Chapter 15 - the Vial

I pushed open the heavy, wooden door, and found Thoridor, Aricor and Phaedra sitting around a plain, wooden table that stuck out like a sore thumb in the otherwise extravagant room.

“Join us,” Thoridor said, and pointed to a free chair at the table.

“That won’t be necessary,” I said, and made my way over to Phaedra, “if I may just interrupt for a short moment, I’d like to show Phaedra something.”

I handed her my broken necklace. Phaedra studied the pendant.

“What is this?” she asked, looking up at me.

“A gift from my mother,” I said, “the liquid was red before. We—” I looked at Thoridor. Somehow it felt strange to refer to us as ‘we’. Strange, but somehow also nice. “—thought it might have been blood, mixed with something to keep it runny.”

Phaedra turned over the vial. “It’s definitely blood,” she confirmed, “is this what all the questions about exposure to fire were about? You put it in fire?”

I nodded. “Not intentionally. It broke, and landed in the fireplace. The whole thing burned very brightly for a moment, and then I was able to take it out.”

“Interesting,” Phaedra said, rolling the pendant between her fingers once more. “Black blood. Where have I heard that before?”

I dropped my jaw. “Black blood!” I yelled out, “like the prophecy! Blood like the sky?!”

Phaedra’s eyes darted back and forth between the vial and me, and her face contorted in confusion. “I thought you said blood like the sky meant royal blood?” she said slowly.

“I thought so at first! But the eternal nights here — the sky is black for most of the cycle, is it not? I thought maybe the prophecy meant that — black blood. I just never thought anyone could have black blood!”

Aricor and Thoridor, who had still been talking amongst themselves for the first half of Phaedra and my conversation had now gone silent, and were staring at us.

“Who’s blood is it?” Aricor asked.

“I don’t know!” I called out, still buzzing with excitement, “it was a gift from my mother! Hers, perhaps?”

“And humans don’t usually have black blood?” Aricor asked.

“No!” I replied, trying my hardest to keep from yelling. I felt like I was on the verge of discovering something. Something huge.

“Wield it,” Aricor said, gesturing to the vial. “Just to make sure it’s not just ink, and this is not just a bunch of shouting over nothing.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, and took the vial back from Phaedra. I held it in my palm, and hovered my other hand over it. The small air bubble inside moved along with it, from side to side.

“It’s blood!” I rejoiced, not even sure what I was getting so excited about. There was something pressing into the side of my mind, as if it was trying to get in.

“There’s more,” I mumbled, closing my eyes. “I just can’t get to it. I’m missing something… what am I missing?”

I rubbed my temples with my fingertips. “It’s right there… what is it?”

Phaedra rubbed my arm soothingly. “It’ll come to you, stop wrecking your brain.”

“Do you have a library? Maybe there’s something I can read about black blood!” I said, bouncing from one foot to another. I flinched in pain as my calves immediately protested against the repetitive movements. Aricor sent me a pleased grin, which I returned with a grimace.

“There is,” Phaedra said, gracefully rising to her feet, “Sire, if I may—”

“By all means,” Thoridor said, gesturing to me, “I wouldn’t want to come between my mate and her mission.”

“Your friend,” I corrected him, “and thank you!” I yelled over my shoulder as I grabbed Phaedra’s hand and drug her with me as fast as my sore legs would carry me.

“Where do we go?” I asked her when we had made it back to the stairs.

Phaedra took over guiding us, and led me all the way up to one of the many towers of the Aquatic palace. The library wasn’t very large, but it was absolutely stuffed to the brim with books. There were shelves lining all the walls, and piles of books sitting in front of them all throughout the room.

“Great,” I said, picking up a book, and flipping it open, “I can read these!”

Phaedra raised an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t you be able to read?” she asked.

“I don’t know, I don’t speak Ardanian,” I explained.

Phaedra stared at me blankly. “Well, not really,” I clarified, “I know to you it sounds like I do. But this is not the language humans speak. I don’t know why I understand you, or why you understand me. And I can tell these symbols aren’t the letters we use at home, but I understand what is written here. I can’t explain — that’s just the way it is.”

Phaedra grabbed another random book from a pile. “What are we looking for?” she asked me.

“I don’t know,” I said hesitantly, scanning the library for clues. “Anything about blood — black blood, preferably, of course.”

Phaedra nodded. “We should go see Aeloria too,” she said, “she’ll know.”

“I can’t,” I said, “I’m not allowed to go back there. Thoridor and Warrian went along with me last time I went, and she threatened to eat them.”

Phaedra looked at me with a stunned expression on her face for a moment and then threw her head back and laughed out loud.

“What?!” I called out, “she did. She made me pick one, and was going to eat the other.”

Phaedra wiped tears of laughter from her eyes and took a deep breath. “So who’d you pick?” she asked, tilting her head to the side playfully.

“Well, they’re both still here, aren’t they?” I challenged her, growing kind of annoyed with her amusement.

Phaedra threw back a few strings of blue-beaded hair back over her shoulder, and smiled at me. “Aeloria doesn’t eat our people,” she explained, “who told you she did?”

“She did,” I replied, “she called us ‘breakfast, lunch and dinner’ when we entered her tower. How do you explain that? Or the fact no male has ever left her tower?”

Phaedra giggled. “She likes to play into the fear Ardanians have for her. She sends the males up to the surface, and banishes them from our Kingdom if they do not pass her tests. Have you seen the tunnel of air above her tower? She sends them up to the main land through there, and gives them a limited amount of time to get off our lands. She sends beasts after them if they dwell beyond the limit.”

“Oh,” I said, trying to process the information “She has the power to banish Ardanians? Do the royals know?” I asked.

Phaedra shrugged. “I do not know,” she said, “Aeloria isn’t Ardanian herself. I do not know what kind of wagers they have made, or why she’s stuck in her tower. It is not my business, so I do not bother myself with it. But we can safely go see her, she won’t eat us.”

“Okay,” I said, “we’ll go see her. But first, I want to find some information about the black blood. Straight, factual information, that isn’t wrapped in riddles. I just need to know what’s going on.”