The Illyrian Series: The Oracle Of Rosedale

We leave our little hideout early the next morning and spread around.

Violet goes back to Charlton, we decided that it was best if Malin and I avoid there altogether.

I go to a town populated by 8 thousand people and search their tiny library. After four fruitless hours, I give up and start asking around.

"Are you drunk?" A large woman asks. "Move away from me, look at you, spouting nonsense." She heaves her giant body off her chair and walks away.

I walk into a tavern and take a seat close to the door. "What will you be drinking?" The tavern owner, a thin man in his forties asks me. He has scraggly black hair, stains on his apron and a giant nose.

"Oh no, I'm not drinking."

He slams his jug on the table, causing some to spill on me. "Then get out. Leave the tables open for paying customers."

I look around the mostly empty bar, what customers? I don't dare ask him though. "Excuse me, sir. Do you know anything about the Oracle of Rosedale?"

His laugh is sharp. "I thought you said you don't drink." Then goes back to his usual brutish nature. "I said get out."

I jump up and scurry away before the next swing of his jug collides with my head. I spend two more hours asking around. I get insulted more times than I can count, nearly robbed three times, spat on four and chased away eight times. It was not a good day.

I go back to the deserted barn around four, hoping that someone has good news. The look on Violet's face tells me what I need to know.

"Nothing, you?" She asks.

"Why did I get the worst town?" I sniff.

Malin joins us ten minutes later. He's smiling. "You found something?” I'm shocked.

"Yes, I was about to give up. But then, I met someone in the market. Paid him a gold coin and he told me what he knew."

Violet and I share a look. "Sounds like you were scammed." She says.

"I wasn't." He insists. "He swore that this guy, Zane, that's his name. Tried to contact her, he was able to. He met her, spent some time in her castle. But then something bad happened."

"What happened?" Violet asks.

"He doesn't know."

"Of course he doesn't." She says under her breath. "He was obviously lying."

"He wasn't, he said he's somewhere. A prison, called it Tatris."

Violet groans.

“You know the place?" I ask her.

"If what you heard is true, don't bother. It's impossible to get in or escape."

"What exactly is it?" Malin asks. "My informant was vague about the details."

"It's my kind’s worst nightmare. The place was designed centuries ago to serve as a prison for rogue magicians." Violet explains. "That place is the only thing Mages and Sorcerer's agree on. It's horrid, no one wants to be sent there. Whatever he did must have been bad. Let's not get involved with it, we'll search elsewhere tomorrow."

"Everywhere else is a dead end." I argue. "Let's at least try it, where's Tatris?"

Violet chuckles. "It's nowhere."

"Care to elaborate."

"It's made of magic, it's nowhere. It's in a realm of its own."

"Okay, where is the door to the realm?"

"It's like you're not listening to me, you can't just walk in. Talk less, take one of the wards out."

"Who said anything about a breakout, we'll just ask him how to reach her."

"And he'll just help us, like that? Expecting nothing in return."

"Alright, there are a few hindrances. But we're all smart, we can work it out."

"She said before facing a Niphin."

"Are you ever going to forget that?" I ask in a raised voice.

"No."

Malin stands between us. "Let's take a vote." Violet groans. "We will dedicate two days to Tatris, if we don't find anything, we'll let it go."

I calm my racing heart, it's almost a month and I'm not any closer than I was when I left. If anything, I'm further away.

"Magicians spend years looking for it, this is futile." Violet says.

"It can't be." My tone is clipped. "It can't be, please. This can't fail, King Evander can't know I'm missing. I need to have something to show for this in a week, or else..."

"Adria, it's alright..." Malin starts.

"No, it's not." My knees are wobbling, I place my hand on Apple so I don't fall. "I need something to show for this, I can't fail. Too many lives depend on this."

Violet eventually break the barns silence. "There might be a way."

"There is?" Malin asks, hope evident in his voice.

"There's a reason I know so much about Tatris, there's someone I can talk to. The person might have some more information."

"Who?" He asks.

Violet frowns. "An old friend. I'll write to them."

"How will you send the letter?"

"I'm a mage." She says simply. She brings out a piece of brown paper, a quill and scribbles something quickly. When she's done, she squeezes the paper, throws it in the air and says something in the lowest voice she's ever used. The paper goes up in flames and disappears.

"Suzerain did that." I say. "At Mayborn."

"It's called Fire Mail. If the recepient is close to an open flame; sconces, furnace, bonfire, it'll appear over it in it's crumpled form."

"How long till we receive a reply?" I ask. "Should I start a fire, I'll start a fire."

I retrieve a candle, place it on my silver metal saucer and offer it to Violet. "No." She complains.

"It's temporary."

"I'll get a bigger one started." Malin leaves.

"Stop it." She's angry. "It will come when it comes. I'm not even looking forward to the reply. Let’s just..." The sound of paper crinkling stops her. I shove the candle closer to her and watch in awe as a ball appears above the flames. It grows to it's full size then hovers over the fire.

Violet snatches and straightens it. The letter returns to it's natural, uncreased form. She reads it silently. "Can I see?" I ask, trying to grab it. She takes my saucer from me and burns the paper.

"No. It's personal." The paper catches fire and this time desolves to ash. "I know how to get to Tatris."

"That's good."

"It isn't because there's still the problem of finding Zane and getting him to talk." She crushes my dreams.

"We'll be fine." I say, mainly to assure myself. Then in a louder voice. "Malin." He jogs back into the barn.

"We've got a response, where is it?" He asks.

"That's not important. Let's just do the spell and open the door." Violet interjects.

"How?" I feel a sudden burst of adrenaline.

"I need some ingredients, I'll go to the store in Charlton now. Most of the things are illegal and can only be bought at night anyway."

"Should one of us come with you?” I ask.

"No, we can't risk you being spotted." She boards Holly and looks around her things with a frown. "Can you?" She waves her hands over her stuff. "Thank you." And without a second glance, she canters off.

Malin and I stand in uncomfortable silence. "I'll handle this." He offers, bending down to pick up her stuff.

I watch him. "Mal." I can't stop playing with my fingers. "I'm sorry. For...kissing you."

"Don't apologize," He folds a white shirt and drops it in a shabby, black travelling bag. "I shouldn't have kissed you back."

"No, you were right. You didn't want to be in my tent, and I basically forced you to. It was unfair of me."

He spends a long time debating his answer. He finally says "I'm sorry that I don't like you back."

I run my hands across the length of my arms. "I'll survive." A sweet smile appears on his face.

I get to work on dinner, it's a beef dish made with the leftover meat we got in Charlton. It's been kept somewhat fresh by the pepper we found wrapped safely at the bottom of Violet's satchel. I cut up the vegetables, skin the potatoes (something Violet never let's me do) and promptly develop two cuts. One new, right above my wrist and the other old, I reopened the cut Nora's criminal friends gave me two weeks ago.

"If you get blood in the food, Violet will skin you alive." Malin trudges over to me. "And she'll do a better job than you're doing with the potatoes."

I look at the pieces, or at least what's left of it. Most got discarded with the skin. He reaches out for my left hand and hisses. "That cut is deep."

"It is," I whisper, painfully aware of how close we're standing. I draw my hand back so quickly, my elbow comes in contact violently with the side of my stomach. "I'll finish dinner."

"You'll be fine?"

"Yes," I force a smile. He does so too and walks back to the barn. I scold myself. Why did I have to make things uncomfortable, I could have done nothing. Could have buried my feelings, and now our friendship is ruined.

Malin and I keep our distance till Violet returns with a sack full of strange ingredients. She pushes away the bowl of stew and bread I try to give her.

"Later, I need to sort this out first." She turns the sack upside down and watches the contents scatter on the grass. She sifts through them, whispering to herself. She finishes with a deep sigh. "It's all here."

"That's good, how long will this take? Ten, twenty minutes."

She does a cross between a laugh and a snort. "Extracting the oil from sandalwood alone takes 48 hours."

"Don't say that."

"I don't define biology, Princess." She sees the defeated look plastered on my face. "I can use Awan leaves to make it faster, it will be done in 24 hours." She picks up a glass bottle that's barely the size of her hand, it's filled with what I can only associate with mud.

"Mud?"

"The decapitated, mushed up carcases of dung beetles." She responds.

I peer deeper and see a tiny black leg pressed up against the glass. My hands cover my mouth and I force the burning bile down my throat. "Get used to it, I need your help. I can't touch some of the ingredients."

"Is it because you're a mage?"

"No, I just don't want to. It's your kingdom, you should make more sacrifices." She's grinning ear to ear.

"Try not to enjoy yourself so much."

"I can't." She unscrews the lid and shoves the open bottle in my face.

"No." I flail my arms, lean back and land on the ground. Luckily, it's soft and no permanent damage has been done to my body.

"What's that?” Malin kneels beside Violet. "Mud?"

"Dead dung beetles." He doesn’t react as strongly as I did.

"I'll stay out of your way." He gets up and squints his forehead. "Oh and Adria, I came for you. I'm ready."

My heart somersaults in my chest. "What?"

"My swords, from Suzerain. You still have them."

"I do, they're in my bag in my tent." Then I regret saying. "Don't worry, it's safe. I'm not in there now."

His laugh is dry and forced. "I've given up trying to figure out what happened to you two." Violet raises a bottle of silver ash, she examines it in the fire.

"What's that?" I point at the bottle.

"Are you going to do this for every jar?"

"Sorry."

She continues sorting through everything, the leaves, herbs, powder and eagle feathers. She gets the ingredients set by mixing concoctions in various ceramic bowls. "This plate needs to be stirred for five minutes every hour, this for ten minutes every four hours." She says. "Are you paying attention, you have to keep checking on it."

"Why me?"

"Your kingdom." Is her simple reply. She reassembles her tent at the far back corner of the room and retires in it for the night.

"You need this." Malin hands me his scratched silver pocket watch. "Do you want me to keep you company?"

He knows the answer before I say it. "No. Go to sleep, you deserve it."

He looks like he's about to argue. He shakes his head and walks away instead. I sit next to the bowls, place the watch beside me and stare at the dimly lit barn. I draw my knees to my chin and wrap my arms around my bent legs.

And so, the night begins.

I mix putrid smelling potions and try not to gag. I thought it'll get better after a few hours, it doesn't. It's like smelling it all over again.

The first bowl, a mixture of Lyson leaves, eagle feathers and the mutilated remains of dung beetles. The ingredients have settled into a strange black gooey substance that smells like horse droppings tossed in saliva.

The next bowl contains leaves from a rare Alocasia plant. The leaves are the same colour of blueberries and are mixed with Poppy powder. They're a brown grainy matter that smells like vanilla. Unfortunately, the vanilla smell isn't enough to offset the odour of the Alocasia.

The third and final bowl is my favourite. It's made up of colourful leaves and herbs. One leaf is so pretty, when chopped and tossed in a bowl, it’s a sprinkle of yellow-golden fabric. The others are just as beautiful, ranging from midnight black to fiery red. It also requires the least work, I just need to mix them for four seconds every three hours so they don't dissolve to ash.

I fight to stay awake, it’s especially hard because today was so emotionally exhausting. I rest my head on my knees and close my eyes for one second.

"Addy." Someone whispers softly. My eyes flit open and the first thing they see is Malin.

I straighten my legs and reach for the watch. "How long was I asleep, I couldn't have..." I relax when I see that I've only been asleep for thirty five minutes. "Thank goodness."

"It's 3 in the morning, go to sleep. I'll take over." He offers.

"No, this is my responsibility." I decline his offer. "I can do this myself." I widen my eyes. "I'm awake. I don't need your help." That comes out a tad more hostile than I intended.

He isn't fazed. "Get up." He drags my up by my hands. "Take my tent, yours isn't up."

"I can't deprive you off sleep." I'm getting tempted. A few feet away is the slumber I've been craving.

"I'm used to staying up, night watch." He peers at the bowls and heaves. "This is disgusting."

"Thank you." A sleepy smile is on my face. I give him all the instructions and head for the tent. I glance one more time at him before going in. His forehead is squinted as he bends over the bowls monitoring everything closely. He really is too good for me.