by Amber Darke
The ballroom is just how I remember it - a wide open space reached by a grand staircase and looked down on by balconies on the floor above. The balconies are already full of children watching, and the ballroom itself is full of well-dressed people chatting. There’s music in the air but nobody playing - a spell, probably. The Prince always has one or two music-casters around the place. I try to get down the stairs as quickly as I can but a hush falls anyway, and everyone turns to stare at me as I make my way down.
‘Awkward...’ Cherry whispers in my ear in a silly voice, and I feel a bit better about it.
When I reach the bottom they keep staring, but nobody says anything to me. I know why. They’re waiting to see what the Prince’s attitude to me is before they express an opinion on my return. That’s fine. I head for the back of the room, Cherry in my wake, and behind me conversation starts up again. We find a corner behind a pillar and sit on a cream-coloured fainting couch.
‘They’ll be fine soon,’ Cherry says. ‘It’s just all a bit sudden. I mean... none of us knew if we’d see you again.’
‘Cherry, I’m sorry I went without telling you,’ I say. ‘If there’d been any way...’
‘I know,’ she smiles. ‘Um... shall I get us some drinks? You can stay here away from the staring.’
‘That would be great,’ I say, relieved, and Cherry runs off.
I sit quietly for a few minutes, enjoying the music. Then a shadow falls over me. I look up. It’s the Finder from earlier - I’d forgotten about him what with everything else. He’s dressed impeccably in a tuxedo, but his hair is as unruly as it was earlier, in waves around his face. I’m tempted to run my fingers through it, or at least I would be if he hadn’t just ruined my day and possibly life.
‘Oh,’ I say. ‘It’s you.’
He gives me an apologetic half-smile. ‘Can I sit?’
I shrug. ‘It’s a free country.’
He sits down on the other end of the couch and starts talking, his Welsh accent soft and measured. ‘Look... I’m so sorry about earlier. I know you didn’t want to be found. But...’
I sigh. ‘Yeah, when the Prince says jump, we all say “how high?” It doesn’t make me feel any better, knowing that.’
I understand that it’s not really his fault, but that doesn’t help with the anger I feel when I look at him. I could tear his head off right now, beautiful smile and all.
‘I was thinking maybe we could be...’ he begins.
I shake my head. ‘No. We can’t be anything. I’m sorry. I want you to leave now.’
He nods. ‘All right. I’m sorry again.’
And then he’s gone. I’m relieved that he didn’t get pushy about it, I don’t have it in me to argue tonight. I sit quietly, trying to breathe through my anger, and finally Cherry comes back with drinks.
‘Bad news,’ she says as I sip mine. ‘It’s dancing in a few minutes.’
I groan. Dancing in the Prince’s court is still stuck in the middle ages, or whenever it was they had elaborate group dances where you have to know all the steps and change partners every five seconds. Cherry would know. Both history and dancing are a lot more her thing than mine. I can just about struggle through most of the common ones at court.
‘Maybe I can sit it out...’ I say.
She shakes her head. ‘I bumped into your mum at the drinks table. Apparently the Prince is very keen for you to be visible. He won’t be impressed if you don’t dance.’
‘I was afraid you’d say that.’
‘Come on,’ she says. ‘Maybe we can find some good partners to start with, anyway.’
She pulls me up towards the dance floor. Steele bumps into us, literally, halfway there. I step back and look at him. Even I have to admit that he scrubs up well in his tux, even if it does barely fit over his muscular arms and shoulders.
‘Ah, Oracle,’ he says. ‘The Prince wanted me to make sure you joined in with the dancing, so he asked me to begin the dance with you. Come on.’
He grabs my hand and pulls me away from Cherry. She gives me a helpless look. Awesome.
I’ve had to dance with Steele before, and this time is no different. As the music begins he grips my hands too tightly, so that my fingers hurt. As we start to move, he pulls me around the dance floor like he’s dragging a piece of furniture into place. All around us I can see couples whirling, smiling, perfectly in time with the music. Steele knows the steps, he doesn’t let us break the pattern, but we’re not exactly dancing either. As the pattern changes he moves his hand to my waist, digging his fingers into my flesh through my dress.
‘That hurts,’ I tell him. ‘Stop it.’
He grins and ignores me. So I stomp on his foot with my heel. Then it’s my turn to grin as he turns bright red and stifles a cry of pain. He has to keep dancing, or risk embarrassing himself in front of everyone. I smile like I’m having a wonderful time while he grimaces his way through the next few steps.
‘You’ll pay for this,’ he says through gritted teeth.
I probably will, but it was so worth it.
The moment’s coming when we will change partners. I’m relieved until I see who my next partner is - that bloody Finder again! Steele sweeps me away and turns to his next partner. The Finder takes hold of me gently and we continue the dance. As his hand touches mine I get a shiver of deja vu, but I shake it off. It’s an occupational hazard of being able to see the future. Probably nothing.
‘Do you want me to stop?’ he asks. ‘I had no idea you’d be my next partner...’
‘No,’ I hiss. ‘If I don’t dance the Prince will want to know why. Let’s just get through this.’
He nods and keeps whirling me in the pattern, matching the other couples. Suddenly I’m looking at the room from a different angle and everything looks strange - a vision. But what? People are panicking... the same people who were in the room with me a moment ago, in the same clothes. They’re shouting, running... whatever it is, it’s happening here, tonight...
I snap out of it and the Finder is staring at me, but nobody else is.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked. ‘You spaced out there...’
We’re still dancing. He must have managed to keep me in step. I stop.
‘Steele!’ I call. ‘Guardsman Steele!’
Around us the dance degenerates into confusion. Steele makes his way over, glaring at me.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ he asks.
‘I just had a vision,’ I say. ‘Something’s going to happen - here, tonight. I don’t know what, but it’s going to send everyone into a panic. You need to...’
Steele snorts. ‘This little plea for attention isn’t going to get you anywhere, Oracle...’
‘You idiot!’ I say. ‘It’s not a plea for attention, I’m trying to warn you!’
‘She’s the only Oracle you’ve got,’ says the Finder, still at my side. ‘Why would you disbelieve her?’
‘This is none of your concern, peasant,’ Steele says.
They glare at each other and I’m frantically trying to figure out how to resolve this situation when there’s a piercing shriek from the other side of the ballroom.
‘I told you!’ I say, but Steele is already running towards the sound.
Chapter Five
I follow him, anxious to find out what my vision was about. People are running in the opposite direction, screaming, and I elbow my way past them, struggling against the tide. The noise is unbearable.
I see what’s got everyone so panicked. It’s one of the Prince’s spies, Arin. I haven’t seen him in years - not since he went to infiltrate the Northern Court, the hub of one of our rival territories - but I remember that I liked him. He never shouted at us kids for running in the corridors like some of the other high courtiers did. Now he’s slumped on the ground in the doorway, panting and pale, and there’s a sickly green glow coming off him. My heart sinks.
‘A miasma...’ I gasp.
It’s one of the worst spells you can cast on someone.
The miasma spell doesn’t just kill its victim - slowly and painfully - it also infects anyone who gets too close to them. No wonder people were running away. Behind me I hear the Finder’s voice, suddenly commanding and assured, telling people to go back to their rooms and lock themselves in, not just mill around screaming. Steele and his guards are backing away from Arin.
‘I have... important news...’ Arin gasps, but he’s barely audible below the screaming.
Steele doesn’t seem to be paying attention. He confers with his guards for a second and one of them - a guard called Selina whose power is manifestation - makes a crossbow appear. For a moment I don’t understand, but then I remember that the quickest way to stop the spread of a miasma is to kill the carrier with a non-magic weapon - using a spell would just cause the miasma to mutate and become stronger.
‘No!’ I say. ‘Steele, he’s trying to say something!’
‘Too bad,’ says Steele, raising the crossbow.
I remember Arin. I remember how much his duty always meant to him. He wouldn’t be here if he didn’t have a good reason. I run towards him, as close as I can without touching the green mist of the miasma. I ignore Steele’s shouts behind me, trying to put myself in the way of his crossbow, hoping and almost totally sure that he wouldn’t shoot me too. He knows how valuable I am to the Prince.
‘Arin,’ I say, sitting on my heels so that I can look into his eyes. ‘What do you need to say?’
His face fills with relief. ‘The Prince of the Northern Territory...’ he gasps. ‘He knows where it is... the Lightstone. And he’s found the way into the Forest.’
‘I understand,’ I say. ‘I’ll tell the Prince.’
‘Thank you,’ he says weakly. ‘Now please, get back...’
I spring out of the way just as his last dying gasp sends the miasma puffing outward. It just barely misses me and then dissipates almost instantly as his life force leaves him. Then there’s just a body. The danger is over. I realise that my heart is hammering and I’m shaking. I turn around. Steele is staring at me. A few other people are dotted around the hall, but it looks like the Finder got most of them out of the line of fire. He’s still here, watching me with curious eyes but keeping his distance. Cherry is here too, and she runs to me and squeezes my hand.
The Prince sweeps down the stairs.
‘What the hell is going on?’ he demands.
‘Your Oracle just got in the way of...’ Steele begins.
There’s no time for that. ‘The Lightstone,’ I say over him. ‘My Prince, the Northern Court are going after the Lightstone.’
Everyone freezes, staring at me. The Prince nods.
‘Steele, come with me,’ he says.
They disappear back up the stairs.
‘I’ll fetch the healer,’ says the Finder. ‘We shouldn’t leave this poor man’s body just lying here.’
‘Come on, Livya,’ says Cherry. ‘Let’s go back upstairs.’
We leave the almost empty ballroom. I can’t stop thinking about poor Arin, how much pain he must have been in, how desperate he was to get those last few words out. I wonder if he came all the way from the Northern Court itself.
This is terrible news. The Lightstone is a magical artifact of unimaginable power. Generations ago it caused wars between the magical courts of Britain, until an ancestor of our Prince found a way to hide it. Our territory has always been the most powerful in Britain since then, but things have stayed in balance. Everyone stays in their boundaries now - there hasn’t been a war in centuries because that Prince hid the Lightstone so well that nobody could ever get it. But if the Northern Prince knows where it is, we could be heading for a magical war that would tear this whole island apart.
Cherry knows it too. She can’t even muster anything encouraging to say as we get back to my room and sit there in stunned silence. My mother comes and joins us after a few minutes.
‘Livya,’ she says. ‘I heard you were almost...’
‘I’m fine, Mum,’ I say.
She gives me a quick hug. ‘Well, as long as it turned out all right,’ she says shakily.
I’m still in my dress ten minutes later when I’m summoned back to the audience chamber. A thrill of fear runs through me as I remember the blood oath that afternoon, but I squash it and follow the guard assigned to fetch me.
The Prince is on his throne again, but we’re not alone this time. Steele is there, and so is the Finder from earlier. A handful of the Prince’s most trusted advisers stand around the throne.
‘Ah, Oracle,’ says the Prince. ‘There you are. How would you like a chance to prove your loyalty, hmm?’
I kneel before the throne, like always. ‘I am loyal, my Prince,’ I say. ‘I will do whatever you command.’
He waves me to standing again. ‘Yes, well,’ he says. ‘You’re going on a mission. You and Steele and... you’ve already met Tarian ap Hywel, the best Finder in the territory...’
He sent the best Finder in the whole territory to get me? I put that away to think about later, along with his name - Tarian. I like the way it sounds. But I turn my attention back to the Prince.
‘The Lightstone has been locked away in Sherwood for centuries,’ says the Prince. ‘Even I don’t know its exact location. But we have to get it and take it somewhere safe before the North get it. I’m sending you three to Sherwood to find it.’
‘My Prince, perhaps I should take some of my guard...’ Steele begins.
The Prince shakes his head. ‘No. The fewer people involved, the better. The Lightstone could cause me trouble in the wrong hands, even in my own territory. The Finder will find the stone. The Oracle will warn of danger. And you will protect them both.’
‘Yes, of course,’ says Steele.
‘I don’t have to tell you, I’m sure, how important this is,’ says the Prince.
I picture magical battles, a devastated landscape, loved ones missing or dying. We can’t afford a war. It’s that important. I nod.
‘Your highest priority is the Lightstone,’ he says. ‘Nothing is more important than retrieving it and keeping it away from the Northern Prince. I am commanding all of you to do whatever is necessary to ensure that the stone doesn’t fall into enemy hands. Do you understand.’
‘I understand,’ I say, hearing Steele and Tarian echo the same words.
My stomach sinks. That was a direct order from my Prince. Now that I’ve sworn a blood oath, there’s no way I can do anything less than give my whole life to this if I have to. If I need to die, if I need to kill, if I need to suffer horribly to keep the stone safe, then that’s what I have to do. The only other choice is death by blood oath, or worse.
It makes me feel unsafe, like my decisions aren’t my own. But honestly, at this moment I’d probably do the same anyway. I can imagine the devastation a magical war would create, and if we don’t protect the Lightstone, that’s what’s going to happen. I should just be grateful that, for the moment, the Prince’s wishes are in perfect sync with mine.
Another vision, a powerful one. It begins so quickly that I barely feel my present body slumping to the floor in shock as I’m jolted into a future where I’m mid-leap, jumping from something high. There’s a noise in my ears and the wind whistles past me and I’m scared, so scared. But there’s a hand holding mine tightly, we’re together, and I know we’ll be all right.
I can’t see who it is - I think it’s my tattooed mystery man, I hope it is, but I can’t make anything but colours out in the rush of motion. Whoever it is, I know I trust them.
Then I’m cold, so cold I can’t think, and everything around me blurs, but still his hand is there and I clutch it even as I feel my fingers beginning to numb.
Then as suddenly as it began the vision ends, and I find myself staring at the ceiling of the audience chamber. My head is on something soft, and someone is kneeling beside me.
It’s Tarian. His dark eyes look down at me with concern - such startling eyes, as deep as galaxies. When he sees that I’m back
he smiles at me and it warms my whole body. I smile back for a moment, forgetting myself.
‘That looked intense,’ he says, his lilting accent soothing. ‘Are you all right?’
‘I’ve been worse,’ I say. ‘It was just another vision.’
‘Do they always have that effect on you?’
I sit up. ‘It’s always stronger here, where the ley lines converge. They weren’t like this in London.’
He retrieves his suit jacket from where I was, apparently, using it as a pillow.
‘Um... thanks for taking care of me,’ I say, not looking him in the eye.
‘Don’t mention it,’ he says. ‘It looked painful when you fell, are you hurt?’
I test a few motions to see. ‘No, I think I’m ok... you get used to it,’ I tell him.
He gives me his hand to stand up and I take it. His grasp is firm, warm, and for a moment it feels familiar, but before I can complete the thought, the Prince distracts me.
‘Oracle?’ he asks. ‘Are you well?’
‘Yes, I’m fine,’ I say.
‘Good,’ he snaps. ‘The three of you will set out in an hour, as soon as preparations can be made. Make sure you’re ready.’
He stalks away, and I rush to my room to get into some more suitable clothes.
Chapter Six
A small crowd has gathered on the drive to watch us go. My mother is there, wearing her usual facade of unconcern, but I can tell she’s worried. Maybe she’s thinking I might not come back. Maybe I won’t.
Cherry is a little more open about her concerns. ‘Promise me you’ll be careful,’ she whispers in my ear as she hugs me. ‘I only just got you back. I don’t want to think... well... be careful, ok?’
‘I will, I promise,’ I tell her, but I know that the blood oath overrides any other promise I could make. I may