I closed my eyes and inhaled, as I felt a sharp sting in the middle of my fist. I couldn't help but hold the glass tighter,clutching onto it for dear life. Another wave of memories rushed passed me.
Over the distance, I had heard the metal of blades being clashed, coming from Ezra and one of the men he tried to capture. As a last futile attempt, the man I was fighting used his arm to hit the side of my head, hoping to render me unconscious. But I'd been trained by enough hard hits that it would take a lot more than that to bring the darkness my mind craved. It was too late to notice that he had knocked over mydiokthat had been used to conceal my dark hair. My fire-blade was commanded alight instantly and swung close to the man who only whispered a few words before his stunned eyes closed.
"It would be an honour and a tragedy my—"
The rest of his words were incomplete as he drew his last breath. I forced my mind back in the present, feeling the warmth of my blood drip down my hand. I couldn't stop the voices whispering in my head. Those whispers would become luring voices and soon will begin screaming. I blinked, closing my eyes again and when I did, I sawherin the black abyss. The girl who ruined it all. I saw the little girl from my dreams. I always saw it, saw how the chaos happened from her point of view. She killed the ones I loved. She killed the kingdom I lived in... and I hated her.
"What's wrong, Mor?"she asked.
"It's all your fault,"I whisper and grab her small arm.
"Mor... you're hurting me. Please stop,"the little girl pleaded as tears came into her eyes.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Don't hate me. This is for the best,"I heaved in deep breaths. Her scream was sharp and deafening, rattling the darkest parts of my mind that seemed to be cut off from the world. The voices in my head, including the little girl's all began to scream in symphony. I clutched onto my head andburied my face into the ground to try and get away from the shrill torture of those sounds.
***
The voices subdued to faint calls in the distant parts of my mind, I held my bleeding fists to my chest. The songs of the birds had gotten louder and warm light shone through my tent. Sunrise had come and today I would force myself to get rid of the plagued memories from last night. I looked down at my wound with little emotion. The cuts would be healed in a few days and should only be scars when the arena performance comes.
"It would be an honour and a tragedy,"the dead man's voice whispered to me.
I don't know what it was that weighed down on me so much. Was it hearing about the unknown guests? The disastrous confrontation with the cliftolights? Or this gods damned hunt Ezra and I had gone on. I let out a trembled sigh and squinted when something shone into my eyes. It was the creeping light that caught a glint of the bloodstained glass that stared right at me.
Chapter 9
The bones of untold stories
Adrion
The smell of burnt oak went unnoticed by the guards that surrounded the clearing he had led them to.
I may not have much fae magic. But it does not mean my heightened senses fool me.Hethought to himself,smirking as he caught a familiar scent in the air. Stepping down from his stallion with ease, boots embroidered with gold markings met with dry leaves that crunched loudly in the silent forest.
"Your Highness. It isn't safe here, we must go on." Inanov, the captain of his royalguard said immediately, moving his horse towards Adrion's. The prince held up his hand, silencing him. From the tracks that lay bare in his sight, he could almostimagine what had happened days before in this clearing, as if he were there in time. Adrion placed a gold glove on a large oak tree to his left and brought his gloved hand back to show the ones around him.
It wasash.Something terrible happened here...Adrion gave a sinister smile, walking further toward that familiar charred smell. He inhaled deeply and exhaled out. "Aaah... Here it is." Under a pile of burnt wood and leaves lay charred bones.
That familiar smell he knew all too well had been from burned flesh. He stood above the leaves that had covered up the evidence and were brushed aside by his boot. A sudden gust of wind pushed away the rest of the lightweight leaves and among the ash of what was once a human, lay a blackened skull that had not burned enough like the rest of its body. The sound of a blade being drawn immediately caught Adrion's attention when he saw Inanov come closer to the prince. With an uncomfortable clearing of his throat, he pleaded with the prince, "I don't think it's wise to dally in the woods, especially if the people before us dealt with this kind of fate."
The prince couldn't help but chuckle at Inanov's suggestion and pressed his foot against the blackened skull, completing what the fire could not. A sickening crack and crunch followed with the strength of his weight upon the skull. Adrion removed his foot and everyone couldn't help but look, where was once the skull now lay ash, no fragment or clue of what was once there before.
Inanov was right. They should leave, it would make their trip to Merlanis quicker than it has to be, although a part of the prince wished he could stay. To use his heightened senses to try and solve the mystery of what had occurred here. Adrion had a strange feeling of wonder of whom the skull had previously belonged to, whether or not the person had been good or bad and whether the person who burnt the body had a sense ofbrutality or perhaps had just been taking care of a deed. He wouldn't allow his curiosity to weigh him down.
If I wish to be the King of Apollo one day, I will need to speed up my journey. Time is of the essence and terrible things happen all the time, however... it's only just better when I can be the one witnessing it or even perhaps having the power to prevent it.Adrion thought to himself while he made his way to his horse, putting his foot into the stirrup and pushing his golden cloak around the horse. He caught the eye of Colfe who eyed the ash markings on the ground, the weak man almost looked sick.
Adrion gave a virtuous laugh and led his horse to a trot near Colfe and clapped the man on the back almost painfully. "You need to get out of the luxuries of the castle more often, old man. This is only the beginning."
Colfe nearly sneered at the prince when he remembered they weren't exactly on castle grounds, and anything that happened to him now wouldn't be helped by anyone. Most of the men in the group had gotten down from their horses to relieve themselves and some went down to stretch after the long ride they endured. Two young men stood around the patch that had blackened ashes which were slowly being swept up in the wind.
"Look. It's a diamond," Akiel, one of Apollo's most skilled trackers said to his younger brother, Hulin, who was recently appointed as a beta tracker and taught by his older brother.
"What? Where?" Hulin asked eagerly as he bent down near the ashes.
"Right here." And before Hulin could expect it, Akiel landed a kick onto Hulin's behind that sent his younger brother sprawling, face-first into the ashes. With eyes wide he sputtered and wiped out the ashes furiously from his face with his yellow cloak. "That hurt!" Hulin managed to get out as he wiped his face more.
"It was supposed to; it was a damn kick to the ass." Akiel snickered.
Adrion couldn't help but form an annoyed expression as he looked in their direction, but he would be damned if he didn't bring them along. Adrion turned his horse towards the front of the group brushing his gloved hands against the pine, ready to leave this part of the Oakenhold Forest. And it happened almost suddenly as if the wind spirits itself brought along a scent he immediately couldn't forget from his memory. The scent had a certain darkness to it, a scent that also reminded him of raw untethered fire and blissful dawn all in one breath. It was...
