Chapter 19

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"Ariana." Lamis said, pulling her from her thoughts. She shook her head, looking up at him. "Yeah?" She said, trying not to sound guilty.
The Elf smiled, raising his eyebrows at her. "I was asking you a question."
"Sorry." She said sheepishly.
"It's okay." He said, taking a bite from the blue fruit from the night before, what he had explained to her earlier that morning was called Hesperia. He wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin. "So, like I was saying before, do you guys have a strategy once you get to the Eastern Kingdom?"
Ariana looked over at Ryonens empty spot and sighed. He still hadn't come down from his room and it was almost noon. She turned back to Lamis. "I don't know. Ryonen might have a plan but, if he does, he hasn't told me."
Lamis nodded. "I thought as much." He paused and they both sat in silence, Lamis finally breaking it. "If I may, I have a suggestion."
"Shoot." She said, taking a nibble out of the bread on her plate. She had spread some type of jam on it and it was phenomenal, the flavor better than anything she had ever had back home.
Lamis leaned back in his chair, folding his hands in front of him on the table. He surveyed her through squinted eyes. "I want you to train to use a sword before you guys head out for good." He said.
Ariana started, coughing as she set down her bread. "You want ME to train?" She repeated slowly. "With an actual sword?"
Lamis nodded. "Don't you think it would be wise?" He asked.
She thought about this. Certainly it would be nice to have some sort of background training to defend herself, should the need arise. Maybe she would have held off a little better at the goblin camp if she had known how to defend herself. "Okay," she said finally, "I can do that."
He smiled, clearly pleased. "Good." He said, rubbing his hands together. "This also gives us something to do while we wait for the assassins to leave. We'll need to come up with at least two routes to get you to the Eastern Kingdom, just in case. You don't want to be trapped here indefinitely" He added, his brows drawing together in contemplation.
Ariana swallowed. "Does it seem like they aren't going to go away?" She asked.
He thought about this. "I'm not sure." He said. "But let's wait until Ryonen wakes up to go into details about it."
She nodded, picking up her bread and throwing the last piece in her mouth, reveling in the taste. She considered getting another piece and stopped herself; she definitely didn't need to make herself so full she'd feel like puking. She leaned back in her chair and again looked at Ryonens empty spot.
Lamis pulled her from her thoughts. "I wondered-" He said, then stopped. He cleared his voice. "I wondered if you might tell me what it was like growing up in the human world." He was looking at her again with a strange expression that she took to be curiosity.
She shrugged, playing with the napkin in front of her. "It was okay, I guess." She said, then elaborated. "I lived a quiet life there, that's for sure."
Lamis tilted his head. "But?" He prompted.
"But," she repeated, "I never really fit in anywhere. I spent most of my life on the edges of society, not feeling like I belonged but also wishing that I did." She paused, then gave a small smile. "My mom always made me feel like I fit in, though. We lived on the outskirts of town, our own little world that we had all to ourselves." She raised her arm, indicating their surroundings. "Much like this, actually."
He thought about this. "You must really love her." He said quietly.
She nodded, fighting back the tears that were trying to force their way out. "Yes." She said, and that was all she could muster. Lamis, too, was silent. After a long time, he said. "She must be an amazing woman for you to cross worlds for her. I'm glad you had her." His voice was thick with emotion and she wondered what he was thinking.
She was just about to ask him when she heard a yawn coming from the entryway. She turned her head toward the noise and a very tussled Ryonen walked into the room, his hair pulled back in a ponytail at the base of his neck and his clothes looking wrinkled from sleep.
He paused when he walked in and saw Lamis and Ariana sitting there. "Hello." He said, a bit too cordially, to Lamis.
"Hello Ryonen." He replied, his own voice polite and relaxed.
Ariana watched as Ryonen fell into the chair next to her, immediately reaching forward and grabbing some fruit and throwing it on his plate. He began eating, still blinking back sleep as he did so.
Lamis was watching him, too. "Late night?" He asked, nodding at Ryonen as he yawned again.
Ariana felt her chest constrict, looking at him. He totally knew that they had gone out last night, she thought, suddenly embarrassed. Ryonen, for his part, didn't even blink an eye. "Yeah." He said simply, taking another bite of his fruit and then a drink of water.
She was watching Ryonen when he noticed her looking, giving her a wink so that Lamis couldn't see it. She bit her lip and looked down into her lap, feeling a blush creeping up her neck. Damn him, she thought.
Lamis cleared his throat and she looked over at him. "The three of us have something to discuss." He said, mostly addressing Ryonen. "I'll let you finish your breakfast first, of course."
At this, Ryonen shoved the rest of the fruit in his mouth quickly and was about to wipe his mouth with his sleeve when he saw her staring pointedly at him. He picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth carefully. "I'm done." He said, biting back a smile.
Ariana shook her head, trying to repress a smile as Lamis looked between them. "First off," he said, an ominous tone suddenly creeping into his voice, "I checked the perimeter again this morning. The midnight assassins seem to be staying in the area, most likely looking for your hiding place." He paused. "I've already discussed this briefly with Ariana before you came down but, with that being said, I think it would be wise for you two to stay here until I know that they are nowhere near. I haven't been able to get any specific numbers, but it seems that more assassins have joined the manhunt."
Ariana sat there quietly. More of them? Ryonen must have had the same thought as she did. "How many more?" He asked, serious now.
Lamis shook his head. "I can't say for sure, but I think at least two dozen more than yesterday."
She gasped, then covered her mouth with her hand. "Okay," She said, trying to retain her calm demeanor, "then we wait here. But for how long?" She asked.
Lamis wrinkled his brow. "I know that you're worried about your mom, Ariana, but you're no use to her if you're in the cell next to her. Besides," he said, nodding in her direction, "you agreed to train before you left here. That will take at least a few days."
"You did?" Ryonen asked, looking at her.
She nodded, embarrassed. "He said it would be good for me to know how to defend myself before we went back out into the world. I don't want to end up in another goblin situation." She repressed a shudder at the thought.
Ryonen seemed pleased by this. "Good," he said, "I was wanting to brush you up on defense but I didn't want to take away from our traveling. This works out perfectly."
Lamis clapped his hands together in response to this. "Wonderful. Now that we're in agreement, you should start that today." He said to Ryonen.
Ariana bit the inside of her cheek. It was all starting to feel real again, the idea that they'd eventually have to go back out, making their way through the forest and encountering who-knew-what kind of dangers. "How far are we from the Eastern Kingdom?" She asked Lamis.
He picked a scroll up from the ground next to him, spreading it out gingerly across the table. "This is a map of Atheil." He pointed to a place that had bumps drawn on the parchment paper. "This is where we are." He moved his finger downward and to the right a little bit and Ariana saw the words 'Eastern Kingdom' written in curved handwriting in the middle of a large outlined space. "This is where you're going. You're about a 7 or 8 day journey away from it."
She looked down at the map. It seemed like endless lands stood between them and where they needed to be. "That's a long journey." She said, swallowing.
"It is." Lamis said, looking at Ryonen. "It's also a dangerous one these days."
"It's the only way." Ryonen said. "If we go any other way, it's either too long or-" He stopped.
Ariana looked between them. "Or what?" She asked, unsure why Ryonen had stopped. They seemed to be having a silent conversation, Ryonen looking apprehensive and Lamis looking decided.
Ryonen shook his head. "We can't go that way." He said.
Lamis pursed his lips. "I understand your hesitation, but it's the quickest way-"
"It's also extremely dangerous." Ryonen said, cutting him off. He looked at Ariana and then back to Lamis. "I won't take her through there." He said, finally.
Ariana reached out, putting a hand on Lamis' arm and he looked up at her. "What way?" She asked him. "If it's faster than the alternative, then I want to use it."
"No." Ryonen said loudly.
She turned to him. "Why not?" He hesitated again and she let out a sigh. "Lamis?"
Lamis pointed to a path that wove through two mountains on the map labeled 'Orlac'. "This is the way that I'm talking about." He said. "It's shorter by about 2 or 3 days but it's also incredibly dangerous." He finished, looking at Ryonen.
"How dangerous?" She asked.
"Well," he said, tilting his head, "it sort of has a reputation of making travelers disappear."
Ryonen let out a disgusted noise and Ariana shot him a look before turning back to Lamis. "What's in there?" She asked, quietly.
He looked a little bit uncomfortable, but he met her gaze. "Many dark creatures that are extremely deadly when encountered. It makes your experience with the goblins look like a playdate with a brood of baby phoenixes."
Ariana bit her lip before continuing. "What kind of creatures?"
"Gargoyles, giants, ogres, trolls, goblins, dark elves, and I'm sure there are other things that we don't know of. Mostly because no one is willing to go there."
"Do you think that we could make it through safely?" She asked Lamis.
"I think that you have a good chance of making it through. I also think that Malor's men won't suspect that you two would take that way."
Ryonen let out a small, derisive laugh. "That's because even he's not crazy enough to believe we'd go that way. He'd assume we're smarter than that."
"You're being unreasonable, Ryonen." Ariana said, irritated that he was acting so ignorant toward Lamis again. "I'm sure that you can handle things. I've seen you with a sword. The goblins won't stand a chance."
"It's not just the goblins that I'm worried about." He said, his face dark.
"Then what's the problem?"
Ryonen moved closer to the map and pointed to an area toward the end of the path. "Do you see that point right there?" He asked, moving his finger in a circle around it. "That's what I'm worried about." He moved his finger just above it where the words 'Orlac' were written. "'Orlac' means 'the cursed way'. It's called that for a reason. There's a huge city at the end of it where all the dark creatures gather. It's the first place that Malor converted on his rise to power. Every single creature there will be out to kill us, and we'll just be strolling right on through to get out the other side. It's madness. It'll never work."
Ariana looked at Lamis, her heart pounding. "If you're careful, you can make it through, I'm positive of it." He said, looking her directly in her eyes. She could see that he meant it.
She turned to Ryonen. "We have to do it." She said slowly. Ryonen gave her an exasperated look. "We have to." She said fiercely.
Ryonen pursed his lips and looked at her silently. "We'll be killed." He said, trying to reason with her.
"You heard Lamis." Ariana said. "If we're careful, we'll survive. Anyway," she said, "it's not like we have a better chance going the other way. It's going to be teeming with Malor's men and, the longer it takes us to travel, the more opportunity he has to catch us."
"It's the most obvious path that he'll expect you to take." Lamis added, his voice reasonable.
Ryonen looked as if he were struggling internally. Finally, he let out a breath. "Fine." He said, holding up a hand, defeated.
Ariana nodded. "How long do you think we have before we can go?" She asked Lamis.
"I'd give it at least 2 or 3 days from now. That gives Ryonen time to get a start on the basics with you and I can put some stuff together for your journey." He got up from the table and made the food and dishes go into the kitchen. "I'm going to go out onto the grounds for a bit today and collect some herbs."
Ariana looked over at Ryonen. He met her gaze."Go with him." She mouthed. Ryonen bit his lip and Ariana raised her eyebrows. "You said that you'd apologize." She mouthed, giving him a stern look.
His shoulders sagged and she knew she'd won. "Lamis." Ryonen said, making Lamis turn toward him. "Do you mind if I come with you?" He asked.
Lamis gave a brief smile. "Absolutely not, that would be great."
"Well, I think I'll change before we go." Ryonen said, giving Ariana a meaningful look as he passed. She furrowed her eyebrows, watching him go. As the door swung shut, she heard Lamis come around the table toward her.
"Are you still having those nightmares?" He asked her, his eyes fixed on her face.
Ariana pursed her lips, thinking. "I'm not sure." She said. That was true; she didn't remember if she had dreamt or not after they came in from their walk last night. All she knew was that she had tossed and turned for the majority of the night before finally giving up and coming downstairs just after sunrise, where she had met Lamis in the kitchen. "I definitely did during my bath." She paused, trying to remember. "It was men talking. Something about needing more of-something, he didn't specify, really. And some horrid voice asking about-finding the heir." She looked at Lamis, whose face had gone stark white. "What does that mean?" She asked him.
Lamis swallowed, leaning against the table. "These dreams," he asked tentatively, "do you have them every night now? After the Phoenix burned you, I mean."
She thought about this. "Yeah," she said, "actually, I do."
He nodded, a frown forming on his face. "I think your friend imbued you with some of his magic when he marked you." He said, but he didn't sound happy about it.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, incredulous.
"Well," he said, slowly, "I think these dreams you're having might be real. Visions, actually." He brought a hand up to his chin, thinking. "Phoenixes are known for communicating through visions, it's just possible that when your Phoenix marked you as one of its own, it also passed on the ability to perceive visions in your dreams."
Ariana was quiet. "But why am I having these specific dreams? What do they mean?"
Lamis looked away. "I can't be sure." He said, and she could see that he was biting his lip as he stared away thoughtfully.
In the silence that followed, Ariana looked down at her hand, observing the flame shaped scar there. All this trouble over one little old scar, she thought, flexing her hand and rotating it. Maybe the Phoenix thought it was doing her a favor when it marked her, but it seemed that this "gift" was only bringing trouble with it. These dreams, or visions as Lamis called them, were more like nightmares. She just wished they would go away.
Lamis turned to her, his eyes suddenly looking at her with concern. "It'll be alright." He said, walking over to her. He reached out uncertainly and touched her wrist, his gaze locking with hers. "I know you're scared, but everything will work out in the end. I'll do some research and see if I can't figure out what's happening to you." His hand lingered on hers, his touch bringing a feeling of comfort to her tumultuous thoughts.
"Thank you." She said, touched by his thoughtfulness. "Seriously, you don't-" she stopped, the words feeling stuck in her throat. She took a deep breath. "You don't know what it means to me. You've done so much for us even though we're complete strangers to you."
He surveyed her, his blue eyes shining. "Truthfully, you remind me a lot of my wife when she was young." His voice was quiet, reminiscent. "She had the same fire in her soul as you do, that stubborn determination to always do what's right even if it got her in trouble. It's good to see that in another person."
She felt her heart wrench for him and the pain that was so obvious in his voice. She was about to say something when the door behind them opened and Ryonen looked at them. He seemed to take in their closeness, how Lamis was still holding on to her. At his look, Lamis dropped his hand from her wrist, though he did so slowly.
Ryonen's face was conflicted, clearly thinking about what was going on. "Did I interrupt something?" He asked, his tone somewhat suspicious.
Ariana shook her head but, before she could answer, Lamis spoke. "Just talking." He said lightly. "Are you ready to go?"
Ryonen continued to eye them, but then nodded. He indicated in her direction. "Can I talk to you real quick?"
Ariana felt suddenly nervous. "Sure." She said. She turned to Lamis and gave him a small smile. "Thanks again."
He watched her go, his bright eyes almost seeming troubled. But why? She thought, finally crossing the threshold where Ryonen stood waiting for her.
"What was that about?" He asked right away. He almost sounded jealous.
"I was talking to Lamis." She said, looking at his face. He was definitely agitated. "Are you upset?"
"No." He said, then continued. "Why was he touching you?"
Ariana scoffed at him. "Ryonen, I just woke up a day ago from being poisoned and nearly dying, to which he saved me from both, by the way, and you're asking why he's touching me?" She felt completely taken aback by this sudden possessiveness. "Here." She said, sticking out her hand and showing him the mark there. "This is what we were talking about."
Ryonen took her hand in his, looking at the mark there and wrinkling his brows. He stood observing it for a long time before he spoke. "What is this?" He asked, his voice no longer sounding defensive, but troubled.
She explained to him about the dreams she had been having after the Phoenix burned her and how Lamis believed it had marked her. Then she told him Lamis' theory about the visions being from magic that the Phoenix gifted to her. By the end of it, he was looking at her with apparent bewilderment.
"I've never heard of such a thing." He said, looking down at her hand in awe.
"Well, join the club." She said, bitterly. She was still annoyed with him.
He gave her a fleeting look. "Why didn't you tell me about this?" He asked.
"Ryonen," she said, wearily, "when would I have had time to do that? In between being held prisoner, poisoned, and having a near death experience?" She asked, knowing that she was being harsh, but not caring. Why was he acting so hurt about this? Was he upset because Lamis knew before him?
Ryonen dropped her hand, jutting out his chin defiantly. "I know that, Ariana, but why didn't you tell me about it last night? You knew about the mark and the dreams when we went out. You could have told me then."
She let out a sigh of exasperation. "It was brand new information, Ryonen, it wasn't exactly on my radar. I was focused on other things at the time."
He looked down, his face looking mildly ashamed but still overall annoyed. At that exact moment, Lamis chose to come through the doors carrying a mesh basket. He stopped when he saw them there, clearly seeing that he had walked in on some sort of conversation. "I'm sorry," he said, looking at Ariana and raising his eyebrows, "I can come back-"
"No." She said quickly, earning looks from both Ryonen and Lamis. "Go ahead, we're done talking." She ignored Ryonen's annoyed look and started down the hallway to the stairs. She was almost to the top when she heard them opening the front door.
"We'll be back in a few hours." Lamis called out to her and she turned around to look down at him. "Maybe you can explore a bit while we're gone. There's a library in the right wing." He said, nodding his head to indicate where it was.
She brushed her hair behind her ear and nodded. "Okay." She said, pointedly ignoring Ryonen as he tried to catch her eye from behind Lamis. "Yeah, I'll check it out."
Lamis gave her an approving smile. "Good. You never know, you might find something that interests you."
She didn't answer, just giving Lamis a small smile, watching as he turned and pushed open the heavy front doors. Ryonen hesitated behind him, his face turning upward to meet hers. She pursed her lips, not speaking and, after a long pause, he turned around and followed Lamis out into the noonday light.

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