."
"Yes we saw. We saw it, Bella." Corrin says distractedly. "How about you, Bella. How are you doing? How did you get here? Are you safe? Are you well? I . . . I don't see any marks or any bruises. You seem to be pretty well off. Oh, Bella, I worried so much about you, you have no idea."
Isabella sits up on the statues arm. "Stop worrying so much, brother. I'm fine."
Corrin peers at her, cautiously. "Are you sure? Are you very sure?"
Isabella let's out a little laugh. "Yes, I am fine. I am very sure. I said stop worrying, brother. Don't you ever listen?"
Corrin steps forward. " I know, I know, I'm sorry. I just worry about you a lot, you know. It's my job as a brother. I'm just glad you're . . ." He stops and his face goes pale in horror as his hand, that he was reaching up to brush her hair back with, goes right through her. "Isabella?" He asks, his voice shaky. "What's going on?"
"What do you mean?" She asks, confused.
"I mean, my hand is going right through you every time I try to touch you. Why are you immaterial, Isabella?"
"What? Oh." Her eyes widen slightly in realisation as she notices her brother's hand inside her . . . or through her . . . or . . . I don't know, but definitely not touching her.
"Bella . . . " Corrin was now shaking like a leaf. "Sister . . ."
She shakes her head, making her wild, unbrushed, black hair fly around her head like tendrils of smoke. "Stop it. You're fine. I'm fine, too. I might not be able to touch you right now but if I could, I would slap you right back to your senses." She looks at him witha gentle lookin her eyes. "Hey, hey, see? You're fine and so is everyone else. I'm right here and we even found the glass tower. Stop freaking out."
I can see the change come over Corrin, as he takes a breath and stands a little straighter. The shaking stops and the air of a commander settles around him again. "Yes, alright, Bella. You're right, as you always are."
"Hey, sorry to interrupt and all, but I went out there a little and it's just a huge expanse of terrifying." Kaylie pipes up as she appears from inbetween the statues.
Alicia's head turns quickly to look at her. "Why would you go out there alone?" She asks, concerned. "It could be dangerous."
Kaylie shakes her head. "It's fine. This place is silent. I can't even hear birds nor anything else. Suppose the things out there beyond the fog must've killed them all off."
"And sunlight is the only thing keeping the fog away."
"Alicia . . ." Kaylie points to the sky. "I'm alright."
"You might've gotten lost." Counters Ryan.
"Yes, Kaylie, let's all stay together for now." I cut in.
Alicia smiles gratefully at me, and Kaylie nods in her easygoing way. I let out a sigh if relief. Even though I doubt Kaylie had it in her to fight about smething like this, when she could clearly see the rationality of it, we didn't need anymore tension on top of the loss of Isabella . . . or at least her materiality.
Lina stepped forward. "Should we . . . ?"
"Yep let us go now. No use standing around here." Isabella declared as she lept up from her seated position.
We all followed Kaylie on foot, giving our wings a rest, weaving through the statues of fey folk, all in different positions. I wondered why this courtyard was filled with so many statues. Especially ones that were placed so haphazardly and with such horrifying faces. Mouths torn wide open in a frozen scream, others faces screwed up in pain and agony. Some statues stood straight upright, others fallen to the ground, their faces hidden from view, and others still, fleeing in all directions. It wasn't a sight I would want to see every time I looked out the window or stepped outside the castle walls.
"Looks as if someone had froze time just as disaster struck. Like a perfect picture in time." Lina comments, as she peers at each one. "And the detail is just . . . wow."
I look at her disbelivingly. "Only you would find something creepy amazing."
Lina laughs a little. "Yeah, but look." She reaches out a hand to stroke one, but then jerks it back in surprise. "Oh!"
Lucas was walking so close behind me I could feel the change in him as he went on the defensive, pulling me against him. "What?" He snaps.
Lina didn't seem afraid, more curious, as she tilted her head to the side and peered even closer, looking at the statue of an old woman cradling a little bundled up child as she appeared to shelter it from the castle. Everyone else who was talking ahead stopped in curiosity to see what Lina was up to.
"We haven't got all day and we need to get to shelter as soon as possible." Groans Alicia.
"It's warm. This thing is as warm and smooth. Not rough like you'd expect stone like this to be." Lina stands up straight and stares at the sky. "I know it's just sunlight, but there must be something special about it if it can ward off the plants and also warm up stone like this. Wonder what these statues are made of anyway." I hear as she gets more and more excited. "These statues coud be ancient."
"But who woud want to build horrifying things like these? It doesn't seem pleasent." I say.
"Dunno. Maybe it was something everyone did at the time. Remember, we don't know anything about this place."
Alicia shifts impatiently. "Can we go?"
At Alicia's plead we all move forward once again. It got a little harder to move as we went further on, as there were spots where the statues were more dense and placed closer together, which meant we had to snake our way through, rather than going directly towards it. I don't mind though, because even though I nagged on Lina for her interests in statues, I saw it too.
Each little section seemed to tell a story. I could see the appeal in filling a huge courtyard like this with statues, as it made for a very interesting morning walk. I, myself, probably would have chosen a more peaceful scenery. Something that would have made me smile, instead of flinch.
It was all silent all the way there. The adrenaline rush that had come over us when we were fighting to survive and when we had found Isabella (mostly) unharmed was now dying down. I watched how Kaylie stumbledover her feet a few times and the way Lina keot having to push her hair out of her eyes because of the way she slumped forward while she walked. Even Lucas and Corrin didn't walk with that tall and commanding air that had been drilled into both of them. Isabella, as immaterial as she was, didn't seem to be as affected by exhaustion as the rest of us.
Suddenly, just as we were about the reach the clearing in front of the castle gates, Kaylie tripped and fell down hard, not even trying to properly catch herself. Not sure why, but perhaps it was a mix of the darkening sky and the exhaustion making her head swim and vision out of focus, as it was doingto me.
With his lightning quick reflexes and movements, Corrin quickly grabbed her up again before she tumbled fully flag, and then bent down to start, without a word, meticulously picking out the little stones stuck in her skin. Luckily only a few of them cut deep enough to bleed and they were small cuts at that.
"Stop." Whispered Kaylie, her voice barely audiable. "I . . . we can do that later."
He looks up at her, confused and worried. "Kaylie, I know we need to get in that castle, but let me first clean you up." His expression was no nonsense. "You'll be more of a hinderance if these cut deeper or if it gets infected."
Kaylie's face becomes determined enough to meet his. "No. Corrin, stop." She grabs his shoulders and shakes him, sounding choked up. "Stop and take a look behind you."
Corrin's forehead creased in confusion and concern for Kaylie's tears spilling freely down her cheeks. The stress, the pain, the confusion of it all. Seeing Kaylie's tears had unlocked something inside of me that had stayed locked up for pure survival instinct. The little Fledgling side of me that wanted to run back home and hide under the covers. Nothing wrong with that side, outside of the war zone of course, but it made me wonder what unlocked it in Kaylie.
Alicia stepped forward and gave her a gentle hung from behind, but Kaylie shook her off. "The statues aren't statues, I don't think. Or at least they weren't."
Corrin finally stands and brushes off the dust clinging to him. Even in the dusky light and from where I stood, I saw that the moment he turned, Corrin's eyes went wide and his face went pale as he clutched at his stomach. He looked as if he were sick to the bone.
Isabella sat on a statue, near Corrin's left, and looked down sadly. "Well, brother . . ."
He holds up a finger. "Don't say anything."
For the first time that I can remember, Isabella heeds her brother's order, and settles a little further into the statue she was sitting on, as if ashamed, and perhaps a little shocked. The finger Corrin was holding in such an authoritarian way, starts to shakes with the small tremors that wrack his body.
I unfreeze and start forward. He was crying, and there were few things that made him cry. I saw Isabella uncertainly reach out a hand, but a dark look passed over her face as her hand simply went through his shoulder. I wasn't sure if Corrin had noticed, but when he tensed not a moment later, I knew he had.
"Corrin." I say, tentitivly, when I've almost reached him.
Then suddenly, all at once, he explodes and he turns back to me, arm swinging in a wide arch. It happened so quickly it only registered once his hand already hit my chest, assisted with wind, and I as flying back and up at an unbelievably fast speed. All of my air had been knocked out of me in one fell swoop and I was too shocked and helpless to do much.
The only thing running through my stunned mind was: wow he hits hard. I wouldn't want to be on the reciving end of that.
Except I was. And now the pain started to register as a prickling sort of pressure started to spread out from the center of my chest. I didn't think I could breathe. My chest wasn't letting in any air and felt as if it had been flattened. Ouch.
Then, out of the blue, my tradgectory was stopped as I hit against something else midair. The impact seemed to unflatten things and I gasp in one very painful breath. I regretted taking it the moment I did, though, because at that second, my nerve endings started to work again, and I felt the pain.
Instead of screaming like I wanted, I just let out one, small, but sharp "Ah".
Then arms wrapped around me, pulling me tight against the body I had hit. Then it curled around me and faced away as a shockwave of wind came blasting in my wake.
The ringing in my ears died down enough so I could hear the chaos that ensued.
"If this is your reaction to me leaving . . ."
"What in the name . . ."
"Oh my god you hurt her . . ."
"You bastard that's my . . ."
"I just can't leave you alone, can I?"
"Are you out of your mind?"
Then, from very softly behind me. "Princess?"
I took a few, deep shuddering breaths, not knowing if I really anted to breathe or not. Each inhale hurt but I needed it more than anything. The rest of me started to shake, the same as Corrin had, and then, as if those shivers set them free, tears started to fall, more and more each second, until I was fully sobbing.
On and on the indignant shout of my friends went on, and I even heard a few hits land, but up above all that, I floated, feeling oddly cocooned and safe in my little ball of warmth and tears. I grabbed Lucas' hands, covering them with my own, and he, in turn, lay his head on my shoulder, his protective stance never wavering.
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And I've gotten really back into writing! If you enjoyed the chapter please drop a like and if not, send some suggestions!
- Julica ❤