Fortunately, arriving at the Fortress of the Land of Myst took only an hour and a half.
Pretty Lady had an anxious and stressful day without much of a break. When Alaisdair asked if she wanted to be tiny, rest, walk, or be carried. She said she would take the first option. Alaisdair said let's compromise, Get tiny and you can relax or sleep in my tunic breast pocket. She agreed, and Alaisdair's heartbeat and his long strides rocked her to sleep.
Pretty was deep in a dream, caring for Mercy. Mercy's back was weeping poisons, and she was in unbearable pain, "God, take this pain; I cannot bear this horror. Why don't you have music for healing pain? You have music for Euphoria and joy. Why not pain? Why not healing?"
Pretty jolted awake and started kicking and yelling.
Alaisdair cupped his pocket and said softly settle down - we are on the drawbridge, and I am right behind the ambulance. The Fin Swimmers are leaping and snapping - it is dangerous. Soon, we will be on steady ground. Pretty stopped and waited.
Alaisdair stepped onto the stairs that took him to the slider door entrance, and he turned left and strode down the hallway, speaking, "King Steward, Father, I urgently need to speak to you. I am heading for your Dining area. Please tell me if that is alright or if I should meet you elsewhere."
"Come ahead, Son," King Steward said.
Alaisdair was at the door and asked permission to enter. "I am telling you to enter as your Father, not your King."
Alaisdair quickly opened the door and saw that the King had company. King Purses was with him.
"Father, this is urgent and private; please tell me when I may speak to you alone."
"King Purses wanted to talk to you first, but seeing your face. I will defer to you. King Purses, please excuse us for a short period. The gardens are exquisite at this time of year. King Steward clapped his hands, and two footmen appeared, "Please take King Purses down to the lake house and entertain him until I recall you."
Pretty Lady started to kick and yell again. Alaisdair said, "Father, I have Pretty in my tunic breast pocket. May I release her - she may stay if you allow."
"Yes, of course, she may on both counts."
When Alsisdair released Pretty, she flew to his ear and said, "I wish to speak too if the King allows it."
"Pretty, I always enjoy your candor and value your insights. You forget my super hearing talents and don't need to ask Alaisdair permission because you both have yet to marry." The King laughed, and so did Alaisdair.
Pretty landed beside Alaisdair, morphing into her human mode.
"Sire, Father, I beg your pardon, but King Purses is a liar, and anything he has told you or his need to speak to Alaisdair is naught. And as soon as we both speak to you, we must go to the hospital - one of King Purses' victims is dying, but Alaisdair can save her."
"Well, this sounds serious. We all shall go. Again, the King clapped, and a footman appeared - Bring a coach immediately - we need to go to the hospital." The King arose and led them out to the coach area, saying, "There is always a vehicle hitched, so in emergencies like this, there is no wait."
Alaisdair turned to Pretty, asking, "What is this about?"
"Do you remember my times of dreaming?"
Alaisdair said, "I know you come to me in my dreams. But, yes, you go to bed to sleep on a problem and come up with the answer. So?"
"I dreamt of Mercy saying she was in much pain and crying to God. If you made a song for joy or Euphoria, why not for healing or pain? I realize you can play a song, and it will be the right one to help heal her! She is dying from the poisons on the Beast's nails."
Upon arrival at the hospital, the King and his children were taken into the room where Mercy was writhing in pain, tossing from side to side. The Doctor cleaned out more pus and reapplied tea tree oil and aloe.
Pretty said to the Doctor, "Alaisdair is going to play soothing music and hopes it helps with her healing.
Alaisdair removed the Rina from around his neck, blew a few chords, prayed for wisdom, and the flute music took on the magical power it had amid the forest. It stopped the pain and the anguish, and the healing was starting to help.
The wound started to expel the poison faster, and the attendant and Doctor were busy scooping the poison liquid away from the tears on her back. Mercy sighed and went into a deep, healing sleep.
Alaisdair played for over an hour and promised to return in the morning. Clayton sat alert and in prayer beside the bed with the girls on the couch, curled in a ball, asleep beside him.
On the ride back, the King asked what happened; Alaisdair and Pretty told him about what occurred on the Island of No Return. What Mercy had told them - of her and Clayton and their timeline as children and what Clayton had been told a lie of the death of his two closest friends. Upon hearing of the deaths of those he loved in his life, his heart went into despair.
King Steward said he felt the story King Purses told him today did not line up with what had happened when he, King Steward, dropped off the two Tigers.
He had no conversations with them. The cats were drugged, and he was told the cats were feral and terrorizing everyone in King Purses' Castle area. He had not been told there was a Crocodile in the waters. He had scouted the Island and found it plentiful, with fish in the seas and many fruits and wild vegetables. He took the cats to the center of the Island by a waterfall and wished them a good and happy life from his heart.
When Alaisdair asked how King Steward escaped from the Island, he said your mother was with me on that mission.
The Pegasi King came unannounced today to tell me his son had been confined to the Island of No Return because he was crazy and murderous but somehow had escaped the Island of No Return. And he knew this because he had a tracker injected into his foot as a child.
He had this done to each of his children when they were babies. Also, since his reign, each citizen baby has had a tracker in its foot.
"What do we do now, Father?"
"Alaisdair, there are many hard decisions one must make in life. Fortunately, but also unfortunately, it is time to convene the high court, which has not been done in hundreds of years. And I am the supreme keeper of opening the tribunal. All the countries attached to the Land of Myst have followed the rules of do no harm. In my youth, I was duped, but no deeds, good or bad, stay hidden. I must set the action into play. And tomorrow, we will convene."
Alaisdair asked, "May I help if I can."
Alaisdair, I would prefer that you and Pretty stay and help me. But the first order of business is for you to be officially introduced to your mother, my wife, and the love of my life."