Chapter 569

569 Uneasy Feelings

Richard Yaris’ records turned out to be extremely helpful when it came to making countermeasures for an attack. They would know from where the weapons were being distributed, and be able to keep track of who was coming and going. Giving them an idea of how many enemies they’d likely be dealing with later.

Those who visited the marked places would be tracked, and the ones they visited would be watched. Until everyone involved with the illegal weapons was found out. The planning for it all took hours, and everyone wound up staying until late into the night.

It was around two o’clock in the morning when Skye and Tidas were finally able to get to bed. They both fell asleep almost instantly, but Tidas was the only one who’d slept soundly. Skye had tossed and turned all night as horrific scenes turned her dream into a nightmare.

Waking up covered in a cold, sticky sweat was bad enough, but her husband had her pinned in place with his heavy leg. He was slightly turned on his side, with the leg strewn over her lower waist. Skye debated getting up, but couldn’t without disturbing him.

Unable to get up, Skye replayed the dream over and over in her head. Trying to make sense of the horrific images...

A scene of Warrick Forest in all of it’s summer glory was before her eyes. But whenever she blinked, it changed to an ashened, snow-covered field. All signs of life were gone as the charred remains of plants, animals, and Fae covered the ground underneath a blanket of snow.

In every direction that she looked, Skye only saw snow and death. As she whipped her head towards the direction of her father’s castle, her view switched to the capital. A storm cloud hung overhead as she trudged towards the palace, and it rained blood down onto the streets and buildings. As she walked, Skye saw no one, but she could hear the deafening sounds of overlapping cries growing louder and louder..

The echos of thousands of screams for help and mercy made Skye’s eardrums feel like they were going to explode. She instinctively covered them, but nothing helped. Right when she thought her ears would start to bleed: all noise stopped.

The silence was almost as painful as the screams had been before, but it was much shorter-lived. As Skye came closer to the palace, she could hear what sounded like rushing water...a lot of it.

.....

As she stared passed the enormous structure that was the royal palace, Skye saw a monstrous wave of blood rushing towards the palace. After watching it devour the massive wall, then the palace; Skye took off running as fast as her legs would carry her.

Her lungs and throat burned as the harsh winter air blew passed her face. Right as the wave was upon her, Skye tripped, and tumbled to the ground before being slammed into by the wave. Right before she closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact, the glint of a familiar crown drew her attention..

‘Is that Maggie’s crown?!’

As the thought crossed her mind, Skye shut her eyes, and felt a stinging sensation all over her body as the water hit her with unbelievable force. After being swept up by the torrents, she was twisted and jerked around until she couldn’t hold her breath any longer.

Right as Skye started to gasp, she found herself falling through her namesake, towards the ground at a startling speed. As she tried to get her bearings, Skye realized that she was falling towards what used to be Warrick Forest. While the ground was rapidly approaching, she glanced at where her father’s castle was situated..

A barren wasteland with a crumbled castle surrounded the loch that she and Tidas had claimed as their special spot. Skye could feel the tears sliding up her face as she plummeted, and her heart contorted painfully in her chest. A few seconds before she was supposed to hit the ground, the loch shimmered brightly, catching her attention similarly to the crown.

A woman with long, curly red hair stood in the middle of the loch, holding her arms out to her. Skye reached out to her right before she slammed into the ground, and woke up in bed; covered in sweat. Had Tidas’ leg not been strewn across her: Skye would’ve most likely jumped up, and fallen out of the bed.

Tidas had stirred slightly from her waking up, but never reached a conscious state. He had simply snorted, then turned his head to the side, and fell back into oblivion. Relief and confusion flooded Skye’s mind as she tried to make sense of her dream..

‘Was it just a bad dream, or a premonition? Why would me Da’s land look like that? Was there a fire? Was it an accident, or like what happened wit the Warricks? Did someone do it, or was it an act of the gods? Why was the loch untouched? And who the bloody hell was that woman?! She....looked familiar..’

Skye silently laid in bed until the sun had filled the morning with light. The fresh layer of snow made the capital of Sai look like a fairytale wonderland, although it felt like the inside of a freezer to the residents. The Alconians seemed to be the only ones unaffected by the cold as everyone inside Genie’s castle started to go about their duties for the day.

Packing up the guests and Genie himself had been taken care of over the past couple of days. But there were still quite a few things they used daily that couldn’t be packed up until that morning. It was around eight in the morning or so, by the time everyone exited the castle.

Their breakfast was simple, and had been made with the Alconians in mind. The chefs made scrambled eggs, a massive amount of bacon, fried potatoes with butter and herbs, and a tray of freshly sliced ham was on the table next to fresh-baked loaves of bread. As Skye looked over the table, a wide smile stretched across her face as her eyes landed on a jar of apple butter from Dragonhorn.

She excitedly picked it up, but the smile faded as soon as she recalled her gut-wrenching dream. Skye had decided to not mention it as she laid in bed, but Tidas wasn’t going to miss her lack-luster behavior. The moment he saw her smile leave while still holding the jar; he knew something was wrong.

She’d been off all morning, and it wasn’t like Skye to not get excited over a new adventure. Their training with Genie was about to start, as well as the plans to catch Tokuga in the middle of committing treason was about to begin.. ‘But she’s been acting like someone’s died..’

Tidas had asked twice already if something was wrong, but Skye dodged it both times. With Genie with them, he figured that she’d have to be honest.. However, before Tidas could ask what was wrong or comfort his wife: Genie swooped in..

“I thought that you would be ecstatic to see the apple butter. Did I get the wrong kind?” Genie asked as he patted Skye’s shoulder.

After lightly shaking her head in the negative, Skye replied; “Na, ya did a grand job. I love this on some-”

“Ham and toast, I know. So why don’t you seem happy? What’s wrong?” Genie asked after finishing her sentence for her.

As Tidas’ annoyance grew, his wife replied; “I just had a bad dream, is all. Tis nothin’ ta fret over.”

Genie pulled a face; “Haven’t a few of your dreams turned out to be premonitions?”

Skye’s face looked stark as she replied; “Not this.. It Better nae be fer this..”

“Skye,” Tidas stated with a pleading expression, and held a hand out to her; “Tell us what the dream about, please?”

Skye instinctively stepped towards him, and reached out for his hand as she replied; “Tis nothin’, love. Just...very disturbing..”

Tidas and Genie gently pried until Peggy came into the room. When she saw the two handling Skye with kid gloves, she marched over, and got Skye to speak within seconds. Bai Lei, Hang, Mei, and Rukia joined them as she explained, but modified her wording lightly when she saw Rukia was listening, too.

Once she’d finished explaining, an eerie silence filled the room before anyone spoke for a while. When they finally did, it was Rukia in an attempt to make her Aunt Skye feel better. Which made her feel worse for worrying everyone.

Peggy was highly disturbed by Skye’s dream, and offered to take Rukia to eat separately. The child threw a fit for being excluded, but ultimately caved when her Aunt Skye squatted down, and asked her to be good and listen. After they’d left, Skye explained the details she’d omitted before.

Tidas held her the entire time she’d spoken, and noticeably tightened his hold when she’d brought up the wave of blood, and the crown floating in it. The woman with red hair wasn’t nearly as worrisome, but worth noting for a later discussion. The woman sounded a bit too familiar to brush off, but..

The thing that bothered Tidas the most at that point was his father’s crown in a sea of blood.

“Do you think something is going to happen to my Father?” Tidas asked while Skye and Genie were talking.

Skye looked hesitant as she paused with Genie, and replied; “I dinna think so, but I canna ken fer sure. All Ima sure of is that somethin’ bad is gonna happen soon. I just pray it’s got nothin’ ta do wit the details I saw.. Or rather, lack there of.”

“What do you mean?” Hang asked, confused at to which part she meant when the entire thing seemed horrifying.

Skye stared at the wall a moment, then looked at Hang as she replied; “I could hear people screamin’, but...but I Saw No One. Twas like the capital was already gone, and I was hearin’ the echos of the dead.. Twas creepy as hell.”

The room went silent again for a time before Bai Lei spoke up; “I cannot speak on what you are and are not capable of, Skye. But I can say that I trust your judgement enough to believe you. Do you think that this is something to be concerned about?”

Skye thought for a few minutes after she’d broken free from Tidas, and began to pace. Everything she’d seen pertained to Alcon, which meant that they couldn’t do anything about it unless they left Sai. She and Tidas were under direct orders from Magnus to act as Diplomatic Representatives of Alcon, and to secure a treaty of peace and trade with the current government system.

They weren’t supposed to return without the signed treaty, but Skye felt an urge to go home right then and there. To fly home on Zazzy as fast as she could, and head straight to her parents’ home..

“Skye? What do you think? What do you want to do?” Tidas asked as he stopped her, and cupped her cheek.

The conflict within her was apparent on her face, which worried Tidas enough to say; “If you want to go home, we can. Just say so..”

Skye took a deep breath; “Na.. I’m just freakin’ out. And I’m pretty sure that Ima home-sick. It happened in the Highlands too, remember? Thanks though, love.”

As Skye kissed his cheek, Tidas grinned in agreement. She apologized for the fuss, then went and got Peggy and Rukia back to finish breakfast together. The atmosphere during the meal was still a little tense, but Rukia lightened the mood with her adorable questions, and dramatic reactions.

When everything was ready, and everyone was full, they began to climb into the numerous carriages. Bai Lei’ home was on the northern side of the capital, and would take them roughly two hours to get to by coach or carriage. Zazzy was flying around above as Skye turned back to look at Genie’s castle a final time.

Looking at the stone structure made her heart twist. Skye couldn’t place why, but something about leaving Genie’s home was making her heart heavy. So much so that she didn’t hear Tidas when he called to her to go inside the carriage.

They’d been gone for a total of two and a half months, and everything had felt fine, up until that point. As Tidas called to her, Skye’s mind drifted to the thought her heart had been begging her not to acknowledge..

‘It feels like once we leave here: there’s no goin’ back..’