Chương 5: Silvermoon Bloom

Sara hadn't experienced chafed legs for eighteen years, but she sure as hell remembered what it was like as she rode a monta, a horseish creature with a calcified mask of bone around its head. It was a standard war horse of sorts that cavalry fighters rode, not senior high school tennis players who couldn't use mana reinforcement without sparking suspicion. Sara didn't mind the pain too much, though. There was something romantic about traveling in a world without cars.

Riding alongside caravans, trading crows for stories and doves for goods. The road smelled of campfires and manure, at least in the feudal fields. She felt nostalgic when she and Edico Sullsburg passed long fields of hemsgrain that serfs were tending. It was a long green stalk with rice-like grains that, when fermented, could make a drink strong enough to quell the night terrors. The brew was called twalla, and it was big business amongst the dregs and divorced heroes who killed and harvested beasts for mana cores.

As they passed, two tanned farm boys without shirts snickered at Sara.

"Hey lady!" the older said, using his hands as a megaphone, "Ain't you never rode a monta before? You look like you've double-bagged a grave digger!" Sara's eyes deadened. You know…. I'll have to remember that, she thought. God knows I've run out of things to say to Mary. While she was musing, the boys' father clapped the kid upside the head.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Is you crazy, boy? When people pass, you pay them no heed. Ain't we ever teach you nothin'?"

"But Dad, they're—""But nothin'. One of these days, you'll be apt to get us all killed. Now get back to harvestin' and pray to Delina they don't return, or I'll offer her a piece of your hide."

"She ain't gonna hurt us, Pa. She can't even ride a monta!"

"Power ain't judged in ridin'. Now, back talk me again, boy, and you'll be takin' your meals standin' for a month!" Sara developed a bittersweet smile as their words faded into the distance.

"You find that amusing?" Edico phished.

"No," Sara replied.

"I just think it was wise." Edico maneuvered his horse to bar her path.

"Well I don't."

"Why not? Money and magic make physical skill irrelevant. It's a good lesson."

"Yeah? Well they could learn a good lesson on riding from you." Edico retorted.

"You played the fool when we left, but now that your thighs are chafed to hell, your riding magically improved." Sara shrugged.

"Seems I'm a natural. Anything else?"

"Yeah. I want to know what was in that letter."

"Letters are private," Sara replied.

"Not that one. The King understands that any of his advisors could've told you about Liana Ria's trafficking operation. And the bloom's so famous that there's paintings of it all over the castle. Getting a letter and declaring yourself an Oracle in three minutes is suspicious."

"So, you think that an advisor had another Chosen write me a clandestine letter in English? I'm no master of subterfuge, but involving a third party makes things easier to discover, not harder."

"That's true, but it doesn't change the facts." Sara scoffed.

"If you want to say something, just come out and say it."

"I don't think we're here to find a silvermoon bloom. I want to know what we're doing." Sara chuckled and maneuvered her monta up a small hill to ride around Edico.

"There's a spot eleven miles east of Esavail that's destined to be nicknamed Moonlit Grove ten years from now. It's a harvest spot that'll bring in over twenty blooms. That's where we're going. Whether it was my information or not, that is where we're going. Now, hurry up. The Corian Moon only shines once a year. And that means we have less than a week to give ourselves a shot at one." Edico turned his monta and followed closely behind Sara, watching her, dissecting her with his gaze.

He had always been a good seer. Someone who watched the parts of people that they didn't even recognize. It wouldn't be long before he got some of his memories back—but then what? He was sworn to protect his king. And then he swore to protect his queen. Her. Sara Reece. What would he do then? What havoc would it wreak on him? One stray word could mark her as a harsh ally or a more serious threat. That's why she kept silent. That's why she kept her raging pain of him not knowing her to herself.

This was a world of politics and violence. In this life, she wanted to minimize both—at any cost. 2 Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Edico sat beside the cookfire, cloak hanging on a nearby tree to dry. It was raining, but it didn't affect them. The water just hit their white barrier ward and slid off it like a windshield. Sara was in a damp undershirt, unconcerned by the standards of decency set by this world.

She was an adventurer first, someone who traveled the world and bathed in rivers after a fresh kill. She had little interest in the class standards of noble society. Not anymore.

"Why do you hate Jason so much?" Edico asked after a long spell of silence.

"Have you met him?" Sara mused sarcastically. Edico's dim smile illuminated in the cookfire, but it soon faded.

"Should I be worried? About him?" Sara snorted.

"A narcissist with that level of power? Obviously."

"Not necessarily. Power and personality only describe someone's caliber. Whether they're good or bad is determined by how they manifest that energy."

"Well, he'll manifest it poorly." Sara stood.

"Snuff the fire. I want to reach Moraline as soon as possible to give us time before the Festival."

"What are you doing in Moraline?"

"Refusing to answer that question. Just like I'm refusing to answer it now." Edico chuckled for the first time in a decade. Sara watched him in wonder, and then went to her bed. Just that expression was enough to remind her that she could make this world a better place. If Kyritus just remembered her, and she got him back, then her hope would be restored. This endless spiral of despair would yield a better vision of her possibilities.

A world where she not only cured Tiber with a silvermoon bloom, but also get to see her grow up. But. That "but" came when she lay in her tent that night. Is he even going to remember me? she wondered. It's not like I can just force myself onto him. Or run away with him. Maybe if I kill a few guards in front of his face… Sara smiled sardonically. She had spent two years on the run with Tiber and Kyritus, and both of them had killed enough authoritative figures to trigger some memories.

She thought back to the letter: People will regain memories if they have a strong enough connection with you. I hate this, she thought. There were periods in which she accepted her current situation and full days when she dreaded it. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if Jason was weak and there was no Admirer, but both were true. Worse, she didn't know what she was up against. Theoretically, anyone could use time or spatial magic.

And the person who sent that letter had drawn a teleportation array and activated it with hefty crystals just a few weeks into their being here. That person needed resources and equipment. That person had blackmail. Fuck Edico, she thought glibly. I'm the one with the questions. Thoughts still burning, she rested her chaffed thighs and drifted into sleep. This was merely the first day of a one-month trip. Tomorrow would be a very, very long day. She knew it.

3 Moonlit Grove was a real location that foragers discovered three years after Tiber died. Ever since Tiber succumbed to tyrexis, she scoured the world for silvermoon blooms—personally. Tiber died in the Miralands, where she went to learn the spell that she planned to use tonight, five days into their trip, while Edico was asleep. She waited until he was dead asleep before using Skiana: the Rural Network spell, the magic she called the Wood Wide Web.

It was a spell that sent a divination pulse underground, connecting all roots and mycelium to highlight alchemical herbs and fruit, as well as crystals and other mana-infused stones. Here goes nothing, she thought as she stood underneath the nearing full moon. Nihai so bathith mahina gori toba, kymazi eka troha, she chanted in her mind as she thrust her hands into a spongy patch of mossy earth.

A pulse of mana surged through the land, filling her mind with a topographical map of every alchemical herb and mana-infused stone in a ten-mile radius. This was the spell that the Miran Crypt held. It was designed to help people find the Skia mushroom that hid underneath snow and ice that cloaked the entire land. Sara's core pulse and she coughed out phlegm as she hit the ground. Skiana was a spell for those with vast, expanded cores, not for normal folk.

Thankfully, Sara's untainted core was large and pure enough to handle it. Assuming her burning, chafed legs would let her stand and find the plant.

"Sara!" Edico yelled in the distance. He felt the pulse, of course. And naturally, he discovered that she was missing. That's why he used an amplification spell to scream for her. Shit. Stop screaming! Sara raged within when she scoured her mind for the silvermoon bloom. It only took her a few seconds to pick up two alchemical herbs that glowed like Mars in a lightless countryside.

"Sara!" he yelled. Where are you?" Edico must've used a tracking spell because he was running in her direction at blistering speed. Shit. Get up! Sara screamed at her shaky legs. She staggered to her feet. Come on. You need to get there in time. There were two flowers, and she had to capture one of them before he got there to save Tiber's life. If she didn't make it there before Edico, he would seize both. Sara gritted her teeth and focused on her burning core. There's no choice.

Kastroí dethronémenoi, síkonos ton skiónon! Sara blasted off with a serious acceleration spell that was far faster than Edico's. She wove between trees like a runaway racecar, jumping over moss and brush and stone as she closed two miles in the blink of an eye. Her vision was blurry by the time she saw the two flowers, glowing a gorgeous shade of periwinkle in the moonlight. Sara pulled out a glass container with shaky hands. I have to… get it… She looked at the ring on her finger.

It was another spell that she'd have to call with her core. It could overheat or shatter her unexpanded core to use one more spell—but it had to be done. If she had to choose between Tiber's health and Veridia's future—Veridia would burn. With shaky hands, she extracted an array-tattooed container she made, purified it with magic, and cut the stem. After securing the flower in her purified container, she winced and tried to call the ring once more.

She just had to get the jar into her spatial ring, and Tiber would be safe. Unfortunately, she couldn't. Open, damn you… Sara thought, staring at her shaking hand. Open… Core burning, mana deprivation siphoning all her energy, she blacked out.