From a Forest of Bone and Blood | Chapter Seven
Jensen awoke to the sound of a bell tolling outside. He rolled over onto his side and sighed as he remembered his dreams. Glancing over at Jared, he saw the other man was already awake, sitting up in his own bed with a disconcerted expression on his face.
“Bad dreams?” Jensen asked, almost afraid of the answer. Jared glanced over at him as if surprised, nodded, and then looked away again. He drew his lower lip into his mouth and worried it between his teeth, a haunted expression on his face. A thought popped into Jensen’s mind, at once improbable and unsettling.
“Jared,” Jensen said, “If you don’t mind, can you tell me what you dreamt of?” Jared looked back over at him and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could he was interrupted by persistent knocking at the door. Jared jumped from bed to answer it, throwing his robe on as he did. As he reached for the door the person on the other side of it knocked again.
Jared opened the door a crack as he was tightening the belt on his robe and the door was forcibly pushed the rest of the way open. Jensen only had a second to wonder which devotee would be so rude when he realized that it was actually Alona who had pushed her way into the room. Jensen drew his blankets further up his body. He was still naked, after all.
“Oh!” Alona shrieked and then held up her hand to shield her vision. “I’m so sorry! I thought you’d be dressed.”
Jensen noticed that unlike Jared and himself, the girls must have already been given clothing to wear; Alona was dressed exactly like a devotee.
“What’s going on?” Jared asked. He grabbed Jensen’s robe from where he’d draped it and tossed it onto the bed.
“It’s Genevieve, she’s inconsolable!”
“Inconsolable? About what?” Jensen queried, blinking as he tried to flush the remaining grogginess from his brain. He ran his hands over his face and rubbed his eyes, hoping it would help wake him up. It helped, a little.
“Did something happen?” Jared wanted to know.
“I don’t know - she just woke up sobbing and I tried to talk to her but she won’t answer my questions. I thought maybe one of you might be able to get through to her?”
“One of us?” Jensen asked.
“I don’t know!” Alona exclaimed. “Maybe! Please? We can’t just leave her crying into her pillow.” Alona’s distress was genuine, and he nodded, about to agree to try to help, but Jared beat him to it.
“Alright, we’ll come with you,” Jared said, his tone urgent. “Uh, just give us a minute so Jensen can put his robe on, alright?”
Alona looked over at Jensen and blushed, despite the amused smile that curved her lips.
“Alright, but hurry! I’ll wait outside.”
With that she flounced outside and shut the door behind her. Jensen quickly stood and covered his nudity with the robe, and together Jared and Jensen met Alona who led them to the room she’d shared with Genevieve.
“Gen? Sweetie, are you still in here?” Alona asked. In reply all that could be heard were muffled sobs, which Jensen took to mean that yes, she was there. “I brought Jensen and Jared, do you think you’d like to talk to one of them?”
From behind her, Jared reached around and pushed the door open all the way, where Jensen could see Genevieve - or what he assumed was Genevieve - hidden beneath her blankets and barely more than a lump on the bed. She didn’t respond and Alona sighed.
“See what I mean?” she made a sweeping gesture with her hand that clearly said, be my guest.
Jared went first, and Jensen followed, unsure and vaguely unsettled. Jared sat down on the bed, next to the lump and started rubbing what was probably Genevieve’s back. Jensen hoped so, anyway. Things might get rather awkward if it wasn’t.
“Hey, Genevieve, are you alright?”
Jensen arched an eyebrow, and Jared winced.
“Hey, it’s alright, Genevieve,” Jared said. Jealousy bloomed in Jensen’s stomach, unexpected and burning as he watched Jared’s large hands continue to rub circles on Genevieve’s back.
“Was it the dreams?” Jensen asked suddenly, following a hunch. With that the blankets were flung back and Genevieve emerged, her face flushed from crying.
“You saw it too?” Genevieve hiccupped. “You saw the baby dragon and the soldiers and the battle and - and - and-“ Genevieve’s face crumpled and Jared drew her into his arms, embracing her tightly. She allowed herself to be held and she wrapped her arms around him in return. Jensen moved over to the bed next to her and awkwardly rested his hand on her shoulder.
“I had the same dream,” Jensen said, looking up at Jared. He remembered Jared’s own haunted expression when he’d woken. “Jared, did you see it too? And the night before last, did you happen to have a dream where you were a dryad?”
“I definitely had that dream,” Alona said, taking the spot on the opposite bed that Jensen had vacated.
“Which one?” Jensen asked.
“Oh, ah, both of them, actually,” Alona replied. “It didn’t reduce me to hysterical sobbing though.”
“M-maybe you’re just hard-hearted,” Genevieve said with a glare aimed at Alona.
“Maybe I am,” Alona shot back with venom. “I didn’t say it didn’t disturb me, I just said-“
“Hey, hey now,” Jared soothed, running his hand up and down Genevieve’s back and really, Jensen shouldn’t have still felt jealous, should he? After all, it was Jensen that Jared had kissed in the pool. Jensen’s thoughts slipped back to that moment, and remembered how it felt to have Jared’s warm mouth slotting so effortlessly over his. The memory settled deep in his belly, pushing away the remaining tendrils of the nightmare - for it had been a nightmare.
“Don’t argue,” Jared admonished the two women. “We’re all in this together, and we’re going to speak with the Oracle today. I’m sure we’ll have some answers after that, alright?”
Alona harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest, but nodded her agreement. Genevieve sniffled against Jared’s robe and nodded as well, bringing up a hand to rub at her eyes.
“Sorry, I guess I overreacted,” Genevieve mumbled.
“No, not at all,” Jared affirmed. Jensen saw Alona start to roll her eyes, but she must have caught herself because the eye roll was aborted nearly as soon as it was begun. Jensen bit his lip to hide his own smirk at that and patted Genevieve’s shoulder reassuringly, and hoped Jared was right about the Oracle having some answers for them.
***
Soon after calming Genevieve down, a devotee fetched them for a breakfast of fresh fruits and honey-glazed pastries. Genevieve remained quiet throughout the meal, still a little embarrassed at her extreme reaction to the dream, Jensen assumed.
Jared exclaimed multiple times over the honey-glazed pastries and wondered aloud if he could manage to sneak any with him when breakfast was over, but Jensen helpfully pointed out that their robes, while perfectly modest and functional, did not have pockets. Jared pouted until Felicia joined them with three extra pastries wrapped in a napkin, especially for Jared. Jared’s grin was infectious, and Jensen noticed that with his dimples on display like that he looked like an innocent little boy.
He wondered what he could do to make Jared smile like that. Once more his mind wandered to the bathing pool last night, and he shook his head to clear his thoughts.
“I’ll be the one taking you to see the Oracle,” Felicia said. “I’ve never taken guests to see the Oracle,” she continued. She leaned forward, her eyes darkening and her voice taking on a hushed tone, as if she were sharing a secret. “It’s kind of a promotion. I guess it’s a congratulations-on-surviving-Sheppardston gift. And even better news - Caroline sent those emissaries packing first thing this morning.”
“Just don’t get yourself kidnapped again,” Alona said dryly, earning a dirty look from Felicia.
“Don’t plan on it,” Felicia said, unable to hold the scowl for long before her wide smile returned. “Jared and Jensen, your clothes are ready and waiting for you in your room - the girls patched them up for you so if you see Lissa you might want to say thank you.”
“Oh, that was very kind of her,” said Jensen. “Do we just meet you back here or will you come get us when it’s time to see the Oracle?”
“You can meet me here as soon as you’re dressed,” Felicia said, and with that the four excused themselves. It didn’t take long for them to get ready and within a few minutes they were back.
“Alright,” Felicia said, trying to put on a serious face although she could barely contain her excitement. “Follow me.”
Follow her they did, past the bathing pools and down the side of a hill, down past thickly growing bramble and tall trees, past massive granite boulders that looked like they’d been deposited randomly about the landscape by giants.
Down, down, down they walked, the trail well traveled but still wild. Finally the way leveled off, and as they rounded one of the giant boulders, they stood before a large pool of water fed by a waterfall. Beside the waterfall the mouth of a cave yawned.
“This is the Pool of the Lady’s Tears,” Felicia breathed. “This water is sacred to the Oracle.”
“Has there always been an Oracle here?” Genevieve wondered aloud.
“Not always,” Felicia said. “The gift of prophecy only comes once every generation - sometimes it skips a generation and that’s usually when wars break out. In any case, Adrianne was located and brought here at a young age and she’s been here ever since.”
“Do you make her live in the cave?” Alona sounded affronted, and Felicia looked scandalized.
“What? Of course not! She lives in the grove with the rest of the devotees when she’s not doing the Oracle, er, thing. She’s free to leave whenever she wants - like if she wants to have a family or get married or something. She’s not a prisoner!”
Jensen was pretty sure that was the most passionate he’d heard Felicia get about something. Even though he’d only known her for a couple of days, from what he’d learned about her was that she tended to stay calm. Once more Jared came through, soothing ruffled feathers and calming everyone down. Finally, in a bit of huff, Felicia led them around the pool to a staircase that led into the mouth of the cave. Inside the cave was warm and dry, the walls lit with the same sort of lamps that had surrounded the bathing pool.
They walked for a little ways, the cave twisting and turning as it burrowed deep into the earth. All along the walls cave moss grew, the moisture in the plants sparkling from the light given off by the lamps.
When he’d first seen the cave, Jensen had expected it to be damp, dark and creepy. He’d expected a shrouded old crone to be waiting just within the mouth of the yawning cavern, waiting for them with dark, beady eyes. What he found defied his expectations. He glanced over at Jared and was relieved to see his surprise mirrored on the other man’s face.
“It’s beautiful!” Alona breathed, and the other’s agreed. Felicia looked back at them with a proud smirk on her face.
“Here we are,” said Felicia as they entered a great cavern. Standing at the other end was a tall woman draped in white cloth which lent her an ancient air, almost as if she were a goddess herself.
“Oracle Adrianne,” Felicia said, taking a knee. Jensen and the other three remained standing, but gave each other awkward glances as they wondered if they were expected to take a knee as well. Jared gave a tiny shrug, and they stayed as they were.
“I have brought four travelers to see you,” Felicia continued, her voice solemn. “They returned me to the Grove after saving me from Mayor Sheppard and in return for that they would like to speak with you.”
“I’ve been expecting you four,” the woman, the Oracle, Adrianne said. She lifted a hand and brushed a stray lock of hair behind one ear and smiled at the travelers. In that mane of hair a headband crafted of delicate silver filigree sparkled.
“You knew we would come to see you?” Jared gasped. Jensen thought he oughtn’t sound so surprised. She was an oracle, after all.
“Yes, I foresaw your coming months ago, I just did not see the when of it.” Adrianne came closer and looked from Jared to Alona to Genevieve until finally her eyes alit on Jensen.
“This is what I know of you - you awoke with naught but your name on your lips, but now you are having dreams. These dreams are your memories, but you are all having the same dreams, am I correct?”
“That’s right,” Jensen confirmed. “Can you tell us who we are?” He took a deep breath. “Can you tell me what we are?”
“You are children born of chaos,” the oracle said, tilting her head. “Where you go chaos and wither follows.”
“We are not Witherkin!” Alona argued, her expression aghast. Jensen felt the same. He hadn’t been spontaneously created in that forest. Surely he’d existed before that day. Right?
“No, you are nothing so vile as that. You four all existed separately before the cataclysm that changed you. Or perhaps I should say re-arranged you? That may be a more accurate statement. “
“Oracle,” Jared said. “I don’t understand what you are saying. Please speak plainly?”
The corners of Adrianne’s lips quirked up in a small smile. “I’m sorry, I do not mean to speak in riddles. This is what I mean. The four of you did exist prior to waking up in that forest. You are strangers to each other. But there is more, and it is not going to be easy to hear.”
The Oracle slowly paced back and forth in front of them, seemingly troubled. Finally she stopped.
“Your names are your own, but I cannot tell what each of you are. You are all parts of each other. One of you was a dryad, one of you was a dragon, two of you were human, although of those two one was a soldier and one was a wizard. I cannot tell which is which. Whatever magic clashed that night seeped into your very souls and entwined you with each other. Until you get it sorted out, you will all share the traits and memories of Dryad, Dragon, Soldier and Wizard. I am sorry.”
There was a long moment of silence as Jensen and his companions tried to take that in. Jensen supposed it made sense - the way they’d been able to grow the trees in the forest and then the magic he’d tapped into to get away from the soldiers at Sheppardston. But dragon! One of them was a dragon! Jensen glanced over at Jared and Alona and Genevieve, and found them all giving each other, and him, appraising looks. Trying to ascertain who was what.
“That’s - impossible,” he finally managed to say.
“I’m sorry,” Adrianne said again.
“Wait,” Jared said, his voice suddenly loud in the cavern. “You said ‘until we sort it out’. How do we do that?”
“I know of one way only,” the Oracle said. “You must journey to the Pool of Restoration and partake of the waters there.”
“The Pool of Restoration?” Alona said with disbelief in her voice. “Isn’t that the Fountain of Youth?”
“And a myth?” Felicia piped up. She was immediately met with a stern look from the Oracle and Felicia mimed stitching her lips shut, which earned a laugh from Adrianne.
“It’s real,” Adrianne said. “You must go south, to the very tip of our island. You will meet with a man there - I cannot see his name but you must secure passage to the southernmost island in the archipelago. There lives a man there by the name of Misha who can create a map for you that will guide you to the Pool of Restoration.”
Jensen took a deep breath, surprised to find he hadn’t been breathing.
“Two more things I can tell you. One, you mustn’t linger in any one place for too long, for the Witherkin are attracted to the magic that interwove you and will re-appear if given the chance. However, the further you get from the forest of bone and blood that birthed you, the less of a chance of that happening there is. Only completing this journey will eliminate the threat from the Witherkin. “
Adrianne took a deep breath of her own, and let her gaze slip from face to face like a visual caress before continuing.
“Two, and this is the most difficult thing I must tell you. Two of you will not complete this quest.”
***
After the audience with the Oracle, the four travelers followed Felicia back to the Grove in silence. The information they’d received hung heavily over them like a dark cloud.
Two of them would fail. What did that mean? Would two of them die? Jensen briefly considered not going on the journey - but that wasn’t really an option. Even if they tried to settle down and build new lives for themselves the threat of the Witherkin was too great.
Back at the Grove, Felicia tried to engage them in some activities to take their minds off of things, but Genevieve asked if she could simply retire to her room for a while, and the other three asked to do the same. That was how Jared and Jensen found themselves back in their room, lounging on their beds before the lunch hour had passed.
“Dragons breathe fire,” Jared mused, lying on his back in his bed and tossing a pebble up in the air before catching it again. He tossed it high into the air and then suddenly turned on his side to face Jensen, wincing when it fell back and hit him on his shoulder. Jensen couldn’t hide his smirk. If nothing else, Jared was highly distractible. “Do you think we can breathe fire?”
Jensen looked around their quarters. Nearly everything was intricately carved from wood, and everything that wasn’t wood was most likely flammable. “I don’t know, and this is hardly the place to try that ability.”
Jared rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless.
“Of course I’m not going to try to breathe fire here,” he assured Jensen. “But do you think we can?”
“So that’s what you want to focus on out of all of this?” Jensen asked, a tiny surge of anger uncoiling in his belly. “We get told that half of us are going to fail to, I don’t know, restore ourselves and all you want to focus on is if we can breathe fire or not?”
Jared looked hurt and focused his gaze on the floor, but Jensen wasn’t anywhere near finished with his little tirade.
“For all we know, two of us are going to die,” Jensen said, failing to keep the venom out of his voice. “And we don’t even have the option to say, no thanks, I don’t need those memories. I’m fine the way I am - because I have to say, Jared, after the two dreams we’ve had so far I’m not sure I want those memories back. One of us murdered a child.”
“We did not!” Jared said, jerking his head up. Anger sparked in his eyes as he stared at Jensen. “We tried to help them escape! In fact, we should be able to tell which one of us is the soldier by the scars on our back. Take off your shirt!”
“I’m sorry, what?” The change in subject left Jensen’s head reeling a bit. “Why?”
“So I can see if you have scars or not.”
“And if I don’t, are you going to strip search the girls?”
Jared rolled back over onto his back and groaned. He found the pebble he’d been tossing around and chucked it at Jensen. It hit him on the knee, which was surprisingly painful considering how small the pebble was.
“Besides,” Jensen sighed, “you washed my back last night. Did you see any scars then?”
“No,” Jared conceded. “But to be fair, I really wasn’t looking for scars and the light was dim. My mind was in other places.”
“I’ll bet,” Jensen snorted. Jared narrowed his eyes.
“You know, I didn’t hear you complaining,” he said, pointing a long finger in Jensen’s direction. Jensen closed his mouth and looked up at the ceiling.
He really couldn’t argue with that.
***
They were summoned for lunch, which Jensen picked at since he was still thinking things over. The food was delicious and both Alona and Jared seemed to have no problem with loss of appetite.
“Here, this is for you,” Felicia announced, dropping a heavy wooden object on the table.
“What on earth is that?” Jared asked with wide eyes, not even bothering to hide his surprise.
“This, my dears, is called a lute,” Felicia said with a grin. “Apparently, it has been here for generations and the Oracle seems to think you are just the people to give it to.”
Jensen reached out a hand and tentatively plucked one of the strings. The note resonated and a memory came to mind, of an instrument very similar to this one tucked in his arms, playing for friends or family perhaps.
Shame, someone in his memories said. Music is for women and imbeciles.
Jensen scowled as he picked up the instrument.
“Can you really play that?” Jared asked, looking at Jensen with skepticism. Jensen shrugged.
“As well as you can, probably,” he said. Jared looked confused for a moment until the meaning of Jensen’s words sunk in. For his part, Jensen started strumming what was a surprisingly familiar tune, and in the next moment Alona and Genevieve joined in with the lyrics. It was a catchy little tune, and Felicia started clapping along with it as the other devotees left their lunches and came over to watch, smiles on most of their faces. Soon everyone was clapping along, and Jensen couldn’t suppress the smile that stretched across his face. On a hunch, he passed the lute to Jared, who picked up where Jensen left off without missing a beat, to cheers and applause from the devotees. When the song finished all four of them took a little bow.
“That was seriously impressive,” Felicia laughed. “You should take your show on the road.”
“Maybe we will,” Alona said. “Guess the Oracle was right about giving us that thing after all. Who has even heard of a lute anymore? “
“You said this thing was old,” Jensen said, taking the lute back from Jared and inspecting it. “Shouldn’t it look old?”
“That’s the thing about the lute,” Felica said. “We’ve never maintained it but it never even gets dusty. We think it has some sort of magic protection.”
“Tell the Oracle thank you,” said Jensen. “Maybe we can sing for our supper wherever it is we go.”
“Come on, play another song!” one of the devotees begged, and the others chimed in their agreement.
“Yes, play!” Felicia said.
And so they did.
Chapter Six | Chapter Eight
Back to Masterpost