Prince Kelton’s breath shook and tears fell from his eyes. He sniffled and wiped the tears from his face with the back of his hand until Ponderosa offered him a handkerchief. He accepted the cloth and whispered, “Thank you.”
Ponderosa nodded then stepped away again.
‘Ponderosa was working to dig me out of the rubble while keeping the man’s other minions at bay. You and your knights were rushing through Guasha Forest to deal with the Dragon. I was able to keep the Dragon’s Fire from reaching you and Ponderosa was able to whisk me away.’
“How did you survive?” he whispered.
‘...Ponderosa says that a table kept the fallen ceiling from crushing me,’ Iredys replied.
More tears fell from his eyes as Prince Kelton rubbed his forehead. “You were that close this entire time?” he mumbled.
‘Yes.’
He covered his eyes with his hand and said no more.
‘Ponderosa didn’t know it was me she had rescued until she started to tend to all the wounds I had. Even then she wasn’t sure if she should inform you of my finding or not.’
“Why didn’t she?” he asked, turning his red rimmed eyes toward her.
‘Because she was not willing to find out if you held the same beliefs as Queen Leona, regarding magic, by sending you word; nor did she want to see harm come to me or the child in my womb, because she did not know who it belonged to.’
Ponderosa nodded meekly.
“And from the sound of your narrative, her message would not have reached me since I had already begun this circuit,” he said.
‘Correct.’
He nodded. “I am assuming that all of your wounds are healed now?”
Iredys nodded. ‘They healed more swiftly than normal because of the Jet, Peridot, and Alexandrite. I have only been in Ponderosa’s care for a little less than two months.’
“Which is how long it took me to get here from Hope Village.”
‘Yes.’
Prince Kelton lowered his head to think some more, then he shook his head.
‘I will clarify more tomorrow, Prince Kelton. Your knights will start to get antsy if you are away from the inn for much longer.’
“Sir Hamnet and Sir Droyn….”
‘Are not the only ones,’ she interrupted him.
He sighed. “Alright.”
Iredys stood as he stood. She bowed low, as did Ponderosa, before he left the cottage.
The streets of Pride Town were quiet as he made his way back to the inn. His knights were gathered in the dining area talking over alcohol laced barley. Their conversation stopped when he stepped in.
“Is everything alright, Sire?” Sir Thomas asked.
“Yes, Sir Thomas. I just have a lot on my mind right now. May you all rest well tonight.”
“You as well, My Lord.”
Prince Kelton nodded then headed for his room. He readied himself for sleep as he softly, but verbally, reviewed everything Iredys had told him.
“Dagaz—Transformation; Ansuz—Communication; Wunjo—Relationship; Kenaz—Visions; Berkano…. Renewal, was it?” He rolled onto his back and rested his arm over his forehead. “Ehwaz and Algiz. One of them allows her to move things with her mind. The other… she didn’t really say, and, unfortunately, I do not know the Ehwaz and Algiz runes very well.”
He let his arm slide down to cover his eyes. Her captor had beaten her. Starved her. Burned her. Ultimately killed her before Ponderosa managed to get her away from him. However, because of one… maybe more than one… rune and stone combination, she was still alive. He rolled onto his side. There was so much he felt he didn’t know, but it would have to wait.
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However, as much as he tried to get his mind to still, he continued to toss and turn as snippets of his conversation with Iredys playing out. By the time his mind had played through Iredys getting burned as the Ruby and Jet were forced into her flesh for the third time, Prince Kelton sat up with a gasp. He moaned, feeling exhausted. He turned and let his legs hang over the side of the bed. He stared out the window until the dimness of dawn turned into day. Only then did he get up. He freshened himself up then headed downstairs to eat. Some of his knights were still milling about, while others had already gone out.
“Do we know when we are heading out again, Prince Kelton?” Sir Gruph wondered.
“Another day or two, depending on when I can conclude my business here,” he replied.
He raised an inquisitive eyebrow, but nodded without a word before stepping out of the inn.
Prince Kelton sat at the table nearest the window. The innkeeper brought out a steaming bowl of warmed grains with some dried figs in it. He nodded his head in thanks then ate slowly. He did not see signs of Sir Hamnet and Sir Droyn, which he hoped meant that the two of them were either sleeping or had already gone out. Whatever the case was, he was more than happy to have the freedom to visit Iredys and Ponderosa alone.
He finished his meal then left the inn for Ponderosa’s cottage. A strange feeling stirred in his chest as he looked at the six men waiting anxiously outside Ponderosa’s door.
“Here to see the Seer as well?” the man closest to him asked, unable to see his face under the hood of his cloak.
“Indeed.”
The man nodded.
He turned away from Prince Kelton when the door of the cottage opened. One man came out, looking somewhat dejected, before the one standing closest to the door stepped in. The comings and goings of the men in front of him took no more than a few minutes each. The sound of a soft crunch behind him made him turn. Two women seemed to be waiting behind him.
“Here to see the Seer?” he asked.
They both nodded.
The door opened which meant it was Prince Kelton’s turn, but he instead allowed the women to go in ahead of him. Where his own visit would take some time, he didn’t want these ladies out here for longer than they needed to be.
While he was waiting for the two ladies to finish their talk with Iredys, Prince Kelton noticed that Sir Hamnet was perching on a barrel not too far down the road. His attention seemed to be on something else, but Prince Kelton knew better. He knew Sir Hamnet would choose to remain closer today after being left behind and then commanded to go away. Sighing, Prince Kelton could only hope that Sir Hamnet would be smart enough to go inside after a few hours. The sky was clear and so the air was colder than it had been.
Prince Kelton took a step back when the door opened again. He watched the woman step out with a slight spring in her step before Ponderosa motioned for him to come in. He stepped inside and Ponderosa closed the door. Iredys stood beside the table mixing something in two separate glasses.
‘May I offer you a glass of water, Prince Kelton?’ she asked, as she brought a glass to Ponderosa.
“I’m fine,” he replied. “Thank you.”
Iredys nodded. She sat on the cot with the second glass in hand. The chair beside the window slid across the floor to stop in front of her. Prince Kelton sat in the chair while Iredys drank from the glass.
“May I ask what you are drinking?” he wondered.
‘Ground wheat with alfalfa tincture,’ Iredys replied.
He nodded. “Are there other things you have been able to eat?”
Iredys shook her head. ‘Not much one can eat without a tongue.’
Prince Kelton winced. “I’m sorry.”
A gentle smile lifted her lips. ‘Your question is understandable, Prince Kelton. Neither of us hold it against you.’
He nodded. He looked down at his lap and pulled his fingers in to form fists on his thighs. “About last night, can you clarify a few things for me?”
‘Certainly. What do you want to know first?’
“Were you aware that I was searching for you?”
‘I came to realize it was me you were looking for after Wunjo had burned the Diamond into my chest.’
He nodded. “...Can you explain how I knew I would find you, or the Dragonwoman you, here in Pride Town?” he wondered.
‘Despite my death, I was still alive, which allowed the Diamond bands on our fingers to resonate with the properties of the Garnet in the ring I gave you.’
He saw a look of understanding cross Ponderosa’s face.
“You knew about this, Ponderosa?”
She picked up her quill and scribbled something on one of the torn papers on the table. ‘While trying to figure out what magic Iredys had, she opened the book to the entry about the Garnet. I was confused as to why she would have me read it, but with your appearance here, it makes sense now.’
“So, what I am understanding is that, because our relationship is… was what it was, the stones created a resonance that allowed me to find you.”
‘Yes.’
“I guess that makes sense, but what about all the other times?”
Iredys’ brow furrowed for a moment. ‘You were feeling a pull more than six months ago?’
“Yes. None of them were as strong as this one, but present enough to keep me searching for you this last year and a half.”
‘Did that pull ever disappear?’ Iredys wondered.
“A lot, and always right before I reached the place where I felt pulled to.”
‘Did the pull ever change directions?’
“There were a couple times that it did. The pull turned towards the southern border of the kingdom before it vanished. That didn’t start happening until I had been searching for you for nearly a year. After that, I only felt it change direction when Sir Droyn and I arrived here.”