From her shoulder, Vanders made a small, disapproving squeak.
“They said something aboutcontainingit.”
“Okay…” Amma waited for more, but all he seemed capable of doing was continuing to stare at the stupid thing, and if she were honest, it made her a tad bit jealous. “When we were in Krepmar Keep with that thing—with E’nloc—you said It wanted a vessel. That It wanted you.”
“I did say that.” His words came out stilted.
“You said you thought you could destroy It from the inside.”
He made a small sound, something like agreement.
“But that seems a good way to get you destroyed too. And you have to know that’s unacceptable.”
Damien stood there, the pendant hanging from his hand, and his eyes finally fell away from it. “Amma, I have not shared with you the specifics of the prophecy, the one I’m meant to be following. It’s a little dark.”
“I’m sure it’s actuallyverydark, isn’t it?”
“It speaks of me releasing my father, but there is some confusing wordage about the corners of the realm and rot and other…things.” Damien cleared his throat, a light wind coming up around them and carrying his words away but not his reluctance. “If you remember, that pit opened up just after I arrived in Brineberth, and I didn’t tell you this, but the chore the witches sent me on in the Wildwood brought me to a much smaller version of the same entity. That’s how It knew me—we’d met before.”
The void’s tendrils at Krepmar Keep had indeed acted like they wanted Damien. Of course, they also wanted everything else in the general vicinity, grabbing and crushing bodies for fodder, but Damien, specifically, seemed to be a prized target.
The blood mage rubbed his chin, squinting out at the mountain ranges. “If this thing, E’nloc, is rotting out corners of the realm in accordance to these maps, and I am to bring about a great evil when those corners are rotted…”
Amma felt her eyes go wide. “That pit thing isn’t yourdad, right?”
“No, no, my father is only a demon, not a swirling vortex of entropy. At least that’s not how I remember him.” His face screwed up. “He would have said something by now, surely.”
“Then what does any of this have to do with your father?”
Damien shrugged with a defeated sigh. “I feel I’m missing something, information, clarification,something. And I need that piece before going to Eirengaard.”
Amma lowered the map, worrying her lip between her teeth. He still wanted to go to Eirengaard, wanted to enthrall the king, release his father, wreak havoc on the realm. Why she thought things might be different now, she didn’t know, but Damien was right: clarification would be nice.
“Oh, my gods, I know what we should do! What wehaveto do!” She squealed and shook the map, snapping him out of his long, thoughtful gaze out at the forest below. “Enchanted Map, could you please show me the Denonfy Oracle?”
“Amma, the map is not meant to—”
A new dot rose up on the parchment, deep blue and nestled into the mountain range, and Chthonic words scratched themselves out around the mark.
“I suppose you’re so polite even the vilest objects will do your bidding.” Damien leaned over her shoulder to peer at the spot. “They are not terribly far from here, but quite out of the way of our quest.”
Visiting the oracle would mean hiking through the mountains northward and then cutting down through the valley and the city of Buckhead to reach The Temple of the Void on the peninsula instead of heading directly westward.
“But they could tell you exactly what that pendant thing does, and I bet you have other questions for them too. You can ask about the prophecy.”
He shook his head. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, but one can ask only a single question of the oracle per visit.”
“Well, that’s fine—you ask about your destiny and the prophecy or whatever, and I’ll ask about the pendant.”
Damien’s face drew into a frown, but not one of displeasure. “You would be willing to forgo your opportunity to ask the Denonfy Oracle about your own destiny?”
Her eyes fell to the gem still hanging from his hand. “If that thing’s bad news, it sort of affects me, destiny included.”
“Well, yes, but I’ve already been to the oracle to try and clarify the prophecy. I would be wasting not only my visit but yours as well.”
“It wouldn’t be a waste,” she said. “You’re older now than the last time you went, and I’m here to help. We can put the pieces together…together.”
“That is too selfless, Amma.” Damien’s furrowed brow softened, and he chuckled. “You’ll be giving up your opportunity to discover who you’re meant to marry, you know. Laurel will be disappointed.”
