Masters of the Sea

016

"Are you alright?" Hoya asked hesitantly.

Hye Ra still had her fingers round his wrist, but for a good couple of minutes it was as though her soul had flown out of her body and gone somewhere else. There was something disturbing about the way her eyes were simply staring straight at him, or more precisely, straight through him.

"Hwayoung..." Nayoung gently touched her shoulder worriedly. Just as Nayoung's hand landed on Hye Ra's shoulder, she immediately snapped out of her trance and came back to reality.

Was that all real? Did it really happen? She instinctively looked down towards her chest, but there was no sign of the arrow. Of course there wouldn't be, it was only a vision... It had been so long since Hye Ra had a vision that she had begun to forget what they felt like, how real they seemed.

"I'm sorry, Hoya," she mumbled to the man. "Your wounds seem to be healing up well but it'll take another two or three weeks before you'll be able to regain full control of your health. I'll prescribe you some herbs, you'll have to boil them over a low flame for two to three hours before drinking the medicine. Do that twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening." Hye Ra quickly scribbled down the prescription and handed it over to Nayoung, who immediately began picking the correct herbs. "Other than that you should be fine in no time."

Once Nayoung had all the necessary herbs packed up, she handed the package over to the man. When he reached out both his hands to receive it, Hye Ra couldn't help but notice the scar emblazoned on the back of his right hand. "That..." she pointed at the scar, wanting to take a closer look.

"It's nothing, just a scratch," Hoya quickly pulled down his sleeve so that the sigil of the dire wolf was now hidden from sight. "Thank you for your help." Tucking the pack of herbs securely at his waistband, Hoya stood up and gave a polite bow, turning to leave.

That is no ordinary scar. It's the symbol of the dire wolf. Hye Ra gulped. There were few men in Goguryeo who had the brand of the dire wolf seared into their skin. That was because most men who received this "honour" were dead before anyone even noticed they had gone missing. Whoever he was and whatever he had done, he was a wanted man, a prisoner who should be locked deep within the Goguryeo dungeons instead of roaming free.

Within the short few minutes of her vision, Hye Ra had learnt a number of things. One, that Hoya and his companion had been chased by the Black Knights, who were likely the cause of the injuries he now sustained. Two, the reason why he had been captured was because he had been hunting her. The Oracle.

"Quickly pack up everything, Nayoung," Hye Ra whispered to her little sister, who obediently did as she was told. "I am going to drop by the fishmonger's to buy some fish for dinner. I want you to head back to the house immediately and give this to Sunghyun, clear?" She quickly scribbled a note of warning to Sunghyun before hurrying down the alley in the opposite direction from Hoya.

A couple of metres away, Hoya felt something nagging at him at the back of his mind.

What is it I should have noticed? What is it? He racked his brain for a reason why he was feeling so bothered now. All of a sudden, the oddity hit him. How did the healer know my name was Hoya? The only people who knew him as Hoya should be in Baekje and a healer from a small village in the middle of nowhere couldn't possibly have known it when he hadn't told her. The image of the healer and her eyes suddenly came to mind, the way they glazed over and looked right into him.

The Oracle!

He immediately turned around and began charging back towards the place where she had been, but there was no one there anymore. "Where did she go?" He grabbed one of the patients whom he recalled being in the queue earlier and demanded an answer.