Page 4 of The Oracle's Journey

I wondered if the king had been unaware that Emmelina was having magical outbursts or if he worried I’d turn the job down if I’d known. The bonus made me think it was the latter of the two. Regardless, I was determined not to let the young woman out of my sight for the rest of the journey.

Emmelina

As darkness fell, the guards pulled the caravan off the road and set up for a night under the stars. A few of them took the horses down to the stream that meandered close to the road and refilled all the waterskins and canteens. Ozanna locked the pair of us in the carriage after eating our portion of bread, dried meat, and dried fruit. She even shuttered the windows, cutting us off from the breeze.

The stuffy air was awful, and my feet were getting itchy again. It was going to be a long night. The guards talked about how we were at the foot of the mountain range, but Ozanna wouldn’t even let me peek my head out to take in the sight! I’d never seen a mountain up close. A slow burn of betrayal bloomed in my gut when I considered how strict my guardian had suddenly become.

To distract myself, I closed my eyes and listened to the night. The forest was surprisingly loud now that we’d settled in. The drone of night insects, one call blending into the next and on and on, assailed me. Frogs down by the stream sang and peeped in a chorus of amphibian rapture, which made me want to dance. I stretched my awareness further, listening to the breeze rattle and hiss through the trees. When I pushed further, I heard another sound I couldn’t identify. It might have been a lullaby, or a hymn, but it drew me in so completely that I stopped hearing all other sounds.

My feet had never itched so badly before.

CHAPTER 3

Ozanna

Iawoke the next morning only a little stiff from sleeping on the bench. A few years ago, in my twenties, that padded bench would have felt like a godsend. By human standards I was an old maid, and my body liked to remind me of that on long carriage rides. I grumbled as I sat up, stretched my back and then undid the catch on the closest shuttered window. The early morning light streamed in, and I found myself alone. In disbelief, I checked all the latches and locks to find they were all still secured from the inside. The impossibility of Emmelina’s escape made my head ache.I threw the carriage door open and leapt to the ground, skirts fluttering about me.

“The princess is gone again!” I shouted as I slid into my leather vest. It didn’t offer much protection, but it contained a pair of well-hidden, well-used daggers and wouldn’t slow me down. I felt adequately armed to deal with any wild predators we may encounter.

My words sent the sleeping guards into a clumsy scramble to their feet. All but the few on watch left their armor behind in their haste to find the young woman. I once again tested the air for Emmelina’s scent but could find only the spicy bite of magic I detected the day before. I followed it, and the guards trailed behind, spread out to cover more ground. One of them found a scrap of Emmelina’s red dress among the brambles. I was a little surprised they were following me without question. I wondered if maybe the baritone had mentioned I had a knack for tracking in their gossip.

The princess’s scent started to mingle back in with the magic after about an hour of searching, leaving me worried about how far behind we might be. I also picked up the musk of an animal I didn’t recognize, and I was very familiar with all of the fauna native to this region. My instincts told me it was large and dangerous. We were heading into its territory, and that made me uneasy. I had plenty of experience with wolves and bears, but I started to fear it wouldn’t be useful here.

As the princess’s scent started to blend in with the animal musk, a knot formed in my stomach. I prayed silently to the Mother that we wouldn’t find the girl in pieces when we caught up to her.

Eventually, we came to a ridge that overlooked a small, tree-lined ravine. In the ravine was a nest made of tree boughs, mud, and feathers. In the nest was the princess and what appeared to be a juvenile wyvern. It rested its head on her chest, her arms wrapped around its coppery feathered neck.

Oh. Shit.

I found the nearest guard and pointed out the situation. The color faded from his face, and he ran to collect the others.

“Look,” I whispered when most had gathered, “I can move a bit faster than any of you. I’ll go down there and try to coax the princess away from the nest. You lot watch out for the adult beasts. I’m not armed well enough to deal with them.”

“Neither are we!” one of them hissed.

“Do any of you have a better plan?” I asked, motioning to the sleeping monster at the bottom of the ravine. Its pair of puppy-like paws with pink toe pads and petite claws poked into the air, waving as the beast breathed in and out. None of them spoke up. The look on their faces said they regretted not bringing their armor. I regretted wearing skirts.

I’d slipped out of skirts on more than one occasion to fight in my underclothes, but I loathed the thought of what the rocks and brush would do to my skin without protection. So, I took a deep breath and pulled the back hems of the skirts forward, between my legs, and tucked them into the front of my belt, tight. Then I made my way, as silently as possible, down the steep incline.

Once a few yards away from the nest, I started hissing, “Emmelina!” She stirred. “Emmelina, Nicolas is waiting for you, we have to go!” As Emmelina opened her eyes and stretched, the young wyvern also stirred and nuzzled its beak tipped face under her chin. I froze. Emmelina scratched and ruffled the feathers of its head before extracting herself, slowly making her way to me. The hatchling rolled into the space she’d vacated and continued to sleep, paws twitching as though dreaming.

“I couldn’t rest last night, and her mother sang us both to sleep,” Emmelina explained as I grabbed her by the elbow.

“Shhhhh, my lady, please! Tell me later,” I said in a squeaky hiss, heart pounding in my ears. I was no coward, but nobody wants to be shred to bits and eaten by dragons. Even smallish dragons like wyverns. Only an idiot wouldn’t be afraid of dragons with a hatchling. Especially if they were foolish enough to only bring daggers.

As if the thought had summoned her, the mother wyvern dropped from the sky and crashed through the trees behind the guards on the ridge. The momentum of her descent left the trees shuddering and waving like wheat in the breeze, the branches cracking and tumbling in her wake. Standing roughly two stories tall, her body was covered in dark green scales, with feathers a shade of burnt orange that engulfed her long neck and tapered to a point along the ridge of her back. A handful of the guards fell off the ridge, thrust down into the ravine by the beat of her powerful wings. The rest tried to put space between themselves and the beast as she screeched her fury. One young guard found himself paralyzed in terror; her snapping jaws snatched him off his feet. She swung her long neck about, hurling the young man’s body across the ravine. He crashed against a tree and fell to the ground, motionless.

I had to find another way up and around the furious beast. So, I veered us around a bend in the ravine and up a gentler incline. Hopefully, the guards could hold their own until I got her to safety. I pushed Emmelina up, so she didn’t have to work as hard to climb, though she didn’t seem to need much help. She scrambled ahead of me like a squirrel.

At the top of the ridge, I aimed in the direction of the road. I wanted to let the guards know that I had the princess so they could retreat, but they were fully engaged in surviving the wyvern. There was no getting their attention. Naturally, that’s when the father wyvern crawled out of the ravine behind us, the sound of his bellows-like breath preceding his appearance. I drew a dagger from my vest. If, by some miracle, I did manage to strike him, it would only annoy him. But in my terror, I did the best I could. I pulled the princess against me, hoping to at least shield her, and threatened the wyvern with the dagger in my trembling right hand. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for his claws or teeth to tear my flesh.

Instead, there was a snuffling noise, and its breath tickled along my knuckles. Braving a peek, I opened one eye and found he was as docile as the hatchling. He cocked his red, feather crowned head and studied us curiously with huge copper and gold flecked eyes. I dared a glance at the princess, certain it wasn’t my charms that had calmed the beast. The young woman looked back at the wyvern with a near hysterical grin across her face.

The mother screeched again, drawing the male’s attention. He chuffed, the gale of his meaty breath blowing loose strands of my hair back, making me squint. Then he turned his massive green body toward his mate and the guards. His wing glided over our heads, and he somehow avoided knocking us over with his swishing tail.

I remained frozen to the spot for a few precious seconds, much to my shame. Emmelina just stared up at me with open admiration and awe, which was ridiculous because I wasn’t sure I hadn’t soiled myself. I swallowed, closed my eyes, and put the knife away. Then I bent down, hefted the princess onto my back, and started running.

As I pushed myself to run the whole way back to the road, I considered what to do next. I was torn between going back for the men, to see if any of them survived, or protecting three defenseless women. The odds of the men escaping with their lives were nil in my estimation, and I’d probably just get myself killed if I did go back. It felt wrong to leave them, but rationally, it made more sense to look after those I knew were alive. I just had to get them to the nearest inn or manor house and get word back to Cudcona.

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