KINGSLAYER

♕ 4 | 2 ♕

Act 2 Chapter 42
JAYLAH

Razorwood was gone. We were back in the realm of small towns, picket fences and street markets once more. Due to our nearness to Westyard, I pushed us even harder to keep moving; during the day we did not stop for anything besides food. Until today.

It began as any other day. We woke up in the cheapest inn Alexander's pickpocketed money could buy, made a distance goal for the end of the day, and began walking through village after village to complete it. But we were just days from Westyard and I knew nothing of what to expect or look for. It was my fear that we would arrive only to be searching the city aimlessly for days. Our supposed head start on Daggen's men would be for nothing if we wasted time in such a way.

Perhaps it was simply anticipation, or something deeper, but when I saw a diviner's shop with a woman staring straight at us, beckoning us in, I felt need enough to at least go in. It was similar to the pull I felt in the naga's cave—something deeper than mere curiosity.

"Alright. I know I tease you for being a devout child of the Gods, but this is a new low, even for you," Alexander said when I dragged him in the diviner's direction. "You would really burn through our money for some conwoman to tell you you're in grave danger? We already know that."

"If you do not like it, bite me," I said offhandedly, using the new phrase I learned from Ghislaine's frequent usage.

"Where?" The mocking smile was evident in his voice.

Ah. My expression crumpled into a scowl. I walked right into that one. "It was merely an expression. I do not want your filthy mouth anywhere near me."

"Didn't your mother teach you that lies are a sin?"

"I believe lying will pale in comparison to my other sins," I said darkly.

"Oh, do tell."

Jabbing an elbow into his side to quiet him in front of the woman, I said to her, "What can you do for us?"

"Anything one pleases." A thick accent marked her words, but I could not place it. "But I would suggest for you, my dear, a soothsaying. I see you are headed into tumultuous times. You must have many unanswered questions."

My hesitance remained, but I still felt that strange inclination to believe her. She must say that to all possible customers, and yet...

"You would be correct." With that, the woman beckoned us inside with a veined hand. But I remained in the doorway to ask, "What would be the price?"

She threw a look over her scarf-covered shoulder. "Fifteen krone, a secret admission from each of you and two drops of blood."

Alexander began, "I'm not—" But I silenced him with a glance. He was a piece in this dangerous game I was playing too, and I needed all the insight I could get.

I strode into the store, trying to not be distracted by the trinkets on the shelves: items such as preserved beetle parts, labeled potions, supposedly enchanted clothing items, and stones claimed to have been blessed by Ulima Herself. The place was very colorful, very overwhelming and smelled heavily of sweet perfume that made my head spin.

Sitting behind a cloth-covered table, the woman readily accepted our money and the drops of blood pricked from the point of my smallest dagger. As soon as the vials of our blood were set aside, the woman folded her hands and waited expectantly for each secret.

Knowing Alexander would not be vulnerable enough to go first, I thought of something vague and inconsequential. "I fear for what the future holds."

"No, no." The woman waved a hand. "It must be a personal truth. Something that gnaws at your heart when you cannot sleep."

I bit down on my tongue so hard I thought it drew blood. "Sometimes...I feel that I am both too much and not enough to bear the mantle of power I must take." Eyes boring into the table, I did not look into either of their faces.

"Very good," the woman said, her voice bright despite what I revealed. "Now you, my dear."

Like me, Alexander took a while to answer. "Occasionally, I regret taking work for a certain client. I did not foresee the darkness it pulled me and others into."

Clever. He was clever for that answer. It sounded heartfelt and sincere, but he and I both knew he only regretted working for Daggen because his men made targets out of the both of us. Oh, if only he knew what I knew.

"Perfect," the mystic said, then pulled a bowl from under the table and placed it in between us three. There were what appeared to be half-crushed bones inside. She poured our blood over them and added a few leaves of carefully-selected plants hanging behind her.

Putting her hands out over the table, she urged us to take one each. Sharing a glance, Alexander and I humored her, and once our hands enveloped hers, she shut her eyes and began muttering in a guttural voice. That was no language I heard before. When she began to rock back and forth ever so slightly, I nearly pulled away.

The woman's eyes snapped open. Were they a lighter blue than before? She focused on me, her mouth parted with whatever it was she saw. Unease tricked down my spine.

"You..." she spoke shakily, "You have the potential to set the world ablaze. For the love of the Gods, do not let it consume you."

My eyes widened. What was she referencing? But she was not done: "There is a deceiver in your midst. Watch your back vigilantly, for they will strike when you least expect. And you will suffer greatly from it." It took all my strength to not turn wary eyes to the mercenary beside me.

"In fact, there are many shadows on your horizon, but none is as dark as the one that lives inside you—one shared by a future enemy. Learn to quell it or you will utterly break."

My heart pounded long after she finished. It was all so hazy, yet it felt so imminent. Whatever thread that was bringing me to my future was jerked.

"Onto you, my dear," she said, attention fixing next on Alexander, who to his credit, still looked dubious. "You own a similar darkness, but different. I sense that it was put there by years of festering pain and rage. That will make you sly and shifty in nearby events. Dangerous. Not only to others, but to yourself."

Alexander pulled a face. "That is very vague and I am not convinced in the slightest."

The woman went on. "It means you are a weapon to be wielded by either side of said event. I saw a bloodbath. You will need to choose a side. And the one you choose will be your ruin."

When the woman was finished, Alexander stood. "Thanks for the warning," he said in a way that conveyed he was not moved at all.

I moved to follow him to the door, but just before we could pass the threshold, the woman stood from the table as if something else just hit her. "Wait."

A thin sense of dread ran through me when I saw her eyes seemed to be looking at nothing at all. "The thing you are searching for is in the earth God's clutches. If you go after it, he will crush you."