Merry chatter and laughter carried on the warm and soft evening breeze. Occasionally, fleeting melodic bars of music also carried through the air and reached my ears as well. It was coming from somewhere in the palace, a celebration of sorts.
I stood on the balcony of my guestroom inside Prince Maxim’s palace and looked over the city. The sun was close to the horizon and was casting an orange glow as it hit the brown brick walls of the buildings. For the first time since arriving, I took a moment to try to appreciate where I was. I was on a completely different planet and below me was a bustling array of different beings. How many people on Earth would die for this knowledge that life did exist elsewhere?
Stifling a yawn, I leaned my arms on the railing and tried to not dwell on what Maxim and Yalek had told me about Rayon earlier, but I wasn’t having much luck. Had it all been a hoax, a ruse? Had that Phalean just been messing with us in the scrubland, to scare us and to get us to trust Rayon? If it was true, Rayon’s actions had worked. We had trusted him, and I had ruthlessly gone ahead and stole the dagger.
Another yawn caused my eyes to water. After leaving Prince Maxim’s meeting earlier, I had returned to the guestroom and had been left to wait. My body was still tired, so I had curled up on the large bed and fallen asleep. I really must have pushed myself over the past couple of days to feel this exhausted. Now, after stirring, I had risen to find another large spread of food covering the table, but the fresh air out on the balcony had called to me.
“May I join you?”
I spun on my heals and found Maxim standing in the archway. His features were as drawn and tired as they had been earlier in the afternoon. He didn’t wait for an answer and stepped out onto the balcony and walked towards me. Behind him, I spied Rajin, but she didn’t approach and waited in the archway that led back into the room.
I instantly tensed unable to feel comfortable when I didn’t know who to believe. He offered me a warm smile and leaned onto the railing, his gaze resting on the city as well. He didn’t speak, and I shifted from one foot to the other.
“Someone is having a good time,” I said as another raucous string of laughter reached my ears.
“Yes,” he responded. “I am well-known for my parties both large and small. I need to keep up the image that everything is as usual to reduce the chance of any kind of suspicion that I may be harbouring a criminal.” He gave me a wink. “Are you feeling well rested? I came to visit you earlier, but Rajin informed me you were asleep.”
I nodded. “Better, but still tired.”
“It might take you a few days. You’ve had quite an adventure.” He pointed to my right shoulder. “May I?”
I hesitated for a moment unsure that I wanted him to touch me, however I also wanted to know how my wound was healing. Nodding, I turned slowly and he moved to stand behind me. His hands were cool and gentle as he slowly peeled the bandage that had been covering my wound. A low whistle escaped his lips.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, twisting to look over my shoulder.
“Nothing, that’s the thing. The wound on your back is completely healed. Yalek will need to take your stitches out. They’re not needed anymore. Have you always healed this quickly?”
I shook my head. “Sometimes,” I said. “But I’ve never really injured myself as badly as the gash on my back.”
“Interesting,” Maxim said, passing the disposed bandage to Rajin. “If your body is healing this quickly all of a sudden,” his eyes dropped to the vambrace, “it might explain why you’re feeling so tired.”
“You think the vambrace has something to do with this?”
He walked forward to stand beside me again. “It’s a possibility. Before Yalek put on his vambrace, he told me that he’d always had a good inclination for fighting. After he had it on his arm, his fighting skills increased until he is now the most formidable of fighters.”
In my mind’s eye, I saw him fighting the Phalean all by himself on the roof of the building. Yes, formidable was one word I would use.
“Have you ever had an inclination for healing?” Maxim asked.
I paused, contemplating his question. “I guess. I am studying to be a vet on Earth, an animal doctor,” I added when I saw his brows drop in confusion at the word ‘vet’.
“An animal doctor, how interesting and noble.” His eyes ran up and down my body. “It would be interesting to see if you can also heal other people just as you have healed yourself.”
“I..I’ve never even thought of it since I put the vambrace on.” What was he implying? Did I suddenly have an extra strength or ability?
“Well, it’s something for you to play around with while you’re getting used to the vambrace, which brings us to the other reason why I came here. You’ll be happy to know that Queen Olesya and Rayon have agreed to meet tomorrow morning.”
“Great!” Relief flooded through me. I wouldn’t tell Maxim this, but I would finally be going back to Rayon and I would be one step closer to getting home. “That’s great news. We will meet them here?”
Maxim shook his head. “No. We have decided on a place, a teahouse in the middle of town.” He paused and a frown appeared on his face. “Ultimately, I can’t tell you what to do and I won’t force you to stay with Yalek and myself. I know you will want to do what’s best for your brother and your friends, but you need to be careful. Rayon has already tried to use you. Queen Olesya will want to continue to do so. And Rayon, as her puppet, will do anything she asks.”
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I swallowed. I wanted to know. I needed to know. “What’s this all about? Why are these vambraces so important? Rayon gave me a reason, but I don’t know if what he told me is the truth.”
“Ah, I see it is story time.” Maxim smiled and motioned to a long plush sofa to the side of the balcony. It was surrounded by potted plants and a small table. “We should get comfortable.”
He started to walk towards it, seeming confident that I would follow. I sat at one end and watched as Maxim poured a jug of what looked like water into two clay goblets.
“It’s a legend,” he said, turning to hand me one. “An ancient legend that has turned into an ancient treasure hunt.” He settled at the other end of the sofa, sitting diagonally, so he was facing me. I smelled the cup’s contents. “It’s water,” he said before he lifted his head to look up at the sky. “Let’s see. How to put this in the shortest and simplest form.”
He was silent for a moment while he stared off into the distance. I bounced my knee impatiently until he started.
“A thousand years ago, a powerful ruler named Seraphina, who was said to have originated and come from the stars, found a way to steal an immense power. This power was said to have originated in the beginning, the power that created the universe. She was said to have harnessed it and used it to control the worlds around her, the ones that were linked together.
‘Her four council, her closest counterparts who were also able to use the magic that Seraphina held, did not like what they saw happening. They stole the power from Seraphina and split it amongst themselves. The magic was placed into four vambraces and four daggers,” he pointed to my vambrace as he spoke, “with the aim of separating and hiding the pieces amongst the worlds. But Seraphina was shrewd. She discovered what they were up to and she attempted to bind her council to her forever so the power would never escape. She tricked them and the essence of their souls were placed into the medallions.
“It is said that one of the council members took a scorpion and poisoned Seraphina in her sleep, allowing the other council members to flee to the other worlds and hide. Seraphina froze the council member in punishment before she succumbed to the scorpion’s bite. It is believed that is why the council put the scorpion on the vambraces. In respect out of the frozen council member to signify them as not just their protector but everyone’s protector.”
The word ‘frozen’ caught my ear and I saw Shane and Nate frozen back in Rayon’s building. The terror in their expressions tugged at my core. Was it the Phaleans who froze this council member? “What happened to the other council members?”
Maxim shrugged. “No one knows, but adventurers, treasure hunters, fools you could say, have been looking for the vambraces and daggers for a thousand years. The Ruby Dagger has always been in the Phalean temple. I had always thought it was a story lost in the winds of time until Yalek turned up on my doorstep one day with the vambrace on his arm. And then Rayon and Queen Olesya showed up. It seems she wants to be the next Seraphina, and that’s when I started doing my research. Research that led me to believe that more and more of this legend could possibly be real.” He sighed. “It was actually a good reprieve after my father sent me to this hell hole.”
I sensed a whole other story within that comment. “So, you’re not from this city?”
“To all the greater Gods and lower Gods, no. My father’s kingdom is far away on the other side of that forsaken desert. I have been sent here to help try to keep the peace between the Phalean clans and to ensure that wall,” he waved to the large city wall, “never falls.” Maxim eyed me closely, and I shifted on the sofa unsure as to why.
I swallowed. That other distant city on the other side of the river. My attention was always being drawn to it.
“I feel like we’re at a turning point. Queen Olesya wants that ancient power and she is determined to find all of the items. We also don’t want the Phaleans to get their hands on them either. Yalek and I want to find the vambraces and daggers and destroy them. We don’t want that kind of power controlling our worlds.”
“That’s an interesting story,” I said. I didn’t know what else to say about it. It sounded like a myth or, as Maxim had said earlier, a legend. But then I remembered. Maxim had also mentioned something about a prophecy. There were so many thoughts running through my head. Before I could ask, Maxim placed his cup down and clapped his hands.
“Now,” he said. “I mentioned earlier that I have a favour to ask of you.”
My back straightened and my shoulders squared. “What favour?”
“Underneath the vambrace, there could be writing and I would like to see if I can read it.”
“That’s your favour?” I looked down towards it. “Sure, but you said the vambrace doesn’t come off.”
“It doesn’t and that’s why we’re going to use a mirror if you allow me.”
I shrugged, after everything else I had done and heard in the past couple of days, this was a minor request.
With a quick wave of his hand, Rajin rushed forward with a long thin piece of mirror and a bright lantern. Maxim scooted down the sofa and then patted the cushion on the other side of him. “It will be easier if you sit on this side.”
Once I was seated, he gently took my arm and twisted it. It was the first time he had touched my vambrace. His fingers grazed over its surface, up and over the back of the scorpion. Sitting this close to me, a waft of fragrant spice filled my nose that hung close to his skin.
I remembered the markings I had seen on its inside when I had been sitting in the hallway of my grandparents’ house. “I think there were some lines and scribbles on the inside, but they didn’t mean anything to me.” I pointed to the part nearest to my elbow.
Maxim nodded and slid the mirror between my arm and the vambrace. “What are they meant to tell you?”
He didn’t answer straight away.
I swallowed down a lump in my throat. He was silent while he tried to gain enough light to see the lines. Glancing up at Rajin, she met my gaze, but as always, her features remained neutral. “So, where is Yalek right now? Still moody and glaring at everything?”
Maxim chuckled and picked up a long thin stick lying beside a piece of parchment on the table. I watched as he started to scrawl different lines and swirls on the page. “He is off in the city tonight completing an errand for me.”
“How did you even end up working together? You seem very different.”
Maxim looked up at me and narrowed his eyes. “Yalek’s story is not for me to tell. But what I can say is that he was originally sent to assassinate me.”
He said it so smoothly and in such an unbothered tone, for a moment I thought I had heard him wrong.
“Are you serious? How? But…”
“Fortunately, I am very good at negotiations and well, Yalek and I quickly found that we have the same goals in mind. Wow,” Maxim breathed, placing his writing tool down and swiftly changing the topic. “I did not expect that.”
“What does it say?” I asked, leaning over him to see what he had written as if I would be able to read it. I looked back to him.
Maxim’s eyes were large, and I pulled back sharply when I realized how close I was to his face. I quickly glanced at Rajin again. I hadn’t meant to get that close and I didn’t want to give either of them the wrong impression.
“What does it say?” I repeated.
“It’s a possible location of one of the medallions,” Maxim said.
“Where?!”
“That my dear, I can not tell you. Not when you’re about to meet Queen Olesya tomorrow.”