The Phoenix and the Dragon

Chapter 8

                                                          Chapter Eight

              “What? I don’t have magic, that’s ridiculous. I didn’t even know about magic and this island until this week…” Aileen trailed off realizing she spilled confidential information and averted her eyes from Pythia looking around her magnificient house.
              “What do you mean? You lived in the outside world, but you are not a Agorra.” Pythia cried, her voice growing louder from every word.
“Noooo, I’ve always lived in the kingdom,” Aileen protested, her shameful eyes admiring the ceiling, but she knew Pythia could tell right out of the little fib.
             “Where are you from? Why are you here?” Pythia began, thoroughly examining her face for any evidence of lies that she might tell for her excuse.
Aileen thinks Pythia is trustworthy so she begins with the unknown presence at her house “...now I’m here talking with you,”
             “My other guest was quite upset when I found him near a river heading to Crowlfield and he told me a similar story to yours and I realized that his sister might be the one in the prophecy. His sister is you. You may be the one in the prophecy…”
             “Your other guest is Alex, my brother? Is he okay? I was so worried,” Aileen interrupted cutting Pythia off, glad that her brother was okay and that she and her brother could start heading to Crowlfield.
            “Yes, yes. Now back to the important part, you may be in the prophecy and you have to train your magic to beat King Tamas,” quipped Pythia, “You can stay with me for the night, but in the morning I have to go out to the village and the soldiers may come to to this side of the forest. I have always use magic when I’m around. The soldiers check the forest of all magical presences since they killed off most of the beasts in the forests.
             “Why are you not here?”
             “I have to go to my village that I lived in for most of my life before I became an oracle. They think I live in a house on the outskirts, but they have a routine check and trance us into telling the truth of some questions they ask If I don’t go three times they will track me down and have me in the kingdom’s most horrid place, Dominus Infernus, a torture village. From what I have heard, they cage up everyone like as animals, give 30 whips at dawn, noon and dusk to each person, no matter their age, they get little to no food and are worked to death. This law was newly made around a year ago right after our most hated king, King Tamas’s grandfather, passed on. I’ve already missed the first two questionings as I wasn’t there so if I were to miss it again, I wouldn’t be alive for long,” Pythia explained, a little in fear, a little in anger.
              “Okay,” Aileen responded, quite disturbed by the way criminals are treated under the rule of this newly made king.
             “Go up wake up your brother, don’t tell me when you leave, I don’t want more information to tell the king’s soldiers,” Pythia said as she forcefully hanged the finished dishes to the unknown devices which, in a split second, cleaned it and hung it up, “Remember, if you want to use your magic, anger fuels it, but you drain energy quicker. Stay calm, control your magic, feel what you want to do and it will happen. Be sure to stay away from civilization,”
             “Thank you for all that you have done for me brother and I,” thanked Aileen.
             “It was no problem, go to brother,” Pythia ushered her. As she walks upstairs, she counted the amount of usual items she noticed she saw. Maybe there was a book she could read to explain the history of these items. Pythia had said her brother was in the second room on the right. The hallway had many doorways that she would have loved to explore, but she headed into the second door, where her brother Alex was lying on the bed. She took a good look at the small room, it was a brightly light room with candles everywhere, but no windows. Alex was on a king sized bed which took up most of the room, there were two drawers on either side on the bed which held many books atop it. Alex is looking at the map, still awake, so Aileen decided to sneak up on him. Three, two, one.
              “BOO,” Aileen screamed, but not loud enough for Pythia to hear.
              “AHHHH,” Alex screamed in the most girly high-pitched voice possible, then looks at who it is,  “Oh god, Aileen, I could have had a heart attack, he said breathing hard, “Why are you here?” he inquired, squinting his eyes.
              “Apparently, we both came to the same person for help, she replied and goes on explaining what happened after he left, leaving out the prophecy. She thought it wouldn’t make sense of her being the one who would overthrow the king.
               “I’m so, so, so, sorry I accused you of having me kidnapped, and believed you couldn’t survive without me,” Alex apologized sincerely, “I felt insecure and angry for no reason,”
               “It was fine, I know it wasn’t you,” Aileen reassured him, “But where did Pythia find you?”
               “Pythia?”
               “The lady downstairs. Don’t tell you didn’t ask her name,” Aileen said rolling her eyes.
                “I asked if I could call her Ms. Suag, which is what she told me her name was,” Alex said raising an eyebrow at Aileen who called her “Pythia”.
                “Whatever, we need to get going right after Pythia goes to sleep,” Aileen said nearly tripping on her worn out shoes.
                “Why right after she goes to sleep?” Alex questioned, frowning at Aileen change of personality of not informing their host of leaving.
                “She told me to leave without talking to her and I’m sure you know the we have to go by the way you were staring at the map with glee,” Aileen said knowingly.
                “You got it and I’m just going to believe you on the not-telling-the-hostess thing,” Alex replied grabbing his bag and throwing the map and his extra food in there.
                “Let’s wait a while before we leave,” Aileen said throwing her shoes off and jumping atop the bed to rest, she hadn't gotten a good rest on a real bed in days.
                “Only some time,” Alex said pulling his shoes off and pushing Aileen to the other side of the bed, nearly knocking her down. After some time Alex decided it was time to go he turned to Aileen who had fell asleep and shook her awake.
                “Come on, we should go,” Alex whispered to Aileen not wanting to wake up Ms. Suag or whatever Aileen called her.
                “I’m fine,” Aileen nearly yelled and Alex was sure everyone in the forest woke up, no doubt the nearest villages also.
                 “We have to go before sundown,” Alex shouted in her ear, but nothing worked so he decided to yell in her ear again, “WE ARE GOING TO DIE!” Aileen shot up and threw Alex in front of her.
               “Good to know, I’ll be the first to die,” Alex muttered.
               “What?” Aileen said groggily, “I’m sorry?”
              “We’re leaving,”