Prophecy

Chapter 14

We don't turn around once as we flee from the Oasis (other than the time I turned and spotted the escaping rider). We don't even speak until we're somewhat under the cover of the trees again.

"Someone made it out of Ignis Terra back there," I comment as we continue into the growing shelter of the dried out woods. "I couldn't tell who it was."

"Did it look like it could've been Hugo?" Ada asks hopefully.

"No," I respond timidly. She goes quiet. Javier signals for us to stop.

"Let's regroup here." He dismounts, and we all follow suit, Ada a little more reluctantly than the rest of us. She looks regretfully back at the Oasis, still swarming with birds and wolves. I decide to try and distract her.

"Who's this fiery guy?" I chatter. Ada smiles slightly at the question.

"His name is Blaze. He's a forge steed." She runs her fingers over the smoldering metal, causing me to flinch. She laughs. "It doesn't hurt. Look, touch it." She gently grabs my wrist and and guides my fingers to the...skin?...of the beast. Sure enough, I don't feel heat, but a subtle, lively warmth.

"Wow," I breathe. Ada's smile lessens, and I retreat my fingers from Blaze's shoulder.

"What are we going to do?" Arik calls out suddenly. Everyone turns to me.

Naturally the big decisions fall in my inexperienced hands.

"Daokhan wanted to meet us at Aurora City, so we need to do what we were about to do in the first place." Anjulee nods in agreement.

"Come on Ada, let's get set up the cradle," Arik urges, and the two walk a little ways into the woods. "Can we get a plant Elemental on this?" Anjulee stands up and walks over, dropping the backpack she luckily hadn't lost. Javier walks over to Bo, and the two strike up a conversation. I seat myself on the dry forest floor, peering between the trees at the Oasis in the distance, which I realize no longer has the green haze over it. I drop my head, wondering why the Oasis would be attacked. It seems awfully convenient that they would at the same time I was there.

"It wasn't your fault." I look up to see Andromeda standing beside me. I offer for her to kneel. "The Oasis is a storehouse for power. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"How did you—"

"It's not hard to tell what you're thinking. You're an open book." We sit in silence, gazing at the ruins on the horizon. A tongue of flame roars up into the sky momentarily, and I flinch.

How can she be so sure it wasn't my fault?

I look over to the three finishing their work. Anjulee's hands are out in front of her, slowly raising vines from the ground. She is building a temporary structure, about as big as one of the adobe huts from the Oasis. I'm mesmerized by the intertwining patterns the vines make before meeting and solidifying into solid walls and a ceiling. Arik is gathering dry leaves, and Ada is swirling her hands, casting shimmering images on the vines.

"I'm sorry about all this," Andromeda says, catching me off guard. I whip my head back to face her.

"Huh?"

"All these things happening in such a short time... It's got to be taking a toll on you." I shrug.

"Yeah, I guess." I sigh. "I really just miss June." Andromeda furrows her scaly brows.

"It is June." I laugh.

"June is my sister's name." The orange in the dragon's cheeks deepens.

"My apologies."