They both nod. After a few more minutes, Sam makes his way back into the sitting room, but try as I might to catch his eyes, he refuses to look at me.
"Now tell us," the prince demands.
"I had another dream last night," I say and the men lean in to listen.
"The same man from before?" the prince asks.
"Yes, but I still could not get a good look at him. This time though instead of just speaking to me he showed me things."
Sam perks up at this. "Showed you things?"
I nod. "A cave. With two dead men hanging by the arms in it. He told me…" I pause, licking my lips. "He said Sam killed them." My eyes drift to the hatch that is currently hiding the severed arm right now and Sam groans.
"What?" Sorin asks Sam.
"I did not kill those men," Sam grumbles.
"I did not say that-"
"I know you did not say it, but I saw your eyes, Parum Bellator. You are currently thinking that it could be possible that that is true and while I will not say that I have not killed, because I think we both know that is untrue, those men did not die by my hands. Neither has any scout that has come upon these lands." His own eyes flick to the hatch. "Yet," he growls.
"Wait," The prince interrupts. "How does that have anything to do with why you were out in the woods?" He asks.
"Yeah, about that…"
"Firefly…" Sorin warns.
"So…. this morning, I overheard Sam and the prince talking about dangers on the borders and how I am asking too many questions and I thought if I could just look into this cave then maybe I could do a little digging myself because try as I might to pry information from you three, you refuse to tell me anything of value," I spit out in a burst.
"And you thought the best way to do that," Sam says through gritted teeth, "was to try to find the cave with the potentially dangerous criminals…on your own."
"Yes." I nod. Sorin sighs. "In my defense you and the prince were acting really suspicious. I thought if I did not find anything out there then that would be proof enough that the dream man was spouting lies and if I did…."
"Then you were going to believe what the idiot was saying?" Sam rubs at his face.
"Well, no… I would just probably have continued doing my own investigations."
"But instead, you walked into a trap," Sorin says.
"It seems that way." I throw my hands up in exasperation.
Another sigh. "We are only keeping things from you to keep everyone safe." Sam is now raking his hands through his hair. "There have been… threats, but until now, not anything to be overly concerned about. Informing you of every little detail surrounding these things would only lead you to be in even more dangerous situations. We wanted to make sure that you completed as much training as possible before you are exposed to everything. It seems though the time for that is quickly drawing to a close."
"Why is it coming to a close?"
"Because the solstice is still three months away, but it looks like people are making their move now. Unfortunately, thatmeans that we need to start taking action along with them. We can try to travel further into the dark lands to get them off our tail, but who is to say how long that will last."
"Off our tail? Is this because we left before my marriage to the prince? Who is after us?"
"Everyone is after you, Parum Bellator, and your betrothal to the pest is not the only reason why…. Do you remember the big rock that had that prophecy on it? The one you saw when you and Sorin were escaping?"
"Yes…."
"Well, that was about you. Once the solstice is upon us you will be able to be matched with someone. That pairing will give them all the power they need to either take over Ptheryeth or end it."
"What? You are telling me this now?"
"I need to, because that man you are seeing in your dreams is doing whatever he can to get you away from us, Alaceandra and I need you to know the reason why. It is not out of some fucked up kindness or good natured drive for the truth. It is so he can use you, likely to bring the end of the world as we know it. If you choose to go with him-" He bites his tongue. "We cannot choose your path for you, but you should know what you are deciding for or against."
