Croak looked over at her, twirling his fingers at his forehead as if doffing his hat. “Is the oracle rubbing off on you?” When he saw the quizzical look on Gabriol’s face, Croak grinned. “Ren said the same thing earlier.”
“You knew?”
Terena shrugged at Gabriol. “It was a guess.”
“I wonder what god would make her swear an oath like that,” Croak mumbled. “But there’s only one god in this realm I feel would definitely bind someone to keep quiet about his nefarious schemes.”
“That may be,” Gabriol said, his voice dropping lower as he leaned forward, his gaze still on Terena. “But this doesn’t feel like Hermes. She swears it wasn’t, and I believe her. He wants to get Sonah back, maybe more than you do.”
Terena twisted her lips at him and rolled her eyes.
“Regardless,” Orry said, his gaze on his hot cup as he blew on it once more, “do we still want to find this amulet for Captain Xoran?”
“No,’ Ren said softly. “We go after Sonah.”
“But you don’t know where she is,” Orry replied.
“We know where shewas,” Croak said.
“Maybe we can let the captain continue his search for Sonah while we look for the amulet?”
“If you keep saying stupid shit,” Croak snapped, “you’re walking back to Olympia.”
“I know, I know,” Orry said calmly, shifting on the log with a wince. “Hear me out, though. I believe Captain Xoran will continue his search for?—”
“So? Where do we go next?” asked Rydon, appearing behind Gabriol. His deep voice was threaded with exhaustion.
“That’s what we were just discussing,” Orry piped up, wiping the dirt off his cup on the sleeve of his robes. “I was telling Terena we cannot find the amulet without some clue of where to start. We could’ve done it if we were all back at the White Palace?—”
“Pass,” Croak grumbled.
“Right,” Orry sighed. “So, barring that, we need a seer.”
“What?” Croak scoffed. “You want to go to Messene?”
“Messene?” Orry asked, confused. Croak arched a brow at him, and Orry pursed his lips before he realized what Croak meant. “Ah! No, no, we don’t need anoracle,” he said patiently. With a smile, he looked over at Terena. “We need a seer.”
“There’s a difference?” she asked over the rim of her cup before taking a drink.
“Aye!” Orry said, pulling his robes tighter about him as he leaned forward, warming to the topic. “An oracle sees big things, visions only Apollo can see; things affecting all of humanity and divinity. Seers tap into the magic of the world around us, the magic within the realm of Elysium, to guide their visions. They’ve been practicing since Hekate educated the first women. She taught them how to harness magic, how to cast spells and create potions from herbs and trees and flowers.
“The knowledge has been diluted, I believe, over centuries, especially since the emperor’s obsessive search for gods.”
When he finished speaking, Orry cast a look at the others, their silence expectant and their gazes entranced. Licking his lips, a corner of his mouth lifted as he continued.
“Many were killed after the Immortals War, but I’ve read that the priestesses, the ones who worshipped the goddess, Hekate, continued practicing, passing down their knowledge to their acolytes.
“At some point, they educated ordinary village women with their skills, and those women passed it along to their daughters and so on. As I said, it’s been much diluted; I’ve found mentions in some scrolls of women who only cast or only create potions, many of whom are village apothecaries nowadays.”
“What of seers, then?” Terena asked softly.
Orry lifted a finger and touched his nose with a sly smile. “And seers. Though, women with that gift are even more cautious than the village women who heal. The seers were among the first killed after the war. Those women were descendants of Apollo. That god never met a woman he didn’t want to impregnate, it seems. He fathered demigods who had the gift of sight and from what I’ve read in one account from a priestess of Hekate during that time, one of Apollo’s conquests sought Hekate’s help to hide her daughter. She begged the goddess, offering the goddess servitude for eternity if she would save her daughter from the purge. According to the priestess’s account, Hekate agreed and took in the girl, helping her hone her sight, teaching her the witchcraft she’d taught others.”
“So what you’re saying,” Croak said loudly as he slid off the log to lean against it with a big groan. He pulled up one leg and rested his elbow on it as he splayed his hand. “So what you’re saying is we not only need to find the amulet, but now we need to find a seer, too?”
“We don’t need to find a seer,” Rydon announced as he took a seat beside Orry. He stretched out his hands to the fire, his expression thoughtful. “The Fates are ever watchful, it seems.”
Gabriol shifted and stared at him for a moment. “You mean…”
