The Oracle's Secret (The Oracle Saga Book 1) (3 page)

I follow him, anxious to find out what my vision was about. People are running in the opposite direction, screaming, and I elbow my way past them, struggling against the tide. The noise is unbearable.

I see what’s got everyone so panicked. It’s one of the Prince’s spies, Arin. I haven’t seen him in years - not since he went to infiltrate the Northern Court, the hub of one of our rival territories - but I remember that I liked him. He never shouted at us kids for running in the corridors like some of the other high courtiers did. Now he’s slumped on the ground in the doorway, panting and pale, and there’s a sickly green glow coming off him. My heart sinks.

‘A miasma...’ I gasp.

It’s one of the worst spells you can cast on someone. The miasma spell doesn’t just kill its victim - slowly and painfully - it also infects anyone who gets too close to them. No wonder people were running away. Behind me I hear the Finder’s voice, suddenly commanding and assured, telling people to go back to their rooms and lock themselves in, not just mill around screaming. Steele and his guards are backing away from Arin.

‘I have... important news...’ Arin gasps, but he’s barely audible below the screaming.

Steele doesn’t seem to be paying attention. He confers with his guards for a second and one of them - a guard called Selina whose power is manifestation - makes a crossbow appear. For a moment I don’t understand, but then I remember that the quickest way to stop the spread of a miasma is to kill the carrier with a non-magic weapon - using a spell would just cause the miasma to mutate and become stronger.

‘No!’ I say. ‘Steele, he’s trying to say something!’

‘Too bad,’ says Steele, raising the crossbow.

I remember Arin. I remember how much his duty always meant to him. He wouldn’t be here if he didn’t have a good reason. I run towards him, as close as I can without touching the green mist of the miasma. I ignore Steele’s shouts behind me, trying to put myself in the way of his crossbow, hoping and almost totally sure that he wouldn’t shoot me too. He knows how valuable I am to the Prince.

‘Arin,’ I say, sitting on my heels so that I can look into his eyes. ‘What do you need to say?’

His face fills with relief. ‘The Prince of the Northern Territory...’ he gasps. ‘He knows where it is... the Lightstone. And he’s found the way into the Forest.’

‘I understand,’ I say. ‘I’ll tell the Prince.’

‘Thank you,’ he says weakly. ‘Now please, get back...’

I spring out of the way just as his last dying gasp sends the miasma puffing outward. It just barely misses me and then dissipates almost instantly as his life force leaves him. Then there’s just a body. The danger is over. I realise that my heart is hammering and I’m shaking. I turn around. Steele is staring at me. A few other people are dotted around the hall, but it looks like the Finder got most of them out of the line of fire. He’s still here, watching me with curious eyes but keeping his distance. Cherry is here too, and she runs to me and squeezes my hand.

The Prince sweeps down the stairs.

‘What the hell is going on?’ he demands.

‘Your Oracle just got in the way of...’ Steele begins.

There’s no time for that. ‘The Lightstone,’ I say over him. ‘My Prince, the Northern Court are going after the Lightstone.’

Everyone freezes, staring at me. The Prince nods.

‘Steele, come with me,’ he says.

They disappear back up the stairs.

‘I’ll fetch the healer,’ says the Finder. ‘We shouldn’t leave this poor man’s body just lying here.’

‘Come on, Livya,’ says Cherry. ‘Let’s go back upstairs.’

We leave the almost empty ballroom. I can’t stop thinking about poor Arin, how much pain he must have been in, how desperate he was to get those last few words out. I wonder if he came all the way from the Northern Court itself.

This is terrible news. The Lightstone is a magical artifact of unimaginable power. Generations ago it caused wars between the magical courts of Britain, until an ancestor of our Prince found a way to hide it. Our territory has always been the most powerful in Britain since then, but things have stayed in balance. Everyone stays in their boundaries now - there hasn’t been a war in centuries because that Prince hid the Lightstone so well that nobody could ever get it. But if the Northern Prince knows where it is, we could be heading for a magical war that would tear this whole island apart.

Cherry knows it too. She can’t even muster anything encouraging to say as we get back to my room and sit there in stunned silence. My mother comes and joins us after a few minutes.

‘Livya,’ she says. ‘I heard you were almost...’

‘I’m fine, Mum,’ I say.

She gives me a quick hug. ‘Well, as long as it turned out all right,’ she says shakily.

I’m still in my dress ten minutes later when I’m summoned back to the audience chamber. A thrill of fear runs through me as I remember the blood oath that afternoon, but I squash it and follow the guard assigned to fetch me.

The Prince is on his throne again, but we’re not alone this time. Steele is there, and so is the Finder from earlier. A handful of the Prince’s most trusted advisers stand around the throne.

‘Ah, Oracle,’ says the Prince. ‘There you are. How would you like a chance to prove your loyalty, hmm?’

I kneel before the throne, like always. ‘I am loyal, my Prince,’ I say. ‘I will do whatever you command.’

He waves me to standing again. ‘Yes, well,’ he says. ‘You’re going on a mission. You and Steele and... you’ve already met Tarian ap Hywel, the best Finder in the territory...’

He sent the best Finder in the whole territory to get me? I put that away to think about later, along with his name - Tarian. I like the way it sounds. But I turn my attention back to the Prince.

‘The Lightstone has been locked away in Sherwood for centuries,’ says the Prince. ‘Even I don’t know its exact location. But we have to get it and take it somewhere safe before the North get it. I’m sending you three to Sherwood to find it.’

‘My Prince, perhaps I should take some of my guard...’ Steele begins.

The Prince shakes his head. ‘No. The fewer people involved, the better. The Lightstone could cause me trouble in the wrong hands, even in my own territory. The Finder will find the stone. The Oracle will warn of danger. And you will protect them both.’

‘Yes, of course,’ says Steele.

‘I don’t have to tell you, I’m sure, how important this is,’ says the Prince.

I picture magical battles, a devastated landscape, loved ones missing or dying. We can’t afford a war. It’s that important. I nod.

‘Your highest priority is the Lightstone,’ he says. ‘Nothing is more important than retrieving it and keeping it away from the Northern Prince. I am commanding all of you to do whatever is necessary to ensure that the stone doesn’t fall into enemy hands. Do you understand.’

‘I understand,’ I say, hearing Steele and Tarian echo the same words.

My stomach sinks. That was a direct order from my Prince. Now that I’ve sworn a blood oath, there’s no way I can do anything less than give my whole life to this if I have to. If I need to die, if I need to kill, if I need to suffer horribly to keep the stone safe, then that’s what I have to do. The only other choice is death by blood oath, or worse.

It makes me feel unsafe, like my decisions aren’t my own. But honestly, at this moment I’d probably do the same anyway. I can imagine the devastation a magical war would create, and if we don’t protect the Lightstone, that’s what’s going to happen. I should just be grateful that, for the moment, the Prince’s wishes are in perfect sync with mine.

Another vision, a powerful one. It begins so quickly that I barely feel my present body slumping to the floor in shock as I’m jolted into a future where I’m mid-leap, jumping from something high. There’s a noise in my ears and the wind whistles past me and I’m scared, so scared. But there’s a hand holding mine tightly, we’re together, and I know we’ll be all right.

I can’t see who it is - I think it’s my tattooed mystery man, I hope it is, but I can’t make anything but colours out in the rush of motion. Whoever it is, I know I trust them.

Then I’m cold, so cold I can’t think, and everything around me blurs, but still his hand is there and I clutch it even as I feel my fingers beginning to numb.

Then as suddenly as it began the vision ends, and I find myself staring at the ceiling of the audience chamber. My head is on something soft, and someone is kneeling beside me.

It’s Tarian. His dark eyes look down at me with concern - such startling eyes, as deep as galaxies. When he sees that I’m back he smiles at me and it warms my whole body. I smile back for a moment, forgetting myself.

‘That looked intense,’ he says, his lilting accent soothing. ‘Are you all right?’

‘I’ve been worse,’ I say. ‘It was just another vision.’

‘Do they always have that effect on you?’

I sit up. ‘It’s always stronger here, where the ley lines converge. They weren’t like this in London.’

He retrieves his suit jacket from where I was, apparently, using it as a pillow.

‘Um... thanks for taking care of me,’ I say, not looking him in the eye.

‘Don’t mention it,’ he says. ‘It looked painful when you fell, are you hurt?’

I test a few motions to see. ‘No, I think I’m ok... you get used to it,’ I tell him.

He gives me his hand to stand up and I take it. His grasp is firm, warm, and for a moment it feels familiar, but before I can complete the thought, the Prince distracts me.

‘Oracle?’ he asks. ‘Are you well?’

‘Yes, I’m fine,’ I say.

‘Good,’ he snaps. ‘The three of you will set out in an hour, as soon as preparations can be made. Make sure you’re ready.’

He stalks away, and I rush to my room to get into some more suitable clothes.

A small crowd has gathered on the drive to watch us go. My mother is there, wearing her usual facade of unconcern, but I can tell she’s worried. Maybe she’s thinking I might not come back. Maybe I won’t.

Cherry is a little more open about her concerns. ‘Promise me you’ll be careful,’ she whispers in my ear as she hugs me. ‘I only just got you back. I don’t want to think... well... be careful, ok?’

‘I will, I promise,’ I tell her, but I know that the blood oath overrides any other promise I could make. I may

not be able to be careful.

Nobody says goodbye to Tarian when he arrives. I acknowledge his nod with one of my own. He’s dressed like I am, jeans, boots, shirt, jacket. We could have a long walk ahead of us. Steele arrives last, with final instructions from the Prince and a pack full of equipment that he forbids me to touch before he orders us into the same black jeep from this morning. I smile wryly to myself - when they bundled me into that jeep earlier, I thought I’d be locked in my room for the rest of my life. I hadn’t pictured leaving again so soon, let alone to go all the way to Sherwood. I slide into my seat and Tarian gets into the back with me. I don’t blame him for not wanting to sit next to Steele in the front.

Steele starts the engine and we burst out of the driveway in a shower of gravel, then head up the road towards Sherwood.

‘How long’s the journey?’ I ask Steele, watching the shadowy shape of Stonehenge go past in the gloom.

He answers reluctantly, like he can’t stand to have a normal conversation with me. ‘It should be around four hours, but the jeep is spelled. We’ll be there in two.’

It does seem to be moving incredibly fast, and although Steele isn’t the best driver, when he weaves around the other traffic in the road we always seem to somehow not crash into anything. I wonder what kind of spells are on the jeep. I barely know anything about branches of magic other than my own.

It’s too dark to read or anything in the jeep and I’m getting more and more nervous the closer we get to Sherwood, and that’s the only reason I decide to talk to Tarian. I’m still angry with him, but it’s better than talking to Steele.

‘So, you must be new at court,’ I say. ‘I haven’t seen you before.’

I see him make an embarrassed face in the gloom. ‘I’m not really at court, as such. My family’s not... well, we’re not that important. Nobody cares about Finders, normally. I’ve only ever done small-time stuff before, finding people’s lost jewellery, runaway pets, that sort of thing. They called me in to find you... I thought they’d send me away as soon as I was done. I thought I’d be on my way back to Wales by now.’

I’ve never been to Wales. I’ve almost never been anywhere.

‘I hear it’s beautiful there,’ I say.

He nods. ‘It is. My house is on the side of a mountain. When I wake up every day, the first thing I do is open the curtain and look out at the valley spreading out below me, with the morning light spreading over it.’

Even in the semi-darkness his face is animated as he talks about his home. He tells me about waterfalls and forest paths and mountains covered in golden gorse that almost glows in the sun. He talks about winter snows that cover everything in sight, making the wild mountain ponies come down the hillside for shelter. He has a storytelling voice, it makes me want to listen to him forever while he tells me anything, anything he likes.

The car swerves violently, with a piercing whine from the wheels.

‘What the hell?’ I say.

Steele glances over his shoulder at me. ‘We’re being chased. Didn’t foresee that, did you, Oracle?’

‘That’s not how it works and you know it,’ I say. ‘Who’s chasing us? How many?’

‘I’m not sure,’ he admits. ‘At least one car... and I’m guessing they’re our friends from the North...’

I squirm around in my seat to look behind us. There’s another car on our tail and the wheels are glowing - they’re spelled too. No way to know whose spells are better.

‘We have to do something,’ I say.

‘I’m open to suggestions!’ Steele yells, weaving around the oblivious traffic almost faster than I can see.

‘Don’t we have any defensive spells with us?’ I ask.

‘I know a few,’ says Steele, ‘but I can’t cast and drive at the same time, one of you will have to take over driving.’

‘I can’t drive,’ I say to Tarian. ‘Can you?’

He grins. ‘You wouldn’t ask that question if you’d seen the state of the buses where I come from.’

He unfastens his seatbelt and climbs into the front beside Steele.

‘Take the wheel,’ Steele says. ‘I’ll keep the pedals for now.’

Tarian leans over and starts steering, while Steele leans out of the window and starts aiming spells at the car following us. He’s good - even I can tell, with my limited knowledge of these sorts of spells. He mutters an incantation and sends a burst of light towards the other car that leaves it swerving and slowing. Steele whoops and thumps the dashboard.

‘There’s another one!’ I yell.

I’m still looking out of the rear window and from a sliproad another car approaches, glowing with magic just like the first one was.

‘Damn,’ says Steele. ‘Finder, swap seats.’

There’s a sickening moment of bumping confusion as Tarian slips into the driver’s seat and Steele climbs over him into the passenger seat. We sway and slow and I hold my breath, but then we’re driving again. Steele opens the sunroof and hoists himself up so that he’s standing half out of the car.

‘Come and get it, you bastards!’ he yells.

‘Steele, this isn’t an action film!’ I call up to him. ‘Just stop them!’

He swears at me. I ignore him and keep looking out for our enemies. Behind me I hear Steele making another incantation and after a moment the second car bursts into flames, still rolling forward until it slows.

‘How many people were in that car...?’ I wonder aloud.

‘Doesn’t matter,’ says Steele. ‘They’re all dead now.’

I try not to think about it, but he’s only following his orders, the same as I am. We have to do anything and everything possible to protect the Lightstone. The flaming car recedes into the distance until it’s only an orange glow on the edge of sight.

‘Any more?’ he asks me.

I scan the road in all directions. It’s late enough now that the motorway is almost empty.

‘I can’t see anything...’ I say. ‘No, wait!’

How many cars has the Northern Prince sent after us? This one is hiding in a lay-by, waiting for us to pass. There’s nothing much else we can do, so we pass it, Steele shooting spells at it as we go by.

‘Damn!’ Steele says.

I see his spell fizzle out on the air, feet away from the other car. That fireball must have taken it out of him. I wonder about saying he should have saved his energy and used something less impressive, but it’s too late for bickering now, so I stay silent.

The other car is freshly charged with speed spells, and ours are beginning to slip under the pressure we’ve put on them. They’re gaining on us. Steele does his best but his powers are depleted for now.

‘Do you know any spells?’ I ask Tarian.

‘Not a single one,’ he says over his shoulder. ‘Finding’s all I’ve ever been good for. I’ll keep driving, though.’

It seems ridiculous now that I never learned a single defensive spell - but then I never needed one. I was always under the Prince’s protection, always surrounded by guards. Apart from my innate power to see the future, I only know a handful of basic spells. I run through them in my head anyway in case there’s anything that could be useful - alarm clock spell, summoning spell, music spell, illumination spell...

Illumination spell. It’s not much but I was always pretty good at it, although I haven’t bothered in years. I boost myself up to join Steele hanging out of the roof of the jeep.

‘What are you doing?’ he asks.

‘Helping,’ I say. ‘I hope.’

I take a second to remember the incantation and then start muttering it under my breath.

‘Not a bad idea, Oracle,’ says Steele, catching on.

I feel the power build inside me as I say the last phrase, the one that seals the incantation and begins the spell. I aim it squarely at the other car and close my eyes at the last moment. I still see the flash through my eyelids. When I open my eyes, the other car is swerving, the driver temporarily blinded.

‘Yes!’ says Steele, turning to grin at me triumphantly for a fraction of a second before he remembers himself and glares at me again to compensate.

I try not to smirk and don’t quite succeed.

We put a bit of distance between us and the other car, but soon they’ve caught up again. Something dark red and twinkling leaves that car and hovers near ours, then sticks itself to one of the doors.

Steele swears. ‘Tracker,’ he says. ‘I know the spell to remove it but I can’t do it right now. We need to abandon the car.’

‘We’ll have no chance on foot!’ I protest.

‘No chance with a tracker, either!’ he says. ‘Look... can you prepare another illumination spell, but keep it until I say? I have an idea...’

I shrug. Nothing to lose by trying. I start the incantation again, leaving Steele to do whatever it is he’s doing. I hear him clattering and banging, talking under his breath to Tarian and then saying an incantation, but I don’t dare take my eyes off the other car to see what he’s doing.

‘Oracle, now!’ he yells.

I let off the illumination spell like last time, and before I know what’s happening Steele is pulling me out of the sunroof and we’re jumping away from the still-moving car. I brace myself for a crushing impact and it comes - I thud to the ground so hard that it shakes my bones. But it’s not as bad as I thought it would be - Steele must have cast some sort of protective spell. I roll to a stop by a line of bushes and his arms are still wrapped tight around me from the jump. We lie there for a second, recovering. Steele’s breath is warm on my neck. He probably saved my life just then.

‘Get under, hide!’ Steele orders, letting go of me.

I scramble to obey since it seems like a good plan. The three of us huddle in the shadows of the trees that line the road. Steele is panting heavily. He’s managed to keep hold of the pack full of supplies.

‘Are you ok?’ I ask.

He nods. ‘Yeah... That was just a lot of spellwork in one go... one to cushion our fall, one to keep the car going, and an illusion to make them think we’re still in it. It won’t last long, but hopefully long enough that they won’t be able to figure out exactly where they lost us.’

I’m impressed in spite of myself. Sometimes Steele is so gross and annoying that I forget there’s a reason he’s the chief of the Prince’s guards.

‘So, what now?’ asks Tarian. ‘How far are we from Sherwood?’

Steele looks smug. ‘There’s a portal about a mile from here. Almost nobody knows about it. If they’re planning on using the main portal, we could still beat them into the forest.’

‘Well then, what are we waiting for?’ I ask.

I stand up, brush myself off, and start walking in the direction Steele points. Maybe if we can get into Sherwood before any of the Northern Prince’s people, we can just retrieve the Lightstone and get out and go home without any more terrifying chases. It’s probably a vain hope but it keeps me going as the three of us walk through the dark towards the portal.