Flash and Flame: Portals of Asphodel Series: The Guardian, Book 2

by Sadie Anders

  The dirt beneath their feet began to crumble and give way, and they began losing traction as a great sinkhole opened up. We moved in towards the person, closing the space in between us. As I moved closer, my force grew stronger, the soil liquefaction causing them to be unable to regain their footing.

  The hole grew deeper, and soon, Julian and I were at the edge of the chasm. I didn’t want us all to fall into the pit, so I stopped trying to open the earth. I peeked my head over to look down at what I had done. The person had curled into a ball, their hands gripping their legs around their knees, but they were still on their feet. Undoubtedly, they wished to protect themselves from falling even deeper, but the scene had the eerie look of something ghastly being birthed.

  Suddenly, the being shot out of the pit, flying above us and arcing to the ground on the other side. Warmth seared my body as they passed by me, like the heat trail of a missile. They were deathly close, and I was afraid of being in hand-to-hand combat with them. I would surely be destroyed.

  I dodged out of the way, and Raphael rushed to get in between us. I ducked back behind a fallen tree stump, hoping to avoid their brute strength.

  Kai quietly approached and calmly took out a small flute from his crossbody bag. He held the wooden pipes up to his lips, blowing furiously, the notes piercing the air all at once. The music wasn’t pleasant, but was more of a weapon, as the cacophony of sounds made it feel as if my head were going to explode. The smoldering enemy stopped short, focusing their attention on Kai as they hunched over in pain.

  Uncle Julian reached into his pocket and pulled out a small circular device. He slid the button in the center, and it activated, emitting a tiny swirl of blue light, contained but powerful.

  Julian slammed the thura on the ground, directing it with a few words. A swirling vortex of forces opened up, its blue waves growing rapidly and coalescing into an oval shape.

  The being whirled around to Uncle Julian, cocked their head unnaturally to the side, taking in what was happening. This split-second distraction proved to be more than enough to give us an opening. Raphael ran at full speed, pushing our opponent into the gaping hole to another realm. The person grunted from Raphael’s force as the portal swallowed them whole.

  “Rafe,” I screamed. For a moment, I thought that he would fall in, would be consumed along with the strange being, but he had merely fallen to the ground. The vortex had disappeared. The thura had closed as soon as our enemy had fallen through.

  I sat on the ground, catching my breath, thankful for my uncle and Raphael, that their quick thinking had worked. Relief washed over me as I realized that the threat had passed, that we had survived this unbeatable foe.

  Maybe nothing was truly unbeatable after all.

  “Oh, no,” Uncle Julian said. Panic rose in my chest, and I looked around for the strange person once more.

  “What is it?” Raphael asked.

  Uncle Julian pointed to the ground.

  “The thura,” he said. “It’s gone. They have it now.”

  We pushed forward, rushing ahead as rapidly as possible before the deadly being could return and fight us again. If they had the thura, they could show up at any second, assuming they had enough power to know how to focus its location. Considering how much power I saw in them already, I didn’t doubt that they could.

  And I had the feeling that they had been coming for me. Nobody else had felt the massive pain, the feeling of a gutted fish on a hook, that I had felt. Cleon had suffered some injuries, but nothing that Raphael’s potion couldn’t fix. Still, he had been hurt because he had been in the crossfire. I was the target.

  I pushed myself to move through the countryside as quickly as my body would allow, not wishing to find out why the strange being was after me. Luckily, after three or four big hills that we had to traverse, most of the terrain was downhill as we moved into a low-lying region, undoubtedly the valley of Phocis. The place where Apollo’s Oracle lived.

  Before long, we had descended enough to be able to see the village ahead of us. Pristine, white-topped buildings stood at the base of a mountain as the town stretched up onto the slope and gradually became more sparse. It looked like a beautiful place to live.

  As we got closer to the city, I could tell how massive the mountain really was, even though the top looked like it had been ground down into a gentle arc. It had the whitish hue of limestone, which matched the roofs of the buildings in the town. They must have had a quarry on the mountain that they used to construct their buildings. It gave everything an idyllic, fairytale feeling.

  “Parnassus,” Kai said, pointing up at the mountain. He gazed on it lovingly, as if it were a lover he had not seen in a long time.

  I looked towards the peak. It was huge but not imposing, and it beckoned to me. I had the desire to make my way up its slopes, to discover its wonders. Perhaps I would have that chance soon enough.

  “This mountain is one of the anchors between worlds. It exists in both your realm and here in Asphodel.”

  “An anchor?”

  “There are many places of this sort,” Cleon said. “Locations where the lines between realms are blurred. They are usually seen as fearsome or mystical places in your land.”

  If they were anchors to another realm, then they probably should be seen as fearsome or mystical.

  “Are they portals?” I asked.

  “Yes, and no,” Cleon said. “They exist in both realms at once, but only those with rare powers can harness traveling between the two. They don’t function like typical portals.”

  “They are places that have always been attractive to humans,” Raphael said. “The Giant’s Causeway in Ireland. Vesuvius in Italy. Victoria Falls on the border of Zimbabwe.”

  This was all interesting, even if confusing. Everyone in my party seemed to know so much more than I did about the world that I lived in. It hardly seemed fair. They must have taught anchor geography in Asphodel grade school. Uncle Julian, who typically loved sharing his vast knowledge of things, remained conspicuously quiet.

  I wondered which other places were anchors. Probably Haleakala, which seemed more to me like a Martian crater than a Hawaiian volcano. Maybe the Gobi Desert. Definitely Tibet. I’d have to ask Raphael more about these places sometime. I wanted to go to all of them.

  We soon found ourselves at the edge of the village. A wall made of slatted layers of limestone ran around the edge. It didn’t look like it was intended to keep people out. It wasn’t the crenellated towering walls of a fortress. It was just a wall.

  A huge archway sat in the middle of the wall. No gate barred our way, as the city was seemingly welcoming to visitors.

  I looked up at the arch as we approached the entrance. Letters were carved into it, but they weren’t familiar. I couldn’t make out the language. As I stepped off of the green grass of the valley floor and onto the flagstones of the city entrance, I felt a wave of power wash over me.

  Yet another invisible threshold. I wondered why nobody else in my group seemed to notice or comment on this. It was always disorienting to me.

  I looked up again, and the letters shimmered and morphed into something new, letters that were familiar to me.

  Delphi awaits you, weary traveler.

  As we entered inside the archway, a bustling city opened up before us. A wide avenue stretched through the center of town and up base of the mountain. Huge torches burned, their flames roaring in giant urns. They served as street lights, lighting everything up as if it were daytime and not a land of perpetual twilight.

  To our right, about forty or fifty people sat lazing in a series of crystal blue pools. Above them, a group of young men were exercising on a platform, their muscular bodies glistening with sweat. They looked like they could be professional athletes, or perhaps even superheroes in a Hollywood film. I had never seen a group of such beautiful people together in one place in real life.

  One young man broke off from the group and approached us.

  “Khairete,” he
said, his smile infectious.

  Kai nodded his head. “Khaire.”

  “Please. Come, come. Follow me.” He led us over to the a stone bench by the pools and began taking my boots off.

  “Your feet must ache, beautiful one. Place them in the hot springs. They have a healing property.”

  He pointed to one of the pools, steam rising up from the surface and curling around the laughing faces of the people enjoying a soak. I wasn’t going to say no to that. My feet did ache, and I was never one to refuse such hospitality.

  Kai ran forward and shed his cloak, shoes, and shirt, jumping with his entire body into the pool. A calm look came over him. He didn’t take long to make himself at home, but then again, he never had.

  I had to admit, I liked this reception far more than the one we received in the last town. Delphi seemed open and welcoming, whereas Mantineia left a little to be desired in that respect. Or a lot, actually.

  I sat down at the edge of the pool next to Kai and gently lowered my feet. The water was warm but not too hot, and it felt amazing. Raphael sat down beside me and began rubbing my shoulders.

  Uncle Julian came up to me, gazing down. “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to relax for a moment.” He took his place beside us, rolled up his tweed trousers to the knee, and dipped his feet in.

  Whatever effect this place had on people, I was willing to accept it and stay here forever.

  I looked around for Cleon, wondering if he would be won over by Delphi’s infectious kindness. He took one look at us lazing by the pool and grabbed a seat on a bench. With a sour face, he began reading his book, not speaking to anyone. Well, maybe the city didn’t affect all of us in the same way, but I was unsurprised. Cleon didn’t seem like the type to enjoy a spa retreat.

  The young man sat on the ground beside us. He ran his fingertips lazily along the surface of the water.

  “I’m Eryx.”

  “Alexis,” I said in return.

  “You’re here for the oracle, I take it?”

  I nodded.

  “We’ve had others come for her today, too. I was surprised to see more. I suppose the season to see her is beginning, but it doesn’t usually pick up until the summer. People like to stay for a while when the weather is good.”

  The breeze gently wafted, tickling my hair against my face. The warmth of the water felt amazing against the contrast of the light wind. If this wasn’t their good weather, I didn’t know what was. I’d have to come back in the summer for sure.

  “You have others here to see the oracle?” Raphael asked.

  Eryx nodded. “Yes. A group like your own, but far less friendly. They wouldn’t even stop for a chat. Just wanted to know where to find the oracle right away.”

  “They’re with her now?” Raphael asked.

  “Of course not. I sent them to one of the inns to rest before they make their plea. You can’t just walk into the oracle’s bedroom like a greedy lover. The rules must be followed. The rituals attended to.”

  Rituals. Rules. All of the things the Apollonian had mentioned. I wondered who was in such a hurry that they had tried to bypass these steps. I hoped it wasn’t the smoky foe we had encountered, but Eryx had said it was a group of people. The strange fighter in the marshes had been alone.

  “Well, we’re here for the rituals,” I said. “And I love rules.” Okay, I didn’t love rules, but there was no harm in staying on this guy’s good side. Maybe he’d help us out with jumping through all the hoops to see the oracle.

  “I agree. Well done, friend. Rules and rituals provide much needed order to life, allowing us the freedom to enjoy ourselves. You don’t have to spend time figuring everything out then. You just live.”

  Wow, this guy really did love rules. That was one way to look at life, even if it was completely foreign to my experience. Weird little Portland wasn’t exactly known for following the rules.

  “Anyways,” Eryx continued, “they weren’t nearly as nice as you are. Or as stylish. One of them was wearing a horrid blood-red jumpsuit, like they had bathed in the blood of their enemies. Ghastly.”

  Raphael’s head shot up at this. “Blood red?”

  Eryx nodded. “Yes, and her silver hair was as pale as her skin. She was quite the imposing figure. Not somebody I’d want to meet in a dark alleyway, if you take my meaning.”

  “An Artemisia,” I said, the blood in my veins turning cold. Deadly assassins. I had encountered them a couple of times before, and neither of those times had been easy. Even worse, as far as I knew, all of the Artemisia had gone to work for the snatchers. For Heliodor. For Ember. For our enemies.

  That would mean that they were trying to get to the Phos Eos right now, too. I knew that they wanted it, that Tisiphone was helping them because she had an unquenchable desire to find it, but I hadn’t realized that they were on the same journey that we were.

  And they were ahead of us.

  Uncle Julian and Raphael exchanged a dark look with one another, and Kai stopped wandering around in the pool. They had arrived at the same conclusion that I had.

  I didn’t want to cause a scene by scrambling for cover, but I knew that we couldn’t stay long out in the open like this, not with our enemies roaming around the city. We had to find someplace safe to stay until we could speak with the oracle.

  “What inn did you direct them to?” I asked casually, swishing my feet in the pool.

  “The closest one. The Laurel and Lyre. But they didn’t go there. They turned around and left town as quickly as they had come. I mean, the rudeness. The Laurel and Lyre isn’t bad, although not quite as comfortable as home.”

  “Yes, nothing ever is,” Kai said.

  “Would you like to stay in my home?” Eryx asked eagerly.

  I looked at Raphael, wondering if this would be a good idea. He nodded nearly imperceptibly.

  “We would be honored, Eryx. Thank you for your hospitality.”

  He jumped up excitedly. “Wonderful. I’ll need to tell my family so they can prepare. They will be so pleased. We love visitors.”

  Eryx ran off quickly, but then stopped short. He turned and ran back to us, pressing his palm against his head. “Of course, you need to know where I live. Just up the Sacred Road, maybe two or three blocks, is a wonderful place called Stoa. They have the best muse mead around, and their sweets are better than my mother’s. Don’t tell her that. Anyway, I will meet you there in a half hour or so.”

  He took off at a run into the neighborhood behind us, his figure growing smaller as he made his way up the hillside.

  “Muse mead?” Kai asked. “He said the magic words. Let’s go.”

  “Shouldn’t we stay off radar a bit?”

  “You heard the kid,” Kai said, pulling his body out of the pool and dressing once more. “The Artemisia and her crew left town, and it’s probably safer in here than out there with them. Anyhow, we’ve got to eat. And I’m willing to bet that an Artemisia wouldn’t be caught dead eating sweets. I’m pretty sure they survive on bugs and the entrails of the slain.”

  I laughed. It was dark, but it made me feel a little better. Yes, they might be in the vicinity, but Kai was right. It was unlikely that they’d be hanging out around in a cafe. They were probably halfway up Parnassus coercing some poor soul into taking them to the oracle immediately, rules and rituals be damned.

  I was a child of Asphodel, and I had every right to be here, even if others would prefer me not to be. There were always things to fear. I wouldn’t let fear rule every step that I took.

  I leaned back into Raphael, giving him a kiss. Uncle Julian looked slightly concerned, but said nothing.

  “Let’s go try some sweets,” I said to Raphael. He smiled at me and kissed me again.

  “How could I ever resist such an offer?”

  We grabbed Cleon as we left the poolside and headed off to the cafe.

  13

  We had been in Delphi for six days with no sign of the Artemisia, Heliodor, or any of the rest of the snat
chers, thanks largely to Eryx and his family, who had provided us with a private little refuge to stay in until it was prophecy time. Apollo’s Oracle could only be consulted once a month, on the seventh day of each month, so we had no choice but to settle in for a while. Thankfully, the seventh wasn’t too far off, or so I was told. Months were different here, and nobody explained to me exactly what the days were.

  Eryx’s father Yan, an official who worked at the temple, had told us that petitioners to see the oracle must draw lots to determine the order in which they were seen. This meant that we had every chance to see the oracle before Heliodor. It also meant that there was a high chance of us running into one another. I had been spending my days trying to come up with a plan for avoiding Heliodor altogether but so far had been unsuccessful. I thought about using the glamours again, but any deception on my part might turn the oracle off from helping us altogether. That was a risk I couldn’t take. Opportunities to consult her were rare, and from what I heard, she didn’t give second chances if you screwed up your petition to see her.

  Eryx had been a gracious host, and his family hospitable and entertaining. It was honestly one of the best vacations of my life. Each morning, I walked through the self-contained courtyard, past the bubbling marble fountain, until I came into the little grove of fruit trees—fig, pomegranate, lemon, olive—in the back. Fairy lights hung across the garden, draped between the trees, casting a pleasing light on the entire scene. A long line of wooden tables lay waiting under the trees, their surfaces covered with a spread of delicious foods—figs, freshly baked bread, honey, cheese, sweets. Pomegranates lay cracked in half, their jewel-like seeds sparkling like garnets, waiting to be plucked.

  A buffet of fresh foods like this had awaited us every morning since our arrival, and I had been anxious to get up early every day to try out the fresh and delicious options. Eryx and Raphael were sitting across from one another at one of the tables, chatting like old friends. Eryx’s good humor was infectious, and most people found themselves opening up to him. It must have been one of his gifts. A warm breeze blew up the edges of my skirt and caught my hair. As the wind made its way towards the grove, Raphael perked up. He turned to me, beaming.