Later on...continued...

Frankly I did not know what to expect, though I had met several people – oth in praise and in doubt – of the oracle’s powers. By this point, I had nearly exhausted every other resource I knew of, and I could not afford to doubt. Doubt I did, however, when I approached the large mouth of the cave, hidden away in a small forest. There was nothing secretive or sacred about it, for that matter. I had encountered wooden plaques on trees all the way along pointing to the direction of the “Great Oracle of Santis,” and when I arrived I was surprised (though, people being people, I should have expected it) to find two merchants just outside the ‘sacred perimeter.’ They appeared to be very much in competetition with one another, for as soon as I appeared they broke from a half-polite stony silence to begin a tirade I predicted was very practiced but seldom used.

“Sir! You look like a fine young connoisseur – “

“ – Came to the right place; that oracle has – “

“ – slow business, but if you step a bit closer – “

“ – can enhance your experience here, guaranteed – “

“ – Nobdy goes in there without this magic crystal – “

I held up my hands to stop them, and waited for several more minutes while they squabbled with me. I did not ansquer until they were silent. “I have no money,” I lied.

“Gods be damned, Olrich, you can’t give the lad some space?” The rapidity with which they turned on each other was absolutely startling. The man’s face was positively red with indignation.

“Me? I could tell he wasn’t the sort, it was you who started it!” The taller, older man had creases of frustration in his brow.

“You scared him off, is what you did!” By this time I had walked calmly past them, annoyed. I had not come here to be goaded by salesmen.

“Well, I bet he has better things to do than listen to a pompous, over-indulgent – “ he said pointedly at the rotund man’s belly – “part-time tinker!”

I stopped listenening when the ill-mannered cursing began, my attention drawn to the cave proper instead. Everything else, including the gentle hum of wind in the trees, the throbbing of the earth’s heart, became background noise. Though the forest itself wasn’t exactly bright, the great gaping mouth stood out blackly as if I’d been lingering in broad daylight. It wanted to eat me, I was certain. It hadn’t eaten in some time and it was ravenously hungry. Part of me wanted to turn back, if only to deny it the satisfaction of the especially satisfying meal my body could afford. I came to my senses of course, as one often does when in that brief state of revolting insanity, and stepped forward. My arrogance did me no good in the face of an inanimate object, as much a part of the Earth as the molten heart itself.

I registered the sharp, bitter smell of oil before I recognized the tangible dampness and pervading sense of intense secrecy, as if stepping into the cave had bound me to a pact in my own blood. Whether it was a spiritual place, or merely had a carefully theatrical air of it, I could not yet tell. My boots made a soft plunking noise in the uneven footing, and I my mouth was open to grumble over the inconvenience before I closed it, feeling as though I would be breaking some unspoken law if I did so.

“Enter at risk of your life.” A deep, booming voice echoed across, back and forth between the walls. It was meant to be intimidating. I crept carefully forward, looking around for the source of the voice. “You do not know what you seek. Turn back.”

I snorted, though m y eyes still shifted around in the darkness, which I found was dimly lit by a single, boxy lamp. The glass on it was cast at an odd bluish tint. “I’m not leaving. I came a thousand leagues to see you.”

“You made a mistake. The Oracle of Santis cast you out!” This last was finished with a shout, and the blue flame flickered ominously.

I stopped, my feet rooted to the floor. A slight doubt wound around my mind but I shook it off. How could word have spread about this oracle if everyone turned away at his casting them out? Determined, I walked forward at a slightly slower pace. Silence, broken only by my trepid feet and a steady but unplacable, dreary dripping reigned. I thought perhaps the oracle, if that entity belonged to the voice that had so determinedly ‘cast me out,’ had forgotten me, or left. More likely, if the mad had any talent at all, he’d discovered my duplicitous/dangerous identy and ran. I wouldn’t be surprised. It had happened before and it would happen again. I would, however, thoroughly ensure my quarry was gone before giving up. I had walked for far too far to be greeted with terrified silence.

“My name is Shaejen.” My voice added to the dreary dripping, a resonant sound I had come to find comfort in, no matter how arrogant that might seem. I had often found my voice to be far more reliable than the voice of any other. “I’ve come to seek guidance and truth. I want to speak with the gods.”

I heard a sound that couldn’t be anything other than a laugh. “You want to talk to the gods, do you?! What if the gods want knowing to do with you! They’ve given up on you. Go home, boy!”

I stopped, clenching a fist at my side. If there was anything I hated it was being mistaken for a boy. I had given away childish notions, any childhood I might have had, to a man named Grayan long ago. “I know the gods exist, and I heard you can speak with them. I’m not leaving until I get answers.”

A bright flash of light could b e seen at the far end of the broken section of tunnel I had fallen into. Fire. It ran toward me along the floor of the tunnel in a bright burst, and I barely had time to leap aside into a tiny alcove for risk of setting my feet and trousers alight.

I was furious. Was this madman trying to kill me? With a short roar, I shouted, “How dare you! I come to you seeking help and you try to roast me alive?”

“Are you going to leave yet?” My frustration and indignation was nearly boiling over. I heard amusement in his voice and I hated him.

“No!” I listened to the sound of my voice echoing back and forth, playing a cruel taunting game, each repeat mocking its owner. I did not know how long I stood there, trembling, my hot breath starting to show itself against the ephemeral blackness. Finally, I saw a dim silhouette against the one blue light which had become my beacon of guttering hope.

“Come.” It was the same voice, and I could do nothing but follow. Even if it meant my death, my feet moved toward him. I felt as though I had been in this hellish cave my entire life and it was time for that to end. Forward, as though I was still and the tunnels moved and shifted around me, I walked, and soon the little blue light disappeared as we rounded a corner. Always I saw the hem of the oracle’s robe, just lighter than the utter blackness of the cave, disappear just around the corner of the next dripping wall. If not for that brief flash of fabric I would have been lost. We started winding down, not down stairs but down a rocky decline, and at certain points I had to grasp onto sharp formations jutting from the wall to maintain my balance. The hike up this thing must have been exhausting, especially for an old man such as the oracle, as I presumed him to be. I smiled vaguely at the thought of him making this walk every time some idiot stumbled into his cave seeking guidance.

Eventually the tunnel opened up into a large cavern, lit everywhere with those same blue box lights hanging from the craggy walls. The air was cleaner here, without the oil on the ground and without that disgusting musky scent, or most of it anyway. There were even curtains draping from the ceiling, which was nearly sky, high above. Long, draping curtains that barely fluttered with whatever wind was in the cavern, curtains of every color. Dark blue, mauve, amber…it was like walking into a traveling circus built for children. I wrinkled my nose, and almost preferred the darkness to this garish display.

But the oracle was there. He was standing, there in a light gray robe lined in a shimmery blue, a pendant of opal and jade hanging down and nearly tangling in his long downy beard. It was as though he had been ripped straight from a stereotypical Lasagn play, just after meeting the brave hero and telling him to trust in his heart. I snorted, a derisive smile playing over my lips as he waved his arms about theatrically, making the flames flicker. “Welcome, my son, to the Oracle’s Cav – Is something funny?” He narrowed his eyes at me down his long nose.

I glanced at him, folding my arms in front of my chest. “No, but you’re not at all what I expected.” I let my frustration creep into my voice, hoping to startle him. I didn’t really plan on spending the entire day here.

“No, I’m better than what you expected,” he informed me sternly, trying to show he could not be intimidated. “Come here. If it is the gods you wish to speak to, I will connect you with them. How heavy is your purse?” He took my wrist and led me amidst the curtains, even as I resisted. There was an elaborate couch across from an intricately carved chair.

“Excuse me?” The first thing he asked was how much money I had? Perhaps I had been wrong, so wrong to come here. The man was a fool and a charlatan, and that was not a healthy mix.

He seemed to hear the indignance in my voice, and waved a hand quickly. “Never you mind, never you mind. Clearly you wish your connection to the gods more than anything, and I will grant it you. Now – “ He held my palm out flat and waved his hand over it. I rolled my eyes and sat back against the couch.

“Your name, my son,” he said, tossing his head back with his eyes closed. The gesture was so false I didn’t know whether to roar at him or laugh.

Instead I answered. “Shaejen. You might have heard of me, old man, but if you haven’t you should know I’m no one to be trifled with. Can you connect me to the gods or not?”

The man stared at me, his aging eyes growing rounder. He let go of my hand. Wise man. He wrapped his hand in his other, wringing them. I stared at him, my chin jutted out stubbornly.