The Illyrian Series: The Oracle Of Rosedale
Chapter 21

The next morning starts out well, the weather is nice and sunny with a gentle breeze. If that wasn't enough to lift our spirits, we soon see a stream flowing across the base of an especially large mountain.

I dip my hands into the water and smile. It's so cool. I cup my hands together, scoop up water and draw it to my dry and cracked lips. I drink till my stomach's full and scrub away all the dirt on my face.

Apple's black mane appears beside me, he slurps the water greedily.

"I thought I was going to faint." Violet exclaims, throwing a handful of water up at the sky. It comes down on us, providing some much needed relief for our sunburned skin.

"That felt amazing." I declare. "The only thing that will make today even better is if we replace some food."

"We'll be at the end of the cavern in half an hour." Violet confirms. "Let's just hope we see a village when we reach the top."

I splash some more cold water on myself, fill my bottles and smooth my frizzy hair down. I check my reflection on the waters surface and hum, still big. I pour more water on my head and keep pressing my hair down.

"What are you doing?" Malin asks, he's laughing at me.

My hands drop to my side. "Nothing, just my hair." I try to still my pounding heart. He shakes his head and brushes his horse's side. That was emberassing. Luckily, Violet was too preoccupied with the map to witness my great shame. I give my hair one final pat and walk away from the stream.

"Ready." Violet pockets the map in her dark brown satchel. "We'll be climbing up soon."

"Ready," Malin and I say as we climb our respective horses.

"Where are we off to next?" I ask, five minutes into cantering.

"There's a shortcut past someplace called Durnam." Violet says. "We just have to ride through the main city."

"What's Durnam?" I ask.

"It's a town, I think. I'm not sure, never heard of it."

"Me neither." Malin nods. "It must be well hidden."

"We'll sort that out when we get there. What's after Durnom?"

"Durnam." Violet corrects. "After that is another lake. Hopefully, you won't make us bargain with a Niphin to get across."

I give her a mean look. "Hilarious." We ride for another twenty minutes and finally arrive at the edge. "We did it. We made it through and didn't get ourselves killed." I stare up at the steep and rocky path that leads to the top. Starting from the bottom is an uneven, narrow road with large boulders scattered sporadically.

"Does that seem strange to you?" Malin asks. "The road, it looks harder than it should be. Compared to the other end at least."

"Maybe." Violet agrees. "We don't really have a choice, let's just go up. Be careful and keep your weapons ready."

Malin goes first, in his hands are his old swords. Next is me, I keep my bow drawn and ready to fire. Behind me is Violet, she keeps her hands on her horses reins and scans our surroundings with her eagle like vision.

We're quarter way up the hill when the first attack comes. Seemingly raining down from the sky is dozens of arrows. Violet abondonds her reins and stretches her hands up. A barrier made up of blue smoke appears over us and none of the arrows are able to get through. They turn to ash and float away as soon as they come in contact with the barrier.

"It's an ambush." I point out the obvious. "What should we do?"

"Keep cantering." Malin directs and tightens his grip on his swords. "Violet, how long can you hold this up?"

"I can fend off the arrows, if it's hand to hand combat, it's useless." She replies. The arrows stop coming and we maneaover our horses past the boulders. Halfway up, the second wave of attacks come.

A dozen bandits come rushing down at us. In their hands are glistening swords, axes and bows. Half of them are on horses, the others run beside on foot. They're all dressed in red and black and their faces are painted with strange silver symbols.

I'm too scared to speak.

"Keep moving, we'll have to fight through." Malin says.

"How?" I scream, I've found my voice. "They're going to butcher us."

"Adria, I need you to calm down." Malin says in the clearest voice I've ever heard him use. "When I say so, fire." I try to speak but it comes out in mumbles. "The man in front, on the brown and white horse. Aim for his heart."

I let out a tiny squeak. I can do this. I raise my bow, calm my racing heart and focus on the target. "Shoot." Malin commands.

I let the arrow fly and hit it's target. I curse loudly. I barely grazed his shoulder. "It's alright Adria, try again. Violet, when I say so, lower the barrier." She doesn't question him.

I try again and this time get his chest, he falls from his horse and brings the woman beside him down. His horse raises his hind legs and thrashes around. "Now." Malin orders. The barrier dissappears and he rides straight ahead.

I send another arrow and it pierces a woman's forehead. She howls in pain and struggles to pull it out. A steady stream of blood flows down her face and drips down on her muddy white horse.

"We're getting close." Malin calls. "Adria, change your weapon. It will do you no good now."

I reach into my satchel and ruffle through it for my dagger. A sharp arrow narrowly misses my head and lands on the dirt road below me. Apple jerks me forward and I hold onto his reins so I don't fall off and tumble down the hillside. I pull out the first dagger I can replace, it's the bejeweled one.

I hold it closely to my side and get ready to fight. "On my count." Malin pauses. "Three, two, now."

We encounter the remaining four horseriders first. Violet slams two with her powers, the man tumbles down with his horse while the woman manages to hang on. Malin stabs her stomach with his right sword, she drops her weapon and clutches her side. Malin uses his other sword to stab the man riding straight for him.

The last horseman rides towards me, I pull Apple closer to the left, allowing the man to ride past me. He tries to stab me and I use all my energy to try to push him off his horse. He stays on and thrusts his sword at me again. It hits the wall, I use my dagger to pierce his arm and push him again. His horse hits a boulder and stumbles sideways down the cavern.

We don't have time to recover, the second onslaught of bandits descend on us. These ones are easier to knock down. Malin stabs two while Violet sends three more hurtling down the cavern.

A woman manages to sneak past Malin and avoid Violet's barrage. She edges closer to me and is about to strike when I send my dagger flying to her chest. I race to her front, drag it out and stick it right into her heart.

Blood pours out of her mouth and seep through her thin chain armour. I remove my dagger and let her fall to the ground. We make it to the top of the cavern soon after.

I look down and see bodies trailing the path and at the bottom. I force myself to look away and get off Apple. I run a few feet away and vomit all the water I drank earlier. I'm left with a burnt throat after I'm done heaving.

"Violet, do you think you could make any more of your special gauze?" Malin wipes his swords off all the blood.

I walk back to them and hurriedly search my belongings for a water bottle. The thought of drinking it makes me want to throw up again so I rinse my mouth and face.

"So much blood." I whisper. "So much blood."

"Let's go." Violet says. She's still on her horse. "The trip to Durnam is a day's ride, if we're quick, we should get there by nightfall. I don't want to completely run out of food on the way."

I stare up at her in disbelief. "We just murdered a dozen people."

"It's war." She says simply. "You should get used to it, especially since you're planning on murdering thousands of people when this is over."

"She's right, Addy." Malin interjects, he at least looks somber. "And we should leave, more might be on their way." He hops onto his horse. I slowly wipe the blood off my dagger then get on Apple.

We gallop for hours before we see a village. It's a small one with barely any market stalls. "We grow what we can eat." An old woman sifting through grain in front of her tiny cottage explains. "Besides, most of it goes to the soldiers who protects us from those pesky bandits. Maybe one of my neighbors will have something to spare.

We walk around the cottages offering to buy food, none of them are interested in our money. "I can spare a few things for your beautiful gold earrings." A balding middle aged man says greedily.

"We'll take it." I say quickly. I remove my earrings and hand them to him. He goes into his house and comes back with a basket half filled with fruit and bread. "Better than nothing." I say as we ride away from the man's house.

"It'll be enough till we reach Durnam." Violet says, tearing the soft bread into little bits. She takes a bite and moans. "I don't even care that there isn't enough flour in this."

We finish the food in the basket and lounge in the shade.

"You were good." Violet says out of the blue. "Back there."

Malin and I both know she isn't talking about me. "Thank you, you were too. We would have been impaled if you didn't protect us." He says.

"We would have been decapitated if you didn't lead us, you're a good soldier." She says.

"You're a good mage." Malin offers her a small smile.

I bite my lip. "I'm good at not dying." I joke with a tiny laugh.

"Barely." Malin teases.

I lay down flat on the grass. "I've never fought in a war." That's not news. "How am I supposed to lead one?" They don't say anything. "Violet, you said I could be a Queen last night. How can I? I don't know anything."

Malin sits up and focuses on me. "You'll be fine, you'll have councillors, royal advisors, generals. You won't do it alone."

"Illyrians hate my family, you said it yourself. They'll kill me before King Evander does."

"Don't say that. They don't hate your family, they hate your mother. And you a little bit." I close my eyes. "But you're still your father's daughter." I open them back. "And whether they want to accept it or not, you became Queen the second he died."

I bolt upright. I've never thought of that. "I couldn't have."

"You're his only legitimate heir." Malin insists. "You'll have to be crowned first, and the Sodalite will have to once again legally recognize Illyria as a country. But yes, you are undisputably the monarch."

I lay back down. "And all I have to do is defeat the most powerful king in the world." I fail to make my tone light. "Easy."

Our camp is quiet for a long time. "That's enough. Let's move." I silently thank Violet for suggesting that, I couldn't stand the silence.

We make sure everything is secure and continue our journey to Durnam. "We'll cut through the forest. Find somewhere to stay for the night and go to the markets tomorrow."

We stumble upon a clearing in the middle of the woods, Violet makes a fire and we huddle close to it for warmth.

Malin offers to set up our tents while Violet charts our course by the fire. "If we pass through the square, we'll burst out at this field. A few hours ride to that lake, across it is Charlton."

"I know that place." I say suddenly. "The king visited Illyria four years ago, just before the war."

"He came with his third wife." Malin recalls. "She was born the same year as his daughter." I laugh.

"Good to know, we'll be extra careful there. The last thing we need is anyone knowing where we are." Violet says.

I walk up to Malin. "That corner needs extra support." I say. He's setting up my tent now. "Like that, thank you."

"No problem." He finishes setting it up and moves to the final one, his.

"Do you remember the King's son, I think his name was Landon."

Malin nods. "Hated him."

I smile. "You only met him once." Malin and his family were invited to the dinner thrown in the King's honour.

"Yes, we talked for a few minutes after the meal. He made some comments, I didn't like them and told him so."

"He mustn't had liked that."

He shakes his head. "No. He thought I'd agree with them, I didn't and he scoffed and walked away. We never talked again."

"What were the comments about?"

He shrugs. "They were lewd in nature, he made them about you."

My heart swells in my chest. "You defended my honour."

He looks at me strangely. "Not really, I just thought what he said was impolite."

"Oh." My face drops. "But still, that was nice of you."

"I guess." He spreads the tarp and forces the metal into the ground.

"Malin." He hums in response. "I want to talk about something important with you." He's silently focusing on his task. "In Rinus Valley, those dreams."

"I remember that vaguely." His light joke makes me smile.

"In them, I was married."

"I was too."

Hearing that gives me the strenght I need to finish my statement. "I wasn't just married to anyone, I was..."

"Ahh." He screams suddenly and begins flailing his arms wildly.

"What is it?"

He moves away from his tent. "That thing." He points to the top of his collapsing tent.

I follow his finger and cover my mouth quickly. Perched there is a brown and black insect with long antennaes. A laugh threatens to spill out but I keep my mouth shut. "You're scared of butterflies?"

The butterfly leaves it's spot and flaps around. Malin jumps behind me. He stops cowering and clears his throat. "No." He insists in a strong voice. "I just don't like them."

"Really." I try to catch the butterfly, he pulls me back.

"Don't, we don't know where that thing has been." He leaves his hands on my elbow. "Don't worry, it will fly away soon." He softly says into my ear.

I don't move, I'm scared if I do, he'll release me from his embrace. The butterfly flies off into the sky and his grip on my elbow loosens. He gives my left shoulder a light tap and gently shoves me forward. "You're safe." He says with a warm smile.

"Um." I adjust my hair. "Yes, thank you. For saving me, from the butterfly." My voice wavers at the end.

"Anytime." He brushes past me and continues assembling his tent. "Oh, sorry. You were saying soemthing."

I shake my head. "It's not important."