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I should’ve left. I shouldn’t have let that fucking serpent tell my fortune, and had I known it would cost me time afterward, I wouldn’t have. Suddenly, the hour I agreed to can no longer be spared.
Shooting up to my feet, I hesitate, wondering if I should tell the creature that likely saved my life that I’m leaving. Only I fear he’ll do nothing but try to talk me out of it. I have no belongings. Everything is with Luri, or left somewhere in the woods… wherever that ravine is. I’m not sure if it went over with me. Regardless, there’s nothing I need within that cave to go back to.
Making my decision, I start walking. We were heading West toward the triplet moons, and three massive floating stones are hard to miss, even for someone seeing in three. I move along the river, hoping that somehow I’ll find Luri along it. I can’t feel her bond though, which means she’s nowhere close. We always knew she couldn’t accompany me into Solaria or around the city, so maybe it’s for the best. She’ll know I’m not dead because regardless of distance, she’d have felt it. So, the best thing I can do is move forward. She survived this forest her entire life. She doesn’t need me.
Quite the opposite, and though it’s sooner than I intended to be on my own, I’ll make do. I have to, for Finn.
8
Asmo
I sit at my camp, or rather resting place I’ve made along the river, just out of sight from prying eyes. Leave it to the king to make my one offer of peace nearly impossible. Nearly. I’m a stubborn man with a competitiveness that strikes fear into others–and rightfully so. It’s likely why he put me on this gambit, demanding I bring a nephilim back. He knows I’ll do anything to get my freedom, even if it means handing over my own flesh and blood… or evenher.
As long as she doesn’t kill herself first.
The poor girl had not only been thrown off a cliff, but stabbed by the Grim Reaper’s blade, as well. It’s the deadliest instrument known to man. Luckily, for her sake, she’s not just a witch or she wouldn’t have survived such a wound, however small it may be.
It worked out in my favor, though. I need to stall her long enough for the king to get my message, but paying the oracle to give her a fortune will do just that. She’ll need to wait out the effects of the smoke his magic gives off, so I’ll at least have a day to relax before she’ll come strolling by, continuing her quest. By then, I’ll have figured it out and set my trap.
If I can get over myself and the unease swirling around in my gut long enough to do so.
The sound of stone grinding against stone hits my ears and I crane my neck to peer around the tree at my back. Low and behold, my greatest nightmare, Alice herself is weaving along the river’s edge, as if she hadn’t learned from the trolls that last time to not travel in the wide open. To stay hidden in the tree line, or to be smarter than the simpleton creatures roaming this wood.
She shouldn’t be up and about yet. She should be resting in that bloody cave. Once paid, oracles have to fulfill their vision of your future. So how the hell did she leave without her fortune? If she had killed him, she’d be cursed, and I doubt she’d be leisurely strolling along the riverside if she was turning into a serpent–taking the oracle’s place for all eternity, or until some sorry soul offs her.
Stalking through the trees, I watch, quiet as a mouse as she sways, veering back and forward like a drunk on a Sunday stroll. Rolling my eyes, I growl low in my throat. This woman has a death wish. She left the fucking oracle’s nest high as a kite.
Who in their right mind would do such a thing? Has she gone mad? Anyone who has a lick of knowledge about this world, regardless of which realm they’re from, would know how risky it is to wander alone after partaking in that kind of magic. Especially a Hell-born witch.
She might as well have taped a sign on her chest that said ‘Open for Business.’ That kind of magic would make any creature hump a damn boulder should it rub them the right way, but witches, in particular, are sexual creatures. Their magic thrives off the act of pleasure. Even if she’s resisting the urges that form of magic brings about, it doesn’t mean she’s not strolling along like a beacon, beckoning the more animalistic creatures–who can actively scent her need–to take her as they will.
And here I thought she was smarter than the average bear. After all, she picked up on the king’s shackles all on her own, and for someone outside of Solaria and this prison world, that’s pretty astounding. I didn’t even know about them before being shoved into this God forsaken hell hole.
The High King took advantage of my ignorance, claiming the metal wristbands were a sign of nobility. And considering all of his daughter’s husbands wore them, I thought nothing of it. It took him turning off my power for the first time to realize how wrong I’d been.
He only has two requirements from the beasts in this world. You either let him touch you-–let him copy your gift—or you get the shackle, allowing him to control you with a flick of a switch. I’ve earned his trust over the many years of serving by his side, and he hardly ever turns off my magic, but Alice doesn’t know that.
She thought the gem encrusted in the cuff meant he had taken it, when in fact, it’s nothing more than a symbol of my rank and the only reason it wasn’t there during the battle, is I didn’t wish to see it scratched by some nobleman’s sword.
So, if she was smart enough to put together how the king controls his beasts, why would she be stupid enough to leave the cave and paint a bloody target on her back? She justdied, and though immortals aren’t restricted to a particular number of rebirths, it doesn’t mean she should push the needle.
I stay hidden in the trees as she continues along the bank, then stills. Her eyes cast down the river’s edge, squinting to see something that’s up ahead. Moving closer to get a better look, I find why. We’re in spider country, and one of the biggest I’ve ever seen to date is weaving a web between an upcoming pile of rock and the treeline. Slowly, Alice’s back straightens as she tiptoes toward me, traveling into the forest, seemingly deciding to avoid it by going around.
Finally, a decent decision.
I’ve witnessed them spinning full-grown men into their webs and sucking their life force dry. They’re vicious buggers that burrow beneath the surface of the ground and the woman already almost got us killed by one. I hide, letting her glide head, gaining distance so I can resume my stalking.
Following along, she walks for hours until the hell flame starts to sink behind the dragon islands, casting the world into darkness, and still, she continues, occasionally swaying left and right. Not that I blame her. I wouldn’t want to camp in this section of the woods, either. Not until we get to the bay, and especially not during the spider mating season. The widows are more territorial and you don’t want to run into one on a good day.
Still, the intoxication effects of the oracle should’ve faded by now, but her clumsy steps and near misses of tree limbs tell me it’s barely waned. What did the girl do? Hyperventilate in there? She must’ve ingested quite a bit for her to still be flying. I gave up sleeking to the shadows a while ago, yet Alice hasn’t even dared a glance back. I’ve been walking out in the open a few yards behind her and nothing. Not a glimpse, a peek, or anything similar.
It’s given me time to think about my plan… Since she asked for my help, and since her cat is nowhere in sight, I’ve decided that offering to be her guide would be the easiest. It will allow her to think of me as an ally, and spares me from having to drag her gagged and chained back to Solaria.
She won’t see me as a threat, seeing as she believes I’m without my magic, and once to the castle, I can trap her and hand her to the High King. Clearly, she’s oblivious enough for the plan to work.
Though, it’d be even easier if I could teleport. The king has shown mercy and allowed me my magic, but it’s on a limited battery. It doesn’t replenish as quickly as it does when the wristbands are fully turned off, and teleporting costs a great deal. Teleporting two, even more so. I’d be helpless should something happen and Alice escape, or should the king go back on his deal, and I don’t like being a sitting duck.
Something moves in the canopy of leaves ahead, fluttering, and I stop. Alice–shocker–is none the wiser. A dozen large red eyes peek through the leaves. A spider–likely spinning its nest. Little by little, the creature descends, lowering on the string of web until it gently twists upright on the ground, it’s back to Alice and I. She continues forward, and based on my experience with the oracles magic, I don’t think she can discern the black coat of the beast from the darkness hanging heavily around us.
