Why did she want to?
* * *
Valek was smiling as Amana cowered from his outstretched palm. She fluttered about all the more, because as he smiled he withdrew an oblong glass sphere similar to the one Orono used to capture souls.
“Please, whatever it is you are about to do, please,” Amana begged as Valek pointed the sphere at her with the same grin of deranged joy etched into his face.
He uttered a string of untellable words and pointed the sphere at her, she fell silent as her soul turned to flesh and plopped to the castle’s stony floor.
The olive skin stretched as it wiggled across her body and extended until it covered every inch. Her black hair cascaded to her lower back and the pink color returned to her ashen lips.
“Amana,” Valek called again.
“Yes, lord,” Amana answered, her mind no longer hers alone.
“You will go through the Allerton Circle and you will capture the one called Marion,” he ordered. “Do not return without it.”
“Yes, my lord,” Amana answered in a flat monotone voice, not at all the comfortable, bubbly voice of Amana.
“Then return to me with his soul!” Valek extended a turquoise blue sphere that was tiny, almost the size of a silver coin, and placed it in her open hand.
“Yes, my lord,” Amana repeated. She slipped the sphere into her pocket.
“Manola, take her to the circle.” He clasped both hands together and collapsed back into his chair…satisfied with his genius.
Following Manola, Amana felt cold in the icy air of the Solis night. Nestled deep inside the zombie Amana, the true Amana screamed, at the thought of being forced to obey Valek’s every whim. She tried to resist, to run away, but his will was stronger.
They reached the Allerton Circle and did not look back as she finally left Solis.
* * *
Zykeiah felt torn between the part of her who still desired Marion and the one that liked Sarah. She knew that lying to Sarah about Marion and Kalah was wrong. She was the one of which the scrolls prophesied, Zykeiah could not deny it any longer. Zykeiah knew it and hated it. The prophecy of the Antiqk scrolls did not hide the signs of the savior; they were well known.
The markings on Sarah’s hands were undeniable and her power could not be explained away easily. She wondered if she was the only one who had witnessed the growing savior’s new powers.
Zykeiah called to Sarah, “Come, it is time for the evening meal.”
Sarah hurried back to the spot where Zykeiah waited.
“So soon?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Sarah tilted her head high exposing her elegant neck. She saw the position of the sun, and said, “Yes, you are correct.”
The two began the slow climb to the plateau and neither spoke. They reached the top and started the rigorous hike back down the trail away from Stocklah. They stopped only to retrieve the danker beasts that napped under the retreating sun. There was certain sadness about leaving the plush, fragrant oasis for the frigid Veloris realm. But now that she knew the way, she could come whenever she wanted.
The warm day had cooled and soon the hairs on Zykeiah’s neck were standing on end. As they reached the bottom of the mountain, Sarah shuddered and tied her coat tight around her waist.
Zykeiah was a knight and the low mumbling in her stomach had to do with the lie she had told Sarah; it was an internal protest. She had lied before, but this new pain had to be a result of her knighting and her recent placement amongst the Knights. She would just have to ignore it. Being Marion’s wife would be worth it, she thought. But deep inside, she liked Sarah too.
“Are you okay?” Sarah’s face wrinkled with concern and for some reason Zykeiah could not explain it pleased her tremendously.
“Yes,” she said.
“You are quiet.” Sarah guided her danker beast over to Zykeiah and touched her forehead, then her cheek as she searched for signs of illness.
Sarah said, “Come, friend, evening meals are being served.”
Friend. Zykeiah’s heart fluttered with enthusiasm at the very sound of the word. Friend could be the beginning of a relationship; that was more than Zykeiah had at the onset of the hike.
* * *
Sarah’s peaceful ride down the twisting trail to the castle was not without incident. She had disturbed something inside her that had once been dormant. A knowing of sorts, but that did not accurately describe it. Zykeiah had said that Marion and Kalah were emotionless drones, but she had remembered, during her rescue at the Allerton Circle, Marion’s anger, bravery, and intense desire to escape.
No emotions?
Sarah also remembered the morning after her first night in the castle when she woke to find him in her quarters. The expression on his face, she reflected now, could have been nothing but concern.
If Marion did not feel, than surely he would not have expressed concern for her or attempt to cover feelings he did not have.
And Kalah. His jealousy and outright disregard for his brother was not an unfeeling emotion.
She had been ready to accept Zykeiah’s words as truth, but something had stirred inside her when Zykeiah mentioned that the knights were drones. She had lied, Sarah thought.
Why had Zykeiah lied to her about the Knights?
* * *
Unconcerned by the late hour, Sarah remained wide-awake as the chilly air filtered into her quarters bringing with it numbing cold and goosebumps.
She and Zykeiah had returned just in time for evening meals, but Marion did not join them in the Great Hall. When asked, Queen Zoë replied that Marion was ill and taking his evening meals in his quarters. The Queen herself looked terrible and quite sick.
Sarah stopped at his door on her way to the East Wing after the evening meal. He did not answer her numerous knocks and calls. The door remained locked.
Troubled, she returned to her quarters and the knowing within her crept around inside whispering into the far corners of her psyche. She tapped into the well of her powers; chilly, she cupped her hands together for the second time and concentrated on the fire that burned lazily and low in her fireplace. The fire grew more intense as she focused on it.
She needed answers and the beckoning within called for her to seek out those answers. Only one place could be trusted to tell the whole, unbiased truth. She took the steps down to the lower level two at a time before scurrying down the hallway to the stables.
Chapter Twelve
Cold, Sarah picked her now familiar danker beast; Majaga recognized her on sight and passed a chorus of gas in delight. She smiled wearily at Majaga and gave her thick fur a couple of strokes before they set out.
As they began alone in the wintry night, she noticed that Veloris at night was different than Veloris during the day. The absence of activity was not the only factor that separated the day from evening. Now the shadows seemed to reach out like dry brittle bones, threatening to grab and snatch her from her danker and into the dark, hidden crevices of the forest. The wrangler birds’ screeching seemed eerie and foreign as did the owlers constant questioning of “who, who, who.”
Once again, she cupped her hands together and concentrated on the sphere. A bubble-like sphere appeared that was full of light although clear. Sarah could feel the markings burn on her hands as she increased the size of the sphere.
The sphere encased her and Majaga providing warmth and light as they made their way to the Antiqk Oracle. Majaga grunted in surprise for now as they moved forward to the Oracle, the bubble went as well.
Satisfied, she opened her eyes and took up Majaga’s reigns and encouraged her to accelerate. She had no desire to be out of the castle the entire night. Sarah had only gone a few paces when the shadows stirred, reminding her of Marion’s initial comments on Veloris’ nocturnal creatures and their appetite for humans.
The growling of a monstrous cat seeped in to the bleak air from a thatch of hairy vegetation growth to Sarah’s right. Skinny with clumps of its coat rip
ped out along with a chunk of its ear, the cat growled, and then pounced.
Sarah flinched and closed her eyes tight as she waited for the agonizing pain of sharp teeth ripping through her flesh.
The animal ran in to the sphere and was catapulted back with as much force as he gave in its attack.
She opened her eyes and witnessed the cat shaking its head in disbelief and then watched as it whimpered off to the dim corners of the forest.
* * *
Marion tossed and turned about in his bed, throwing the covering and blankets to the floor. Sleep would not come to relieve his active mind.
He had deliberately missed evening meal to meditate and to realign his thoughts. The crushing blow to his heart and to his pride had to be repaired or else true sickness may set in.
He had remained seated on his danker rug, surrounded by the burning incense of spicy tellia and the musk scent of seabroaka for what seemed like hundreds of rotations following his meeting with Queen Zoë. The chaos within must be silenced. He had lost control of himself with Sarah; he must not allow that to happen again. For it was for Sarah to decide who would keep the keys to her heart.
Groaning, he turned over to his stomach.
“Bah!”
He could not allow her to be with another; the meditation had only caused him to focus on her more, her warmth and her smile and his need to possess her love for his own.
He climbed sluggishly from bed. He needed answers and direction. This usually came from Queen Zoë, but in her weakened condition, she was of little assurance or ideas, for this matter.
Pulling out his sword and placing it casually on the bed, Marion dressed in the twilight dusk of his quarters. He knew where had to go for answers.
The Antiqk Oracle.
* * *
The iciness of Veloris caused Amana to shudder and grimace. Dressed far better than her sister when she arrived rotations earlier, Amana’s cloak and boots still left her ill prepared for the blizzard-like weather.
Searching around the blanketed white-covered forest, Amana saw glimpses of colorful vegetation, but little indication of a trail, road or anything that would point her in the direction of locating Marion.
Lifting her eyes toward the north, she squinted in the icy downfall as she made out the outline of what looked like furls of smoke. Where there was smoke, there was something that burned, so she started towards the north. She had to find Marion.
Amana marched on for what seemed like hours and she grew weaker and weaker. It had been eons since she was alive and in flesh. The numbing cold and her empty stomach did nothing to strengthen her hike up the rolling hills toward the swirls of smoke.
Her vision blurred and the back of her legs burned with each step she took. The gnawing ache in her back coupled with the tingling in her hands was further indication that she needed to find shelter and food.
Soon.
Amana hiked on for a few more miles before fainting into the fresh snowfall of the early morning hours.
* * *
Queen Zoë woke with a start in the undisturbed hours of the new morning. “Someone is here.”
Tapped into the entire world network of Veloris, Queen Zoë climbed out of bed and stepped into her slippers. Snatching her robe from the bed, she wrapped her slender frame into the soft comfort of terra as she hurried down the stairs. She even knew that Sarah was on her way to the Antiqk Oracle.
Taking the steps from her quarters, she rounded the curb and like a blur she hurried on through the Great Hall and on to the cluster of Knights’ quarters.
She wiped her now sweaty brow and huffing and puffing, knocked hard on Marion’s door. He opened it immediately.
Surprised, he asked, “Mother?”
“Marion.”
Marion quickly snatched his sword from his bed as he heard the fear in his mother’s voice, “What has happened?” Marion searched the worried folds of her face. “Sarah?”
“No. Someone has come through the circle,” she panted.
Marion slammed his door and quickly hurried towards the stables. The answers in which he sought would have to wait until he found the stranger that had come through the circle. He reached the stables and took out his danker beast. “Duty before love,” he laughed as he sped off into the night.
* * *
Sarah clapped her hands together and the sphere dispersed. She gave Majaga a pat on the head, and she walked slowly to the opening mouth of the Antiqk Oracle.
She had not forgotten about the rapid-fire answers the Oracle gave when one did not have control of her mind. Unsteady, she entered the Antiqk Oracle and immediately the flashing orange glowing begged her to “come.”
Hesitantly, she placed both hands onto the warm globe and the markings on her hands burned as if she had placed them directly into the flames of her fireplace.
Screaming she tried to pull her hands free, but they were plastered to the globe.
“Calm,” the watery voice of the Antiqk Oracle commanded.
Sarah stopped immediately but looked around hysterically trying to locate the owner of the voice.
“I am the Antiqk Oracle, Sarah.”
“What?” Sarah concentrated on cooling the burning sensation on her hands. “You are hurting me!”
“You can stop the pain; it is your power.” The watery voice seemed amused, Sarah thought as she focused on the cooling water at the bottom of Stocklah waterfalls.
Sarah, breathing rapidly, felt her hands begin to cool. “Why did you not speak to me the first time I was here?”
“You were not ready to hear,” the voice again seemed to giggle at her.
“Tell me the truth of the Minister Knights,” Sarah demanded as she tried in vain to extract her hands from the Oracle. She would not get to leave until the Oracle was ready to release her.
“The Minister Knights are the descendants of Zolla, whose daughter Zoë now sits on the throne of Veloris.”
“Are they human?” Sarah gave up on leaving the Oracle; she came here for answers. Instead she focused on preparing to ask her questions.
“Yes, the Minister Knights are human.”
“What is my purpose?”
The Oracle deepened into a rough, rogue color before continuing to speak. “You know of your destiny. Embrace it and listen to it.”
“Answer me!” Sarah screamed at the Oracle.
“You have the answer you seek, listen and embrace, Sarah.” the watery voice of the Oracle laughed at her, and it reminded her of Octiva. “Listen and embrace.”
“Is this what you have beckoned me here for?” Sarah said exasperated, and started to cry. “Give me something; I am alone here.”
“Here.” The water voice stopped laughing and a vision emerged of a woman, a man and several children scattered about them in front of an open hearth. “You are not alone, Sarah. Remember to embrace and listen.”
The Antiqk Oracle fell dim and Sarah had to peel her hands from its surface. The markings stung and throbbed in protest to the frying they received from the Oracle.
* * *
Marion encouraged his danker beast until it bled as he hurried to the circle. The early morning snowfall made it difficult to speed through the mounds of fresh coldness.
Her black hair was the only indication that something was different in the blanket of whiteness.
He jumped down from his danker beast, lifted the woman from the thin layer of snow that now covered her body and wrapped her in a blanket. He threw her body over the danker beast and started towards the castle with urgency.
He once again encouraged his danker beast to a breakneck pace. He had to get the girl to the warmth of the castle and he had to get her to the greenery for healing, for Marion had no idea how long the girl had been in the snowfall and frost. Veloris at night could be brutal.
He did not know how or why Amana had come through the circle, strange that someone had escaped the cages. It had been done before with Zykeiah’s arrival, but not since. But he could n
ot devote any more thought to the girl’s arrival through the circle. All his attention must be toward reaching the castle as soon as possible. The girl was barely breathing and the tips of her fingers were blue.
He had to make it, for if she died Marion had no idea what Sarah would do.
* * *
Sarah wearily climbed onto Majaga and without much concentration summoned the protective sphere. She headed back to the castle, defeated and tired. The Antiqk Oracle had not answered any of her questions. Who was the woman in the vision? Who were the babes? More importantly, embrace and listen, the Oracle had said repeatedly. The instinct within her had to be what the Oracle had referred to.
The trip back to the castle dragged by as she fought to keep her eyes open. She had so much energy when she left for the Antiqk Oracle, and the Oracle had drained it with fiery precision, leaving her hollow and empty.
When she finally reached the castle, she tied up Majaga, fed her some grass, and dragged down the hall to the East Wing. She then went up the spiraling steps to the waiting comforts of her quarters.
Sarah did not remove any of her clothes, but dropped to the bed, exhausted.
* * *
Sarah had briefly closed her eyes when the pounding on her door made them flap open. Her eyes burned as she cracked the door.
“You need to come to the queen’s quarters,” Kalah calmly said as Sarah groggily yawned.
“At this hour?” She glanced at the position of the moon. “Can it not wait until morning?” Late morning, Sarah thought.
“No,” Kalah said before turning and leaving.
She shut the door and quickly hurried after Kalah. Kalah’s deadpan expression and attitude indicated that something was going on.
Tired and still a little sleepy, she dragged as she made her way to the queen’s quarters. Kalah did not ask why she was still fully dressed, but continued on ahead at full pace, until she could no longer see him.
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