Could I will myself to be a bird like Livia and fly down one of the chimneys? They all chugged out smoke and I’d be a toasted sparrow. Only one way to get through it—with fire—and only one way to make it—become a cadmean beast. I trembled, remembering my hands covered in strange fur. What if there was no changing back?
I knelt on the cold rock, seeking answers.
I had no magical weapons. I only had me.
Power within.
I. Was. The. Oracle.
Anger at Nostos drove spikes in me. After all my friends and I had been through in our deadly adventures, still nothing on Nostos changed. I had to become the thing I feared most to fight this evil.
I closed my eyes, willing it. My skin blistered. Knuckles cracked. Fur ripped along my hands. A moan boiled up from deep inside me. I stood on four legs with power like a train rushing through me. I opened my eyes. The world stood in black and white. Scents punched up my nose from everywhere: earthy moss clinging to trees, smoke wafting from the wall torches at the castle gate. Sounds blared in my ears. Birds chattered in trees miles away. Squirrels thumped along branches. Whispers of the villagers in the courtyard voicing their trepidation of Artemis shouted in my head. I grew dizzy with the overwhelming attack on my senses and forced myself to move forward on heavy, padded feet, my tail swishing behind me.
With a snap of my jaws, I commanded the very fire that once tried to kill me. It roared from my mouth in an angry blaze. The door crackled as fire surged across it, gorging on wood. Within moments, its timber split apart and crumbled to ash. Urgency powered me to dash through the door and jet down the stone steps, tumbling into walls with my new four-footed body flying beneath me.
I soon reached a dank, cobwebby hallway, my beast eyes taking in every detail, my senses alive. There was a definite advantage to being a beast than a boy right now. Around a corner, voices jumbled together. I paused, listening with twitchy ears.
“I’m off to her chambers to light the fire before she gets back from the hunt,” said a scratchy woman’s voice.
“I’ve got it worse in the kitchen,” Scratchy’s companion whined. “She’ll likely blast me to bits if I ruin her dinner. She’s sending those Reekers to the Wild Lands now for sport, not just food.”
“Things sure have changed around here. Death is everywhere. Now her and Leandro are trying to get the Oracle for their own use. Wait ’til Zeus finds out! Indeed! As if a mixed mortal could solve our world’s problems. Humph.”
“Who cares about the Reekers?” Whiny shot back. “I’ve got my own problems to worry about, much less all of Nostos. Like getting extra food rations to feed my family.”
“Or like serving fatty meat and undercooked potatoes to her highness. You better watch your back. Vapes go off around here like fireworks.”
The voices of Scratchy and Whiny grew closer. I shoved my hard-muscled brutish body up against cold rock in the blackest well of shadows. Pushing deeper into it, the wall gave way and, muffling a yelp, I fell into complete darkness. My canine eyes switched to night vision as the hidden door closed shut. A tunnel opened between the walls like Ash said! The voices moved away. I followed the sound as I sprang along my new hideaway.
“She vaped a Reeker yesterday and didn’t even use a vape.” Scratchy’s voice lowered but my sharp hearing picked it up perfectly.
“You mean like ancient magic?”
“Yes. She shot blue right out of her fingers! The poor Reeker.”
Like that evil Hekate vaped folks to death with her fingers in the Lost Realm!
“What’d the stupid mortal do to get vaped?” Whiny said.
“He hung her dress too close by the fire to dry after washing and singed the back of it.”
“Serves the ignorant Barbaros right. Dumb lot they are. They should stay on Earth among their own kind.”
“Not the Oracle,” Scratchy said. “He’s the wise one to fix us up right. Give those nasty heirs back their powers and make ’em do good with them. Give us choices. I could’ve run my own business, you know. Been rich, if I weren’t made to work for Artemis.”
“You’d be nothing of the kind, you lazy bum. You’d end up living in a ditch in the Perimeter Lands like your ancestors, eating acorn paste and washing clothes for the outlaws. Rich. Bah! Take your dreams and bag ’em.”
“Oh, bugger off,” Scratchy said. “Get to the kitchen or you’ll be next in line for a vaping—after me, if I don’t light her majesty’s fire!”
“I’m going. I’m going,” Whiny grumbled.
Footsteps clomped away. A light pierced my eye through a hole in the rock. A peephole set in a door! A fat woman with a torch headed my way. I jumped back before I realized that the woman couldn’t see me, and she passed right by. She was Scratchy the fire starter, and this had to be Artemis’s chambers! I watched her as she did her work, complaining the entire time. She waddled off and shut the ornate door behind her. Taking a deep breath, I pushed hard against the tunnel door. It creaked open and I slunk through, my beast senses on high alert.
Giant arches rose up in a cathedral ceiling, and firelight flickered across the queen’s chambers from the walk-in fireplace. In the center rose a massive bed with Greek columns at each edge. Gold curtains fell from the ceiling all around it. I moved into the royal room, and the overwhelming scent of roses exploded up my nose.
The smell shocked my body stiff. My every limb trembled and I collapsed on the floor.
Only one person had that smell.
Hekate! She had returned, posing as Artemis! How did she do it? Using the queen’s body as she’d done before to keep her nasty brother alive, Cronag the Child Collector? I clenched every muscle. A sick dread snaked through my stomach, and I retched in the shadows until nothing more came up.
I shook off my sickness and stood on all fours.
Focus, Joshua!
Apollo had killed Hekate with her own curse in the Lost Realm and Bo Chez’s words came to me. Let’s hope she doesn’t find magic to come back. But she had, and she’d put a spell over Leandro and Artemis to follow her commands. Now to find the orb!
I dashed around the room, pawing open drawers and closets until my eye caught a box on her dresser. Would she keep it in plain sight? I ripped the lock apart with my teeth. The top clicked open. The lightning orb glimmered inside. Clouds swirled inside the giant gumball-sized crystal. Lightning dashed across the tiny storm. I scooped it up in my giant jaws when a shape moved next to me. My reflection in a mirror. In shock, I dropped the crystal. I faced my worst nightmare. Red eyes burned into mine. Slicked-back fur like arrows sprung all over my monstrous body while muscles rippled across my chest and haunches. A thick tongue panted from my snout as foam dripped in points from dagger teeth. A giant murderous flame-breathing fox stared back at me. Where was I in there?
The loss of my world dunked my heart in a well of sorrow. The beast melted away. Joshua the boy faced me again. I dropped my bow and quiver and gasped. Stunned to see my return, I didn’t hear the soft footfalls outside in the hall or a knock at the door.
“My queen?”
The door ripped open. I lunged for the orb but two words stopped me.
“Stand down!”
I jerked around to Leandro’s fierce face and a sword pointed at my chest.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Well, well,” Leandro said darkly. “I came to report that my party still hadn’t found the Oracle, and now I have you.”
No chance to scram and cram. Soon rope chafed my wrists as Leandro led me alongside his horse in a throng of soldiers through the dusty, noisy village that filled the castle’s courtyard. I considered willing myself into a bird to fly away, but Leandro would know for sure I was the Oracle. I couldn’t risk it yet.
“I’m not the Oracle. I’m just a kid.”
He gave me a sidelong glance. “You’ll prove it soon enough.”
I feared how as I stumbled along. Thatched huts wound down alleyways and into the shadows of the towering castle
. Stray dogs ran about and rough riders drove squeaky wagons carrying crates of clucking chickens and grunting pigs. Tethered goats baahhed near smoking pots where women stirred their contents over open fires. Roasting meat and thick stews invaded my nose and my stomach griped in hunger.
Quiet soon fell over the square, the clop of our horses the one sound cutting the air as we passed the Arrow Realm folk. They stopped their daily market business to watch us pass. Some spit at my feet. Some stared at me with pity. You’re all kept by Artemis too, I wanted to shout.
“Your journal,” I said. “You should read it.” It bumped into my side with each step.
“Means nothing to me now. Artemis helped me see that. If you don’t give us your powers, it’ll burn with you.”
“You’ll never get my powers.”
Leandro stopped fast and pulled my chin to face him. “Those may be your last words, Reeker.”
I matched his stare-off until he threw his head back and laughed. “No need for you to submit. We have you now. Soon to be all of you.”
I held my breath. “What do you mean?”
“Your body. Could be useful. Hypnosis or maybe possession. My queen will decide.”
“No way.”
“Oh, there is always a way. Trust me.”
I did once.
“You can’t make me!”
“You’ll change your mind.”
He dismissed me and resumed his horse’s trot while I ran to keep pace. Much more of this and my body wouldn’t be worth anything.
I willed my feet over muddy ruts. “Leandro, why?”
He flung his hair back with a frown. “A means to an end—or rather a new beginning for some of us.”
“Don’t you remember us?” I tried another way.
Leandro looked straight ahead. “There is no us.”
“Release the key.”
He laughed. “You think I’m under some spell you can remove? I’ve never been under a spell. You’ve been my target all along.”
“It’s a lie!”
“I do not lie.”
“You lied to Hekate to save me. You and Bo Chez. Don’t you remember? In the Lost Realm?”
“Irrelevant. It’s payback time.”
The Child Collector had said the same thing to me in the Lost Realm.
“For what?”
“My sister.”
“Sister?”
“Hekate.”
“Cronag?” I croaked out.
“Not so dumb after all, are you, Reeker?” He threw his head back and laughed. “Of course it’s Cronag the Child Collector, only much better looking thanks to this body!”
No! Cronag was dead and gone. He’d been no Ancient Immortal like his sister. She’d kept his spirit alive for centuries in the bodies of others.
“How?” I whispered.
“Hekate’s ancient magic.”
I wanted to turn away, not see the ugly insides of the Child Collector who’d murdered my mother, but the face of Leandro froze me with this awful truth.
“What about Ash?”
“I sent her to get you under the guise of rescuing Apollo. All part of the plan for Artemis—excuse me, Hekate—to get your powers and rule Nostos.”
“You’re a liar and a traitor!” I stumbled back, pain shooting through my tired legs. “I don’t believe you! You changed after I saw you in the dungeon.”
He came to a halt, falling behind the others, and thrust a knife in my face. “When I’m the queen’s head advisor that tongue will get you killed.”
He shoved me back and continued his trot as I struggled to keep up.
“You gave me the bow you made for your son.” I tugged on my rope to force him to look at me. He turned, his eyes crinkling as if with a long lost memory. His nostrils widened then he faced front again, pulling my rope so hard I staggered to the left, barely missing a hoof to my head. “You’ll never know your father.”
His words cut deep. How could he know this? Not so long ago it was true, but now I had hope he was alive and someday we’d meet. No one could take away that hope, not even my fallen hero.
I walked faster to keep up. “Where are you taking me?”
“The Great Bog. Once the queen proves your powers and acquires them with her magic, you are no longer needed.” He picked up speed, catching up behind his men and the queen. “Keep up, boy. If the queen finds no use for your body, you’ll need to run when we dump you in the Wild Lands, like you dumped me. I doubt you’ll fare as well as I did.” He laughed, sending a chill through me.
We passed under the arches of the castle and words cut clear into the stone over them. Leave these doors in honor of Queen Artemis. Return with plenty and we shall live forever. May your hand be steady and your arrow find its mark! Hunt on!
The hunt was on as we cantered into the forest and I was the delivered prey. Leandro picked up speed and I ran to keep up, terrified of being dragged by his black stallion.
We stopped at a clearing in the woods. Artemis shouted out orders, and her men split into two ranks encircling a great bog before us, then she ordered Leandro to bring me to the edge of the water.
He untied me and pushed me to Artemis, handing her my lightning orb. She grasped it as she sat on her horse, watching me with triumph on her face. The rotten vegetation smell of the bubbling water made me gag. Moss and vines hung from trees, fading in and out of the curling mist that rose from the brackish water. Movement caught my eye. Did my blurry, tired vision deceive me? No. The water rippled. A tusk poked up from the sludge. And another. Deadly hydriads. A swarm of them. They’d nearly killed me in the Lost Realm. Leandro had saved me then. Not now.
Twigs fell in the water, swirling into shapes. FRIENDS … ARE … HERE … FOR … YOU.
“No one is here for me,” I whispered to myself.
The water swirled again. ONE … FOR … THE … MANY.
“I’m the one,” I said to myself.
“It’s time to prove you’re the one, Oracle,” Artemis said, answering my whisper, her black sunglasses twin pits to hell.
Leandro dismounted and pushed me into the bog, the water just above my knees. The tusks paused in their movement before racing toward me. Adrenaline rushed through me, and I pushed through the water toward a boulder, scrambling up on it. The monstrous fish bashed against my rock, eager to lance me and suck the water from my body.
“Go on. Fight back, Oracle! Become the beast you want to be!” Artemis threw up an arm.
No. I wouldn’t do it. Not for her! Not this way.
Leandro raised his bow and nocked an arrow to it. The other soldiers followed. An army stood against me. The arrows flew. I slid off the rock and grabbed the fallen weapons, fleeing into the bog. The hydriads came fast. Their snouts banged into me and I stabbed them with the arrows. Blood swirled around me. I dragged myself up on another rock.
My hand shook over the water. A part of me wanted to make the water rise with my new power. Drown them all! No! I wouldn’t kill many to save only me—the one. The Oracle.
Artemis’s laughter rang out. “Why don’t you fight back with your powers, boy? Or are you helpless without this?” She held up the lightning orb. In the sun’s blue haze, it shone like a crystal ball with a terrifying future to tell. “I can kill with it too.”
She flung the orb.
I slammed face down on the rock, and the orb exploded beside me in the water, killing a slew of hydriads. Missed! The orb sailed back to her hand. Rage funneled dark inside me. I stood, battling my body’s want to become what she desired. I willed the animal inside me down.
“You think you can force me to show powers?” I shouted across the water. “I didn’t before, why would I now?”
She held up the orb. “You’ll have no choice where we’re headed. The Black Heart Tree has the power to hypnotize far stronger than Hypnos. That idiot escaped, and his people will suffer because of it. Now you shall suffer by the hand of your own friend.” She handed the orb back to Leandro who held it high
.
“Reveal your powers and I will eliminate you without pain,” Artemis said.
I shook my head and shivered in my wet clothes. “N-never.”
“You’ve proven resourceful with your mortal skills. Let’s see how you are now. Move the water and release your beast!” Artemis said, slapping the reins at her horse.
My heart jumped at every splash in the misty, bubbling bog, expecting death from all sides. A giant roar cut across the water. Through the rising fog, a yellow mass of teeth and muscle and mane launched at me. A cretan.
If there was ever a time to reveal my Nostos powers, now was it—but there was one hope left. I clutched a tree vine and started climbing. My arms screamed with the effort. Up I went, inch by inch, aiming for the first tree branch to grab. The soldiers stopped shooting their arrows and began chanting. “Oracle. Oracle.”
Leandro pulled his hand back to throw the orb, but Artemis stopped him and the chants died down. “Fight beast with beast, boy. End this battle of wills. Show your powers. I must know for sure.”
She’d own me if I did. Evil would live and good would die. Earth kids would keep getting kidnapped. The Wild Childs would never get home. All in the WC would remain enslaved. And I’d be dead. Myth said another one hundred years would pass before an Oracle came again. This was my role. Here. Now.
I. Am. The. Oracle.
The time to make a decision was now. I hung on for dear life, my chest threatening to splice in two as my legs gripped the fraying rope. Pling. A thread shot off the vine. Pling-pling. More popped. The vine grew thinner and the cretan roared below, shaking the vine between its teeth. My hands slipped. Farther I slid down, my legs hugging the vine as I prayed it didn’t break. My enemies watched and waited.
Artemis couldn’t have my powers if I didn’t command them. But I was losing the battle of the vine and would soon be cretan chow. The beast flung its mane, moaning with hunger. Despite its need to eat me, my heart went out to it.
“Let me live and I’ll take her down. I’ll fight to save you and all the animals,” I pleaded with it.
My hands grew numb. Down I slid. The cretan’s tongue panted faster as it pawed at my life line.
Joshua and the Arrow Realm Page 17
