Chapter 38: Chapter Thirty-seven - On the road again

Kallan, waking up from the sun that shone through the canopy of the forest:

This time it was me that woke up with a strange feeling, or rather, with strange sounds. A couple of Wittakers were fluttering and chirping on one of the branches of a close-by tree, while the tree itself was gently rocking back and forth on the rhythm of the bird’s music. Clear skies let through the morning sun and a Spinner was crawling up a branch to create its new web.

Everywhere I looked creatures were wandering around and it was wondrous to see and hear. It was strange to notice that the trees and bushes weren’t fighting upon being touched by the creatures. They were getting along just fine with all the movements and it seemed as if they had missed all this interaction.

“Jade, have you seen this? Is it because you have acquired the orb?” I asked while looking up towards the sky, enjoying the heat the sun gave off. “Jade, wake up!” I said again while reaching for the spot on the ground next to me, but she wasn’t there!

I quickly looked around to see if she had already woken up and maybe had decided that she didn’t want to alert the others, but also Neil and Trixie woke up by now and noticed her gone too. “Poseidon is gone as well, master Kallan.” Neil said and now Jade got me worrying. Had she left us? Why?

Soon, after searching for a minute, Poseidon came flying in, landing easily on the dewy morning grass of the opening in the forest, neighing and whinnying to come and follow him. I didn’t know if I should be worried as he came here alone, but at least he did so that is a good sign. So we did as asked and followed the flying horse for several minutes until it reached for a bright and shining lake. I was happy to find Jade sleeping in the grass together with a young Mandibore in between her arms. She hadn’t left us, but somehow she had probably been the reason for the return of all these creatures.

Even the nasty and stubborn Kimberlings were here to bite themselves into the branches of one of those big willow trees we had been fighting yesterday. Their small and spiky bodies were working themselves into the bark of the tree, resulting in receiving slaps from the tree’s leaves as it was trying to get rid of them instantly.

“Oh, you are here.” Jade said with a sleepy voice. “I’m sorry, I should have returned to you guys, but there were so many creatures to bring back and I didn’t want to leave any of them on the other side of the mirror world.” She said as if it was as clear as day as what that would mean.

“Right, the mirror world.” I said stoically.

“Yes well, I don’t know, there were only reflections of them in the water, but not their actual bodies on the shore, so how should I know what to call that situation?” She said, making no sense at all.

“As I said, I just sat here by the dead tree and as soon as a creature came to me as its reflection, all they had to do was touch my hand and they would suddenly be actually here. So, that’s what I have been doing all night.” Jade explained a bit later, yawning and all. “And there still could be more out there, but as soon as the light filtered in, the reflections were no longer visible...” She continued to babble on.

But it still didn’t make sense as to how the creatures got to this mirror world in the first place. Who or what had been doing this and why? And why would Jade be the one to figure this out and get those creatures back here again? If this was some sort of trial for her to find the orb of power, then why wouldn’t this have happened before she found it, instead of afterwards?

“Yeah, I’ve been having those same questions, but all I came up with is that bad things just happen. People have been either greedy to have hunted too many animals here, so for protection, they have been sent off to the other side of the lake; it was just some freaky accident or someone did this deliberately to harass other Fae that might have lived here.” She said while counting on her fingers as she called out her theories about this.

It could have been numerous things, but I agreed with her. Bad things happen constantly and bad people always exist, and I guess that wherever we would be going, Jade wanted to solve everything to become better again. But I didn’t want to worry about how she would react if she couldn’t save the thing that she wanted to save, so I quickly asked about something else.

“Okay, and what about this Mandibore?” I asked her, as she was still clutching the creature as if it was her teddy bear.

“He has no mother or group to which he belongs, and I know this because I have been searching all night, but after letting through thousands of creatures and critters, I still wasn’t able to find anyone that was linked to him. So, he is staying with me.”

A Queen with a Mandibore as a pet… I could have imagined that to be different, but hey, who am I to judge?

“Oh, and I found berries on the bushes around the lake, so you guys should eat some while I take another nap.” Jade said while grabbing a blanket out of one of the saddlebags on Poseidon and letting her fall on the grass with the baby Mandibore laying on top of her.

The serenity she was emitting now, completely giving in to her surroundings and trusting everything around her, was a sight to see. Her scarred history and body were nothing like the actual creature that was stored within and I was starting to get more used to the idea of her becoming Queen. I have said it before, she is just and righteous, yet caring and giving. She is a feisty and mysterious enigma.

“Stop staring.” I heard her whisper and it made me smile.

“Sorry.” I excused myself and went on to follow the others to eat some berries.

Jade, sitting behind Neil on the back of Poseidon:

“Sorry Neil, I’m just so tired from last night.” I complained while holding on to Neil’s body with my arms wrapped around his waist.

“Not to worry, miss Jade, just don’t fall off.”

“Wasn’t planning to.” I whispered back while I dozed off again.

“The next orb should be in that direction, but we don’t know how far. We should settle for today at the next city and gather up new supplies.” Kallan opted as he was holding the compass now for a while so I could sleep. He has been doing all these small attentive little things, and it made me appreciate him even more.

“Good idea, because my back is starting to hurt from holding miss Jade like this.” Neil complained in his thoughts, while still being the courteous gentleman, even while thinking of me.

I knew that if I would say something about his thoughts, he would be embarrassed, so I decided against it to tease him with it and acted as if I just woke up again. It was in the middle of the day now and we had easily found our way out of the forest as the mist had miraculously vanished last night. So now was the time for me to fully be awake, otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to sleep during the night again.

“So, are we near any places where we can go?” I asked the others and Trixie nodded. “Yep, I just flew ahead and within a few miles we should reach the outer ring of a big city.” She replied.

I’m happy to hear that, as we all could use a hearty meal and some time to relax. Even Poseidon was eager to get there as he suddenly quickened up his pace without Neil tugging on the reins some more.

Echo, back in the castle:

“You know you can’t do that!” Zeph pleaded with me not to continue, but I pushed his hand off my shoulder and kept on walking.

“They will find out about you if you do this!” Zeph stated the obvious but there was no other way of getting the information that I was so desperate to achieve.

Ever since Jade told us all about the things she had discussed with the Etunadain Oracle, I had been shocked by the possibility of its outcome. Of course, I had known her to be special, but if she truly is the next in line, perhaps the actual next in line as in that she somehow skipped three generations of time and appeared as a baby at the German church she had been dropped off, there is also the possibility that she has a different destiny to face than she might believe it to be.

I continued my walk through the narrow hallway and when I finally reached for the heavy oak doors, I took a deep breath and turned the doorknob down.

“Don’t take too long, maybe I could keep them distracted for the time you’re gone.” Zeph kindly suggested even though he knew he couldn’t keep the King or Ren out of this for longer than a few hours, let alone days or even weeks. They have their spies all over the castle, so as soon as one of them notices for me to be gone, but never left the castle through any of the outside doors, they would know for me to be here. To have entered the only room in this place that is locked for all Fae, for a certain exception that is, as there is one secret that only Zeph knew by accident but to be known by all others soon as well. For me to be an Etunadain.

“Thank you.” I replied to him, knowing that he would be probably punished for any lies he might be telling in the next few days to keep my status in life a little longer secretive.

I opened the door and stepped through the watery portal, luckily to have reached the other side in the cloudy room as I felt the mist around my legs, instead of that of a murky cellar or someplace else.

“So, you finally found your way in here.” The Oracle disappointedly said, while he probably not even looked up from the book he was reading, as I assumed him to be doing that as I could smell the old paper.

“It’s not like I’m enjoying myself to be here either.” I replied just as disappointed. “Just tell me if what you said to her is correct, even though you lied about not knowing how to have skipped time.” I continued getting to the point quickly as I didn’t want to be here any longer than necessary.

“Hello, how have you been doing the past, I don’t know, six hundred years? Give or take a few decades here or there.” The Oracle said, somehow blaming me for not showing up while he was the one to have decided to leave his family to get a higher position in life, a long time ago.

I scoffed at how he ‘greeted’ me but kept my mouth shut, waiting for the answer I was trying to get, even though I knew it would only be answered after agreeing with the rule he had come up with when he left.

He put away the book he was reading, shutting it close with a thud and putting it safely on the stand next to his chair. Then he got up and shuffled his feet towards me, closing the gap I desperately wanted to keep as I didn’t want to grant him the pleasure of hugging me or even hearing me say the word that I vowed to never say again. To say it to him again.

“You are really going to push me to say it, right?” I asked him sighing, while he stood right in front of me, looking me straight in the eyes while his beard was brushing against my chest.

There had been a time I was proud of him to be able to chase after such a big role in the life of any Fae, of him becoming the most powerful Fae of all time. We even agreed upon the rule that as soon as I would come of age and find out to be an Etunadain as well, I would come here and greet him again as only the role he had before leaving. Of not naming him Oracle, but something entirely different.

But that moment he left, I had been too naive to realise the impact it would have on my life, on our family. We were being pushed out of the city as the only reason we were able to live a high life, was because of him having a seat at the council, but as soon as he left that seat, we had to leave too. We had to live our lives in a village on the lower grounds, without any money, any link to the council and with a lesser source of magic. I knew my mother did her best to keep us fed and clothed, but it wasn’t pretty. She was depressed, crying when she thought she was alone, and each tear I could hear drop on the ground made me angrier.

When I was young, it took me some time to get adjusted to our new surroundings, knowing where everything was and getting frustrated each time I hit my head or knee against something. Making the clicking sounds was my mother’s idea and it helped me a lot, but I wasn’t the happy child I was before we had to leave our house anymore. Without him, I focused myself on becoming stronger, using the absolute limit of my power and even managed to be the only silver Fae to be able to make someone’s blood boil inside of their body. Now, it is not something I’m proud of, but back in the day, I became the most fearsome Fae alive, keeping my head busy with dangerous missions instead of thinking about him.

Eventually, the new King found out about my skills and soon I became one of his trusted warriors. Hence the reason I was sent out to become a spy on the other side of the rift. The King doesn’t know about me being an Etunadain, as I told no one. I even let another Etunadain open the rift for me, even though I could have done that myself. And for the way back they had sent another Etunadain with me, to open the rift on the other side for me to return. But that man had died after a few years and so I went through the rift myself without telling the King the man had died.

But me standing here, right across the one that indirectly made me the man I am today, had thrown away all the standards I was believed to uphold towards myself for all these years. I would never comply with the rule we had made long ago, but this was an exception to it. Jade could have been the only exception because if my thoughts are correct, she is the most important being on Kyalthemar.

“Hmm.” He hummed, waiting for me to say it, or perhaps even think it.

“So, I’m right? She is going to be one to save us all?” I asked him.

“You still haven’t said it. Acknowledge who I am.” He replied and I sighed again.

“I don’t need to say it! This is bigger than any of us and you know it!” I became angry and turned myself around, aiming to get myself out of this room. But when I took a few steps towards the door, I knew I was just as stubborn as he had been. Jade is more important than any feud I have with him, so I turned around and broke down the wall I had been building, asking the one question of which I was truly fearing the answer of.

“Fine. Could you please tell me if she is indeed the one to save us all...” And I took a deep breath to finish that sentence. “...father.”