Page 79 of Their Trials

“Chosen,” they said in acknowledgment. “What is it you seek to know?”

“I was tasked with finding the Lady of the Lake. Do you know how we can find her?” I asked them, trying desperately to keep the fear and uncertainty from my voice.

“Is that truly what you wish to know?” they asked me at the same time, their tone scraping down my back and forcing me to stand up straighter.

I hesitated. They were right. There were so many things that I'd love to know the truth about. So many questions plagued me that I kept pushing to the background as problems to be solved on another day. Now they all came rushing forward, swarming my mind as I tried to determine how to move forward. While I desperately wanted the answers to those questions, they still weren't the most pressing. The only thing that mattered right now was surviving the second trial. Everything else could come after.

My mind made up, I answered them, “Yes. I seek the location of the Lady of the Lake.”

They regarded me, heads tilting from side to side as they did. Their perusal felt intimate, like they were seeing so much more than I wanted them to see. Arryn said they only gave information in exchange for information, and a part of me felt like they could read the secrets hidden in my mind.

“And what shall the Chosen offer us in exchange for the location?”

“What would you like to know?” I asked them, my confidence growing. Now, they looked at each other, speaking without words. I didn't know how I knew that, but I did. Having come to some sort of decision, their heads snapped to me in perfect unison.

“We wish to know what's in your heart.” Okay. Whatever the hell that meant. I nodded, trying desperately not to overthink the situation.

“Come here, Chosen. Let us look.” They waved me forward, still in perfect harmony.

I approached them slowly, forcing myself to take the next step and the one after. A feeling of foreboding threatened to buckle my knees, but I locked them, refusing to succumb to the emotions that were now coursing through me. I stopped, standing in the middle of them both. Each one placed a hand on me. One hand landed over my heart while the other placed a hand on my temple. I flinched but found I couldn't move as their magic coursed through me, digging and searching for an answer. I could feel them rifling through my memories, thoughts, and emotions, discarding whatever didn't meet their demands.

After what felt like forever, they removed their hands, and my knees did buckle this time as I landed hard on them, gasping for air, chest heaving as my hands met the moist soil. I curled my fingers into the dirt, grounding myself after that experience. Focusing on my breathing, I took a deep inhale, held it, then let it out slowly. I repeated this process until I felt strong enough to stand and face them again.

I kept my feet wide to brace myself, not wanting a repeat performance. Once my eyes met theirs, they spoke, “We find your offering sufficient. We shall tell you the location of the Lady of the Lake as requested.”

Excitement soared through me. I'd done it. A burst of pride flowed toward me through the bond, even coming from Callum. A smile grew on my face at the feeling.

“A warning, Chosen,” they spoke again, although the tone was different than before. This time they were speaking directly into my mind. I stiffened at the intrusion but didn't move. I nodded, indicating they should continue. Anything to get this feeling over with. Their words felt oily and slimy in my mind, and I wanted to run away from it as soon as possible.

“You will face many trials, but none so testing as the trial you place on yourself to be worthy. Keep following your instincts and all will fall into place as it should. Remember that to be worthy, one must believe it in themselves first. You will face many terrors, but you will only be truly terrified by the thoughts that you find deep inside your mind. Be wary of such thoughts for there is another that seeks to control them, another who has found a way to weaken you. Only you can save us all, but first, you must save yourself.”

Their words trailed off, not really telling me anything. Their riddles only frustrated me. “What does that mean?” I demanded from them.

Ignoring me, they said aloud again, “The Lady of the Lake can be found in Lough Leane, but she can only be reached by a leap from The Burren.” They held out their arms, gesturing for us to continue the path we had been on, granting us passage. “Find The Burren and call for her. She will hear you.”

They turned to face me again, their next words spoken only to me. “You will face the truth, and you must not hide from it. We are all counting on you to find what you need within yourself so that you may rise to become what you are destined to be.”

I snapped at them, “What does that mean?” My words came out louder than I had intended in my frustration. “Stop speaking in riddles and tell me plainly.” They started to fade from view, slowly disappearing and ignoring me. “Tell me!” I yelled at them as they winked out, spinning on my heel to find a glimpse of them.

“Trust yourself.” Their parting words whispered into my mind, sounding as if from a far distance or from another plane, leaving me there with their cryptic words and prophecies, floundering to understand what exactly they meant.

Chapter Thirty Seven: Rhowyn

A hand on the small of my back caused me to jump, dragging me from my thoughts and worries after facing the Gwyllion. “Are you okay?” Baer asked me softly.

I pasted a smile on my face, but neither of us was buying it. “Yeah. I'm good.” Forcing the foreboding riddles from my mind, I turned to face everyone in our group, all eyes on me. A flush of embarrassment ran through my body.

“So that happened,” I said with a laugh, trying to lighten the heavy mood that had descended on us.

“Let's go. We're running out of daylight and need to find a place to camp for the night,” Callum said gruffly, pulling everyone's attention from me. For once, I was thankful for his grumpy, no-nonsense attitude as everyone started preparing to set off again.

I walked over to mount Meadow, finding my seat in the saddle easily with Arryn’s assistance. Once I was in place, we set out again. The easy conversation from earlier was nowhere to be found as we all dwelled on the words of the Gwyllion, me most of all. Their words kept repeating over and over in my mind as I tried desperately to dissect the meaning, failing miserably.

“You want to talk about it?” Lennox asked quietly beside me at the back of the group.

I shrugged. “I'm not sure there's much to talk about.” Even if there were, I wouldn't even know where to begin.

“What did they say to you?” he asked. When I gave him a look of confusion, he explained, “We could feel through the bond that they were saying something to just you, although we couldn't hear anything. That and you were yelling at them about riddles. I assumed you weren't going crazy and were responding to the Gwyllion.”

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