Chapter 21
T wo of the priestesses departed the room with me.
The others will spend time with Spencer to understand his command of his powers and to learn more about Egan.
Before we left the castle grounds, they insisted on going to my chambers.
I led the way. Once inside the chambers, they busied themselves in my wardrobe, pulling out a set of clothing that closely resembled their own.
“It’s not what acolytes usually wear, but it’ll do well enough.” I heard one mumble.
Amyra was still sleeping in my chambers, but Ivy was not in sight.
My eyes lingered on her, watching her breathe.
One priestess caught my gaze, raising her eyebrow at me, but didn’t ask questions.
They hurried to change my clothes and restyle my hair.
Once they were done, I looked more like an ordinary citizen than a princess.
I supposed that would make it easier to navigate beyond the walls without any of the usual fanfare.
They handed me a cloak long forgotten from the depths of my wardrobe.
“You’ll need this to help cover your identity. No one can know you left the grounds today.” Both looked over at my bed, at Amyra.
I nodded. As we left the room, I started down the hall to walk towards the main staircase. “No, this way. ”
The brown-eyed priestess tugged on my arm, and I followed them into a door that winded through to servant paths throughout the castle.
How did they know the layout of this building this well?
I had the feeling that I shouldn’t ask questions until we reach our destination, so I added it to the growing list.
I followed the women through the hallways, long after losing track of where we were.
Eventually, we climbed a staircase and approached a door to the outside.
This door opened into an alleyway within the town outside the gates.
I didn’t know that this was possible, and yet these strangers just knew how to navigate around this place?
We walked through the streets, zigzagging down alleyways and along major thoroughfares.
It felt like they were trying to shake off someone following us, but I couldn’t see anyone behind us when I had the opportunities to look.
I didn’t dare drop the hood to look around more, just in case they were noticing something I couldn’t.
The weather at least made the hooded cloak make sense.
A light drizzle fell, and many of the people we passed were wearing their own head coverings to shelter from the weather.
Eventually, we found our way to the city edge and into farmlands.
We noticed the potent smell of manure, suggesting the livestock were well-fed and healthy.
Other plots of land clearly used some of that manure for fertilizing.
I had never walked this far from the walls guarding the castle before.
The carriages we used would breeze through this space within minutes so that the smell never lingered.
It took us much longer to trudge through on foot.
Eventually, we made it to a forested area.
The stench dissipated as we dodged into the narrow entry of the thick woods, the priestesses easily locating the walking path.
We could only walk single file through this area.
Thick undergrowth hid the path, making it invisible unless you searched for it.
I was stunned once more by how well these women knew my own lands.
I wonder if they had grown up here, and if they had, what led them to the Oracles out in the foothills ?
After what felt like an eternity of walking through this forest, we approached a clearing.
Although we saw no buildings, several rounded stones formed a circle.
Inside the circle of stones, nothing but dirt was present.
Outside, the grass and undergrowth didn’t start growing until a solid six or seven feet away from the circle.
The ground looked well worn, like many dozens and dozens of feet have walked this area.
The trees were another eight to ten feet from the start of the grassy area, providing a large clearing.
Its simplicity truly made the space breathtaking.
“Where is the temple?” I whispered, in awe of what I could already see.
The brown-eyed priestess walked to the center of the circle as she explained, “The Oracles don’t need a building to accomplish our goals.
This space is for understanding our magic, which flows from the earth and returns to it after.
We use this space to ground ourselves, become one with the nature that provides for us, and open our hearts to the source of our gifts. ”
The second priestess, whose eyes were pale blue, almost a perfect match to Amyra’s, followed her.
They sat on the ground, inside the circle of stones, closed their eyes, and started a chant.
After a few moments, water rose from the ground, swirling around them like a ribbon.
It flowed through and around them for a moment, then shifted and aimed for me.
Before I could even react, the water swirled around me in the air, like a small stream suddenly formed around me, unable or unwilling to follow the laws of nature.
I could feel it tugging, though it never touched.
The water ribbon pulled me towards the priestesses and returned to the ground once I was standing next to them.
Instead of just falling to the earth, the stream left the area we were in, flowing along the ground to make a small pool on the other side of the clearing.
The brown-eyed priestess wordlessly invited me to sit. I quietly mimic their position, touching each of my knees to one of theirs, like how they were touching each other. She started instructing me as soon as I was sitting, guiding me to a meditative state.
We spent hours trying to find different ways for me to use this magic I’m supposed to have.
They had me sit, stand, lay down, and move in every way they could imagine.
Every so often, we returned to meditation.
Without these meditation breaks, I was certain I would have lost my mind.
I couldn’t seem to harness this magic to save my soul, let alone this world they thought I was going to save.
I started to wonder if Spencer should be marrying a different queen-to-be.
During one of these attempts to move the soil, I gave up and sat down in frustration.
I turned to the brown-eyed priestess, who I’ve learned was called Zoya, and just poured out all my questions.
“What is wrong with Egan? How do you know my castle so well? What if I never show magic? Maybe I’m not this Queen of prophecy. What is ‘a river of fire’?”
Both Priestesses giggled. Zoya turned to the blue-eyed woman, Lettie, and said, “You were right. She didn’t make it to lunch.”
Did they take bets on me? When did they even have time to do that? My skin burned with the anger I felt welling up inside me. Before I could go off on them, Zoya answered.
“The other priestesses know more about Egan. All I know is that he’s an abomination and shouldn’t be able to do what he did.
As for your castle, the Oracles of the Gelid were once a critical part of the ruling of this kingdom.
We keep substantial records, and it only took a bit of studying to get familiar with it.
A river of fire is just that… rock melted and burning, flowing downhill like a river.
As for if you’ll show magic, well, you will.
I can feel it inside you when you try. We just haven’t figured out how to connect your will to it. ”
She smiled at me, smug that she could answer my concerns so easily.
I flushed with embarrassment. I focused on them to steer attention away from me. “How did you first use your powers?”
Lettie answered first. “I was cooking at home for my family, and the pot of water I was boiling bubbled over. I panicked about the fire being put out, and the surge of adrenaline allowed me to pull the water away from the pot until I could reach the pot and pull it off the flame.”
Zoya paused a moment before answering. “I also accessed it in a moment of panic. There was a fire coming straight for our home, from a neighbor’s building.
I knew my baby sister was in the room closest to the fire and none of us could reach her before the flames did.
I created a wall of dirt out of instinct, to keep the flames from licking the house. ”
Lettie’s eyes lit up. “We need to make you panic. How can we do that?”
I groaned. “I don’t want to feel panic. Surely there’s another way. What if it’s just any heightened emotion?”
Zoya smiled. “Should we bring your girlfriend out here with us? Maybe she can cause some heightened emotions.”
Her eyebrow raised. I flushed with embarrassment again.
“I’m sure we can find something respectable to do that wouldn’t risk my role as future Queen. The men on the Council would strip me of my titles and exile me if they knew of her.”
“Ohhhhhh,” Lettie groaned. “So that’s why you’re pretending to marry Spencer?”
“I haven’t announced a betrothal to anyone.”
Zoya rolled her eyes. “Are you telling me you don’t intend to tell Elthas that Spencer is your choice?”
She pursed her lips; her expression reminded me of Mother’s when she knew I was feeding her lies.
“I didn’t say that. I just don’t need people knowing what’s going on right now. Egan is also a candidate, and I want to avoid fueling his anger with rumors that he won’t be chosen.”
“He truly scares you?” Lettie softly asked.
“I have seen angry men in my life, but something about that night, that sound he made, it wasn’t human. I don’t know what it was, but that wasn’t human.” Lost in thought about the evening, I stared into the distance.
When my thoughts returned to me, I noticed that both Zoya and Lettie were watching my face with concern in their eyes. I shook things off and then tried to refocus the discussion on magic. “OK, so what can I try to do to get this magic to connect with me?”
Zoya shook her head. “You were getting there. You need to talk to us more about Egan and that night. Tell us what you were worried about that night.”
I stared at her, waiting for her to tell me she was kidding, anything.
When nothing came, I answered. “The room was so small. He was directly across from me at that table, and so many of my loved ones were there too. Amyra, Ivy, Spencer… I was so worried for all of them.”
“OK, good, lean on those feelings. They’re working. Tell us more.”
Zoya forced me to recall several moments where my adrenaline spiked in fear, not just from that night, but from moments where Amyra and I nearly got caught, while learning how to sneak around, and even from my childhood.
I focused so hard on my memories, with Zoya walking me through the emotions.
The fear, the pain of losing Mother, the anger at not being allowed to live authentically were all used to feed whatever was in me.
Without warning, I felt my body shake with a force I had never felt before.
My breath left me, and I felt frozen, completely unable to process what had just hit me.
Then a whirlwind of dirt and plants and the stones surrounding us with rose and started swirling around us, lifting me up.
I held completely still, not sure what to do, afraid to take in more than a small breath.
The debris rose above the tallest trees and formed a swirling, rocky vortex around us, with me hovering about five feet in the air, locked into my sitting position.
I looked down at Zoya, who was grinning.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Princess, that’s you.” She had pure joy in her voice. “Let’s get these back down. Take a deep breath and picture them slowly descending to the places they came from. ”
She walked me through calming down, and I watched the air around us clear and return to normal.
Once it was safe to move, Lettie and Zoya bowed deeply towards me. “You just did something that took me years to have the strength to do. You are our Queen. The Gods will wake when you call them.”
I stared blankly for a moment, unable to process what Zoya just declared. “What do you mean?”
“You are naturally incredibly strong. With practice and training, you’ll be able to move land in ways I’ve never seen before.
It took me a year to move one rock the size of this.
” She held up a stone about the size of her hand.
“We hoped for you to move a handful of dirt today, not create a tower of dirt visible from the sea. I was supposed to train you all winter, but truthfully, I’m not sure what I can offer for you. ”
I breathe deeply, taking the time to process this.
With my hands in the earth, I sat on the ground.
I could feel what must be the magic flowing through me.
It was a soothing feeling, helping me to calm my thoughts as they race around.
If Zoya was right and I was already this powerful, then maybe that prophecy really was about me. What did that mean for me?
“What we can do,” Lettie started, “is head back to the others and see what they think should be done. While Zoya can’t help you strengthen, there are methods to learn control, so at least we can cover that information this winter, and maybe the others know more about how we can help you harness strength. ”
She must have read my mind. I gave her a grateful smile and stood up. As I stood, dirt rose with me. I looked at Zoya in a bit of panic.
“Deep breaths, center yourself. It’ll drop. When you ground with the earth like you just did, it basically combines to your will. It will move the way you will it, which this time was the way you needed to move.” Zoya explained.
I listened, and as I took my third deep breath, the pebbles and soil dropped from the air .
“I have never been so glad to live in the castle before… wait, could I move the stones there too?”
Zoya shrugged. “Probably. Maybe not now, but I would imagine you could with time and practice.” Mischief glinted in her eyes. “Makes it much easier to hide things… or people.”
Our giggles echoed in space as we started back.