I blushed furiously, moving in front of Vita to protect her from his stare.
He saw what I was doing, and smiled broadly—the anguish of his friend’s plight seemed to be momentarily forgotten and he bowed down low, not for a second removing his gaze from Vita.
“It’s such a pleasure to meet you all.”
I rolled my eyes in disgust. Vita just stared at him, like she was hypnotized.
“Seriously?” I interrupted. “Who are you—and can you stop staring at my friend like you want to eat her?”
Field moved to stand directly in front of both me and Vita, blocking the man’s view. He crossed his arms, staring him down till he replied.
“Sorry,” the man replied, not sounding sorry at all. “I’m easily distracted. I’ll tell you what and who I am back at the house—you’ve decided to abandon the Druid, I take it?”
“What do you mean?” I asked sharply. How did this stranger know where we’d come from? I glanced over at the rest of the group. Everyone—other than Vita—eyed him with deep suspicion and anger.
The horned man shrugged, seemingly oblivious to the reaction he’d just caused.
“Like I said, I’ll tell you everything.” He searched the sky again. “But we really do need to get moving. Unless you all wish to spend the rest of eternity with Azazel? Which, by the way, I do not recommend.”
I looked to Field, wondering what he would think the best course of action was. I knew what I thought, that we should get the hell out of here and turn back, but I was starting to realize that my vote as the youngest wasn’t going to hold much sway.
“All right.” Field nodded. “We head back. But we will want answers—proper ones, not the vague half-truths the Druid provided.”
The horned man eyed him speculatively.
“He may be telling you the whole truth—perhaps you just don’t want to hear it,” he replied softly.
Field ignored him, moving back the direction we had come. We all followed him, the horned man keeping up the rear. I kept Vita close, wondering what kind of spell he had her under—I’d never seen my friend behave so moon-eyed. He was handsome, I couldn’t deny that, but her behavior made me think that something else was going on. She walked alongside me as if she was in a daze, and I didn’t know how much was due to the painful episode she’d just had or the new arrival.
What I was totally sure of was that Vita had experienced a vision.
“Vita,” I asked, drawing her away from the others, “what was that? Can you remember what happened?”
She shook her head, wrapping her arms around her small frame.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I felt sick, horribly sick… like there was this weird bile filling up inside me…and then I saw things, like a film playing out in my head. I saw the men rushing through the forest, and that creature…the one in the sky—he had grabbed Field by the neck, lifting him up off his feet.” She shuddered. “It was horrible.”
I got the impression that there was more she wasn’t telling me. Her face was back to its unhealthy palor, and I briefly pulled her toward me in a hug before releasing her so that we could navigate the jungle.
“It was a vision, wasn’t it?” she asked me.
“I think so.”
She didn’t reply, staring forward as we walked. I couldn’t imagine what she must be feeling—to discover that she was an Oracle, that all the Druid had said was true. I looked over at Aida and Phoenix. Would they start to experience visions soon too? Or did the Druid have it wrong, was it only Vita among us who had been passed the gift? Both Phoenix and Aida looked downcast. They had watched as Vita had convulsed painfully, they must have been wondering if they were next, and at least contemplating the fact that everything we had been told so far had a ring of truth to it.
I wanted to talk to them, but with the horned man here, now didn’t feel like the right time. He obviously knew something about us, or at least our presence in Eritopia, and he clearly knew the Druid. I kept glancing back at him, wanting to keep an eye on him. Field obviously had the same idea. As soon after we’d started our trek back, he’d maneuvered himself next to the stranger, keeping his distance, but ready to attack if necessary. I wanted to know what the man’s connection to the Druid was, and why he’d butchered his friend—and just left his body out in the jungle—after he’d seemed so devastated at his death in the first place.
There was also something familiar about the spears that had been shot down by the winged creatures in the sky. I tried to recall their detail, but it had been such a shock, and had all happened so fast, that I hadn’t really taken a proper look at them. I tried to think why they might have been familiar to me…and then I remembered. The painting in the house—the one that had been covered by the curtain, depicting the half-man half-serpent demon riding on the back of the horse. My mouth ran dry. If those were the creatures that had been flying overhead, then we had made a lucky escape. A really lucky escape.