“I’m very malnourished. Whatever monster you are taking me to won’t want me. They might even turn on you. You’re plump. Obviously the better choice.” I tried to walk with confidence instead of letting the fear take over all of me like it had in my belly.
The creature snarled as we trudged into the cave. Flickers of light danced on the stone ceiling without torches. Was it an illusion?
“You go alone,” he growled and smacked my leg with his staff. The pain radiated up my thigh and threatened to drop me on the cave floor.
“Hit me again with that stick, and I’m going to kick your little green butt across the mountains.” I reached for Turgen, ready to grip him by the shirt but he was already walking back toward the entrance and most likely, only exit.
A breeze of lavender-scented wind came from the inner parts of the cave, sweeping past me and soothing my mind despite the terror in my mind.
“Sapphira.” The wind beckoned me. Toward Celestine. I knew if I tried to run out of the cave, they’d only toss me back in. I had no choice but to venture farther into the unknown.
I took a deep breath and followed the calming scent around a few stone corners, observing the carvings in the rock. I saw gems, people with pointed ears, a tree with crystals like the one in the throne room, two wolves, one much larger than the other, and a hand inside fire. There were others as I passed through an archway and into a room with a fire. Owls sat on tree branches, the open woods behind them. It was not a cave I had ventured through but maybe a tunnel.
“I almost thought you’d never take those final steps inside, Sapphira. Of course, I knew you would, though. Stubborn, stubborn.” A woman’s voice came from where the owls sat, their tails wagging.
I stopped moving. Owls didn’t have tails to wag, and there was a large form sitting on the branch with the owls that I didn’t notice before. Both the fire and moonlight weren’t enough to see what the large shadow appeared to be.
“Who are you?” I demanded. My hands clenched, in case I needed to fight.
The shadow dropped to the ground and a woman with dark-as-night hair popped up. It was almost hard to distinguish where the ebony sky ended and her straight short hair began. Her skin was pale as the moonlight, and her body was not thin like the rest of the Fae I had seen in the city.
“Who are you?” I asked again. This time the woman smiled, her teeth flashing and her eyes wide like an owl. It was unnerving the way she shifted and looked around, then back at me. I wanted to recoil and cover myself with my arms to keep her from seeing into my soul.
“I’m Celestine. Seer of the Fae. Keeper of destinies.”
Chapter Ten
Celestine was not going to eat me.
Instead, she made me tea and gave me a delicious meal of what I hoped was chicken, cooked carrots, and bread. My belly ached from eating so much but I couldn’t stop myself from devouring everything, even if I ended up being sick.
Celestine patiently waited while I gobbled every crumb of food and drank her tea, as the owls with ears and tails like cats perched near her and walked against her legs.
This was her home, I think. The wooden stool she sat on in front of me was old and worn from use, and pots were scattered around the old tree to my right. I had no idea where the rest of her belongings were, and I was slightly nervous to look or ask.
Once I finished, I settled against the grass and sipped the rest of the tea, gathering the strength to talk to her and answer whatever questions she had for me. I had been pushed into here for a reason, and I suspected that whatever I was going to learn here would change me forever.
“Wonderful. I see a little color returning to your cheeks already, my dear.” She placed her tea down on the ground and continued to look me over with those strangely wide owl eyes.
“Thank you. It’s been a while since I ate so much food,” I admitted and my full stomach agreed with me.
“The tea will help with the cramping you might have gotten from the fullness.” As if her words were magic, my body relaxed, easing into a comfortable state without any aches. Even my legs appeared to have discharged the soreness that had begun to lock up my limbs.
“I know you have some questions. Out with them, so that you may get some rest before dawn.” I nodded toward her. I had so many questions, so many thoughts.
“Do you really know everything? Like the future?” Maybe it was lame to ask this first, but I wanted to know what being a seer meant.
She nodded and the owl at her foot hooted. It also sounded like a meow. There were so many mixtures of animals in this place.
“I do not see anymore. Not for some time now. I had seen them before, when magic was as real as the blood beating in your heart.” Her pale hand reached up to touch her chest, as if she could feel the magic inside there, like a phantom pulse beneath her skin.
“So, it’s true then. The stories Tor told me. The Fae have no magic anymore. King Verin, Olyndria, the princess. All of it is true?” I wanted to believe before. I’d been in Tor’s arms and dreamed of this world. Even here . . . now where I could smell and taste it . . . doubt lingered.
“Yes, and you play a very important part in this story. Tor was sent to find you and bring you here for a reason, my dear.”
“Tor was sent to find me? He knew this was real?” I was on my feet instantly, pacing back and forth on the grass.
“This may hurt, child. I see that. But yes. I sent Tor to find you and bring you here. Despite what you think of yourself, you will play a part in the breaking of the onyx and releasing the savior into this world.” Celestine didn’t sugarcoat things, and while I appreciated it, I still couldn’t believe it. Tor kept this from me. He made me believe these were just fantasy stories of the Fae. Not history.
The shaking of my head in disbelief turned to laughter.
“I am no one in this story, let alone some hero who will help save the world.” I was human, and I was lacking in the skills some mighty superhero would have. There was no way I could take on an army and I definitely had no power to break a tomb of onyx. Hell, if these Fae and creatures hadn’t been able to do it, then I didn’t stand a chance.
“You are everything,” she insisted, and I scoffed. I was not everything, I was only me.
“You will stay here in Crysia. And you will train. You will learn everything you can, and then you will rescue Prince Tor from those evil heathens in one month’s time.” She stood and her stare held no room for argument. I was being told what I would do, and that was that.
“Prince Tor?” My thoughts swirled fast in my head.
“Tor is also known as Prince Torin, heir to the throne across the sea, and betrothed to the princess. He is half-Fae and human, the bridge between our worlds, and was the only one who could find you and bring you here without anyone knowing our realm exists. I am sorry, dear. I know what he means to you. You must not give up, and in one month you will go get him back. He sacrificed himself for you. You will not let that sacrifice go in vain. He believed in you, as do I.”
“These people are not just going to let me stay here. They look at me as if I am a bug on their boots.”
Celestine smiled, knowing for now I accepted what she said as truth. It was the part about Tor’s sacrifice that got me the most. He did that for me, a half-Fae prince. I owed him everything. He had saved me many times before and made sure I was going somewhere safe. Despite the unknown settings around me, I began to feel at ease.