Page 84 of Oracle of Ruin

Chapter34

Verosa

The last time I dared to venture outside the safety of a stronghold was the fateful trip I took with Mavis, Neris, and Emi. The trip that ended in me murdering Gadsden and learning of the Oracle in the first place. The trip that flipped the switch in my mind towards darkness. That told me I had to be willing to do anything to protect the ones I love.

The trip taught me of my own failures. Tanja’s death wasn’t my fault, I know that now, yet I am failing to realize it in my heart, just as I failed to save her. In that way, doesn’t that make her death my fault?

I try to push the thought from my mind. Emilie has been working on that with me. Reminding me that I am not able to save everyone and that grief is only a shield so long as it is not a sword. I like to pretend I don’t know what she means.

Derrín walks ahead as the sun settles low in the sky. The golden light catches on his tight coils. He hums to himself and picks at his bandages as he walks. Barely five words have been spoken between us. Frost and ice still settle over the grass with some sparse patches of snow, making the footing wet and slick as we walk.

“There’s only a few more miles now. We will stop for the night outside the Bone Wood, then go around it tomorrow,” he calls from ahead, his face buried in a compass.

A shudder seems to run through the valley we are in. The Bone Wood. A crimson stain across an otherwise pristine map.

Spindly tree trunks the color of milky, pale bone crawl towards the sky in the Bone Wood, the wood completely smooth, unlike any other tree bark. If one were to take a knife to the trunk or carve a letter into it, the tree would bleed a sticky crimson sap that stains the clothes like blood. The wiry branches bear crimson leaves that block out the light, creating a grotesque ambiance resembling constant carnage.

It is not the atmosphere that strikes horror in the heart, but the bodies that enter and never return. Rumors of monsters once men haunt those trees, and those monsters are the reason the sap runs red.

“Why can’t it be a haunted beach for once?” Derrín complains loudly. “A nice beach with warm sun and waters. Why is it always some creepy forest or mountains?”

“At least we won’t have to run through sand. If it were a haunted beach, that would be a problem.” I allow myself to lighten my tone. The previous horror curls off my spine as he tuts his tongue.

“That is true. I have weak ankles.”

A dry laugh breaks the silence. I’ve always liked Derrín well enough, yet I never got to know him as well as I have the others. We’ve gotten to talking comfortably now since we left the inn yesterday morning. Our first night was tense, but something about the glow of our fire broke through our awkward conversation. The more time I spend with him, the greater I enjoy his company. He is blunt yet well meaning. He works well with the others and yet is so vastly different. Each of them, different pieces welded together over time.

Kya might be the exact opposite of her twin and the irony is not lost on me. Where Kya is sweet and sensual, Derrín is honest and just… not. Kya’s emotions are always high, whether that be anger or joy. Derrín shows his emotions rarely, and dully at that. Yet he is quick witted and funny in his dry humor and the brilliant things he says plainly. Rowan and Amír may be strategizing geniuses, but Derrín is mechanical. Sometimes, I catch him staring at something for a second too long and know that if asked, he could create a better version of it.

“Do you think the stories are true?” I call out. “About the Bone Wood?”

Derrín doesn’t hesitate for even a second before responding, “No. Sure, magic does weird things to people, but history has never shown it being able to turn on people without them using it themselves. It is just another story to keep enemies out of our borders. The sap is a phenomenon, sure, but judging by the lack of sunlight the trees see, it would make sense that…”

I listen to him ramble on, using words larger than I can comprehend as I fall into step beside him. The sky is clear above us, not a single puffy cloud dotting the horizon. Derrín’s prattle fills the silence and eats away at the dread that had begun to settle. He throws out words likephotosynthesisandchlorophylland I understand those, but the rest might as well be a foreign language. It might actually be and the mechanic is just toying with me, but I welcome the distraction either way.

“Have you seen Lucius since he tried to sacrifice you?”

Never mind.

“No.”

“What do you think would happen if you did?”

“I would kill him.”

“Okay.”

Our versions of small talk must be different, but I pay him no mind. Rather, my mind drifts to the face that haunts my nightmares—the prince turned emperor that hunts us now. My ex-fiancé, and someone I once cared for.

I cannot pinpoint the exact moment I felt a shift in Lucius’s demeanor. He still seemed kind and caring up until the duel with Blaine. At first, I thought he was merely jealous of Blaine and what we once shared, but going as far as having Rowan spy on us…

I felt my faith in my image of Lucius shift, and I’m not sure if I ever knew him at all. Maybe the boy who named his horse Jacques because it was a fine and noble name never really existed. The boy who liked my smile and was the first to draw a line severing me from Irene.

The potential truth in that is more painful than his betrayal.

Without warning, Derrín halts and throws his pack on the ground. “Here,” he says, then props his hands on his hips. “This will do.”

I glance around, searching for any sign of horrifying trees or rolling mist that moves of its own accord. Cannibalistic monsters, too, but thankfully, those are just as out of sight as the rest of the Bone Wood.

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