The Hybrid: Chasing Destiny (Chp6:Ep5)

Chapter 6

Episode 5 - Rumour Has It

Ava railed and kicked against the confines that smothered her. She heard a crash and something smashing in the distance. The darkness ebbed as she regained consciousness. She was lying in front of a fireplace in a room she did not recognise. There was no fire, but the blazing embers still emitted waves of heat. As were the furs she was wrapped in, and she threw them from her sweat-drenched body with the strength of a newborn foal. Her limbs trembled from weakness.

She crawled to stand but fell back down when her vision blurred, and darkness clouded her mind. There was buzzing in her ears. She was certain she was sitting but whether it was up or down, she could not tell.

Something cold and hard was pressed against the bare skin of her chest and a fresh-smelling, but calloused hand smeared cool water over her face. After a moment, the darkness dissipated, and the prince’s face came into focus. She was panicked by the worry in his expression, but it soon turned into the arrogant smirk she assumed was meant to be charming. It made her want to chuck something at him, but she settled on a glare.

“Ah, there she is, my disagreeable charge. I thought I lost you for a moment. Drink,” he commanded, indicating to the decanter he held to her chest.

Ava repositioned her lopsided shirt, tightening the laces at its collar and took the decanter from him. The weight of it slipped from her weak grasp, and the prince caught it, but not before spilling a few drops of water into her lap. Not that she minded. The cool feeling was welcome. Her arms dropped to her side, no longer able to hold up their weight. She groaned miserably. He held the decanter up to her lips and she took a few sips before needing a breather.

“More,” he coaxed.

Ava acquiesced, took a gulp, and rested her head on the bed. She relished the cold feeling of the water moving down her throat and settling in her gut.

“Where are we?” she asked once she felt more alert.

“Snake Town’s Inn,” he answered and moved to sit beside her at the edge of the bed. “I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky that this room was clean. It seems Ivan Gueterath never lowered his standards, despite rubbing shoulders with the lowest dregs of society. It was the only place we could bring you to warm you in the moment.”

He seemed to be embarrassed by the thought of her staying in such a place. Was he under the impression that I was some delicate lady who needed to be surrounded by comfort and luxury? Perhaps it was something baked into his very being. Minervin was much the same, always thinking I deserved better and regretful that he could not offer it. Ava could never understand the feeling. She always made do with what she had and was grateful that she had anything at all. Perhaps he would fret less if she told him outright that such things did not bother her.

“Nevertheless, I would advise you not to invoke the Frost Spirit again; her powers have put you on the brink of death twice now. She seems far too volatile for a creature meant to be the personification of cold,” he added with a distasteful frown.

“I did not invoke her. Not this time. But she grew impatient and has a will of her own I cannot fight against.”

Ava clutched the satchel in her hands. Even though the Frost Spirit was inactive, she could feel it inside there, silently fuming. Something had changed in her mind after the Spirit had entered it. There was a connection now that had not been there before. Little threads that linked them to her. She could feel them all, impatient, fearful, and very angry.

“I worry that will become an issue. I have made preparations in the meantime that could expedite our Imperial Sanction to claim the Fire Spirit. But it is a gamble. A risky one, the emperor may take issue with. Having the spirit run amok in Daaria will hinder my plans in ways I cannot rectify and can set us back, possibly putting us on a path at odds with the Empire. I need you to do everything in your power to control its sway over you. I will have Oswin assist you.”

He looked as if he expected an answer. But this was an order disguised as a request. Was he waiting for me to respond with ‘Yes, Your Grace?’

“I will do what I can,” she responded.

She was unsure how anyone would be expected to control a powerful spirit of that magnitude, even with a magic wielder’s help. It barely tolerated her because she was the only option it had, and she could only invoke the spirit because it was choosing to answer her call.

She was startled from her thoughts by Caeden’s fingers at her neck. They moved to her forehead, brushing the wayward tendrils of her hair out of the way before resting there for a moment.

“Are you feeling better? I must apologise, I should have checked up on you, but I got caught up with reports.”

He rubbed his face with his hands and shook the tiredness from his head. There were dark shadows beneath his reddened eyes that he fought to keep open.

“How long has it been since you slept?” she asked.

“There is far too much to do; I will rest when it is calmer,” he responded.

“You can die from lack of rest. What use would you be to me then? Go to sleep.”

He chuckled, “Just who is supposed to be whose charge here? Fine, tell you what. It will be a few hours until sunrise. I will use the time to get some rest, and you can use it to regain your strength. Guard Captain Naetin said he found the bag of provisions he supplied you with untouched within the Wizard Wood. We will head to this cabin of yours once we have both recovered. There is food on the table in the room beyond.” He tilted his head to the open doorway and crawled onto the bed.

Ava stood carefully. Her legs still trembled, but at least they could hold her weight now.

“Oh, and do not think you can use this opportunity to escape and go without me, I am wise to your charms now, woman,” he said cryptically as she left the bedroom.

Chagrined, Ava turned in the doorway and eyed the decanter left at the foot of the bed. Bagh, throwing it would sap all the strength she had regained.

#

“Is the cheeteng not joining us?” Ava asked expectantly, gazing over Caeden’s shoulder and scanning the village.

“Kama? No, he seemed satisfied with how events played out, despite it not playing out entirely in his favour. He is returning to The Motherland to report back and prepare his people,” Prince Caeden answered.

He formally introduced her to Guard-Captain Naetin and ushered her to follow behind as the man and his guards led them deep into the Wizard Wood. Despite the harried look in the guard-captain’s eyes, he still had the friendly demeanour she remembered from the night before. It made her feel more at ease.

She also found familiar comfort in the weight of her bow at her back. The prince had returned it and her dagger as well. He kept her sword, promising to return it once they reached the Daaria Kingdom. He seemed accommodating so far, so she did not fight him. Having most of her weapons back again made her feel like her old self. Strong and confident, not weak and uncertain.

“Would you have gone with him, had he asked?” the prince queried.

“Possibly, yes.”

Though Ava suspected he might have fought vehemently against it, had events played out differently. For reasons known only to himself, the prince in white seemed desperately intent on helping her. Yet whether or not his reasons were to be self-serving, and she strongly suspected that they were, her gut told her they were nothing nefarious. Perhaps that could be something I could turn to my favour should the need arise.

“Kama seemed to know about me. I had questions I would have liked to ask him.”

“Their knowledge about you is only slightly superior to our own. What answers would you seek from a stranger across the sea?” Prince Caeden queried with a raised brow, and then comprehension dawned. “How long were you lying awake in that tree?”

“What am I if not a hybrid?” Ava blurted nervously.

“That is a question that I have asked myself as well. Since hybrids were only rumours and stories in my mind, I did not think much of the differences when I first met you. You were close enough in appearance to what I heard that it seemed the obvious conclusion at the time.

“What I do know is that adult hybrids are a rare sight, appearing sporadically with no clear intent beyond sowing chaos wherever they tread. The only certainty we know of them is that they will appear to collect a hybrid spawn; thus, keeping one alive poses a danger to everyone around it. Did nothing of the sort happen in your case?”

Ava gulped nervously, “No. I did not enquire much into my origin; perhaps I was too afraid to hear the answer. But I would have heard something about it if that happened. I would have been treated far worse than I was.

“I thought the denizens at the Outpost were ignorant imbeciles, judging me without due cause. I guess I was the fool in this case. Minervin would have known! Why would he allow me to believe…”

Her voice cracked and tears burned behind her eyes. Ava tried to blink them away. There was no way Minervin would have let her believe she was a hybrid if it was not true. Or he must have had his reasons.

“What did he tell you about your birth parents?” Caeden asked evenly. She was certain he saw the tears in her eyes but was glad that he chose to ignore them.

“That he found me abandoned as a baby in Draugr Forest. My parents were nowhere in sight. No one has claimed me since. But now that I think on it, Minervin was never one to wander the forest, nor anyone else at the Outpost save for a few unflappable or desperate hunters,” Ava replied. Her mind raced.

“He said I was a half-human-orc hybrid. There were rumours about Malgorn and the human women. It still irks me that I entertained such foolish nonsense enough to confront him about it despite knowing the reality of the situation,” Ava groaned and dug the palms of her hands into her eyes, hoping to stem the flood that threatened to burst forth. She had never struggled this much to stifle her tears before.

Prince Caeden took her wrist gently in comfort. “And what reality was that?” he prompted.

“That there were no orc exiles before and after Malgorn. That my parents were not at the Outpost.” That Minervin lied to me. “It was a small community. Someone would have known something about them. Pointed a finger in the right direction, rather than start a rumour about an orc who arrived in Spectermere when I was already a child,” Ava grunted, the sadness and frustration she felt morphed into anger.

“I will have Oswin research this when we reach the capital. Either you are an anomaly or something else altogether. In the meantime, do not dwell on it. Knowing probably would not help you much.” He rubbed his lips pensively and stared unseeingly into the distance.

“You do not think such information would be vitally important?”

“Not to the mission, no. Knowing might hinder it further. But to you, perhaps. Is it something you truly wish to know? Will it change who you are? Will you be satisfied with the answer? Will you grow or will it knock the legs out from under you? These are things you may need to consider.

“For me, though, knowing will change nothing. You will still be Miss Ava, first of her kind, keeper of spirits and a charge in need of my protection,” he smiled charmingly.

Ava straightened and looked ahead, away from him. It was becoming aggravatingly clear that he enjoyed making her feel awkward. Ava swore she would find a way to make him regret his teasing. Despite this, he made some interesting points that she could not ignore. What would it change? The truth of the matter would remain the same. I would still be an abandoned child.

“There is one more thing I would suggest,” he said after a while. “After your business at his cabin is completed, you will need to cast your association with the cursed wizard aside.”

Ava scowled at the prince. How dare he suggest such a thing! Lies and half-truths aside, Minervin saved and raised her. To cast him aside now would be unconscionable. She squared her jaw stubbornly, intent on telling him exactly where to shove his suggestion.

“Your association with him will not help our cause in the long term,” he continued, countering her response before she could even say it. “You will not win the trust of any of the races, let alone the Empire’s, while you remain shackled to him. The connection will be considered suspicious at the very least and they will have more reason to deny you access to the spirits.”

“I do not understand why everyone despises him so. He took care of me. He is a good man!” Ava flexed her hands uncertainly. The prince had a point, but to do what he suggested felt like a betrayal of Minervin’s memory.

“You – do not know, do you? Of course, it makes sense that he would not tell you,” Caeden pondered.

“What? The story of how he was cursed? No, he would not tell me. You tell me, then.”

The prince smirked, “You have the gall to order me so. Very well, have you heard of the magical leaching in the fourth era?”

Ava turned from Caeden, already regretting wanting to know. “Yes,” she responded evenly.

“Numerous accounts recorded during that time place your wizard at its source. Together with the elves, they conducted a world-rending ritual that resulted in the sapping of most of Archaicron’s magic. Ask Oswin for the specifics; that is beyond me.”

“He must have had his reasons. Minervin would never do that without due cause. He always said magic was dangerous,” she stated stubbornly.

“Your loyalty is commendable, but blind and misguided. The issue was not with the disappearance of magic but with what came after. Magic was the backbone and the foundation of every nation. Its unexpected disappearance caused all civilisations to falter. What was once a magical golden age regressed to a time before the Casimir Empire was founded. Archaicron was dragged into a dark age overnight and people perished in droves.

“It took much for those that remained not to descend into another Great War. But at that point, the elves revealed that he had misled them, and it was decided that bringing Archaicron from the brink of anarchy would be the best way forward.

“Understand that he knew the level of devastation the leaching would cause and went ahead with his plan anyway, willing to curse himself in the process. I will not harangue you further about the issue. I would only suggest you consider how your associations may help or hinder us. Your wizard may have been a good man, but he has not been so in the past.”

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