Chapter 19
We trek five hours in the sweaty heat of the woods, pressing through endless branches and bushes.
The alcohol has long since left my system and the road has disappeared, requiring us to make our own path.
The vibrant green of the forest remains brilliant, but nothing new marks our surroundings.
One could easily get lost in the repeating pattern of leaves and branches.
I lift my flask to my lips and dump the last splash of water over my dry tongue—I’ve already squandered the entire thing, thanks to the relentless heat rising from the forest floor.
I’m not sure when we’ll get to the tallup breeding grounds, but if not soon, I’m not sure I’ll be able to last much longer.
The aching in my temples begs me to rest.
Ronan taps my shoulder, and before I can turn to face him, he’s shoving his flask to my chest. The hollow sound of liquid sloshing inside the container makes my dry throat itch.
My fingers wrench around the nozzle, but I pause before taking a sip. “Aren’t you thirsty? Haven’t you had even a sip of water?”
My servant chuckles, clapping my back. “We will arrive soon. I can wait.” His arms stretch in front of him as we continue walking. “I have to keep you alive, remember?”
I nod my thanks, debate vocalizing it, and cherish the cold, fresh water as it flushes past my lips and down my throat like a rush of ice soothing my burning chest and throat.
What seems like an eternity later, Pluto stops walking. He grabs a knot in a massive yellow-leaved elm tree and hoists himself onto a low branch. His legs fan like a frog’s as he perches, squinting beyond the path where we’re unable to see from below. He beams.
“Just through here, friends, is where we will find your tallup.”
Thank Arioch.
The elf drops from the branch, regarding us once with a wild grin before he flips around and books it down the path, his messy, long braid whipping around behind him like lightning.
I can’t tell if he’s excited, ready to finally cool off, or maybe something in between, but as he runs, something inside of me wants to run too.
But my feet stay grounded, dumb.
With a gurgly laugh, Ronan darts ahead, his feet pinging against the moist dirt, short silver hair swishing about his head. He’s excited too, even after seeming like he disagrees with most of what Pluto says.
I take a deep breath, and a smile crawls into my cheeks as I remember the times I often ran after Xavelor as a boy. They are happy memories, but I don’t linger on them long. Filled with nostalgia, my feet bound from the soil to follow.
I’m weightless as I whiz past multicolored trees that line the winding path. Ronan shrinks ahead of me, gaining speed on a sudden downward slope. My heart thuds in its cavity, energized by the muscles carrying me to our destination at last.
Pluto and Ronan wait for me, each sitting on two moss-covered boulders. Beyond them is a glassy pond that twinkles under the sun.
I lean forward on my hands and knees. My breath starts to catch up with me, hot and dry.
I don’t know if I’ve ever had such an exhilarating run.
We were taught to ride horses from a young age, not to sprint or jog, so my stamina is almost nonexistent.
Even when playing with Xavelor, we never ran for long.
When Pluto sees me, he tilts his head and smirks. “Catch your breath, Prince. You’ll need the energy to lure yourself a tallup.”
As my breaths start to slow, I straighten. “Tell me how it’s done.”
The elf pivots off his boulder, landing on the pond’s pebble-littered perimeter. He doesn’t respond, instead facing the water. He then begins to remove his clothing, dropping it around him in thin piles of scraps and revealing smooth, pale skin.
I don’t know where to look… Up?
Wow, yes, the sky is quite ordinarily blue.
Ah, and the trees are still green.
I may be used to having Bernadette dress and undress me, but she stopped doing that once I was of marriageable age. It’s been years since I’ve been naked in the company of others, let alone seeing someone else in the nude.
Pluto snorts, and my thoughts come to a crashing halt. “A bit of a prude, aren’t you?”
My neck stiffens at his jab, though he isn’t wrong. The one person I remember seeing in the nude is myself, and even then, it always felt wrong to linger too long on my lanky reflection. I’ve never felt comfortable in my own skin.
I lower my gaze to him. His skin is pearly and blemish-free, his torso long and bony, stretched and flexible. A creature of the forest, meant to swing through the trees.
Could Ether also ?—
Heat burns in my cheeks, and I have to shake my head to quell the flood of indecent thoughts about my master that make my heart race. I’ve practically just met her, and while she is a beautiful creature, I have no right to imagine what her shape might be beneath her scrappy clothing.
Even with this internal declaration, I find myself unable to cool the heat matting my cheeks with sweat.
The elf turns, hiding a grin. “You must remove anything impure from your body before entering the sacred water of the forest. If not, the gods might pull you beneath the surface, and you’ll never breathe our air again.
” He scrutinizes the ring on my littlest finger. “That includes any ornamental pieces.”
Ronan begins taking his clothes off now, dropping his flask and dagger to the ground.
His limbs and chest are covered in tufts of white hair, matching the silky platinum on his head.
He wastes no time once his clothes are off, skittering into the water and disturbing the sanctifying surface of the pond.
Waist-deep now, both face me. Neither shiver, so the water must be a comfortable temperature. Pluto even drops to his shoulders and groans with delight at the cooling properties of the oasis.
I laugh at them while I remove my leather boots.
Everything else comes off clean and quick, unlike my usual royal garb.
There are no laces to be undone, just a humble tunic, trousers, and undergarments.
I toss everything into a small pile, then pause to consider the ring on my finger.
I’ve had it ever since I can remember… Must I remove it?
No one is near, so if I tuck it safely into the folds of my clothing, there’s no chance anyone will steal it. Still, something within me protests removing the heirloom. Almost as though it’s become a part of me. Like a wedding band.
How ridiculous.
I huff, picking the silver off my finger. I slide it into my tunic, take a breath, and smile.
See? That wasn’t so bad.
My fingers sift through the short curls of my hair, pinning them out of my face. I try not to think about the emptiness forming in my chest as I dash across the small round pebbles and plunge into the lukewarm water.
The men submerge themselves at once and pop their heads up, both of their locks a shade darker after absorbing water.
Beads cling to their foreheads. Ronan’s eyes are wide and bright, the corners of his mouth dipping into his cheeks.
Pluto wears a similar expression, his irises an enigmatic shade of green.
“Feels great, eh?” Pluto reaches over to me and cuffs my shoulder with a warm hand.
I nod. My body immediately feels more energized, more alive now that the water has brought my temperature down. When was the last time I went for a swim? When I was six? Seven?
We paddle to the center, where none of us can touch the sludge of mud and algae on the bottom, which requires us to flap our arms and wave our legs to stay afloat.
“Okay, elf . Catch us a nice fish so we can be on our way,” Ronan says, his voice twanging with impatience. He seems to be struggling to stay above the surface.
A part of me wishes to float for hours in this calming pond, soaking in the private luxury of freedom. But I know better. The forest is no place for a prince, let alone one of human origin. A sigh breaks through my lips, but I’m sure neither of them hears over the growling between them.
“It would be my pleasure.” Pluto sniggers, his mouth curling upward.
His chin dips, and he squints at the water’s lulling surface, somehow seeing through the mirror-like glassiness.
“Once I begin, don’t interrupt me,” he says flatly.
“If you do, this will be all for nothing.” At our small nods, his pointed ears twitch slightly and he sucks in a deep breath.
“Be still, have no haste.
A creature lurks within,
Its dark force to lay to waste
Your soul, your lover, your kin.
Hear Aldorin’s calling,
Its beating the answer.
Hakkiem haftili.
Nwatahim dativhali.”
The tune of Pluto’s song rings across the water, and the trees surrounding us seem to echo it back, the water rippling from its haunting cadence.
The melody shocks me, stiffens my jaw. Something about it is familiar, but how can that be?
It’s some kind of an elven lullaby, making it impossible for me to have ever heard it.
“Aha!” Pluto’s ears flatten with feline focus and his eyes marble with a swirling combination of gold and green. Beneath the surface, his hand points toward something at the pond’s muddy bottom.
Ronan wastes no time dunking his face under and disappearing into the depths.
Has he found the tallup? This easily?
I’d thought it would be much more harrowing a task.
After a few seconds, he returns to the surface with a fat brown fish flopping frantically in his hands. Its glossy eyes are filled with confusion and panic, and it manages to wriggle from his grasp before splashing into the water. Ronan’s expression is a blend of surprise and fury.
Pluto’s nostrils flare as he silently laughs, his eyes twitching in their sockets. “That, my petal-brained friend, is a carp , not a tallup. But I can see how someone of your…intelligence might confuse the two.”