Ash's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

The road bent away from the farm by midmorning. Ash walked beside Leila, still thinking of the white creature at the forest edge. He had not told her. It felt like a secret only he could carry. Ahead, the trees thinned, and smoke rose from a cluster of roofs. "A market village," Leila said. "Someone here might know where you came from." They passed under bright banners into an open square. Stalls crowded the space. Baskets held dried fish and painted beads. People in colorful cloaks bargained and laughed. Ash pulled his hood down, aware of his fine white robes among the worn wool. He asked a fish seller if she knew a red-haired boy from anywhere near. She shook her head and turned to another customer. They tried a woman selling rope, then a man mending nets. No one knew Ash. No one had seen anyone like him. Leila's shoulders sank. "There's got to be someone," she said. Ash felt the same cold worry he woke with in the forest. He did not belong here either. Then an old woman waved them over from a stall of hanging cloth. Her braids were gray. She wore a bright fringed cloak covered in patterns, and beads clicked on her wrists when she moved. She looked at Ash a long moment, not unkindly. "You've come far, and you don't know from where," she said. It was not a question. Ash froze. "How did you know?" "Your eyes," the old woman said. "They're looking for something they lost." She reached out and touched his freckled cheek with one wrinkled finger. "No one in this village will know your face, child. We're farmers and fishers. But there is one who reads what memory hides." Leila stepped closer. "Who?" "The Oracle," the elderwoman said. "She lives in the Royal City, past the far hills. If anyone can uncover what you've forgotten, it is her." She lowered her hand. "But listen well. The short road runs through the Dark Forest. You must not take it. Things wake in those trees that should stay sleeping. Go around, even though the way is longer." Ash's heart beat fast. For the first time, someone had pointed at a path. "How far around?" he asked. "Many days," she said. "Along the hills. Cold nights. But you'll live to reach the gates." She pressed a small dried fish into Leila's hand and closed her fingers over it. "Eat when the road is hard. Now go." They thanked her and left the square. Outside the village, Leila pulled out her map and traced the long curve around the shaded patch of forest. "It'll cost us a week, maybe more," she said. "But we have a place to go now," Ash said. He looked at the far hills, then back toward the dark line of trees they must avoid. A cure waited in the Royal City. He would reach it the long way, and stay out of the forest.