She chewed on her lip a minute as she debated what to do. The longer she thought about going into that portal room, the more certain she was of its inherent rightness. She couldn’t turn her back on the dreams now. She had no idea where the portal would take her, but it had told her for a reason, and despite the recklessness… she knew it was her destiny to follow the instructions.
Kerrigan took the bread, cheese, and chunk of meat and stuffed them into the small pouch she kept at her side. After a quick jaunt back into the feast room, she found a water pouch and slung that over her head as well. She was weighed down, but she would rather have the provisions than not. She left the rest of the food behind. Valia would wonder where she had gone off to, but she couldn’t wait to run the food back to her.
With a determination set into her very marrow, Kerrigan left for the portal room. It was not a long walk, and within minutes, she was at the end of the hallway. She waited patiently for the two guards standing in front of the room to turn and walk the other way. She didn’t know what kind of gods’ luck this was, but as soon as their backs were turned, she hustled down the hallway. With her heart in her throat, she turned the doorknob and entered the room, carefully closing the door behind her.
The room itself was enormous. Big enough for multiple dragons to comfortably stand in. This was only the Fae entrance. There was a separate tunnel that the dragons could enter through that disappeared deep into the mountain. And standing as large as a house was a giant stone archway, magnificently carved and ornately built. The center of the archway shone a brilliant iridescent. Just as in her vision, there stood a goblet on a table next to the archway.
Kerrigan warily approached it. She looked into the milky liquid with unease. She knew what this did. It was the same potion the competitors had taken before walking through that portal. But why would she need to take it? She wanted to doubt the dream, but she didn’t doubt it.
So, with a deep breath, she brought the golden goblet to her mouth and consumed a few mouthfuls of the chalky substance. She gagged once around the disgusting liquid, and then she felt the magical effects. Her magic was being drained away. One second, it had been there. Then, the next, it was like pouring sand through a sieve, and it was gone. She felt suddenly bereft, just as she had that night with Clare. Her magic was empty. With her will, she reached down into that well of power and felt… nothing. It was severed. She shuddered in discomfort.
Pushing that aside, she turned to face the portal. She had walked through this once and ended up on the other side of the world. Walking through it again for another vision felt like it was all coming full circle.
She tied her red hair up into a ribbon to keep it out of her face. Then, with trepidation, she pressed her hand to the side of the portal arch, just as she had in the vision. The center of the portal shimmered and moved at her touch, and for a moment, she felt as if the portal read where she needed to go. The portal opened to darkness, and with her heart in her throat, she stepped through.
47
The Forest
A weight settled on Kerrigan’s chest in the darkness.
The portal had sucked her through, only vaguely tugging on her, as if it wanted to keep her for itself, and then she had entered this mysterious place.
She didn’t instantly recognize her surroundings, as the sun had completely fallen and only the light from the moon and the stars barely penetrated the canopy. Thankfully, the House of Dragons had equipped her with wilderness knowledge. They had taken an expedition around the mountains for a few days when she was younger. Darby stayed home, but Lyam and Hadrian went with her to learn how to start a fire and read trail signs. Growing up in the city, she hadn’t had any idea why she would need the knowledge, but she had found the camping trips more fun than being stuck in the mountain.
Now, she was thanking Mistress Moran for encouraging her to go out into the woods with Master Faris for these extracurriculars. Without her magic to light a fire, she would have to use that limited knowledge. Of course, she hadn’t used stones to light a fire in probably six years, but she knew the mechanics of it. So, she got to work, finding a few twigs and two stones that she could strike together to get sparks. After what felt like an eternity, she considered giving up, but she couldn’t. She was in unfamiliar territory, who knew how far from home, and she was alone. She needed a fire to guide her way and scare off predators, if need be.
So, with renewed determination, Kerrigan struck the stones together until, miraculously, the brush under her twigs caught fire.
“Yes!” she cheered, blowing on the small flames to encourage them to build and build. And after a few more minutes, she had enough light to see by.
She kept feeding the small fire with twigs and brush. Likely, she would need to find a large stick to use as a torch, but it would be nearly impossible to scout for the rest of the supplies. It would be smarter and safer to build up her fire first and sit around it for the evening even though the last thing that she wanted to do was to wait until morning.
After the fire was built to a considerable height, Kerrigan found an old log and sank down onto it to wait. She felt ridiculous, but the vision had sent her for a reason. There was no use doubting it now.
Sleep had evaded her for weeks, and then suddenly, in this oppressive forest, surrounded by nature, in front of a campfire, she felt the edges of sleep finally come to her. She kept her food and water close to her chest and then snuggled up onto the ground to sleep.
But as soon as she winked out, she jolted awake at the snuffling sound of something sniffing her.
Kerrigan froze on the ground, careful not to alert whatever was smelling her that she was awake. A wet nose pressed into her shoulder and hair. She tried to not let her fear show. She had no weapon and no magic. All she had was the fire, which was burning much lower than when she had gone to sleep. It wasn’t out yet, but it was close.
The beast trotted down to her feet, and a tusk pressed against her calf. She swallowed and slowly reached for one of the larger sticks still burning in the fire. From the corner of her eye, she could make out the boar that was determining if she was its next meal. Her hand closed around the stick, ignoring the heat radiating off the fire.
The boar’s head snapped up, and she quickly brandished the stick at the beast. The creature roared in protest as she slammed the fire end into its eye. She scrambled backward away from it as it screamed and kicked at the dirt. It fixed its good eye on Kerrigan and reared back, preparing to charge. She waved the fire stick in front of her as her only weapon and hoped against hope that it would do enough.
Her heart raced in her chest, and her hands were slick on the wood. It wasn’t going to be enough. The beast would attack her and skewer her with one of its massive tusks. She would have been sent here for nothing. She settled into a defensive position and watched as if in slow motion as the beast charged toward her.
“Ahhh!” a voice suddenly screamed from the tree cover, and a body charged at the boar, ramming into it, and sending it straight into the fire.
The boar screamed as the fire ate at him and then scrambled backward out of the flames. It looked between her and the stranger dressed in all black and decided to try its luck elsewhere. The beast scampered off into the forest.
“Thank you,” Kerrigan said, letting the stick fall to her side. Her heart was still in her throat.