The Oracle's Prophecy

by Alex Leopold

  Riley saw her ten year-old self seated with her sister at a table in her father’s small workshop located at the bottom of the garden. From a hidden trapdoor in the floor he removed a metallic object, shaped like an old football, and stood it on the table unsupported.

  “I know that device.” She said and felt the name on the tip of her tongue.

  “It’s an accumulator.” Cooper offered. “How do I know that name?”

  “I used hypnosis to suppress any memories you had of your abilities. Now that you have your powers, all those memories will have returned.”

  He was right. It was weird, but the moment her eyes fell on the accumulator, Riley knew exactly what it was. She remembered how it would glow when she held it in her hands, and the pulling sensation she’d feel as it drew her powers from her.

  She liked these sessions, she realized. They had a way of releasing some kind of built up tension within her. That unsettled her since, as of only yesterday, she’d never known that they’d ever happened.

  She once again reached for her mother’s necklace, it almost stung her fingertips when she remembered it was gone.

  “I get it.” Cooper announced from where she stood behind her ten year-old duplicate.

  “To protect us from the Directory, you had no choice but to bring us to the middle of nowhere. Brainwash us into believing we were something we were not and use this device to steal our powers from us.

  “I never understood it before, but I do now.” She added nodding to herself as she looked around the workshop.

  “I just have one question?” She turned to face him. “When were you going to tell us?”

  He didn’t answer immediately, but his pause was admission enough.

  “You weren’t, were you?”

  “If I’d told you, your abilities would’ve broken free.” He explained.

  “You could’ve taught us to be careful with them.”

  That seemed to irritate him but he kept his expression neutral.

  “There’s no being careful. Any time you use your powers you run the risk of being detected. The only way to ensure your safety is to never use them. That’s what I did when I took them away from you.”

  “Except you forgot that no matter how good a job you did, we were still crinks.” A resentful Cooper reminded him. “And all any trapper had to do to reveal this secret was jab us with a dart of sting.”

  Riley’s father had no defense for this, so he said nothing.

  “We could’ve died in that warehouse.” She pointed out as tears ran down her face. “You talk about risk. And yet, it was this secret that almost got us all killed.”

  “I just wanted to keep you safe.” He whispered.

  “So, what happens to us now?” Riley asked after the three of them had remained quiet.

  Their father ended the connection and they found themselves back in the forest.

  “What I did to you at the warehouse is irreversible. Your powers are here to stay, but now more than ever you can’t use them.”

  “Why?” Cooper asked.

  “Snoopers are hunting for us.” Riley answered for him, and out of the connection her voice was once again painfully thin.

  “Not just snoopers.” He agreed. “The Archon knows we’re in the Borderlands now. He’ll have his whole psychic army at work looking for us. Snoopers, skin-readers, predictors, all of them.”

  “He’s the Man in the dark, isn’t he? Did he learn where we were when he got inside our minds?” Riley asked, her skin prickling at the thought of the Directory leader slipping into her head like a thief.

  “He did, but not because of you two.” He sighed. “It’s complicated, but when I was young the Archon did something to me, and now he can sense when I use my abilities. That’s how he found you, he was looking for me.”

  “Does he know where we are?” Cooper asked.

  “Not exactly.” He clarified. “But he’ll be sending his Myrmidons to scour the Borderlands for us. It’s only a matter of time before they find out what happened at the warehouse. From there, they’ll be able to track us back to the ranch.”

  “So what will we do?” Riley asked even though she knew the answer.

  “We’ll go north, into the Great Unknown.”

  “Can we outrun them?”

  He looked at them both. “Maybe. If the Myrmidons don’t hear about the warehouse for a couple of days. We might get lucky.”

  32

  Tired and bruised, cold and wretched, the group finally reached the trail to their homestead in the dead of night as a light drizzle began to fall. Though the twins had rested for much of the rest of the journey, they were still far from recovered and both were relieved that the comfort of their beds was not far away.

  They wouldn’t be able to rest for long, not even a day. They had to start the long journey north as soon as possible.

  The ranch was on roughly a hundred acres of land hidden within a dense forest that appeared impenetrable, the only entrance concealed behind an uprooted tree. They navigated around it and rode up a driveway flanked by apple trees that come spring would bare apples the size of fists.

  The remains of other large properties could be made out as they followed the path home. Grand and imposing at some point in their history they'd now been all but reclaimed by nature. Only the house made of stone had survived, their house.

  Built in the last hundred years of the lost civilization, their ranch stood in the middle of a great lawn. In disrepair when they'd found it, they'd spent years rebuilding it to become the only home the twins had ever known. Yet, it wouldn't be for much longer.

  “I can smell the mutt from here.” Mayat said as they crested a hill from where they could see the whole property, including the barn, stables, windmill and the house itself.

  “He has a name you know.” Quill said speaking of their ranch hand, a houndsman by the name of Redtail.

  “He has a bath too, appears he hasn't used it in our absence.”

  The men laughed at Mayat's joke. An exhausted Riley could barely crack a smile. She was starting to feel feverish again, and as if on cue a shiver ran down her spine.

  “What's the matter?” Her father asked.

  “I felt a shiver is all.” She replied defensively not wanting anyone to worry.

  To her surprise, her well-being was not what had concerned him and her admission elicited a response she hadn’t expected. It had made him nervous. He stopped the wagon and reached for his sword.

  “Something's a miss. I can feel it too.”

  Mayat agreed. Removing the fighting staff from her cloak, she telescoped out the blades.

  “Someone else is here.”

  All the rifle and shotgun ammunition had been spent fleeing the black-market souk, so going forward they'd have to rely on arrows and swords.

  Mayat would check the barn while the others would head for the main house. Their father tried to convince Riley and Cooper to stay with the wagon, but after the day they'd been through they insisted on sticking together.

  Forcing the exhaustion out of their bodies they began moving across the lawn, grateful for a light rain and the night's darkness to hide their approach.

  As she ran, Riley felt her anxiety rise with each step; she was still rattled from the trauma of this morning and felt like it was close to paralyzing her. Glancing at her sister, she saw she was not alone. Cooper was white with fear.

  “Can you sense anyone inside the house?” Acadia whispered to her father as they closed to within thirty paces of the front door.

  “The switch at the bridge took a lot out of me.” He grimaced. “My abilities are too weak to tell me anything.”

  “Perfect.” Acadia huffed loudly.

  He kicked in the door and threw himself inside, his sword raised over his head.

  It looked like there'd been a struggle. Chairs lay on their sides, books had been pulled from shelves, and food was scattered everywhere.

  “Red! Goose!” Acadia hissed for the hound
sman and his companion.

  No one replied, and the fire was down to its last embers.

  “Place is a mess.” Cooper said nervously.

  “I found him!” Their father called from the kitchen making them jump.

  They entered to find the houndsman sprawled out on the kitchen floor surrounded by a mess of pots and broken bottles.

  His body was still, his thick, red dreaded hair wild and matted with leaves, and his clothes looked filthy.

  “Is he dead?” An apprehensive Riley asked having to peer around Acadia's dense body to see him.

  “No, the idiot’s drunk.” Acadia replied with a deep sigh as he nudged one of the empty clay beer bottles with the toe of his boot.

  As if he'd heard them, Redtail chapped his lips then settled into a deep rumbling snore.

  “Must’ve found where we hide the beer.” Acadia added bending forward to sniff his friend's breath.

  “Wake him up. We still haven’t accounted for the other person.” Riley’s father demanded. “But do it quietly.”

  Acadia gave a mischievous grin then pulling an arrow from his bag jabbed it into Redtail's buttocks.

  The houndsman shot to his feet with a yelp. As he madly rubbed the sore on his backside, the nose on his protruding dog-like muzzle sniffed the air loudly. When he noticed everyone in front of him, a stunned expression appeared on his face.

  “Am I dreaming?” He asked trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

  Acadia jabbed him again with the arrow. “Does this hurt?”

  Redtail yelped.

  “Then I guess you're not dreaming.”

  The houndsman instantly forgot the pain in his backside and let out an excited whimper.

  “Welcome back, my friends!” He said as his big snout-like mouth broke into a huge daft grin and he wrapped his hands round them all.

  “It's been mad while you've been away, just mad.”

  “What happened here?” Quill asked hurriedly. “Did someone break into the house? Was there a fight?"”

  Redtail looked about himself and slowly his lolloping smile was replaced with a bashful grin.

  “Um no. This … Sir, this was me. But after the day I had, I needed to steady my nerves, and you forgot to tell me where to find the beer.”

  “So you turned the place upside down instead?” Acadia huffed.

  “But look at this.” Redtail held up his hand proudly. “Steady as a rock. Whereas this morning I could almost fan myself with it, it was shaking so bad.”

  “Red!” Riley’s father interrupted, grabbing hold of the houndsman's poncho and forcing him to concentrate. “What happened here?”

  “It's like I said, boss. That woman's mad babbling got me all ruffled and the only way I could calm down was to have a little drink.”

  “What woman?”

  Confused, Redtail scratched his head. “Didn't I just tell you?”

  When they shook their heads his bashful grin returned.

  “We had a visitor see. Crazy woman, mad as the day is long. Has the Irenic's wire around her wrists but is unlike any Squeak I've ever met.

  “One second I'm minding my own business okay, and the next there she is stumbling around the lawn, babbling nonsense.”

  “Where is she now?” The girl’s father asked.

  “In the barn.” Mayat said entering the kitchen. “The mutt left Goose to watch her.”

  Everyone accept Redtail grimaced at this. Goose wasn't a person, he was Redtail's pet parrot.

  “Relax, little kitty,” Redtail replied. “Goose was just keeping her company. I tied her up nice and tight and stung her good so she’s out colder than a winter’s night.”

  “Do we know anything about her?” Asked Riley’s father.

  “Nope, 'cept she asked for you personally, boss.” The houndsman said pointing at Riley's father. Then clicking his fingers he started to race around the kitchen knocking over pots as he searched for something.

  When he found it he let out a relieved sigh before holding it up for everyone to see. “And she gave me this.”

  For a moment neither twin could believe their eyes. It was an old black-and-white photograph of four people standing close together the way only close friends will do.

  While Riley and Cooper didn’t know the two asian-looking women standing at either end, the man in the center was easily recognizable: it was their father, barely a man.

  The woman next to him, with fair hair could've passed for their elder sister. Only it wasn't. It was a person who'd been with them all their lives but only as an apparition.

  It was their mother. And this was the first time the twins had ever seen her.

  33

  Nakano woke groggy and sore to the sound of heavy rainfall beating loudly against a metal roof, it made her head hurt. What had happened? She remembered reaching an impassible forest full of dense scrub and thick, centuries old hedgerows that were as tall as two people. Forced to leave her horse behind she'd clawed her way through on her hands and knees.

  The hallucinations were starting to consume her mind by that point. One moment she was staggering forward through the mud. The next she was weightless, floating in a bright tunnel, watching the blur of a man with a sword drifting toward her.

  Then she was on the other side and in the distance, the picturesque farmhouse from her visions stood, smoke lazily rising from its chimney. Stumbling toward it, she saw a houndsman racing to her across the meadow, a long-rifle in his outstretched hand.

  “Hey you, muddy lady!” He’d shouted. “You're not supposed to be here! The boss is not going to be happy.”

  She wanted to tell him she wasn't a threat but her body and mind were wrecked and she could do no more than collapse into his arms.

  “I need to see this man.” She’d said slipping the photo from her pocket into the houndsman’s outstretched palm. “The matter is quite urgent.”

  Opening her eyes now she found herself tied to a chair in some kind of barn. There was little light to see by outside of a cluster of tin oil lamps arranged on the ground in front of her. As the flames danced behind the yellow-stained glass she saw the barn was full of hale bales. On some of the lower bales, sat five people. Among them was the man she’d been seeking.

  “Conformity and Obedience, Great Inventor.” She said greeting Quill. “It's been a long time.”

  “I want to know how you found me?” Quill asked his voice calm and even, his face blank.

  They'd given her time to come around and as she took small sips from a cup of water she studied the faces in the barn. The two girls from her dreams were here. They looked tired and pale, with bruised faces. Yet, their eyes still burned with the same intensity that reminded Nakano of their father even if their faces were all their mother’s.

  Standing protectively on one side of them was a Sekhem. Looked to be a woman but who could tell when their faces were all shrouded like the dead.

  On the other was the houndsman from earlier. He was gnawing on something which he’d occasionally offer to a small grey parrot sitting on his shoulder. Nakano could've sworn the bird had been singing melodies to her while she slept, and even now its head bobbed to the rhythm of a beat only it could hear.

  Just when she thought that was everyone, a match was struck from within the shadows and the profile of a massive ursinian was illuminated as he lit a cigar. She recognized Acadia immediately.

  “I’m impressed, Great Inventor.” She said cheerfully. “You’ve collected yourself quite the family over the last decade and a half.”

  Quill did not return her smile. “Answer my question, how did you find me?”

  “Is this how you treat all your guests?” She asked purposefully ignoring him and instead admiring the ropes around her wrists.

  “I'm a wanted man. The ropes are insurance.”

  They'd also doped her with sting. As it had the effect of calming the storm in her mind she found herself feeling almost grateful for it.

  “A bounty on your h
ead and you’re more worried about me than the Sekhem next to you. Things have changed.”

  Acadia softly chuckled at that. The felisian, with her face all wrapped in dark cloth, didn't so much as move.

  Quill spoke. “Yes, they have. By the way, I like what you've done to your wrists.”

  “Oh, those.” She said and it amused her to think of his expression when he’d noticed the mark of the Irenics coiled around her wrists. “Those can be explained.”

  Quill gestured that she should begin.

  "I’m a resistance spy working within the Directory, the markings were necessary.” She told him and saw how the mere mention of the rebel force immediately caught the interest of his two daughters.

  Their father on the other hand, was more difficult to read. Is he testing me or is he hiding something, she wondered? She couldn’t be sure but recognized that this was a different man from the one she’d known a lifetime ago.

  “So you’re the runaway everyone is looking for.” He remarked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

  “I am.”

  “Are you here because the Directory knows where I am?"

  “No.” She answered simply.

  “And the resistance?”

  She didn’t like that. Didn’t like the way he spoke about them in the same manner as the Directory. Yet, she answered him all the same.

  “No one knows where you are but me.”

  That seemed to relax him if only for a little.

  “So how did you find me?” He asked continuing his interrogation.

  She looked at him and smiled. “A vision brought me to you.”

  Nakano noticed how this didn’t seem to surprise him, as if the idea that she’d been guided to him by some kind of psychic compass was one he could accept. Indeed, from his manner it looked like he'd expected something like this might happen one day. Well, he is the Pathfinder, she reminded herself.

  “And what does this vision want from me?”