She wasn’t. And the rest of the way to the hidden portal became shrouded in silence.
They’d been traveling for three days. They’d stopped multiple times a day, and Armannii somehow always found them some place to sleep with at least a partial roof, but the journey had been more exhausting than Diomedes could’ve ever expected. He would never admit it out loud, but he missed the castle, the ability to wash up and eat decent food, sleeping on feather-soft mattresses. Both his feet had at least four blisters, and he could feel hot spots where new ones were forming. His legs were exhausted from walking, and though reapplying the salve to his wounds every day did seem to be making a difference, they still hindered him.
The deeper they went into the Black Forest, the harder it was to tell time and to see. They hadn’t stopped to find horses, but he’d assumed it was because they didn’t want to be seen—that and the off chance they’d run into more bandits.
Diomedes’s fingers were cramped from holding the light rune stone in front of him. He was also sick of tripping on exposed roots, random rocks, and worst of all, flat ground.
“We’d better be getting close,” Diomedes said through clenched teeth. “Either that, or we need to stop. Again.”
“I didn’t know you were such a princess, Didi.” Armannii smirked at him over his shoulder, although he did pause to scan Diomedes’s entire posture, probably checking to see if there was anything to be concerned about. “And here I was, so excited to go on an extended trip with my best buddy.”
“Armannii.”
“Alright,” Armannii said, stopping next to what seemed to be the millionth tree they’d passed. “We can stop, but we’re almost there. The guardian even has extra beds.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Fine, keep going,” Diomedes said, his voice a low growl.
Armannii’s laugh came out muffled as he turned and continued walking. Blanndynne had stayed silent behind Diomedes for most of the day. That changed the closer they got to the secret portal.
“He likes to pick on you,” she said, catching up to Diomedes with long strides. She was shorter than both him and Armannii.
“And?”
“Just an observation.” Blanndynne tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, the motion catching his attention out of the corner of his eye.
“You certainly seem tuned in to the two of us,” he said. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Brothers, sisters, best friends? I mean, I know you were friends with Kylian’s brother, but not much else. You’re a genie—”
“A free genie, thanks to you,” she said, a genuine smile on her dark red lips.
“Yes, and you seem to enjoy bloodthirsty spells. That, and you’re a little too attached to that hairbrush you keep in your supersecret genie vault.”
Blanndynne let out a laugh, and Diomedes was pretty sure he heard Armannii chuckle from up ahead. Elf hearing meant no private conversations, at least not when Armannii was within four hundred feet, if not more. They had tried testing it once, but their results varied.
“What do you want to know?”
“Where are you from?”
“That’s not an easy question to answer,” Blanndynne said, pinching her lips together. “How much do you know about genies?”
Diomedes shrugged. “Only as much as I’ve read in books, and since there wasn’t a large selection, that amounts to not much. Unnatural balance of light and dark magic, which equals power. Power means strict rules. And now I know about the deadliest of all stones: jade.”
“Do you know the rules?”
“No using your magic to bring someone back to life, and no using your magic to end someone’s life.”
Blanndynne smirked. “Not bad.”
“I also know genies are bound to serve whoever possesses their vessel,” Diomedes said, turning his head to watch her nod. “But only until they’ve used up their three wishes.”
“Also true.”
“And genies have a tendency to twist the wishes.”
She snorted, shrugging. “I suppose that’s true, but only in certain situations.”
“Like?”
“If the person who summoned me was rude or cruel, I’d twist their wish and make them regret ever finding my vessel. I may have had to serve them, but I didn’t have to do it in the way they were hoping.”
“So, you’ve done it before?”
“How would you like being treated as if you’re nothing more than an object to be used and thrown away?”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Diomedes said, considering her words. She was no longer smiling. “I’m sure it made you feel cheated. All that power, yet you don’t have the freedom to use it how you want.” He thought of the power he technically had as prince, all considered void because of the blockade his father’s councilmen created.
“Didn’t,” she said, correcting him. “I didn’t have that freedom. Not until you freed me.”
“To be fair,” Armannii said from up ahead, “it was an accident.”
Blanndynne pulled her cloak tighter when a cool breeze blew from in front of them. “Still. I’m free.”
“What does that mean for you?” Diomedes asked.
“I told you. It means I’m no longer bound to my vessel and—”
“But what does it mean for Blanndynne Serpenni to be free? What does it mean to you personally?”
She didn’t respond right away. “I-I’ll have to think about that.”
“You didn’t have any big plans for when you were set free?”
“Few genies ever get the chance. You have to remember that the only people who can free us are those in a royal line, and it can only be before the final wish. From what I’ve come to understand, people who seek out genies are lured in by the idea of access to more power. Why free someone when they can give you more control over your people or an advantage in battle? I never planned what I’d do because I never thought I’d be free.”
Diomedes considered her words carefully before responding. “Well, it’s happened. Now it’s time to figure out what your wishes are.”
“You’re right,” she said, her voice fading. Blanndynne let silence come between them for a little longer and then asked a question Diomedes had been somewhat expecting ever since he had found out she was a genie. “What would you have wished for if you hadn’t accidentally freed me?”
“Do you mean word for word how I would have wished it? Or just generally what I’d wish for?”
“Generally because I’m not in the wish-granting business anymore.”
“Right, well . . .” He paused, sorting through all the things he could’ve wished for: His mother’s return. Magic. But one stood out above the rest. “I would’ve found a way to wish for peace in the country. The end to the war. A way to stop the suffering of the people. Something like that, I suppose.”
“It’s a good thing that’s not how you phrased it. It would’ve been easy to manipulate that wish.”
“Well, you did say I didn’t have to word it carefully.” Diomedes switched the hand holding the glowing rune stone, flexing the fingers of the one that had been holding it. His fingers were icicles, and it was clear the temperature was dropping around them. The closer they got to the frozen Cyro Sea, the colder it became.
“I did. And it’s a good wish in that it’s not selfish. At least you make it sound like it’s not.” She raised her eyebrows.
“It’s not.”
“What would you wish for with your two other wishes?”
It was an innocent enough question, yet he cringed when the words summoned the image of his mother escaping from his window, plastering it in the forefront of his mind. Then there was Armannii, scrawling runes all over a blank wall. His mother and magic. Those were the two things he wanted most. But those were private.
“It doesn’t matter. Like you said, you’re free.” He picked up his pace, hoping she wouldn’t prove to be as persistent as Armannii would’ve been in her place.
She wasn’t. And the rest of the way to the hidden portal became shrouded in silence.
“You’re sure this is it?” Diomedes asked, shivering in his cloak. His side had begun to throb again, and he kept one arm around it in hopes the ache would subside.
Armannii had stopped in front of a giant boulder covered in a layer of fallen leaves and twigs. It was taller than the elf, who carefully circled the rock. It seemed out of place in the middle of the Black Forest, but then again, Diomedes had never traveled this far north before.
Instead of answering, Armannii reached into his pocket and pulled out the gilded pen, tossing it to Diomedes. Unlike the last time he had held it, the pen was warm. He clutched it between his hands, sucking the warmth like a heat vampire. But unlike normal metal, the pen did not cool down when it became exposed to the chilly air.
“So, we’re close then?” Diomedes asked, tucking the pen into an inside pocket of his vest, right above his heart. It could’ve been his own heartbeat, but it almost felt like the pen had a pulse of its own.
“We’re here,” Armannii said, though his focus was on the rune he was inscribing on the boulder’s surface.
Diomedes stepped closer, drawn in by the symbol on the rock. If his memory served correctly, it was a rune that allowed temporary levitation. Armannii had used it to reach Diomedes’s window a few times when he’d snuck into the castle. However, it hadn’t lasted long, and Armannii had ended up with a few broken bones the last time they had tried it because he hadn’t made it to Diomedes’s balcony in time. Nothing a healing rune couldn’t fix.
And there was that nagging thought again; if only he had magic, Armannii could simply draw the healing rune on him, and his side wouldn’t bother him any longer.
“As soon as I activate this rune, go in. I doubt any of us want this giant thing smashing us flat as parchment. Got it?” Armannii asked, waiting for a confirmation from both of them before tapping the symbol with his rune pen. It glowed bright pink, then the boulder the size of a small house lifted into the air.
Underneath, a dark hole with a ladder leading down opened up. Diomedes tucked his light rune stone into his pocket and dashed toward the opening, ignoring his sore body as he began lowering himself down as fast as he could without slipping. The rungs were damp, probably from the moisture in the ground, and a surprising rush of warm air drafted up from beneath him.
Blanndynne started down the ladder above Diomedes, and Armannii above her. He came in just as the boulder lowered itself back over the hole. If Diomedes had thought it was dark before, it was nothing compared to the utter blackness that swallowed them as they climbed deeper and deeper into the ground. Earthy smells surrounded them, and Diomedes tried to wipe his face off with his shoulder when dirt from one of the other’s boots fell.
The end of the ladder caught Diomedes off guard, and his locked leg came down hard on the solid ground. He grunted, massaging his knees off to the side so Blanndynne had room to get off the ladder. After cracking his neck, Diomedes pulled the glowing stone out of his pocket, shining it around as Armannii joined them on the ground.
Shining the light upward, Diomedes could only track the ladder so far before it disappeared into the darkness hovering over them. A tunnel branched off in front of them, and Armannii was already making his way toward it.
Blanndynne apparently did not appreciate the small fraction of light Diomedes’s stone offered. With a flourish of her hand, she displayed an orb of light hovering above her palm.
“You couldn’t have done that while I was tripping through the entire Black Forest?” Diomedes asked, a bite to his voice.
“You could’ve asked,” Blanndynne said with a shrug.
As hypnotizing as it was, Diomedes felt his eyes narrowing at the light. It must’ve been obvious because Blanndynne was quick to ask him about it.
“I’m fine. Just tired, and I was promised a bed.”
“And a bed you’ll receive, Didi,” Armannii said from in front. Though it was somewhat obscured by the hood of his cloak, Diomedes could still make out the sight rune drawn on the side of the elf’s neck.
If Blanndynne had asked, Diomedes was sure Armannii would’ve drawn one on her too. Only Diomedes couldn’t receive the gift of seeing in the dark using magic. Or the gift of healing. Or running at high speeds. Or any magic gift. He clenched his jaw, glaring at the back of Armannii’s head as they marched deeper and deeper into the unknown.