Oracle’s Haunt: Desert Cursed Series Book 4

by Shannon Mayer

  My head snapped up and my jaw tightened even as the tears slid down my cheeks. “No. That is not the answer. Find another one.”

  I stood there, my mind racing as I fed the energy I had into Lila’s body, keeping her alive. I drew a shuddering breath and only one thought as to what to do next. “The Oracle will have a way to fix Lila.”

  I handed Lila’s limp body to Ollianna as I made a sling out of a strip off the bottom of my cloak, then tucked Lila into it so she was against my chest, heart to heart, skin to scales.

  “You can keep her alive as long as you feed her your energy,” Ollianna said softly, “but she will drag you down eventually, Zam.”

  I ignored her and broke into a jog. “Then we need to move fast. We’re close to the Oracle. I have time.” Lila had time. She had to have time.

  There was a distinctive whoosh of feathered wings above us as I ran across the blasted lands, avoiding the pits, my eyes on one thing only. Getting Lila to the Oracle.

  Saving the sister of my heart.

  Or die trying.

  24

  Lila didn’t so much as wriggle in my arms even as I ran, even as I knew I jostled her limp form.

  “More of those birds are coming,” Trick said.

  “Then fry their asses with everything you’ve got,” I said. “I have to get her to the Oracle.”

  Trick didn’t question me, thank the goddess, but leapt into the air so he was above us once more, his undulating body driving up toward the birds of prey. But they weren’t coming for him.

  They were coming for me, or more specifically, the flail I carried.

  The Emperor wanted it, and that was enough for me to keep it from him. If he thought for one second I would hand it over, he was going to get a big fucking surprise.

  Ollianna jogged easily at my side, dodging a spurt of putrid waste easily as it shot into the air. “The flail is a draw to the creatures. Why not leave it behind?”

  “If the Emperor wants it,” I held Lila tighter to me with one arm, “then that is reason enough for me to keep it from him. He thinks it will break open his prison.” I glanced at her as a thought hit me. “You going to try and take it from me, get in good with your father?” It was easy to forget who she was connected to. And that was stupid of me. All I had to do was look at Merlin, the fucking turncoat.

  She shook her head, a wry twist to her lips. “Hardly. Seeing as it tried to eat me once, I would rather not touch it again if I didn’t have to.”

  Ollianna had a point.

  I jumped over a pile of rocks, and on the other side went to one knee as my connection to Lila dragged on my energy. I knelt there, breathing hard, fighting to make my legs move. Ollianna grabbed my free arm and hauled me to my feet.

  “I don’t get paid enough for this,” she muttered and I laughed at her.

  “There is no amount of money to push me into the blasted lands,” I said.

  She half dragged me along and I worked to keep my feet under me and managed, barely.

  Ahead of us was a pile of rocks, taller than my head. Like the standing stones we’d seen the Emperor draw energy from, only there were three of these and they were angled so the tops of them touched. Within the structure the air burned with a black flame that threw off cold instead of heat.

  The black flames danced between the stones, wisps every color of the rainbow within that black, like a raven’s wing. “Is that because of the toxic waste?” I asked as we stopped about fifteen feet away from the giant rocks.

  Ollianna shook her head. “I don’t know. Do you believe that to be the Oracle’s Haunt?”

  “Yes. It’s what I saw on the map,” I said.

  I swallowed hard, knowing full well what I looked at, and what I was going to have to do.

  “I’d walk through fire for you, Lila,” I whispered as I strode toward the rocks. The cold was so cold it burned, the temperature rolling off them was intense and my face lost all its moisture, turning my skin to a dry crackle. I lifted my free hand, pausing where I was. This was right, it had to be.

  Yet something in me made me stop. And question what I was looking at. The map hadn’t said anything about giant assed falcon birds. What if it was wrong about this too?

  I closed my eyes. I really was a fool. The Emperor created the map.

  “Zam, I don’t think this is it,” Ollianna said. “You don’t know that’s the Oracle’s Haunt.”

  Only I did. I’d seen it in the map of the world in the dreamscape, the map . . . the Emperor had created. I backed as fast as I’d stepped forward. “That dirty motherfucker! It’s a damn ruse!”

  One second he was seemingly helpful, the next he was trying to kill me.

  He’d almost had me. Almost sent me to walk to my doom believing it was the Oracle’s Haunt. The flail would have fallen to the ground, ready to be scooped by whomever he sent.

  Above us, Trick roared and several brilliant flashes of lightning lit up the world, brighter than any day.

  There was another pull on my energy from the little dragon in my arms as she fell farther away from me. I struggled to breathe around the energy dip. Lila’s heart beat still but it was so weak . . . her heart and body were failing with each second that ticked by.

  I took a step, then another around the stones. Then went to my knees. “Ollianna, I don’t know where to go.”

  She knelt beside me. “Put your hands to the earth and use the magic you carry. This is your quest, so you are the one who must find the Oracle. The only one who has that ability.”

  Her words didn’t make sense to me. How could I be the only one to find the Oracle? What did Ollianna know?

  “Lila will die,” I whispered. “If I use whatever magic I have to find our way, I won’t be able to keep her heart beating.”

  “She will die if you do not find the Oracle,” Ollianna said, her words hard as iron. “The choice is yours.”

  She was right. It didn’t matter how much I hated it, she was right.

  I put my free hand to the earth, then slowly removed the other from Lila’s body. The second I did that, her heart stuttered. I jammed my hand to the earth and opened myself to whatever magic sung through me. My father had found his people through this ability of tracking; I could find the Oracle too. I had to, there was no other choice now.

  On my back the flail hummed, warming against my spine, and the earth below me lit up, a faint glowing red line that shot out away from me.

  “Follow it.” I shoved myself to my feet and started running after the red line as it zipped ahead of us. There was no thought as to whether this was the right way. It either was or it wasn’t and our fates—and Lila’s—were tied to it.

  I’d thrown the dice and the prize was Lila’s life. I clung to her as I ran for all I was worth, the red zipping line just ahead of me . . . and then it stopped, climbed a sheer rock face and crawled over the surface, highlighting designs that had been etched into the stone until they cracked and opened, revealing a cave that glowed from within. I lifted my hand to the opening, and though I could see through it, the way was still blocked.

  “Sweet moon goddess,” Ollianna said. “You did it.”

  Another time I would have given her a snappy comeback. But not with Lila limp in my arms.

  “Oracle,” I yelled, as I ran my hand over the opening, searching for a way in. “Please, my friend is dying. I need you to save her!”

  There was a moment of perfect silence while the battle above us raged between the storm dragon and the falcons, where Lila lay silent, and every hope within my body held tightly to this one last possibility.

  A crackling of flames burst to life around the circular doorway, designs and glyphs that looked suspiciously like the ones on my mother’s journal. The ones that would guide me on how to kill the Emperor.

  “That is not a greeting for an Oracle,” a voice called out, raspy from disuse.

  “It’s not really what I had planned either, but it is what it is!” I snapped the words. This was no
t the time to get pissy, but honest to goddess, what did this Oracle think, that she was—

  “Ahh, it’s you. I wondered when you would come to see me, Zamira.”

  “HELP MY FRIEND!” I roared the words, my patience gone. “Or I will kill the Emperor myself and free the falak to feast on this godforsaken world!”

  Behind me Ollianna gasped. “Zam, I don’t think that is the way—”

  “And I see, the little dragon. It is as I foresaw.” There was a heavy sigh from within the cave, a whisper of sulfur flowing out with it. “Bring her closer that I may see the damage.”

  I hurried forward, crossed the now open threshold and kept on walking into the darkness. Ollianna caught up to me but I had my eyes on the red glow that grew larger the closer I got to the back of the cave.

  A bird sat on a nest, wings folded back over brightly colored red plumage that glittered in the darkness, actual flames rolling off her body and up above her head. Her eyes were not red as the rest of her, but brightly colored, one blue, and one green.

  Ollianna went to her knees and bowed her head to the floor. “Oracle, I am honored to be here.”

  I did no such thing. There was not time. I crouched in front of the Oracle and held Lila’s little body up like an offering. I kept my eyes on the Oracle, all but daring her to look away. My throat tightened. “I cannot lose her. She saved my life.”

  The Oracle tipped her head to one side. “Your love for each other is a bond of family that neither has truly known before. What would you give to heal your friend, to draw her back from the brink?”

  “Anything,” I said.

  “That is a dangerous answer,” she ruffled her feathers, “but I understand it. You are like another I knew. Defiant of death.”

  I held Lila with both hands as her heart thumped, and then stopped. I bowed my head and shoved all the energy I had into her, already knowing it would not be enough.

  Shudders racked me as I leaned over her, tears streaming down my face and over her jewel-toned scales.

  The moment stretched, taut, and I didn’t lower my hands, or raise my head.

  Hope, fickle shit that it was, still held to me. Hope that Lila was not lost.

  “Soul of a dragon, that is what you have,” the Oracle said, breaking the silence. “You have heard that before. Do you not wonder what it means?”

  I blinked up at her, barely able to see through the tears. “What?”

  The Oracle leaned close, lifted a claw, and tapped it against my hand. “Soul of a dragon. Your soul is tied to hers. It is not magic that will bring her back to you, Zamira, it is your soul. Some believe love is not strong enough. Some believe it is.”

  My heart picked up speed, racing as though I were riding into battle. “Soul of a dragon,” I whispered. “I’m following her somewhere, aren’t I?”

  The Oracle closed her eyes and spread her wings. “I will open the doorway for you. You can walk through it if you so choose.” She swept her wing across my face, the heat not searing as I expected it to be but warm, sinking through the layers. I opened my eyes as the feather passed and I stood knee deep in mud, not unlike the witches’ swamp only there was no smell of anything rotting, or anything at all for that matter.

  The space around me disappeared as my eyes locked on the dragon in the air ahead of me. Nothing about her was different . . . except for her size. She was as big as her father, every part of her muscled form perfection down to the tip of her scaled tail.

  “Lila!” I called to her, pushing at the mire that held me down. Soul of a dragon, my ass, why couldn’t I fly then?

  I shoved at the muck, calling her over and over, but she kept on flying. I slumped, sweat sliding between my breasts and down the backs of my arms. “Lila, I get it. I know how hard it is to turn your back on the form you always wanted. I . . . I understand. You know I do!” Her wings slowed. “You can’t believe it’s your time, Lila.”

  Her head swiveled and she stared at me. “I couldn’t even save you, Zam,” she said, her voice catching on the pain of what she believed.

  “I’m here to bring you home,” I whispered, knowing she heard me.

  “Home?” She shook her head. “What is that even?”

  I put a single finger to my chest, then pointed it at her. “We are home when we are together. Protecting. Laughing. Fighting.”

  She closed her eyes.

  I knew that struggle now better than I ever had before. That taste of freedom, of strength and power as the jungle cat that I was meant to be had been crueler than if I’d never had it.

  “Lila,” I said, “we know what we are now, but not what we may become.”

  “Hamlet,” she said, her eyes opening. “What do you think we will become, Zam?”

  I grinned. “Saviors of the fucking world.”

  She threw back her head and roared, the sound echoing and rebounding through me. “Well, I suppose that isn’t too bad.”

  From the other side of wherever we were, the Oracle spoke.

  “Your time is running thin, reckless one.”

  “Lila, get your ass back here! We gotta go!” I barked at the dragon soul that floated in front of me, full sized and hesitating.

  A grin spread across her face as she lunged toward me. But it was not to be.

  Tiny chains woven of red matter and light wrapped around her, tangling through her legs, her wings and tail as she tried to get back to me. They stopped her forward momentum and dragged her to the ground.

  I lurched forward, understanding hitting me like a landslide of rocks landing on my head. Death was pulling her in, even though she fought to come back. “Lila!”

  “I’m trying!” she roared as she twisted around, the red chains tightening with each move of her body.

  Her very large body.

  I stopped moving. “Lila, you have to go small again. The chains will fall off for a moment, and you’ll have your shot.”

  She looked at me. “I . . .”

  I nodded. “I know, Lila. I know.”

  There was a moment where I wasn’t sure she was going to do it, where she looked back at wherever she’d been headed before I called to her.

  “Son of a pile of dragon shit,” she snarled, and her body shimmered, shrinking until she was no bigger than a house cat, the threads of death falling from her body. She flew through them easily, dodging their hold even as they fought to regroup.

  I held out my arms; she took two hopping leaps, and landed in them. I held her to my chest, unable to stop the mix of laughter and tears.

  There was a pain in my head as I felt the world shift again and we were in the Oracle’s cave. Lila blinked up at me, her eyes wet too, sparkling tears dropping to the ground at our feet. “Was I really almost dead?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. But you aren’t getting out of this that easily.”

  She grinned up at me and then slumped. I held her tight, feeling the strength of her heart as it beat against my own chest. Alive, just too tired to go on. That I understood.

  And then I looked up at the Oracle as she stared back down at me. “Thank you.”

  “You are the one who did it. And I owed your mother a favor,” she said.

  My jaw dropped. “My mother?”

  The Oracle bobbed her head slowly. “She did something for me, a long time ago, and made me promise to help should either of her children come to me in need. You are her child, her stamp is on you as clear as the day rises in the east.”

  Hope burned through me. “My brother, he—”

  “Is also dead. Yes, I saw that in the flames.” The Oracle tucked her wings back against her side and yawned. “Good night, reckless one.”

  “Good night? Wait, don’t go to sleep!” I reached out to touch her and the flames around her shot up, burning my hand. I yelped and snatched it back. “What the fuck?”

  The Oracle opened one eye. “It takes much to open the way to the dragons’ death realm. That is all I can give you. Come back another year or two from now, and I will a
nswer your question.”

  Her words didn’t take long to penetrate even my thick skull. Time to talk fast. Only I wasn’t the only one who wanted questions. “How do I bring Bryce back? The Emperor said something about the Wyvern—”

  “How can I have a child?” Ollianna cried out.

  Well, fuck.

  Apparently, she wasn’t just in this to help me out.

  The Oracle sighed again, yawning. “The Wyvern is only part of the answer, the most dangerous part. You must embrace death to find what you seek. A child waits at the crossroads. A spell is broken on the impaling stake on the third golden moon. An Emperor dethroned. It comes for you three. Three. Three. Three.”

  “I don’t want a fucking riddle!” I snapped.

  She laughed, the Oracle laughed at me. “You and your mother, tempestuous cats, you make me smile. The fire in you will burn until it can burn no more, the curse will be offered a cleansing, the magic, the child, the spell, they are tied—” Her yawn this time cut off the last word, and I watched in horror as she slid away from us, the flame dying as her body turned into a sculpture of a phoenix, hard and cold, wings outspread as if she were about to take off in flight. I dared to lift my hand and ghosted my fingers over her wings.

  Warm, but it was a residual heat.

  I took a step back, anger and frustration cutting through me. The urge to smash that fucking statue and scatter the stones was so strong, I made myself take another step away. All this way, all this way and for what?

  “What a fucking waste.” I slapped my hand against the Oracle’s side and the heat, that had been only warm a moment before, blasted through me. I sailed through the air until I slammed into the wall, the back of my head taking the worst of the blow. My hand throbbed along with my head as I slumped there.

  “Shit.”

  Lila slept through the impromptu flight and I struggled not to burst into tears. I’d known frustration in my life, but not like this.

  “No,” Ollianna walked to me and crouched at my side, “not shit, and not a waste. Do you not know that she gave us both all the clues we need?”

  I turned my head to face her. “Are you fucking serious?”