Flames from the campfire turned various colors and faded away as the air smelled of rotten eggs from the poorly executed magical spell. This continued for a few more seconds as Avanda flicked liquid from her fingertips while reading a passage from the book she had received from the captain. Each phrase was spoken with more authority, as the flame finally doubled in height and twisted like a tornado before returning to normal.
Grewen leaned back on his elbows and held a foot into the magical flame. Hotter than normal, he savored the therapeutic feeling between his toes and on the sole of his foot.
Brimmelle was disgusted with the giant’s ugly callused foot hovering over the fire and was not shy to complain about it.
Ralph was unimpressed with the magic as he stalked insects close to Gluic who was setting out the crystals and stones she had collected on her trip. Each item had a specific place in the sand where she gently set it down. Racing around her, the lizard somehow knew not to step inside her circle of stones.
“Avanda, Ambrosius warned us about the dangers of magic,” Thorik said.
She ignored him, and tried her spell again, this time with more control and longevity.
Brimmelle’s thick eyebrows pulled tight as he looked at Thorik while pointing at Avanda. It was obvious he expected Thorik to resolve this growing issue.
“You heard me.” Thorik was visibly irritated.
Avanda stopped and challenged his stare. “Ambrosius isn’t here, is he?”
This was the first time she had challenged him with such boldness. He had to respond firmly. “Well, in his absence, I am warning you.”
“Warning accepted, but not taken.”
“Yes, you will.” Thorik knew he was being watched by the group to see if he could handle the situation.
“Why?”
“Because it’s dangerous,” Thorik said with more force than planned.
Ralph felt Avanda’s tension and turned toward Thorik, raising and lowering his body with his mouth wide open to intimidate him.
Avanda tucked her magical items back into her purse. “It was an accident. One time. The captain was able to fix his ship.”
“Not just from that standpoint. You’re too young to understand the power that you carry.”
“Who says?”
“I say.”
“Who are you to say what I can and can’t do?”
Snatching the purse of magic from her hand, his anger began to show in his sharp voice and movement. “I’m responsible for you.”
“Really? Well it didn’t seem like you felt that way in Rava’Kor, while I was being touched by those drunks. Standing there, helpless. If I had understood magic better, I could have taken care of them myself. I obviously can’t rely on you to be there for me.”
Avanda ran out of the camp. Her hands covered her face to prevent exposing the tears from her emotions.
“Avanda, wait.” Thorik hurried to follow her. But it was too late; she had escaped the campfire light, into the shadows of the trees, which hung over the lake’s shoreline.
Brimmelle smirked at Thorik as the young Num left the group. “Not so easy to raise someone, is it?”
Leaving the perimeter of the camp, Thorik followed Avanda along the lake’s grassy banks for several minutes until she finally stopped and leaned against a tree.
Thorik approached cautiously, as though she was a viper ready to strike. “What’s with you? Why are you always mad at me? You won’t even look me in the eyes anymore.” He attempted to comfort her by placing his palm gently on her shoulder.
Flinching hard from his touch, her eyes filled with anger. “Don’t!”
“What happened to you? Why won’t you tell me?”
“I shouldn’t have to tell you. You should have been there to prevent them from…” searching for a word she could speak without feeling ill, she continued, “…groping me.”
“I’m sorry about what happened, but I had no idea they were outside the pub waiting for you.”
“You should have. You promised.”
“I promised? When?”
“After Uncle Wess left me. You promised that you wouldn’t leave me alone. You’d protect me.”
“That’s not fair. I didn’t leave you. You left the pub.”
“That’s because you wouldn’t leave with me. You told me to go.”
“I couldn’t leave. I had to get into the mine to save Ericc.”
“His safety is more important than mine?”
“No, of course not. You would have been fine if you hadn’t upset Lucian in the first place.”
“So, this is all my fault. Not yours, not Lucian’s, but mine. I’m the one that caused all of this.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. I can tell just by the way you and Brimmelle look at me. Your disappointment in my actions that caused it to happen.”
“Well, if you hadn’t-”
“See, right there. You blame me for this. I deserved it because of the way I behaved, or the way I stand up for myself, or the way I live my life.”
“Avanda, we’re not in Farbank anymore. You can’t get away with doing the same things. The way you act directly affects how strangers respond to you. They haven’t grown up with you to know how good a person you really are. It’s your responsibility to make a good impression on them at your first meeting.”
“Have you noticed, that not once have you told me that this was Lucian’s fault? I thought you loved me for who I was and would always be there for me. Not to lecture me for what I’m not.”
“I care for you greatly, and I hate Lucian for what he did,” Thorik said.
“You didn’t care enough about me to stop their heckling in the first place.”
“It wasn’t that important. They didn’t bother me.”
“It was important to me. It bothered me a lot. I’ve never cowered down to bullies like you do. And now look at me. I can’t stand to even be looked at by a man, let alone be touched.” She cleared the tears from her face. “Thorik, I trusted you. I believed in you even when others didn’t. You promised to take care of me, and you didn’t. And then when I need you most, you blame me for what happened.”
There was truth to her words. His focus on reaching Ericc had consumed him so much that he had ignored his companion’s feelings. “I dropped a crystal trying to pick up a stone.”
“What?”
“Nothing. It was just something Gluic was trying to tell me.”
Turning his back to her, he gave her some space. His hands tight behind his back, he pondered how to settle the issue so the bickering would stop and the tension would ease. “I’m tired of being so careful of what I can say around you, afraid that it may upset you. What do we need to do to resolve this?”
“Resolve? You can’t just fix this like you mend a cut. You have to listen to me.”
“But I have listened to you,” Thorik said. “And I still don’t know how to help you move on.”
Avanda shook her head in disappointment. “You heard what I said and you want my pain to go away. But you haven’t listened to me and understood my feelings. I never asked you to solve my problem, only to understand how I feel about it and be there for me.”
Thorik picked up a few pebbles and started skipping them one by one across the lake’s surface. “I’m sorry, Avanda. You’re right, I just…” One of the small rocks stopped in midair and then fell straight down to the ground, prior to leaving the shore and hitting the lake’s surface.
“Ouch,” a tiny female voice said from the lake’s shoreline.
He didn’t see anyone. “Hello?” he asked instinctively, before realizing that he might be speaking to a Myth’Unday.
“Close your eyes,” Thorik said to Avanda. He spun around and jumped back to her.
“Too good to look upon me?” the voice asked. It wasn’t a whisper like the faeries from before, this voice sounded more solid.
Avanda peered past Thorik in an attempt to see what he was blocking. “Thor
ik, what is it?”
His hand reached for her eyes, covering them only for a second before she sprung away from his touch. “Don’t look at it. It will cause you great fear.”
The voice closed in behind Thorik. “Are you saying I’m ugly? A face that could turn you to stone? Is that what you think of me?”
“I want to see!” Avanda yelled, pushing Thorik aside.
Thorik heard silence as he kept his eyes shut. Reaching out, he couldn’t find the younger Num. “Don’t look at it. Close your eyes.”
Avanda had stepped away from Thorik. “She’s beautiful.”
“Did you think Ovlan would create something hideous for her forest?” the voice replied.
“Run, Avanda!” Thorik shouted. “Get out of here while there’s still time. Get back to camp.”
Avanda ignored him. “I’ve never seen anything like you before. You’re not like that faerie I caught last year.”
Thorik’s words became background noise to Avanda as he continued to shout to her.
“Yes, I’m unique in all the world.”
“There isn’t any other of your species?”
“Only one. But my brother is deformed and grotesque. Only I carry the beauty of our species.”
“I’m so glad I can see you. You’re amazing.”
“Yes, I am.”
“I’m Avanda. What ‘s your name?”
“Raython the ethereal.”
“Thank you for letting me see you. I can’t wait to tell everyone in camp.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible. I can’t let you spin tales about my beauty,” Raython said. “No words could possibly do me justice. No matter how hard you tried. Even if you could, it would just cause others to seek me out to gaze upon my beauty.”
“I’ll only tell a few.”
“No one must know.”
With a large sigh and shrugging of her shoulders, Avanda accepted the criteria. “I won’t tell anyone when I get back.”
Raython laughed. “Honestly, how could you not let my secret out after seeing such a magnificent creature as myself. The truth is, no one could restrain themselves. That’s why you can’t go back.”
“What? I have to go back. They’re waiting for me.”
“Then they will be waiting a very long time.”
Avanda’s shoulder’s rolled back as she crossed her arms. “They’ll come looking for me, and they won’t let you keep me.”
“You will be long gone by that time, assuming you exist at all anymore.”
Avanda felt uneasy about what Raython was saying and sought to regain the upper hand. She grabbed for her purse of magic, only to find she didn’t have it with her.
An evil smile crossed Raython’s face. “Say goodbye to your friend.” She indicated Thorik, who was still shouting at Avanda to run away while covering his own eyes.
Avanda finally took heed of his words and bolted for Thorik, grabbing his hand on her way to camp.
The escape was short lived as she was jolted backward, spinning Thorik around as he held her tight with both of his hands.
“You’ve looked upon my grace, you must pay the price.”
Thorik held his eyes closed. “She’s hideous, Avanda. You’ve failed her test, and now she will take you away.”
“What test?”
“You saw what she wanted you to see, what you wanted to see, instead of what she really is, a repulsive ill-looking creature.”
“How would you know?”
“Her brother, Mr. Hempton, told me about her, after I defeated him in his game and won our freedom.”
“Theodore?” Raython shouted, scanning the forest for her brother. “Wicked is he who lies about me. He’s the ugly one.”
“No, it’s you.” Thorik opened his eyes and stared hard at Raython. He saw her as a hunched over beast of wart-covered skin, long nose, bony arms, pointed ears, and crooked teeth.
“How dare you look upon me without my permission,” Raython said. “Your eyes diminish my beauty. Like footsteps across a stone floor, every step you take wears at its luster. Who gave you the right to see me?” She lunged forward at him.
Thorik lifted up a mirror, which he had taken out of Avanda’s purse of magic, successfully stopping the Myth’Unday’s attack. “Your brother did.” Fortunately Thorik had kept the purse after he took it from Avanda back at camp. He had recalled Avanda telling him about enchanting the mirror to only reflecting the truth.
Raython looked at her reflection and screamed, seeing the same creature which Thorik had envisioned. She backed away from the sight. “What have you done to me? You evil Num. You’ve made me hideous.”
Stepping forward, with the mirror held firmly in front of him, he worked his way closer to the Myth’Unday.
She finally released Avanda to cover her own eyes from the horror of her own reflection.
“Avanda, run back to camp. Get help while I hold her off,” Thorik ordered.
Avanda eagerly ran off to alert the others of their danger and return with help.
“I had a mirror once,” Raython cried from her own reflection.
“I know, your brother told me he broke it.”
“Yes, that’s what caused this abomination before you.”
“You weren’t always deformed?”
“No, not until that day. I once truly was the most beautiful life Ovlan had ever created. I admit that I let it go to my head. Especially after Theodore first gave me the mirror. I went insane with power over my own looks as I gazed at my reflection for years. The mirror and I became one in the same. And when my brother broke it, it took my looks with it.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. But it sounds like he was trying to save you from yourself.”
“Perhaps,” she admitted. “But if only you could have seen me back then. Long silky black hair, perfect complexion, soft Num-like nose, and bright purple eyes. I was amazing.”
As she spoke, Thorik envisioned her body looking like it once had. Before he knew it, she was once again beautiful and amazing to behold.
Raython grinned. “And now, my dear Num, you are mine for failing the test.”
Chapter 18
The Great Oracle