“Our world is in danger of coming to an end. Your people will perish if this threat in the east is not destroyed. The Crimson King has been dormant for ages, yes, but no longer. He is amassing an army, preparing to finish what he started five centuries ago.” Denaeh took a breath, her head pounding from the wind and the aftereffects of her vision sharing with Dhuruhn. Yet, she pressed on, determined to make the stubborn king understand the magnitude of his decision to remain neutral. “Jahrra is the only solution I have foreseen, something I just verified through the Sacred Pine itself. If you are not there to help her and those allied with the Coalition, she will not succeed!”
The Mystic released a great breath, her anger dissipating and her voice softening just a little. The icy wind whipped her hair and her cloak around, making her look like a wild flame burning on the frozen mountain peak.
“Please,” she whispered. “We cannot fight this enemy on our own. He is too powerful, even in his deteriorated state. He has dragons bred for battle and thousands upon thousands of soldiers either willing to take up his banner and die for him or too afraid to do otherwise. If we do not stop him now, while there is still a chance to exploit his weaknesses, then he will grow stronger, and he will come to destroy you and all those who live in Felldreim.”
Dhuruhn gazed at her through narrow, frost blue eyes, his mind working and calculating, coming to some conclusion Denaeh could not guess, despite her skills at mind reading.
“Very well, Mystic, I will aid the girl and her dragon when the time to do so draws near, but only if you will tell me three Truths and three Lies.”
Denaeh froze, the color draining from her face and the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. It was a common custom shared between Mystics of the past, a practice that no longer took place in this desolate world where her kind were all but extinct. A custom only she and her Mystic sisters were supposed to know about.
“That is a practice reserved only for Mystics,” she said finally, her voice wary.
Dhuruhn bared his sizeable teeth in an expression that was more threatening than it was reassuring. “Yes, but here we are, beneath the bows of a Sacred Tree, and you are begging for my help.”
Denaeh pressed her molars together. “So, you stoop to using blackmail then?”
The Creecemind king smiled again, a smug grin that only proved his cunning and sometimes cruel nature.
“Only if I must,” he replied coldly.
Denaeh closed her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat. To swear to the Truths and Lies ritual under a Sacred Tree meant that she would have no choice but to tell the absolute truth. She could not offer any partial truths or omit information she wished to keep secret. For a brief second, Denaeh was tempted to refuse this dragon and beg Ethoes to encourage him to change his mind. But if the Creecemind dragons refused to help them take on Cierryon, then the allies of the Coalition, including Jaax and Jahrra, would surely perish. She would have to make this sacrifice in order to earn them the help they needed.
“Very well,” she breathed, clutching at the mountain side even harder, “I, the Mystic Archedenaeh, do hereby swear one Truth and one Lie about three questions you might ask, under the Sacred Pine of Ethoes.”
Denaeh made a strange gesture over her heart, the air around her fingers glowing orange before fading into the wind.
Dhuruhn sharpened his expression, then opened his mouth to speak. “I, Dhuruhn, king of the Creecemind and sovereign of the realm of Felldreim, do hereby swear to receive one Truth and one Lie for the three questions I am about to ask of the Mystic Archedenaeh, under the Sacred Pine of Ethoes.”
The king, too, made a similar gesture, and when the orange glow of the magical oath faded, he filled his lungs, then released the air in a stream of ice powder that dusted the sky like fine sugar.
He remained silent for nearly a minute, carefully considering his first question. Denaeh expected the dragon to ask her about the last vision she’d had before severing the connection, but to her surprise, he set aside his own personal curiosity and focused instead on those questions that might help his people.
“My first question is, does the girl Jahrraneh Drisihn accomplish what the Oracles prophesied she would?”
Denaeh gave him a harsh look. “You witnessed my vision earlier, yet you waste your question on something you already know?”
Dhuruhn bared his teeth at her. “I saw a young blond woman standing before a menacing shadow. To assume it was the girl Jahrra fulfilling the prophecy would be foolish. I will have you tell me the Truth, and the Lie, now.”
Denaeh thought about her answer, then said, “I will tell you the Lie first: Jahrraneh Drisihn will kill the Crimson King.”
The king gritted his teeth, but said nothing.
“And now for the Truth: Jahrraneh Drisihn will sever the connection Ciarrohn has to this world.”
“You contradict yourself, Mystic,” Dhuruhn stated. “You are sworn under an oath!”
“And the magic sealing that oath prevents me from deterring from it!” Denaeh snapped back, the gusts tearing past the mountaintop snatching her words and scattering them on the wind. “You must listen carefully if you wish to gain your knowledge.”
“Very well,” Dhuruhn grumbled, “my second question, then. Tell me more about the dragon Raejaaxorix.”
Denaeh started. She had not expected that question.
“I have known him for many years, but I have never trusted him, and I have heard many whispers,” the Creecemind king continued. “I will know what is truth and what is false now.”
“What sort of whispers?” Denaeh asked, her tone hard and demanding.
Dhuruhn sneered. “Ahhh, but I never promised to answer any of your questions, so if you would, please, who is this Tanaan dragon?”
Denaeh’s foot slipped, and she shot her hand out, taking hold of one of the stray roots from the Sacred Pine. Once she’d regained her composure, she said, “Here is my Lie: the dragon Raejaaxorix has no real reason to aid Jahrra in her quest. And my Truth: the dragon Raejaaxorix has no family remaining in this world.”
Dhuruhn glared at her and spat, “That is conveniently vague! Do you play games with all who encounter you?”
Denaeh glowered right back. “You are the one who wished to participate in the ceremony of Truth and Lies! All that is required of me is to give you one Truth and one Lie based on your questions. It is a gamble, and you knew that before swearing the oath. Do not complain when it does not go your way.”
The Mystic readjusted her grip on the tree root and felt a tremor of warmth pulse through her. She looked up at the stunted, hardened Pine several feet above her and narrowed her eyes. That was strange.
When she returned her attention to the Creecemind king, she found his expression to be one of barely controlled anger. For a moment, she thought he might breathe a stream of ice down upon her and freeze her to the side of the mountain, but he closed his eyes and willed his temper to pass.
“So, his parentage cannot be traced,” Dhuruhn said with some irritation.
Denaeh considered the king of Nimbronia with narrowed eyes. What was it he wanted to know about the Tanaan dragon? Jaax was incredibly private and secretive, and if he didn’t want someone to know his business, they wouldn’t know it. And those he opened up to were loyal without a fault and would never betray him. She was one of those people, even though he had lost faith in her long ago. Denaeh’s heart sank just a little. Earning back the Tanaan dragon’s trust was one of several wrongs she was determined to right before the end. But at this moment, she needed to earn this dragon’s trust, and she feared she had only managed to anger him so far.