21. Chapter Twenty-One
I stare Maximo down. “Are you going to run to the king and tell him I found his secret temple?”
“No, but I will if you continue to go where you’re not allowed. I will have no choice, so see this as your only warning.”
I press my lips at his threat but keep my mouth shut as I hope he does.
He hands me another bundle wrapped in white cloth. “The king worries you will miss lunch.” He leaves me to glare at his exit.
My limp has returned and increases the farther I walk. There are better treatments in the apothecary building, and I ride Elton out there.
I take a moment to hug my horse. "It's been too long since we've had time together, and I am sorry. Fredrickson is taking great care of you." I pet his snout and head into the building.
Aldric hops up on the tallest table, and his head tilts to the side. “What happened to you?”
“I was foolish and jumped out of a window.”
“Why would you not use the door?”
“Laziness.” I go to the cabinet and make a new cream for my leg. The gash is scarlet, so I apply a second ointment to hinder infection. “Do you know anything about the gods?”
“Doesn’t everyone?”
“No, we pray to gods and spirits but don’t give them names," I say.
“They used to be highly worshipped, and many temples existed for them. Then one day most of them vanished. The rest were left to decay. Faith eroded in the realm along with their temples.”
“Yes, we have one outside my village, but it's only used for funerals because the cemetery is close. Did they ever host any games?”
“Games?” He pecks the smooth blue rock next to the powder I’m working on.
“Yes, like the old Colosseum games in books or maybe other types of contests. I’m not sure. Someone suggested that the gods of old played games.”
“Not that I’m aware of. Maybe games are metaphorical for manipulation.”
“That could be. You’re a smart bird.” I finish bandaging my leg, put the ingredients back, and grab different ones to make potions that may help me on the mountain.
The door opens, and Aldric spreads his wings out like he thinks his small body can hide me from the view of whoever entered.
Zyon stands at the door, stomping his boots on the black rubber mat at the entrance.
The black knit hat on his head frames his face nicely and messes with my ability to pay attention to reality.
I kiss the bird on the head. “Thank you, but remember, he allows me to be here now.”
Zyon walks over to the table and picks up one of the small vials with purple and blue dust inside. “What are you working on?”
“Potions to help on my way up the mountain.” I show him a jar that holds pink salt, blue dust, and an extract from a rare Elven flower. “This dries up water creatures. It’ll help with water sprites, and selkies as well as a few other things.”
He picks up a bottle and slides the blue gel back and forth. “What is this?”
“Helps against flame and fire creatures. Puts out a fire much faster than normal water.”
“This is all amazing, but I thought we could sword practice.”
I scrunch my nose and stick out my tongue for a second. “You said I was getting a day off.”
“I finished my project early.”
“Your ambition is exhausting.”
“You dying on the mountain will exhaust you substantially more. While this is all very impressive, it’s not time to turn your confidence into arrogance.”
“It is you, sir, who treads that line.” I put the lid on the final mixture for the day and turn around and wrap my arms around his waist. “How has your day been?”
He stiffens for a moment, so I pull away until he relaxes and hugs me back, resting his head on mine. “It was busy.”
“With your secret project.”
“Yes.” He kisses my head and holds onto me for several more minutes before he ruins it by taking my hand and leading me outside. “Enough distracting me from what we need to do.”
“It was working so well.”
“A little too well.”
I playfully elbow him. “You like hugging me.”
He stops walking and pulls me back against his chest. “I like hugging you.”
After taking Elton back to the stables, we stroll back to the imagination cave where Zyon covers my ears for a moment as though he needs to protect them from the creature he’s about to tell me about. “Your ears are the biggest thing you need to protect from a banshee.”
“Can’t I wear earplugs?”
“No, because you need to be able to hear threats at other times. You will only have three to five seconds to get your ears covered once she opens her mouth. The problem is she will try to do that behind you before you realize she’s about to attack.”
“We could sew the plugs to the inside of my hat, and I can quickly put them into place. Fae silk should do the trick.”
“I’ll have my tailor pull something together for you, but I want you to practice hearing the sound.”
“Won’t that risk my ears?”
“Not with it being imaginary.” He points to the path he created from his head. “Let’s begin.”
I sheath my sword, as he wants me to learn how to remove and position it fast enough to not die.
Everything feels real, like there’s no way to distinguish this from real life.
The smell of pine and a light breeze brushing against my face add minor details that give the illusion even more credibility.
The incline burns my calves as it steepens into an almost upright angle, but I push through.
A horrific whirling sound pierces my ears, and all I want to do is stomp them.
I push through and whip out my sword, spinning around the see a blue woman with sharp pointed ears and enormous silver eyes that bulge like bubbles.
Her tangled black hair blows behind her as though the wind is stronger around her than anywhere else, and her mouth is gaping, screaming its rage.
She charges me, and I move to impale her, but she whips higher into the air beyond my reach. The sound beats my head, and it’s not even the real one. She dives at me, and I realize she can simply wait until her voice disables me.
She disappears, and Zyon is next to me, shaking his head and tempting me to lovingly shove him down the mountain. “You took too long. She already disabled you and ate your face.”
“She didn’t get near me, and I can’t fly. What am I supposed to do?”
“You need to impale her the second she’s behind you. Remove your weapon less dramatically and turn around quicker.”
“As I said, you’re an absolute tyrant.”
“This is why I told you, you would die on the mountain. It’s why the curse has probably never ended. The monsters that lurk are quick and deadly. You need to take this seriously, or you won’t come down from the mountain.”
I grumble under my breath even though he’s right. He won’t hear that from my mouth. “Fine. How about you show me how to do this?”
He stands behind me and takes a moment to sniff my neck and hair before demonstrating how to move. He follows it up by showing me several times before he makes a banshee appear and annihilates her quickly. “If I could go with you, this wouldn’t be an issue. But since I can’t, you need to learn.”
“Yes, you’re so good at everything.”
“Except getting you to listen to me.”
“Poor king, having to deal with a stubborn woman.”
“It is a plague bestowed upon me by the gods. Make her as the sun, warmth and happiness after a long winter, but give her a vile tongue and obstinance that may take her from me.”
The next words ready to fly from my mouth are caught in my throat as I stare at him and piece together his words that have my stomach a pleasantly jumbled mess. “Let’s begin. I will try harder.”
It takes five attempts, but I finally subdue a banshee, and he makes me kill five more before he believes I am skilled enough to move on to Boggarts.
The fat, short creatures spit acid, and I have to deflect every nasty projectile with my sword.
It doesn’t eat through the metal the way it would my skin.
I sit on a rock after ending ten boggarts, and Zyon comes behind me to rub my shoulders. All the tension from the battles ebbs at his touch, and I wish only to sit with his hands kneading into my shoulders until the end of time.
“A king so good at servant’s work,” I say
“Making you feel good is servant’s work that I will embrace.”
“My tongue may be vile, but yours is silver, Your Majesty.”
He sits next to me and pulls me to straddle his lap, playing with a strand of my red locks. “You have the prettiest hair I’ve ever seen.”
“Are you sure? You may just not remember.”
“Impossible for any to be. That’s how I know.” He kisses down my neck, gently sucking in spots.
The way he varies the pressure in his kissing and sucking makes me ache for him.
His lips move to mine as I rock against him, feeling the length in his pants grow under me.
His kisses pause as he groans at my hands in his hair and my hips rolling over him.
He breaks the kiss, tucks me to his chest, and holds me tight.
I relax against his touch for a moment before our kissing turns gentle.
We sit together in the cave and embrace the stillness.
“Let’s try a different approach.” Zyon snaps his fingers, and the mud ogre disappears. “What is a creature you are familiar with fighting?”
I pant and slide to the ground against the large oak tree at the base of the fake mountain. “What does it matter? I’m clearly dying on the mountain at this point.”
“I want to see how you fight when it’s familiar to you.”
“The main issue is that for certain creatures I use potions to subdue them. Sometimes I kill him because there’s no other choice, but it’s not my first instinct.
I killed Gulzar’s father because it was required for the contest, and he was sneaking into the village to steal children for a snack.
Saving my brother and others motivated me. ”
“Gain that same motivation for yourself because if you fail this, your brother will die.” He waves his hand, and a lake shimmers in front of us. The pine trees and rocky paths still surround us, so it appears we are higher on the peak. “You said kelpies, right?”