Archer was relieved to note that Kaede was at least able to walk a little once she had slept for a full day. His biggest relief was the fact she had been able to keep down the food he had made. Apparently whatever made her sick around cold iron allowed her to have a slightly faster recovery rate.
What he didn't know was that Gilgamesh sensed Kaede and was heading their way. Since he was King he took his time to find her.
Shiro, Saber, and Rider all arrived in time to almost run into Gilgamesh. Instead Gilgamesh wandered around the castle, trying to find the source of the tug while Shiro challenged his future self.
Kaede managed to get to one of the balconies, though her body was still technically too weak to be up and about. If Archer had seen her he would have been annoyed. Part of the reason why he had taken her instead of Rin was because caring for a sick girl was infinitely easier than listening to Rin bitch to him about tying her up...even if he was well aware that she actually enjoyed it from his memories as Shiro.
She watched the battle silently as Shiro finally managed to get through to Archer that he was more stubborn than the Servant, though how that was possible when Archer was Shiro was something she didn't feel like thinking about.
She felt someone come up from behind her, and her eyes widened. It was Lancer. Why was he here?
"Sorry about this girlie, but my Master doesn't want you around to ruin his plans," said Lancer.
Kaede's eyes widened in shock, before she grabbed something from her Gate and slammed it against Lancer.
"What are you..."
"Complete Download," she said and used the only pieces of her magic she could access and dragged Lancer and all of his data into the card.
Amethyst, which mostly played the part of her necklace since she had hit it with a shrinking charm, chimed with a happy voice "Okay! But your magic reserves are almost gone you know. Any more and you'll be suffering some major backlash!"
"I don't have a choice Amethyst! Make sure he can't get out until this mess is cleared up!" hissed Kaede.
"Sure~!" said Amethyst. A few minutes in, and she chimed again.
"Download complete! Cu Cuhainn is now stored into the Archives until you're able to bring him out."
"What are you doing up?" Archer asked accusingly.
Kaede openly rolled her eyes.
"You really thought I would stay asleep with the racket you were making, idiot?" she said annoyed.
"And why did you use magic? Last I checked you were so drained you could barely make a spark!"
"That was prana. You didn't notice that my core was rapidly recovering once I was away from the iron," she countered.
"Either way you should still be asleep, or at least not on your feet," said Archer irritably.
"Why do you care anyway?" asked Kaede, raising an eyebrow.
Archer had no answer to that. For some reason all of his protective instincts raised whenever the girl was in danger and he had no idea why. He was a cynical, apathetic bastard. Why should one girl make a difference.?
"Well isn't this adorable? Having a lover's spat are we?" sneered an arrogant voice.
Kaede froze. She knew that voice...but the tone was far too wrong.
Gilgamesh. This had to be his Archer half. The one she had been told to avoid by Gil repeatedly because he wouldn't exactly be as kind as Gil was.
Kaede was too weak to get off the balcony, and Gilgamesh would kill anyone who could free her.
Rider didn't care. She made it up to where her Master was...only to be skewered by Gilgamesh.
"Ah, ah, ah. I didn't say you could have the girlie here," he sneered.
Kaede felt her tears come down as she saw Medusa starting to fade. She brought out a second card.
"Amethyst, complete download. I am not letting that damn Grail have her," said Kaede upset.
"You do realize that if I do that your reserves are going to be so low that you won't be able to actually fight for a while right?"
"I'm not losing Rider!"
"Downloading Rider: Medusa into Class Card. Download Complete...Medusa added to the Queen's Court."
"Queen's what?"
"Error...Information regarding Court of the Queen restricted until aria is selected. Sorry, Kaede-chan, can't tell you about the special feature the Faeries added until you make an aria to release it~!" said Amethyst cheerfully.
"I knew they added something when they gave me this armor," muttered Kaede. Still, she had three options with her low reserves at this point.
Jump and hope like hell someone caught her. Try installing a card and hope her energy could handle a brief drain with Medusa taken out. Or let Gilgamesh catch her and try to bring Gil out.
She eyed the ground. It wasn't that far down, and Sirius knew spells to heal broken bones. If nothing else she could have her leg bones removed and regrown overnight.
Archer looked at her...and had a bad feeling which of the three she would attempt. When he realized she planned to jump over the railing he cursed and started running. He barely managed to slide under her in time to catch her.
He aimed a rather explosive weapon at the ceiling where Gilgamesh was and shot it off.
Saber, Shiro and Archer all ran like hell out of the Einzbern castle, Kaede out cold on Archer's back. Once they were safely away from the place, they slowed down long enough for Shiro to check on Kaede.
"She's feverish. What the hell happened to her?"
"At most she was just inside the shackles with Medea getting a little too close for comfort whenever she was down there. When I noticed she was going into shock I got her out of the shackles and into a cage. She was never actually tortured outside the effects of the iron," said Archer flatly.
"And while you had her in the castle?" asked Saber, hand on her sword.
"She mostly slept in one of the beds. She was able to keep down simple foods once she slept for a full day though. I grabbed her instead of Rin because she was more vulnerable after that iron made her so sick. Besides it was easier than listening to Rin complain about the fact I tied her up," said Archer. Seeing Shiro wince he knew the boy fully agreed with him on that point.
Shiro tried to put Avalon inside Kaede, but for some reason the sheathe refused to be absorbed into her. Not even Saber could figure out what was going on.
Archer had an idea though.
"I noticed a lot of smaller sprites while we were running. Maybe the faeries have something planned?" he suggested.
Rin was twitching. First she lost her Servant, then he grabs another girl, and finally he shows more concern for a sick Master than he did for her! Just what was it about Kaede that made people like a cynical Shiro actually care about her well being?!
When she finally asked that of Saber, she took a good look at Rin, then at the still sleeping Kaede before informing her that her Charisma ranking was much, much higher than Rin's. Or, as Shiro would put it only to be hit with multiple Gandr curses later, the downside of being a bossy Tsundere.
Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, was traveling far beyond her boundaries for an important mission.
Kaede Emiya, the Golden Queen, was ill. Her magic was rebelling against the iron she had been trapped in before she could learn the danger. The shackles had been so old that some of it even got into her bloodstream.
She would need faerie help in order to survive long enough to live through this war.
They had planned to give her this once she had been married, but she would need this boost in order to bring her king back to her.
Arturia spotted her first, and her reaction was to be expected.
"Nimue!" she yelped.
Everyone in the dining room turned to look who was outside. The Lady of the Lake was inside the pond.
"Hello Arturia. I see you are fitting in well here," said Nimue pleasantly.
"Why are you here?" asked Arturia, once she got over her shock.
"I am the voice of the courts. We heard about what happened to our current Voice with the mortals and we have decided to act. Kaede is to be your replacement as the next one to carry the dragon lineage," said Nimue.
"She has the dragon core?" asked Arturia in shock.
Nimue shook her head.
"She has a stronger core waiting to wake up. Her spirit form is that of a holy dragon, so naturally we're interested in her living past this silly game the Magi have cooked up."
Shiro rolled his eyes.
"We had a feeling Kaede's animal form was a dragon. We didn't know which one though," he said.
"I mostly came here to deliver a new sheathe. Avalon belongs to the Dragon King. Kaede is going to make her own legend...she doesn't need to be dragged into your own by using your Phantasms."
"So that's why it refused to work for her," said Shiro.
"But Kaede's sleeping right now," said Archer.
Nimue turned to him with a smile.
"You would make an excellent knight."
"I'm a Counter Guardian, not a knight. And I doubt Alaya would let one of it's cleaners go,"said EMIYA sourly.
"Let's see what happens once Kaede is able to sustain a Servant again, shall we?" she said mysteriously.
Shiro winced at the water on the floor, before he pulled out his wand to cast a drying charm. Saber put her hand on his arm.
"Wait until she leaves. Nimue is a water Faerie under the Seelie courts. She'll need the water to return back to the pond," advised Saber.
Shiro nodded.
In Kaede's dream...
"Hey sleepy, when are you planning to get up?" asked a familiar voice.
"Gil? Where are you?"
"I'm right here. Thanks to that Card the old vampire gave you I was sucked into someplace other than the Grail. Though it would take something else to bring all those you downloaded out again."
"What's needed?"
"I believe I can answer that. Hello Kaede-chan," said a water faerie.
"Who are you?"
"I am Nimue, the same one who gave your grandmother her armaments. We were going to save this for after the war, but thanks to Caster we had to accelerate our plans," said Nimue.
"The Lady of the Lake."
"Indeed. As it stands, we need to get you back on your feet before Gilgamesh finds you. Or worse, Zouken learns of your illness. We can't have you taken out because of a traitorous witch," said Nimue.
She brought out a gold sheathe, similar in many ways to Avalon. However instead of just blue enamel, it had silver, red and purples. The faeries were well aware of her color preferences.
"This...is the Praesidia. Unlike Avalon, this sheathe can heal multiple targets and shield up to eight people. It's the ultimate defense against all magical attacks, baring a divine one. In which case you would need your King for help."
Nimue pulled out a sword, similar to Excalibur.
"This...is Excaliburn. It is a sword that will purify the sins of the past and bring new hope. It can even break the contracts made and remake the world anew. It is the prayer of 'Hope' for everyone who deserves it."
"So I could break, say, Archer's contract with Alaya and turn him into one of my Knights?"
"The idea of stealing a Counter Guardian from the world was too amusing to pass up for the courts. Once they learned of EMIYA's true nature, they were all to happy to add that magic to this sword."
"What was the feature you added to Amethyst? I never figured that out."
Nimue smirked. Kaede had the feeling she was like a female Gilgamesh in some ways. Then again, she was a faerie.
"Let's just say that you now have more in common with your brother than before. But we never picked an aria for it."
Kaede blinked.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me."
"The Court of the Golden Queen. Quite fitting for the woman who will become Gilgamesh's wife. After all, what is an English Queen without her knights?"
Kaede made a face. She hated being reminded of the fact she was English by birth.
"And by knights you mean Servants. Is that why Zelretch gave me that staff?"
"We do not dictate the Wizard Marshal. Though it made it easier to give you this little surprise. Like your grandmother, you will have your court. As it stands, you already have two 'loaded' into it."
"Medusa and Lancer," said Kaede.
"And don't forget your king, who is waiting for his Queen to get up and finally bring out her true power," said Nimue.
Kaede could feel Gil's hand on her cheek.
"It's time to get up Kae-chan. If you don't, then Gilgamesh will find you and he'll stop at nothing once he realizes what you possess. He can't steal your power," he said.
"I miss you Gil."
"When you wake up to your full potential, you'll find me again. But right now you have to get out of bed and eat something," he said gently, "Remember, it was because I grew up around you that I didn't turn into a total jerk like Archer."
"And now, Kaede...it's time to wake up."
Kaede woke up with a gasp. She had been out cold for nearly two days since they left the castle.
The Lady of the Lake was gone. However she left behind the sheathe which rested on Kaede. The second she woke up, the sheathe was absorbed into her body. She felt most of her sickness abate, though her magic levels were still crappy. She wouldn't be casting any spells or using any prana for another day at least. But she would be able to move a little and hold food down.