The Illyrian Series: The Oracle Of Rosedale

In the living room, there's a torn, red sofa with mystery stains. The walls are covered with flowery wallpaper that's ripped at the middle. And the wooden floor has split planks all over.

The room is sweltering.

"We don't have space for more people at the moment, write your name down. If someone dies, you'll be moved on the waiting list." A man walks into the room and plops down on the sad sofa.

"I'm not looking for somewhere to stay, I want to speak to the owner of this establishment." I put on my toughest voice.

"You are looking at him. The owner of this rotting sinkhole." He brings out an old book and reads from it.

A child runs through the living room and down the hall. "Don't run around the halls." The man scolds in native Illyrian.

My heart constricts in my chest. "I would like to make a donation." He doesn't even look at me.

He scoffs. "Donation, do I look stupid to you?"

"I'm serious." I bring out a tiny pouch from my satchel and jingle it.

He hears the sound of gold coins clacking against each other and turns to me. He's in my front in half a second. "You're serious."

I nod. "Please take it." I hand it over to him. "This too." I remove my ruby ring and give it to him. "It's not much, but it's something."

"Why are you giving this to me, who sent you?" He gives it back to me.

"I'm Illyrian." Not a lie. "I was passing by and I heard a few of us live here. I thought I'll help any way I could."

He exhales. "I don't feel comfortable taking your money."

"I don't mind," I say. "Just promise you'll use it for the people." He's still skeptical. "Please take it, you can't tell me these people don't need it."

He thinks for a second. Finally, he nods slowly and I place the silk pouch gently in his palms. I give the depressing place one last look before heading for the door. "What's your name?"

I don't hesitate. "Violet. Violet Diggery."

"Diggery, Liege Diggery?" He asks.

I nod. "My uncle."

"Thank you, my Lady. Nice to know they haven't all abandoned us."

I nod and rush out of the suffocating room.

I have never felt more guilty.

My family did this to them. We made them refugees. We made them destitute.

I hope that whatever is waiting for me at the end of this quest will help me save them.

"We thought we were coming to get you. After last time," Malin says as I rejoin him and Violet at the inn.

"I'm fine, let's leave. Sorry for the delay."

"It's alright, we went food shopping while you were on your little charity visit," Violet says. I notice the extra bags.

Malin hums. "I liked it here, maybe we can stay at an inn more often."

I wince. "I gave away all my money. And a ruby ring."

Violet curses. "Why do you do the things you do?"

"I don't regret it," I say simply. And I don't, not one bit.

***

"I need to talk to you two." We're currently resting near a pond. We'll be arriving at Rinus Valley tomorrow and I'm yet to tell them Lilian's message. I would have told them earlier but the last few days have been hectic.

"What is it?" Violet is filling her water bottles. "You want to convince us to give away the rest of our money?"

I roll my eyes. "That was yesterday, forget it." She goes back to her task. "We're crossing Rinus Valley tomorrow, I'm sure you heard the rumors."

"We'll be fine, we can fight off the attackers." Malin is laying under a tree, his eyes are closed. "They shouldn't be too hard to fend off."

"No, I want us to get captured." They give me quizzical looks. "A few nights ago, I saw Liliana. She said that fighting will be in vain. That we have to get caught and prove that we want to go across. There's a test."

"A test, what exactly is the test?" Malin sits up.

"I don't know, that's all she told me."

"And you're telling us this now?" Violet complains.

"I'm sorry, but we still have time. We can come up with something before we get there. It shouldn't be too hard to get captured..."

"Shut up." Violet cuts me off.

"Excuse me," I ask.

"I said shut up, can't you hear it?" She whispers. I keep quiet and strain my ears to hear whatever it is she's talking about. Violet gestures with her hands and I reach for my bow and arrow. Malin clutches the hilts of his swords.

Violet points at me and I nod. "Don't tell me to shut up, Violet. I am sick of you always doing this."

"Well maybe if you were smarter, I'd be more interested in what you had to say."

"Classic Violet," I hiss. "Thinks she's better than everyone."

"Not everyone, just you." Malin looks between the two of us, he's wondering how much of this is real, and how much is pretend. I don't think Violet and I know either.

"Let's not fight, you two are always at each other's throat. Can't we have a nice afternoon for once?" Malin says.

"Stay out of it, you're never fair. You'll just pick your girlfriend's side."

I lower my weapon. "Why do you keep saying that, we are not..." Before I can finish my statement, an arrow lands half an inch from my thighs.

Malin unsheathes his sword and the blade sparkles under the hot sun. Bandits attack our clearing in full force. Violet uses her powers to knock a few down but they jump back immediately.

I cock my bow and point my arrow at the dark-haired man advancing towards me. I release and it hits his elbow, he struggles to remove it and I send another one closer to his heart. He falls to the ground and one of his partners lunges at me with his sword.

I stumble back and almost lose my footing. I cock another arrow and it lands in his stomach. I look around and they're at least seven more of them. Violet tosses one into the pond and fights off another.

Malin is advancing against them with speed. His blades are quick, I have trouble following their movement.

One of the bandits sends an arrow straight at my heart. I'm able to jump away at the last second and it grazes my shoulder. I drop my bow and hiss in pain.

Before he can send another arrow my way, Violet knocks him down. I quickly recover and retrieve my dagger from my boot. I use the hilt to hit him as hard as I can on the head and his eyes go still. There's a gash around his head and blood is oozing from it.

"Thank you," I say to Violet.

"Try to pay attention, will you?" She sounds angry.

Malin's fighting off three bandits at the same time.

More appear and he goes after them. A few seconds later, they drop to the ground, motionless. I don't want to know how many are dead.

Soon, we're standing in a field of bodies. Malin looks around him, as if just noticing what he's done. He lets his weapons drop to the ground and walks away.

"Mal." I follow after him. "Malin."

"What?" He seems pissed.

"What's wrong? We're safe, why are you angry?"

He scoffs. "Those people are dead, I killed them. At least I think I did, those swords...they're dangerous. I can't do that again."

"You're a soldier. Your job is to kill people."

"Not like that. You can't call that a fair fight."

I don't disagree with him. He notices this and huffs. "Where are you going? Let's go back to the pond."

"I can't look at them, not after what I did."

"You should at least clean yourself up, you're bleeding."

He shakes his head. "I'm not, not one of them landed a blow on me. This is all there's." He spreads his hands and turns around so I can see the blood on his hands, his clothes, his face. It's everywhere.

"Fine, just stay here. Violet and I will be back soon." I run back and find Violet packing up our things.

"Where's Malin?"

"He's not coming back, let's just finish clearing up."

I pick up his swords, gasp violently and drop them. "These things." I'm out of breath. "They're really powerful." My heartbeat feels slower and my skin is prickly.

"They're enchanted, they weren't made for you," Violet says.

I pick them up again and hold on. I feel the power being drained out of me but don't let go. I dip the swords in the pond and rinse the blood of them. "Your arm, it's bleeding." Violet points at my soldier.

I remember the cut. "I'll take care of it." I bring out supplies from my bag and tie a gauze to stop the bleeding.

I make sure everything is ready before leaving. I can't help but look one more time at the field. They're at least a dozen bodies lying there.

They attacked us, they wanted to kill us. I shouldn't feel bad. But Malin's right, they didn't stand a chance.

We get to him and he's stripped off his leather jacket. He walks to his horse and brings out a new set of clothes. "Do you mind?" He asks.

I turn around quickly. I hear the sound of clothes rustling and tap my knee to pass away time.

A minute later, he throws the bloodied clothes on the ground. We turn back and he has a hard look on his face.

"Violet, do you mind?" Violet lights the pile on fire. He wets a rag and scrubs all the dried blood off his body. When he's done and the clothes are completely engulfed, he throws the rag and climbs his horse.

"We should get going." We ride after him in silence. Luckily, we don't get disturbed for the rest of the day.

We find a spot to spend the night and tie the horses to a single tree. As I'm unpacking, I see Malin's sword, I didn't return it with the rest of his things.

We have a small dinner before retiring to our respective tents. I fall asleep as soon as I lie down.

The next morning, I find Malin's tent all packed up. He's sitting a few meters away, watching the sunrise. I sit beside him on the dry prickly grass.

"You're awake early," I whisper.

"Couldn't sleep." He turns to me. "You think I'm weak. I shouldn't be too worried about what happened there."

"You're empathetic, it's admirable." I offer him a smile. "I picked up your sword yesterday, it was...draining."

He smiles sadly. "Always felt right for me. Like a second limb." He takes a very deep breath. "I don't think I can use it again."

"It's your decision. Just don't give it to anyone, or let it get stolen. Suzerain was right, it can't fall into the wrong hands."

"I know. Do you think he'll let me return it?"

My hands go up to my chest and I rub the snowflake pendant. "No, the gifts are ours now. Whether we want them or not. At least you know what yours do."

"Murder a dozen people in ten seconds?"

"For all we know, mine is some kind of device that can burn a whole city."

"Maybe," he whispers.

"Hello," Violet calls from behind us. "We need to leave."

I squeeze Malin's shoulder then stand up.

Five hours later, we finally arrive at Rinus Valley. The landscape is miles wide and we'll have to go down a hilly road into the plain. As soon as we cross it, we'll have to go up another hilly road. We can't see what's on the other side of the valley from where we are.

"Remember the plan, get captured." I revise. "Are you ready?"

They both look skeptical. "I don't know Adria, it's not that far. I say we run. We should be able to do this. If they catch us, what will they even do? What kind of test is this?" Malin asks.

"I don't know, we'll just have to trust Liliana."

Violet sighs. "I know she's helped us come this far, but you should know she isn't the most trustworthy person."

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

"Mages don't like her, she isn't a traitor. We just think that she's sneaky, like a Niphin. And remember what happened the last time we trusted one. You trusted one."

"I still think we should listen to her, the way she talked, like she has plans for us. She wouldn't just kill us."

"What do you mean by plans, what does she want to do with us?" Malin asks.

"I don't know, she said our destinies were great. I really don't think she'll let us be murdered."

"So what do we do now?" Violet looks ahead at the valley. "Where are the things even hiding? There's isn't a single tree down there"

"I say we trust her, what's the worst that can happen?"

"We die." Violet replies.

"Oh." I look ahead at the bare, grassy valley. "I still say we get captured."

"That sounds like such a bad idea." Violet complains.

"We don't really have a better one. There is no other way to cross this."

Malin has been quiet since we got here. "What do you think?" I ask him.

"I don't know, let's trust Liliana. She's the one that brought me on this quest."

"Perfect," Violet mutters. "Just perfect."

We ride down the valley. At first, it's quiet.

Halfway through the field, we see them. They look like normal people, like normal knights fully clad in armor. They all have swords pointed out, ready to stab any person stupid enough to charge at them.

I get a closer look and see a symbol on their armor. I instantly remember where I've seen it before. It's the same symbol on Liliana's door. Their swords glisten in the sun and I notice a specific aura around them. At that moment, I know what to do.

"It's the sword." I yell and ride headfirst into the blade.