Raulin's Oath

Lucius paced the palace grounds coolly, the rage inside him no longer boiling, just simmering. Clarette, the newest High Priestess, met him in the courtyard, her green robes billowing behind her.

“My King.” She bowed deeply, but those impish eyes never left him. He glared at her, but she held her icy gaze to his contrasting fiery stare.

“Priestess,” he bit out. “Do you have any updates on the Chosen?”

“The hunters were released as you asked and were tracking them through the Silent Forest when there were...complications.” Clarette cringed before Lucius posed his next question, knowing what his reaction would likely be.

“Complications? Have the Chosen been found?” He would keep his composure this time, for a king was not prone to tantrums as a child would be. A king was regal, poised, and elegant. Though angry, he held a cool anger; he was a lake frozen over. Clarette was, however, on its thin ice. She shifted, yet kept her neutral expression, smoothing her cloak and gathered her wits before speaking. She knew that again she must choose her words carefully.

“The Silent Forest is full of dangers. Our small party came upon an ancient being; something older and darker than anything that we have encountered. The hunters have been lost; nothing but dry husks remain.” She winced, her eyes dropping to the ground. His pacing was continuous, and each step burned into the earth, leaving evidence of his rage in the blackened ground where he stepped. He forced himself to a deadly calm, but the smoke curling from his nostrils betrayed his inner feelings.

“Clarette.” She hummed softly at her name, not daring to meet his eyes. “You know that I do not take kindly to failure.” Though he spoke in a calm, reserved voice, Lucius’ face flushed with anger. “I will give you one last chance, but only because you have served me well so far. I will not remind you of what happens to those who do not meet my expectations.” His voice was not raised, it was quiet, for he knew he had her full attention, and the beast inside of Clarette grinned, but her face betrayed no such chaotic glee.

“Understood, My King,” she said, turning on her heel to leave the courtyard and head to her room.

“Has the gate been closed?”

She turned back to him. “Yes, My King, the portal was closed last night as promised.” She needed to tread lightly if she wanted to keep her head intact.

“One more thing, Priestess,” he called after her, and she turned on her heels to face him. She waited expectantly. “Gather the Generals, but do so discreetly.”

That same Cheshire cat grin came over her face. “Is there a reason for your wish for discretion?” His eyes flickered at this as he whirled around to face her.

“You dare question me?”

She held her hands up, eyebrows raised. “Never,” she breathed, and his shoulders dropped. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He chuckled, the unfamiliar sound rumbling from deep in his chest.

“Of course you wouldn’t.” He shook his head, and this was the first time he caught Clarette off guard. “I’ve been acting like such a brute. Apologies, my lady. My little birds have detected some schemers within my court. I don’t…” He sighed once more. “I don’t need spies to make this war more difficult than it already is.” Clarette ate up this information voraciously. She twisted the elaborate ring on her middle finger, deep in thought.

***

“So…” Arietta said, observing as he poked a stick into the campfire.

“I would like to talk about the challenges that we faced yesterday. I saw a lot of stuff. I know we saw the same thing for the first challenge. The second challenge...” Jerry closed his eyes and rubbed them, dropping his head as Arietta continued.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be pushing you like this. It isn’t fair; you haven’t been pressing me to share what I saw.” She backpedaled with her words, a ball of guilt in her stomach.

Jerry sighed. “No, stop. It’s fine. You will tell me if I tell you, though, right?” She nodded grimly. He took a breath, preparing to share the horrors he’d encountered when they separated. “The thing that broke your leg… what I saw was my father. When I was six, he hung himself with a belt on his closet door. There was no note, only a blue face and drool dribbling out of his mouth.” He took an unsteady breath, shaking his head, then forced himself to go on. “At the next turn we made, I was blind. I couldn’t see, only could feel these cold hands. They confirmed my greatest fears, told me that you would betray me. They said many things, proclaimed it as truths, but when they said that you would betray me… I knew they were lies. I heard you crying, it was louder than all of the whispers, it seemed to drown out everything else, so I yelled to you and dragged myself further through the path. Anyway… the next thing I saw was the worst of all of it. I’m not sure what you saw at the next turn, but I saw this… this mirror, I suppose is what I’d call it. It had this beautifully elaborate golden framework. It didn’t show me my reflection, though, it showed me bits of my past and future. I saw every single one of my fears confirmed, saw all the horrible things I thought about myself to be true. It told me to let go. It taught that there was nothing in me to love, and when I accepted that, and only when I accepted that, would I be released from it.” Arietta’s eyebrows furrowed, and she contemplated their difference. Both of their keys to freedom required acceptance, but it broke her heart that his acceptance led to self-loathing.

“And the final challenge?” He turned to her, searching her eyes in confusion.

“What do you mean? You were there.” She fixed him with a look, as if to ask him to explain. Jerry continued, “Alright. When we were told to choose, I tried to find someone who had a long life, someone who would understand that it was a sacrifice we needed to make. We are kids, we haven’t gotten the chance to taste life yet, we have that right, you know. When I said the oldest, I wasn’t referring to your grandpa, I promise. I was thinking about one of the horses; there are so many of them, it didn’t seem that bad.” Jerry had grown defensive, and they both knew it.

“It’s okay. I was just… curious.” Her voice was strained, and he tipped his head.

“When you offered yourself to the thing… I was terrified. The challenges were nothing compared to that moment. Please, promise me you’ll never do anything like that again, not without telling me first.” His broken heart showed in his eyes. She gave him a promise she knew that she could not keep.

“Of course, I promise.” A grim smile of appreciation spread across his face, and she averted her eyes. Things grew quiet between them, and tension hung heavily in the air.

The sound of silence was something foreign to Arietta’s ears. It was too quiet, and her eyes wandered over to Jerry. The boy was staring at one of the charred trees, deep in thought after their conversation, and she was curious as to what he was thinking. Leaves blanketed the ground, and tree nuts decorated the forest floor. An idea popped in her mind, and she grabbed at the ground. The leaves were wet, which was gross, but she had her little fingers secured around the bumpy, roughly ball-shaped object. Jerry’s light humming filled her ears, and a grin spread across her face.

She had to go easy, as she had a strong arm and often underestimated how hard she could throw. Winding back, she sent the nut in an arc towards the unsuspecting boy, and plunk. “Hey!” he yelled, his hand immediately traveling to the back of his head. He whipped around to face her. “That hurt?”

She let out a low whistle, averting her eyes from him. “Haven’t you heard? It’s raining tree nuts. Really figured the horses would’ve let you know.” A sly smirk quirked her face, and he let out a low groan of frustration. A few paces away, Raulin snorted, insisting that he wasn’t a lowly horse.

“You’re gonna pay for that, Beaufort.” His pointer finger flicked upwards, and three of the tree nuts shot into the air, levitating at his sides.

“Impressive. Want to teach me how to do that?” Her eyes were glowing a bright blue, but the nuts nearest to her stayed firmly grounded. She knelt quickly, picking up a thick stick, adjusting the weight in her hands. The three nuts soared at her, and she wound up, cracking one of them through the air. Arietta had timed it perfectly. The nut flew straight back to him, and he had to dive out of the way to avoid being struck again.

“Game on, Beaufort.” Arietta grinned, lowering her butt and assuming batting position. Though they were in an alien world, she quickly found that her softball skills were better than ever, and a stick was not all that different from a bat if held in the right hands.

“Stay classy, pitch,” she sneered, and he waved an arm in a pitching motion. Like a puppet, the tree nut was obedient to the boy and shot towards her. She stepped aside, allowing the nut to hit a tree behind her.

“Strike!” He drew out the words, making it sound more like stee-rike.

“That wasn’t a strike! You have to swing and miss for it to be a strike.”

He twisted his face, mocking her. He lobbed another nut, and this time she swung, hitting it with a boom of thunder.

Jerry smiled and said, “So she can hit the ball after all. Interesting.”

“I’ll aim for your forehead next time. I’m sorry I missed,” Arietta snorted, and for a moment they had forgotten they weren’t home. The silence of the forest wasn’t as deafening.

***

The next morning, Arietta awoke, finally feeling rested for the first time since she had arrived in Palidonaya. The mood of the camp changed from grim to hopeful. Grandpa Gus and Raulin were deep in conversation as she approached. Gustoff turned to Arietta with a large smile and gave her a hug, asking how she was feeling this morning. Ari replied that this was the best she had felt in days. Grandpa Gus announced, “We have two more days at most in the forest if we make good time. Let’s get moving!”

With that, the herd began a slow walk to the west. Grandpa Gus hummed as he walked. This further brightened Ari’s mood as she caught up with Jerry. “Hey, Jerry, how are you feeling today?”

“I am pretty sore. I think that thing really hurt my ears. They have been ringing and aching since we returned. Don’t your ears hurt?”

“No, Grandpa Gus made me some weird mint tea last night. It seemed to dull the pain immediately. I woke up with no pain or ringing at all. Let me ask him if he can make you a cup.”

Arietta then picked up the pace, falling between Raulin and Gustoff. “Grandpa, Jerry’s ears are really hurting today. Do you have any more of that tea that you gave me last night?”

“No, I don’t. I will keep my eyes peeled as we continue walking. Could you run down to the creek and fill this cup with water? That way, when I do find the dreadnought, I can have the tea ready.”

Arietta skipped away, heading for the creek. She had to use some of the smaller trees to brace herself as she made her way down the incline to the water below. As she bent to scoop up some water, a noise caught her attention. That same little blue creature that she had seen with Grandpa Gus the other day, was trudging along close to the water, engaged in an intense conversation with itself.

“Yes, I hear the unicorns up there. They won’t hurt us, I promise. Unicorns are nice to us; they always be nice to us. Oh, I bet they would even give us a ride!” The small blue creature had a smile on his face, hands clasped hopefully in front of him.

The smile quickly turned to a sneer. “No, they won’t! They hate us! They fear us because they don’t know us. We must hide!”

“Hello, little guy, my name is Ari.”

The creature looked up in horror as it finally noticed the terrible creature reaching for him. He closed his eyes and puffed out his cheeks, then began stretching. The creature grew to twice his size. Arietta pulled back the hand that she had offered the creature, when the sheer terror shone in his eyes. When the creature realized that she was not a danger to him, he blew out the air in his cheeks and immediately shrank back to his regular size and scampered up to meet her.

“My name is Rogar the Strong! I am very glad to meet you.” He placed one arm across his waist and held the other high and performed a deep bow. “I am at your service, my young lady. Do you like shizbiz? I can catch you one.”

“No, thank you, I just ate and am very full. I am looking for something called dreadnought. Have you seen any?” Ari decided then and there that with some help she could get all of the ingredients for Grandpa Gus’ magic tea so that Jerry wouldn’t have to suffer longer than necessary. Arietta was careful to keep her voice down and to look non-threatening. She didn’t want the little guy to get all puffed up again. Rogar seemed very happy when she mentioned dreadnought. He jumped into the air and out into the water, swimming to the other side in seconds, where he sprang out of the water and ran parallel with the creek to a large moss-covered tree. There was a plant that looked like some kind of vine with purple flowers growing up the side of that tree. Rogar quickly plucked a few leaves and one purple flower, then repeated the process of springing into the water. In seconds, he was in front of her, shaking the water off of his hairless blue body. His smile stretched completely across his face as he handed Ari the dreadnought. “There you are, pretty princess. What do you have to trade?”

Arietta pensively took note of all of her possessions. She then reached into her robe and grabbed a penny. She looked at it to make sure that it wasn’t the golden coin that allowed her to travel here from home. She then handed Rogar the penny. He was delighted. “It is so beautiful! We are so lucky to have met the princess with the precious coin.”

Arietta thanked Rogar for the dreadnought and hurried back up the hill. She had to hold her hand over the cup so that she didn’t spill any of the water as she jogged to catch up with Gustoff. “Grandpa, I got the water, and a little guy named Rogar the Strong helped me find some dreadnought! You can make the tea for Jerry.”

As she approached Gustoff, she reached into her pocket and produced the dreadnought. When she neared her grandpa with the plant, he quickly hit her in the hand with his staff, knocking the plant to the ground. “Did you put any of that in your mouth?”

“No, just in my pocket,” Arietta said as she shook her hand. Her hand was purple and quickly swelling. “Grandpa, look at what you did to my hand!” The swelling was moving unnaturally fast. Gustoff grabbed Ari, tugging her down the slope towards the water.

“I never should have sent you alone!” Gustoff raced to the edge of the creek. The swelling had made its way to her shoulder, and Ari could not flex her fingers, nor could she bend her arm. The swelling had halted at her shoulder, but her arm felt as if it had been stung by a thousand bees.

Gustoff worked quickly, picking up a handful of moss, a few leaves from a nearby tree and a few red berries. He tossed those into his cup and used a stick to work the mixture into a paste. Next, he added water from the creek and mixed again. Once he was satisfied with the consistency, he carefully applied the paste to her arm. The pain immediately began to subside. “What else did the nightingale touch?”

“I think just this hand, but I did put it in my pocket.”

“Did the creature reach into your pocket?”

“No, but I gave him a penny for helping me find the plant.”

Gustoff shook his head. “This is not good. What did the creature look like?”

Arietta sighed heavily. “He was blue, like a small, frail man. He was the creature that we saw by the creek last night. He was scared of me at first, then was very nice.”

Jerry was sliding down the embankment as Gus positioned Arietta’s swollen arm into the water. “That creature is called a Shebaat. Their sole purpose in life is mischief. He gave you a poisonous plant and got you to offer something in return. That exchange bonds the two of you together. We definitely have not seen the last of Rogar.” Gus turned towards the herd and yelled, “Raulin, can we rest for a few minutes so that I can make more paste for Arietta’s arm? I can also make Jerry some dreadnought tea to ease some of his pain.” With that said, the herd rested by the creek while Gustoff worked his magic for Arietta and Jerry.