Demaratus’s voice was like it had been in the temple—so clear that it sounded as if he were standing right next to me.
I darted into the nearest tent, hoping that it was empty. I didn’t see anyone and said a quick prayer that the goddess would keep me safe. I watched through the tent flap as Artemisia and her men passed by.
A weak, soft voice rose up from behind me.
“Euthalia of Locris, I have been waiting for you.”
Chapter Forty-Six
A woman was curled up next to the main tentpole, slight and shivering. I realized why I hadn’t seen her initially—I had assumed she was a bag or a blanket. She seemed harmless enough, but the last time something told me it had been waiting for me, they had a giant rock-monster sister who wanted to eat me.
“Who are you?” I asked as I crept closer to her. My hand went to my xiphos, ready.
“You won’t need that.”
She had a bandage wrapped around her eyes. She couldn’t see me. How had she known what I was doing?
“I am an oracle from Phocis. From a family of seers, but I was the most powerful. I was captured by the Carians, and they used my family to force me to prophesy for them.”
As I crouched down I realized that she was tied up to the main pole. I reached for her bindings, but she said, “No.”
“Let me free you,” I said. I would get her out of here.
“You should hate me. I told them that the savior of Ilion would be a Locrian maiden. It was why they tried to take you from your ship before you reached Troas.”
“But you just said they used your family to force you to comply.” I couldn’t blame her for that. I would have done the same thing in her position.
She hung her head low. “I went along with it until my youngest sister got sick and they wouldn’t take her to a healer. I stopped doing what they wanted. I wouldn’t give them more. That was when Artemisia joined the camp. She killed my entire family in front of me, saving my mother for last. Then she blinded me so that the last thing I ever saw was my mother’s death.”
That was so beyond horrific that for a moment I didn’t even know what to say. “I’m so sorry. Come with me. My sister can help you.”
She tugged down the corner of her tunic and I saw that her skin was mottled, bright red. Like she had a terrible rash. “I have a wound that is infected. My blood has been poisoned. I have been fighting death because I was waiting for you. I knew that when I heard your voice, I would die soon after.”
“Why have you been waiting for me?”
“The god of prophecy wants me to tell you that his prophecies cannot be circumvented.”
My heart flew into my throat, expanding so wide that I could barely breathe. I knew how things had to be, but to hear it like this ... “Will Ilion win this war?”
“The future is always shifting, always changing from one moment to the next. But your sacrifice will be necessary if you want any chance of saving Ilion and Locris.”
I nodded, wiping away the tears that fell down my cheeks. I was going to die.
All that hope I had told myself to have dissipated into the gloomy air surrounding us.
“Euthalia of Locris, remember that love is fire. Creation and destruction. It can be wielded either way—as a tool, or as a weapon.”
I was about to ask her what that meant, but she spoke again. “You’re running out of time. Go.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to cut you loose?” I asked as I stood up.
“I’m sure. In a few minutes I will be joining my family in the next world.” After a beat she added, “The tent you need is not the one you seek. Look in the smaller tent to the south of that one.”
I didn’t want to leave her. If she was going to die, I didn’t want her to be alone. “Aren’t oracles supposed to be mysterious?”
“We are. I’m tired,” she said with a small smile. “Go, before it’s too late.”
I went back out into the rain, heading toward Artemisia’s tent. I saw the red banner and followed it. I still wasn’t sensing Xander, but I had to push that out of my mind and concentrate on what I was doing.
