Page 18 of Royal Lies

Reaching down against the dirty bug-ridden ground I hurriedly scrambled for some kind of flint. Ah there! Some agate. Two small thumb-sized chunks of rock lay hidden below piles of dirt and dead blackened leaves.

I need to finish this quickly. They'd be back soon. Starting the fire myself would've already taken enough time. I shivered at the utter dirt that was now coating my hands. How I have hated all this“adventuring”as Everetta liked to call it. I just can't wait until we reach my court where we can finally live like the royalty we deserve.

Look at me now, reduced to starting a flame like a caveman.How utterly disgusting.But it had to be done.

This reminds me a little of the time when Everetta had dragged us into that lords awful realm of monsters and ghouls. We had to scavenge and hunt for our food all the time. For several months we had to start our own fires. Since we were still five sun cycles at the time, Everetta didn’t quite yet know how to use magic to make a fire.

One would wonder how a five-year-old would know how to cast a portal to another realm but not know how to start a fire with magic. Good thing for herIwas there to help guide us through that treacherous lords awful world.

"What bittersweet memories those were." Rolling my eyes at those “delightful” memories I finally got the flames to spark. I watched the bright burning embers crackle as they consumed the dead leaves at the bank of the forest floor. Signing an exasperated breath of relief I finally tossed the map of the locations for the ‘Gems’into the fire. She’ll forgive me for this. I know she will, even if she can no longer get a hold of those ‘Gems’she so loved.

These ‘Gems’ were Everetta’s most prized books. And one of these ‘Gems’ was in her very clutches at the moment. A necessary sacrifice be it a reluctant one. I wonder if perhaps the book might be aiding her in recovering her memories. If so I might need a way to get it back.

In the past Everetta had written five of these so-called'Gems'.She wanted some documentation of sorts for all her discoveries.Why she gave her collection that name? I haven't a clue. Lords only know what goes on in that childish brain of hers.

Fae live a long life and no one should be expected to remember everything. But, along with being a documentation of all her spells, Everetta has also created them as a means to store information to give to others. If only so she could boast about having discovered new ideas and spells. I have no doubt shewillcreate new ones again. So really she didn’t need those'Gems'.One could say I was freeing up her shelf space. I was inspiring her to make new spells instead of relying on old ones.

The ‘Gem’ she currently held, was the books of Skin and Tissues, it held the most basics of her first-ever spells. A guideline she hoped to pass on to her children to help them with their magic. I found that it had no spells that would be counterproductive to my plans so I gave it to her. At least none that would jolt her memories into motion. But, as much as I hate to admit it I might have been wrong about that.

“Eli?!” Everetta’s voice rang out through the air as I paused. Using my body to slightly obscure the still, burning piece of map as I turned back around plastering a smile on my face. It was a good thing the sun had yet to set too low, else the light from the flames would have been obvious. The howling winds of the forest helped to carry away the burning ashes of the paper so I didn't need to worry about the smells of the burning map.

“Yes?” I hoped to the lords that she did not know what was burning in the fire.

“What are you burning?” She was probably curious about why I was releasing smoke into the air thus alerting the guards to our positions but in my defense, we weren’t really going to stay here. We’d be on the move soon. Once, I burned this blasted thing.

Damn, I forgot about the smoke.

The problem was, if the winds carried away the smell shouldn't it have also done so for the smoke? Guess it wasn'tstrong enough. With the smell of pine and animal carcasses, I suppose the wind didn't have to be too strong for the burning smell to vanish.

Peering behind me to the right I shifted my weight to block her view.

She moved to the left, as did I.

Swaying quickly to the right she tried to peer over my shoulder which would do her no good as all I needed to do was go on my toes and obscure her view.

“Eli, let me see.” She tried peering past my left again only to have me block her once more.

“Everetta, there‘s nothing you need to see. Now please, let us keep going, we’ve rested enough.”

Rolling her beaming eyes she smiled and turned as if she was walking away making me lower my guard before she rushed at me jumping at the last second to go over my head; landing in a small crouch at the opposite side of the fire from me. Looking down at the remains of the slowly burning map I closed my eyes wincing inwardly.

Her frown deepened as she looked back up at me from the blazing fire, “Eli? Why are you burning the map? I thought you said those 'Gems'were important.”

She made a very fair point and in my accidental excitement at seeing it, I might have made a bigger deal at finding it than I needed to. To be honest, I was more glad to have discovered that she made a map to locate her 'Gems' than at the idea that she found it. I might have let it slip that those 'Gems' were very important. They wereto herwhich was why I couldn't let her find it. What if it contained a spell that would help her recover her memories, or worse a way to counter the spell I was placing on her. I couldn't let that happen. So after making a mental note of where each 'Gem' was located, I decided to burn it.

“Well, they are. And that is exactly why I burned them. So that, that witch- I mean L-...Luna can’t not get to them.” Ugh. I should wash my mouth after spitting that damned name from my lips.

Everetta’s frown deepened, "Ya, but I didn’t get to see it fully. I mean I was kinda hoping to get a better glimpse of it, ya know. Study it more. Besides, it could be some brand new discovery, who knows if that's the only map.”

I bit my lips at her words, thatwasprobably the only map. But I can't tell her that.

“Everetta, do you trust me?” I cocked a brow at her hesitant look.

Hold on a minute did she not trust me? No, she shouldn't have had reasons to doubt me. I've laid out all my actions very carefully.

But before she could speak she was hunching over. Her hands clenched her head as if she was having an awful migraine. I knew what this was, a memory was resurfacing in her mind. The problem was I didn’t knowwhichmemory she was remembering.

Going over to her I quickly lifted my hands to her forehead using my magic to stop or freeze those memories from coming to light. But I was too late as I could already feel the memory slipping loose from my grip.

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