The Oracle's Secret (The Oracle Saga Book 1) (9 page)

I only have seconds to recover before the vision hits. I should have seen this coming. Yeah, I know. But there’s one thing that’s always guaranteed to enhance my powers, and that’s orgasms. Really good orgasms. And this one was on another level. I don’t know if this is normal for Oracles, or if it’s just me. The only person I’ve ever told is Cherry.

The vision is one of the clearest I’ve ever had. I’m in a chamber, stone walls, lit by glowing crystals like this one but clearly in use as a room. There’s no pool, just a clean stone floor, and a mosaic path leading down the chamber towards a pedestal. I’m with Tarian, we’re running down the path towards it. On the pedestal is the Lightstone. We’re running and it’s getting closer, closer...

That’s it. I snap out of it to find Tarian looking down at me, concerned. I’m still trembling from his touch.

‘Are you all right?’ he asks. ‘I wasn’t sure if I’d done something...’

‘No, no,’ I shake my head, smile at him. ‘It was just a vision. Actually... it’s kind of a good thing. My power is enhanced by... um... intense pleasure.’

He grins, pleased. ‘Well, I’m glad to hear it. It was intensely pleasurable for me, too.’ He winks and it makes me glow with happiness.

We lie together for a few minutes, but the vision has reminded me of why we came here, and I can’t shake off the worry about my blood oath. I need to start looking for the Lightstone again. I stand up.

‘Hey, what’s the hurry?’ Tarian asks.

‘We still need to find the Lightstone,’ I say. ‘We’ll be trapped here if we don’t.’

I don’t say anything about the blood oath. For some reason I don’t want him to know about it. The blood oath feels wrong and unclean, somehow, and what I’m beginning to have with Tarian is so good and right, I don’t want to taint it. And I don’t want him to feel sorry for me, or think that he has to do something about it. It’s my blood oath, my problem.

‘You’re right,’ he says. ‘I’ll see if I can find another way out of here, one that won’t get us spotted if Elise has left someone to watch for us at the bottom of the falls.’

He moves to sit cross-legged, his hands on his knees like he’s meditating, and I can’t help watching for a moment. Every movement of his body mesmerises me. I could get lost just looking at his forearms, I could spend an eternity following the shape of his stomach muscles. But I don’t want to distract him so while he’s working I slide back into the water and finish washing, getting the last of the mud and grit out of my hair.

It’s so good to be clean. This feels even better than my bathtub with the jets. It feels better than almost anything except what happened with Tarian a few minutes ago. I can’t keep from smiling, in spite of my worries. I let the water flow around me and savour this last bit of relaxation before we have to act again.

I think about my vision. It’s good to know what the room will look like when we find the Lightstone - the cavern walls and the glowing stones suggest it might even be somewhere close, in a cave connected somehow with this one. But why are we running? The vision had a sense of urgency that I can’t figure out, but it probably doesn’t mean good things.

Tarian comes out of his meditation. ‘I think I know where we need to go,’ he says. ‘But we’re going to have to get wet again. It’s another cave, further down this network. It can only be reached by swimming.’

‘How far?’ I ask.

‘That’s all I know,’ he says. ‘Hopefully not too far for us to make it.’

I swallow. The swim here was bad enough, but then I had no choice. The thought of willingly putting myself through that again makes me shudder - but then, it’s not exactly willing. I didn’t ask to be here and I didn’t ask for the blood oath. But I have to do whatever I can.

‘All right,’ I say. ‘I’m ready whenever you are.’

We bundle up our damp, still-muddy clothes so that we can tie them to ourselves while we swim.

‘I’ll be right here, Livya,’ says Tarian.

I nod weakly. We walk into the water hand in hand. It’s ankle deep, then waist deep, then it reaches my shoulders and I take a few breaths to get as much oxygen as I can, and then we’re under the water, swimming, and all I can do is follow Tarian and trust that he knows where he’s going.

It’s not as scary this time. I know that we’re aiming for a particular place, not just fleeing a worse fate. But the water around us is dark - I can see crystals glowing in the distance, but too dimly to make anything else out - and all I can hear is rushing in my ears. It gets colder as we move away from our pool and into what seems to be a long, low tunnel. I can see the rock ceiling above us, too close. It feels like it’s pressing down on us, like it could fall any time and leave us crushed here, where nobody would ever find us. Tarian squeezes my hand like he knows what I’m thinking.

My chest is starting to hurt. I was never much of a swimmer and I can’t hold my breath for that long. Tarian seems more comfortable, moving in strong, even strokes. I wonder how fast he could be if I wasn’t here. But then, if I hadn’t made him jump with me, we might still be in Elise’s custody, or worse.

We swim until I think my lungs are about to burst, and then we come up in another cave like the one before, lit by the same crystals, except smaller and with no shelf of dry rock, just a pool and an air pocket that’s enough to let me breathe again.

‘Is this it?’ I ask Tarian.

He shakes his head. ‘Not yet. This is a pit stop. I’m afraid there might be more. I can’t tell how much further there is to go. But I know we can get there safely.’

A part of me wonders why I trust him so completely when we’ve only known each other a few days. But I can’t help it - trusting Tarian seems as natural and as sensible as breathing. But it’s still a disappointment to have to go back under the water again.

We swim. My bundle of clothes, sodden now, is weighing me down, but I don’t want to be without it later. Ahead of me Tarian is swimming determinedly, his free arm curving powerfully through the water. This time I’m light-headed with oxygen deprivation by the time we pop up in an air pocket, this one barely even big enough to be called a cave, more like a scoop out of the rock wall of the tunnel we’re in. At least it’ll be harder for Elise and the other Northerners to find us here.

Three more cycles of swim, run out of air, start to panic a bit, come up for air, breathe, swim, and I can’t decide whether I’m starting to get used to this or trapped in a nightmare.

‘Are we almost there?’ I ask Tarian.

‘I think so,’ he says. ‘Hang in there. You’re doing so well.’

He kisses me, up against the wall of a tiny sparkling cavern, and for a moment my troubles melt away in his embrace. But it can’t last. We move on.

We’re swimming again, and I’m just beginning to feel the lack of air when I feel a vision taking hold of me. I stiffen in panic - if I lose control here, now, will Tarian be able to get me to safety? Will he be able to save himself, with the weight of me dragging him down? These thoughts rush through my head even as I feel the vision taking over, but I push back at it, driving it away from me, needing it to leave me alone just long enough to deal with this.

No!
I scream silently.
Now is not a good time!

I picture myself pushing the vision away, holding it back.

The vision recedes, leaving me dizzy and confused but still swimming. I shake my head.

When we come up for air again I’m gasping, not just for oxygen but with shock. I’ve never done anything like that before. My visions have always taken me over, I’ve never been able to stop them.

It hits me, now that my guard’s down - an exquisitely detailed image of the wall of another cave, studded with the same glowing crystals, but so close up that I can’t make out anything else to help me figure out where I am or what’s going on.

It only lasts a few intense seconds and then I’m back to myself, with Tarian holding me to keep me from slipping under the water.

‘Vision?’ he asks.

I nod.

‘You look surprised,’ he says. ‘Something bad?’

‘No,’ I shake my head. ‘The vision wasn’t anything important. While I was swimming, it started, but I was able to push it away and keep going until we got here.’

He looks at me curiously. ‘Can you normally do that?’

‘No! This is new! I didn’t even know it was possible!’

He whistles. ‘Impressive. Have you ever really tried to control your powers? Maybe there are more things you can do.’

I shrug. ‘Everyone - the Prince, my handlers - always said that I couldn’t control my visions, that I had to just let them show me what I needed to see. The Prince... he says I’m a vessel for knowledge of the future, and my only role is to convey that knowledge so that it can be used.’

‘I think he’s wrong,’ says Tarian. ‘I think you’re a lot more than that.’

It’s too much to think about right now. I blush and look away.

‘Let’s focus on getting where we’re going,’ I say.

We swim again, and this time it’s the last time, one final stretch of tunnel before the water level falls naturally around us, leaving me swimming on the surface, then walking with the water around my hips. We’re in a cave again, like the others but with one crucial difference.

In this cave there’s a door.

‘Huh,’ I say. ‘Interesting.’

We scramble out of the water, as warm now as it was in our first cave, and drop our sopping bundles of clothes on the ground. I let myself watch for a moment as water cascades off Tarian, falling down his back in glimmering rivulets, down his legs... he squeezes water from his hair and it all begins again, tiny waterfalls on his shoulders, down his chest...

Get a grip
, I tell myself.
You’re here for a reason
.

‘So, what do we do?’ I ask. ‘Just... go through? Knock?’

‘Worth a try,’ he says.

He knocks a few times, loudly. Nothing happens for a minute, but then the door creaks slowly open. I suddenly remember that maybe we should have tried to put clothes on in case there was somebody there, but the room we enter is uninhabited.

It’s a small space, but it looks like it’s expecting us. There’s a table laden with food, and my mouth starts to water - I haven’t eaten much these last few days. In a corner there’s one large bed. There’s a fireplace set in the floor, already laid with twigs and small branches, with a stack of wood beside it. The walls are the same cave walls that I’m quickly coming to expect. The floor is smooth rock.

‘What is this?’ Tarian wonders.

I frown. ‘Maybe it’s meant to keep us here, to delay us from getting to the stone.’

I want for it not to be true, but we can’t afford to lie around relaxing any more. I look around, see another door at the other side of the room just like the one we just came through, and lead Tarian towards it. I knock on it, and wait.

Nothing happens. We keep waiting. Still nothing.

‘Maybe we’re just supposed to go through,’ I say.

I push at the door. It doesn’t open, but there’s a pinpoint of light in the corner of my eye, and I notice that the door is surrounded by a pattern of the tiny light crystals. They’re studded all around the door in spirals, not randomly like the ones in the walls and ceiling but in a clear, deliberate pattern. They’re much smaller than the others, too. Only this one is glowing at the moment, the others are all dark. As we watch, a second crystal lights up next to the first one.

‘What does it mean?’ I ask. ‘Tarian, is this the right way?’

He nods. ‘The path we want is definitely through there.’

I push at the door again, then try shoving it with my shoulder. While I’m doing that, a third tiny crystal lights up. I have a thought.

‘Maybe the door only opens once all of the crystals are lit,’ I say. ‘That’s why there’s food and a bed in here. We have to wait until the door is ready to let us in.’

‘That would deter anyone who’s not serious about getting the Lightstone,’ said Tarian. ‘It’s going to take hours for all of the crystals to light up.’

Part of me is frustrated by the delay, but I can’t help being glad of the break, since there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m itching to attack the table full of food, but before that I want to rinse out my clothes, maybe actually get some of the layer of mud off them. I don’t mind being naked with Tarian but sooner or later we’re going to see other people again and I want to be halfway presentable.

It turns out to be easier said than done. Even when I scrape as much mud as I can off my jeans, they’re stubbornly dirty and there are tears and worn patches all over them. My shirt, being made of thinner material, is even worse off. My boots are barely recognisable as boots any more. I’m rinsing the shirt out out anyway and resigning myself to being dressed in rags for maybe the rest of forever when Tarian calls me over.

‘There are spare clothes on a shelf by the bed,’ he says.

I wish I’d looked there before I spend ages trying hopelessly to wash mine, but this is good. There’s a simple cotton shift dress that fits me perfectly, and for Tarian there are some loose trousers that remind me of the ones people wear to do martial arts.

I try to light the fire, but I’ve never used a real fire with actual flames before and I’m making a total mess of it. Tarian comes and lights it on the first try. The smoke curls upward and disappears through what seems to be a tiny airhole in the ceiling.

‘How did you do that?’ I ask.

He laughs. ‘My home has a log fire. If... when we get out of here, I’d love to show it to you someday.’

‘I’d like that,’ I say.

His answering smile makes me melt, but for the moment hunger is more of a priority than anything else. We sit at the table, side by side on a wooden bench, and eat. I know that this food must have got here by magic - the spell guarding the Lightstone seems to be an incredibly powerful one, and this must somehow be part of it - but it’s clear that all of the foods come from Sherwood itself. There are nuts and berries and fruits and honey, fish from the rivers, meat that I think must be venison, wild vegetables, all of it perfectly prepared. I load my plate and try some of everything. All of it tastes wonderful. I wonder if that’s just my hunger talking, but no, the flavours are incredible. I’m not sure I’ve ever tasted anything better.

‘Try this peach,’ says Tarian. ‘It’s incredible.’

He cuts a slice and touches it to my lips. I take it. It’s sweet, delicious, full of golden sunshine. I eat that bite and then I take his hand and suck the juice dripping from his fingers, filling my mouth with the taste of the juice and him. We eat the whole peach that way, taking it in turns to feed one another pieces, making sure not a drop goes to waste.

We take a loaded plate to sit by the fire then. I kiss him and I can still taste the peach on his lips. He kisses me harder, urgently. I respond, ripples of want running through me at his touch. He runs his hands up my legs and inside my shift, and a few moments later we’re naked again and he’s drizzling honey down my body as I lie in the flickering firelight. The honey is warm and sticky where it touches me. Tarian leans to lick the pool of it that’s collecting between my breasts, his tongue moving slowly, tantalisingly. He follows the line of sweetness down to my belly button, alternately licking, sucking and kissing. He licks the pool of honey that’s gathered by my hip bone and I writhe with pleasure, my need for him growing, filling me. I moan. I’m wet with desire and eager. I can see and feel that Tarian is, too.

This time is different than the first. This time I’ve had no vision, I have no idea how this is going to go, and it makes it exciting. His arm tightens around my waist, and it’s new. His mouth crushes mine and it’s a fierce surprise that makes me kiss him back harder, both of us desperate with passion, not holding anything back. Without the visions to guide me I rely on my simplest, most animal instincts - I’m nothing but lust and desire, every part of me wanting him. I clutch at him and I pull him closer, shifting so that he can thrust harder, better, hitting the spot inside me that turns my legs to jelly. I move with him, crying out in primal need with every rocking motion, my voice echoing around the cave, amplifying the sound of my pleasure as the pleasure itself builds to a crescendo. I’m so close, so close, close enough that I can feel the vision that’s going to descend, but I push it away, now that I know how, battering it aside so that I can be fully in my body for this moment.

I come, clenching around him, screaming his name, and it tips him over the edge too, he clutches me tight and groans in release. Every inch of my body is alive with pleasure, and it feels a hundred times better for the pure physicality of it. My senses are working overtime and I can feel and see and hear everything - the firelight on our bodies, the scent of our sweat mingling, both of us panting, gasping. He kisses me hard again, a perfect coda, and we lie back and look at the glowing stones in the ceiling, unable to do anything else, totally drained.

I’m not sure how long we lie there, but after a while he leans close to me and we kiss again, languorously, and he gets up to put his trousers back on and tend the fire. I remember that we’re here for a reason and look at the door. Not even half of the crystals are lit yet. We still have plenty of time.

I wonder what’s behind the door. Will the Lightstone be through there, or will there be yet another wait, some other difficult journey or terrifying obstacle? I’m staring at the door, preoccupied with this thought, when I feel the vision that I managed to put off earlier coming back.

And I get an answer to my question. I see the door opening for us, and I see what’s beyond. I see us climbing something high, then trying to solve some kind of puzzle, then I see only darkness but I know I’m walking forward, alone. Then, three doors side by side, and a last door made entirely of the glowing stone.

The vision ends.

‘What the hell was that?’ I say.

Tarian hurries towards me. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asks.

‘A vision,’ I say. ‘But... I think I might have controlled it. I was just thinking about what was beyond the door, and I think that’s what the vision showed me. I couldn’t make much sense of what I saw, but I wanted to know what would happen through there, and I got an answer.’

‘Livya, that’s amazing!’ he says.

‘Yeah,’ I say, still stunned. ‘I’ve never had any sort of control over it before. I’ve never had any control over
anything
before. My whole life I’ve just waited for visions to come and told the people in charge about it. Ever since I was little, I’ve known that was my duty. But nobody ever said I could control it.’

‘Maybe they didn’t know,’ says Tarian. ‘There are so few Oracles...’

I nod. ‘Maybe. But you’d think there’d be records. When I was being trained, my handlers seemed to know a lot about Oracles, but none of this ever came up.’

‘Your handlers?’ he asks.

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘When I was younger, they didn’t trust me to report every vision I had. They were worried I would forget about one and avoid giving them crucial information. So I had handlers. They stayed with me and watched me, day and night, so that if I had a vision they could get the details from me right away. They taught me how to describe my visions, how to make sure I noted everything I saw and heard. For a while I even had a handler who could read thoughts. The moment I came out of a vision she would read my memories of it to make sure that I was reporting it accurately.’

Tarian just whistles, his face shocked. I slip back into my shift and shuffle close to him so that we’re sitting side by side. He puts his arm around me and I nestle into him, looking into the fire.

‘I was sixteen before they trusted me enough to let me report my own visions,’ I say. ‘And I’d been at court since I was four. Twelve years of constantly being watched, never being alone for a moment. I had barely any friends, even though there were other kids at court. Who wants to invite the girl who has to have an escort all the time to a sleepover? Cherry was the only one who stuck by me.’

‘That sounds horrible,’ says Tarian, and I can hear dismay in his voice.

I shrug. ‘It was and it wasn’t. I’m used to it. Even once I turned sixteen, I had to report to the Prince at least once a day, and once more to a handler. And if I didn’t report enough useful visions I’d be watched again until I did. The Prince used to make me sit in his audience chamber and watch the proceedings every day, so that if something happened there - an assassination attempt, a political development - I’d be in the room to see it, so I might have a vision about it. That was all I did, until I ran away. I never went anywhere. I’d never even been further than the centre of Salisbury until a few months ago, apart from when I was really small, before they found me.’

Tarian makes a sad sound.

‘I was only four,’ I say. ‘I’d been having visions for as long as I could remember, but Mum always told me to hide it. I never let anyone but her know. We were so careful. Every time anyone started to pay attention to us, we’d move away. Looking back, she must have known what my life would be like. She was scared all the time, but I didn’t know any better. I was happy enough. And then they came - I still don’t know how they knew where we were. But that was it, and we’ve lived at court ever since.’

‘Livya, I’m so sorry,’ he says, and there’s pain in his voice.

‘It’s all right,’ I say. ‘Everyone has their lot in life, right? This is mine. It’s not so bad really.’

I look into the firelight for a while, chasing the dancing flames with my eyes. I’m suddenly so tired I can hardly think. I droop against Tarian, and I’m only half-aware of him scooping me into his arms and carrying me to the bed.

I wake under the blankets with my arms still wrapped around him. I have no idea how long we slept, but I feel better for it, especially since the last sleep I got was when I was tied up on the cold ground. I turn and look at the door. The lights are almost all lit.

‘Tarian,’ I say. ‘Time to get ready to go.’

By the time I’ve combed fingers through my hair and we’ve picked at the leftover food and we’ve both decided that going barefoot is better than wearing our ruined shoes, the door is about to open. We stand there as the final stone lights up. Without any touch from us, the door swings open. We walk through.