Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

Maybe she was doing the same thing I was doing but for Raphael Gerodia. If that were the case, then this just became a sort of race, and I had some catching up to do.

My hand rested on the pommel of my sword as we followed the path around a particularly thick group of trees. I strained my hearing, examined every breath I took. My senses were dulled, but not by much, it was my magic that took most of the hit.

It felt strange, being without magic. My body felt empty of something vital, but I could live with it. Hundreds of years of training taught me to live with this. What I found most curious about what she had said so far was her mention of that partner. Only her scent dusted the air, I could smell no one else.

Whoever this partner was, he wasn’t around often enough to leave a trail which only made my theory of her working for the High King stronger. Perhaps he was the partner. Perhaps they were lovers.

Around the bend, the path led straight into trees so thick, I couldn’t see between them. There wasa perfect archway carved into the overgrowth, curtained in vines that were slowly losing their leaves.

How beautiful this place would have been in bloom. At the moment, it felt haunted. Nothing but the bones of trees left. A graveyard.

The woman carefully pushed the vines to one side long enough for me to slip through before she quickly made her way across the clearing.

I started after her but slowed when I saw what lay before me.

A meadow holding a small cottage against a cliff-face. There were garden beds, stacks of wood, a hot spring, and every tool she would need to take care of the place leaning up beside the wood-stack.

It was impressive, to say the least.

Raphael didn’t seem like the kind who would help with this, so perhaps her partner was someone who worked for the High King. An isolated cottage in the middle of demon-infested woods. It was perfect for whatever Raphael wanted her to accomplish. No one would find her here, accidentally happen upon her.

I kept quiet as I continued after her, following her down a trail to a faded red door, the leaves crunching under my boots.

My questions were answered once I stepped inside.

Information. She kept this place to store her information. Papers coating the walls, stacks of books piled high everywhere, even the stars were mapped across the ceiling.

Just from a glimpse of it, I found information on history unspoken for decades. Real history, lore, myths,legends. This had to have taken years. All of it.Years.

She had to have been working for the High Court. “What is the research for?” I finally asked as she set her things on the table.

“For me,” she answered easily, something I had expected. “I don’t have much time, there are things I need to get done before sunset.”

My eyes fell at the lie on her lips, but the accusation died as I watched her pull out two jars from her cupboard. One with Asilos Root and the other filled with chunks of Allure Antler.

She turned, setting one jar down and opening the other. “Here,” she offered, pulling out a piece of antler. “Sit down and chew.”

I glanced towards the chunk she set on the table and back to her as she turned back to the cupboards and pulled out a mortar and pestle from under the sink.

If she was working for him, she was taking a huge risk keeping this stuff here. So maybe she wasn’t working for him. Maybe this was just her. If that were the case, what was the point behind all of it? Who was her partner?

I slowly walked up to the table and picked up the chunk, inspecting it carefully before I placed it on my tongue flinching at the bitter taste of it. Seconds would pass before it became any softer, but Allure Antler was supposed to help with infections, and it should have been impossible to get here.

Allures lived in Aelyria, protected by Penny Rain. She had issues in the past with people poaching them, so she made poaching punishable by death, a punishment of rarity for theHigh Queen.

The only way to get their antlers now is if the Allure died of natural causes or someone happened upon their sheds in the woods.

Where hadshegotten it?

I took a seat in the chair as she opened the jar of Asilos Root and pulled out exactly the right measurement, as if she had been working with it her entire life. “Where did you get these?” I dared as she began working the root carefully into the mortar.

“Those are my secrets,” she answered, turning to the sink.

One of many, I guessed. Asilos Root was only found in the Wilds of Sarivos, a place Satarmore had sanctioned off for the warlocks who were outliers of the law. They remained under his ruling, but their laws were nearly nonexistent. It was the High King’s way of trying to control the murders, rapes, and attacks of his people.

Getting the root was impossible for magic-users, let alone a human.

I leaned back, watching her put in a perfect amount of water, mixing it up as any great healer would.