A city! Annalyse could see a city in the distance, and in the center was a tower, it was the light! The city was almost directly below her, she had come out of a dense forest on a cliff, and below her she could see that the city was under siege. Annalyse couldn't take Marisol into a fight like that… Annalyse looped the remains of Minnie's reins over a low hanging branch, then she motioned for the horse to stay put.
"Mommy…" Marisol's voice quivered softly as she looked at the city and the smoke.
"It's alright darling, mommy will be right back, you stay here with Minnie and I'll be right back for you alright dearest?" Annalyse said, smiling reassuringly as she kissed the girl's forehead.
"Okay mommy…" Marisol smiled softly, the worry lines fading from her forehead as she watched her mother smile one more time before walking away, slowly moving down towards a rocky slope.
As Annalyse picked her way slowly to the fight she began to make out the crests of the fighting kingdoms. One, the defender, wore the striking falcon of the Glasgow kingdom. The other, the attacker, Annalyse didn't recognize. The crest was that of a lightning struck tree, the tree was ablaze and the armor was black. Annalyse knew that her father's troops had a great oak on their black armor, so she thought that perhaps the kingdom that now attacked Glasgow was a neighbor.
A soft grunt drew her attention to an old man, attempting to pick his way towards the fight. The man didn't see her, nor did he see the enemy soldier aim and fire an arrow toward him. Annalyse was close enough to him that she was able to pull a sword from the blood soaked ground and block the arrow. She then grabbed the elderly man's hand and pulled him behind a tree.
"A battle field is no place for an old man." Annalyse said as she scanned the ground for a bow and arrow of her own. "Aren't the elderly supposed to be led to safety?"
"I could say the same about you missy." The man said with a wary smile, watching her warily as she picked up a bow and tested the string. "What's a woman like you doing in a place like this?"
"Looking for someone." She answered, quickly firing at the enemy archer. He fell shortly after her arrow buried itself in a weak spot over his heart. "And you? What are you doing here?"
"I'll have you know I'm the King!" He scowled with a half chuckle, his old armor indeed bearing a much faded and blood splattered eagle, following her as she moved closer to the city. "And you missy are a wonderful shot. I'm officially drafting you into the Glasgowian Army."
"Who are we fighting?" As they came closer to the city they noticed a gathering of soldiers. The soldiers were from both sides and were standing in a rough circle around two well dressed warriors. One, a tall man with blood on his face, was Glasgowian and obviously very tired. The other was small, his helmet hid his face, and he was very light on his feet for one in heavy armor.
"The Caras… They blamed my son for the death of their king and for the disappearance of their Princess Annalyse. Please… that's my son, if you save him and my kingdom I'll give you a great reward, anything you want. Just please do something!" The king pleaded as he leaned heavily on his chipped sword, a wound she missed dripping blood through his armor.
Without thinking Annalyse dropped the bow she'd been carrying and rushed into the circle. She grabbed a sword from a soldier as she passed him. Annalyse made it to the edge of the fighting circle just as the smaller soldier tripped the Prince, she rushed in and blocked the killing blow to the Prince.
"Who are you that would stop me, Queen of Caras, from killing this murderous rat?" The soft voice of a woman came from the soldier in front of her, and Annalyse was shocked to look into the helmet and see her sister staring out at her.
"I challenge you who claim to be queen of Caras! You are not fit to be queen if you would bring war to your most trusted ally!"
"Ally?!" The woman screeched, wrenching off her helmet she pointed her sword at the Prince who was still lying on the ground behind Annalyse. "That man poisoned my father! He kidnapped and killed my sister! I lost everything because of him and he will die!"
"What…? The king is…?" Annalyse almost dropped her sword, her father was dead and her sister was so distraught that she didn't recognize her. Cary screamed suddenly and lashed out at the prince, causing Annalyse to defend him. No matter what happened, Annalyse would not permit her sister to murder the Prince of their strongest ally.
The two clashed, their blades like lightning flashing and clashing as they danced around the circle, neither giving an inch, nor gaining ground against the other. As the two sisters fought Annalyse desperately tried to make Cary recognize her, so that Cary would stop and realize that she wasn't dead. Cary wouldn't listen though and she realized that in order to kill the prince, she would first have to kill this dirt and sweat stained woman in front of her. Cary struck at Annalyse in a blind rage, her blade little more than a streak of light striking upon Annalyse's blade, pounding her into the ground with brute force. Realising the moment was soon coming for the end of this duel she struck out, trying to finesse the blade from her opponent's hand she stepped too far and lost her footing and fell on Annalyse's sword, her blade piercing Cary's armor and driving through her stomach.
Annalyse flung the sword away and caught her twin in her arms. She was crying as she wiped Cary's hair away from her eyes and softly she began to hum.
"Twin sisters of Caras… playing in the stream. Twin daughters of Caras… Each with a different dream…" Annalyse sang softly, "Remember Cary…? How our song went…"
"Annalyse, sweet… Annalyse…" Cary's voice was soft and halting as she said her line, "Always kind… Her smiles… never cease…"
"That's right," Annalyse said, sniffling as she held back her tears. "Twin sisters of Caras, playing in the stream. Twin daughters of Caras each with a different dream."
"Is it you…?" Cary's voice was weak now, Annalyse knew she would go soon.
"Yes its me… I'm okay sister… I wasn't kidnapped by the Glasgowians…" Annalyse says, holding back her tears.
"Have you come to take me back to heaven with you? I've waited so long to see Mama again…" Cary sighs, her breath ragged as she closes her eyes, takes a long shaky breath, and then she lays still.
"Cary…?" Analyse asked, softly shaking her shoulder. There was no response, she knew her sister was dead. "Carylinne… smart Carylinne…"
The soldiers around them stood nervously, unsure of what to do. Annalyse looked up suddenly, her eyes filled with anger and sadness.
"Well what are you waiting for? The Queen is dead and you lost! Clear the battlefield, the fight is over!" The soldiers around her scattered quickly, not wanting to upset her further they began to do as she said, striking the siege weaponry where it stands, helping wounded soldiers from either side to the medics.
"Erm… Miss?" A hand on her shoulder caused Annalyse to look up, she discovered that it was the Prince whom she had saved.
"She was smart, cunning, and apparently a little bit insane." Annalyse said softly, looking back to her sister. "She didn't mean it… Ever since our mother died, Cary was withdrawn… she pretended it was nothing… but we were twins… I knew…"
"So it's true…?" The prince said, kneeling next to her, "Your Annalyse?"
"Yes… it's true…"
"I know this may seem an odd question… but well, my gardener, Jack, he was waiting on a handmaiden who was supposed to have been travelling with you. A girl named Anna?"
"What about her?" Annalyse asked softly. She then raised her fingers to her lips and whistled, a signal to Minnie. The horse easily pulled herself free and began trotting down towards them.
"Well… Jack was in love with Anna and… I don't suppose she came back with you…?"
"Jack…?" Annalyse asked absentmindedly as she helped a squad pick her sister up to dress her wounds for burial before turning to her approaching daughter. She smiles softly at her and holds her arms out and Marisol jumped down into her arms. It was at this moment that Jackson saw her smile and he knew that as he had hidden his identity the day they met, she had hid hers.
"Anna!" Jackson said, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her to look at him, he wiped the blood from her face and looked at her long and hard. "Anna it is you, isn't it? Please my lover of Marisol flowers tell me it's you?"
"Jack?!" Annalyse held tightly to her daughter, hoping this wasn't some cruel twisted dream.
"Yes!" He shouts for joy, carefully picking her up and spinning her around before setting her back down."Actually darling, my name is Jackson. I'm the Prince of the Glasgow kingdom."
"You're also a father…" Annalyse said softly as Jackson led her to a clean bench that his father stood near.
"A father, I- I'm a what?" Jackson stopped in his tracks and looked at the little girl in Annalyse's arms. Her eyes were a deep shade of blue now, and her hair had an odd natural two tone color. Near the crown of her head her hair was pale red, almost pink. However farther down her hair darkened, turning to a beautiful amber red.
"Jackson… meet your daughter, Marisol."