The Prophecy of Life

Chapter 15

The next morning, I gave a massive stretch. The last time I'd slept had been only last night, but as maid to the princess who insisted on doing all most everything herself, I ended up napping for a lot of the day.
The early sun made everything golden. I gave a long, loud yawn.
"Still an Early riser? Impressive. You've practically been living in a fairy tale. surprised you still have an early alarm." Taeuna said.
I sighed. "Runaway habits die hard."
He laughed at that.
I went to go wake Derrick, giving him a shake and a kiss. He opened his eyes as I stared down at him. Our eyes were right up close though I was upside down, kneeling by his head.
"Wake up! We have to go."
He kept watching me.
"Derrick! Get up!"
He kept on.
"I will-"
He kissed me again. "Now I'm ready for the day." He got up and I moved my head out the way, blushing slightly. That was the Derrick I knew. Not the cold guard, stonelike and unbreakable. But the warm boy I fell in love with a year ago.
Taeuna woke up Elaina by shoving water in her mouth and she got up spluttering.
"Wha...Jam!" She coughed shooting up. When she saw me near Derrick, his arm around me, she seemed less worried. "Oh....just a dream."
Then she looked down at her body. She glared at Taeuna, who was grinning smugly.
"Not all a dream." He winked at her then became serious. "We need to plan our route. And we need the shortest and most dense route."
He emptied his sack and rope, a wineskin, a rotten apple, whiskey, and a map with a feather landed on the floor.
He picked up the feather and the map and rolled it out. Then he licked the tip of the feather and drew a line on his hand as if to test it. A line drew out.
"How-" Elaina started.
"This isn't my first trip to the Lost Land. Last time someone chased me in. This farmer I stole food from. I found this bird-a phoenix- took a feather lying on the floor by its best as a souvenir and left that place."
"And you didn't get caught by any witch?" Derrick asked, eyes narrowing. I pinched him slightly and gave him a we talked about this look. He sighed.
"Well no." Taeuna answered. "I stayed near the border. Just keeping to myself. When I made it back to the farm, I stole more crops though. No way he was sending me in there without me getting revenge. I stole half his farm."
"Anyway, Derrick and I will map. You two go and paint your nails or something." Taeuna said with an innocent look, but his eyes showed that he knew what he was doing.
"Thank you ever so much for doing all the work instead of us!" I said, rolling my eyes.
•••
It took them a full hour to finish. We were actually around quite close to the Lost Land. More close than I liked. Just a little more North, pass a tavern, pass the farm Taeuna stole from (which can't be good), and then we would be by the border.
"It'll take us a good 3 hours. Then we can rest for an hour an hour after the tavern." Taeuna packed his sack, tossed it over his shoulder. He whistled at his squirrel, who hurried up his arm, and onto his shoulder.
"We should start moving. We burned enough day light already." 
So we began moving. we hiked, Taeuna and Derrick ahead, and Elaina and I behind. The boys didn't like the 'weak females' as Taeuna called us even though he knew we were far from weak, I reminded them what we were capable of when I punched Taeuna in the stomach with enough force that he stumbled backward. He had grinned at me uneasily rubbing his stomach and said, "Actually, I think you guys are gonna be great."
So yeah.
I thought about how much of The Prophecy of Life had come to pass. I understood most of it-it was pretty dang obvious-but the fourth and fifth stanzas seemed to speak absolute rubbish. It was like someone who didn't understand English had tried to talk in it and mixes different words. It just didn't make sense. I thought about for some time though, as we kept hiking.

            Will the lion get his spark?

The lion could be the king. And the spark....the spark could be what caused his hatred and his vengeful spirit.

              Will the lion get his laugh?

In other words, maybe will he win.

      The spark shall choose.
Whether we shall win or whether we             shall lose.

Well that meant probably that if the King got his spark, he will let it or him choose our fate. That didn't make me happy.
At all.
Sighing at how my life suddenly turned out to be, I pulled out some more rum and sipped. No need to catch a cold.
"Are you thinking about the prophecy?" Elaina asked. Her spellbook, which I thought she had dropped, was opened in front of her, hovering in the air. She still had her eyes trained on the book, making me question my sanity. She snapped my fingers and a spark of light shot out of them. But as quickly as it came, it left.
"Curse all the damn-" she noticed me looking at her. "Don't tell my mum I said that. She'd-"
"Help!" We all rushed over and saw a peddler, his cart stuck in a bush. "Oh! Thank you! Please help me!"
Derrick rushed over and pushed the cart and it tumbles out, only to start sliding further downhill. We all watched as it hit a tree, overturned, and all the goods rolled in different directions. Elaina made way to go and help the peddler pick them up but Taeuna grabbed her arm in seconds. The look he gave her communicated all it needed too. I understood his reason for the threatening look. We were near the Lost Land. And besides that, if the peddler realized who Elaina was and went running, telling everyone of her, we were screwed.
"Oh, well there goes my goods." The peddler sighed and looked at Derrick patting him on the back. "Thank you though son."
"How'd you get lost here in the middle of nowhere....Sir." Taeuna said. At least he attempted being polite.
"Oh that is a tale!" The peddler sat on the forest floor. "It all began when I was in Ravensdusk. I was just mindin' my own b'isness when I 'ear that the King, Queen and half the kingdom is sick and the princess has disappeared! I run 'en back to good ol' Scots, terrified I'll get the Curse of Ravensdusk! By the time I reaches the border, three quarts have been infected, and only the East is safe and sound! Though by now, won't surprise me if the whole place is a wasteland. Looks like the King of Scots don't need war anymo'!" He coughed then and Derrick jumped back. The peddler moved his hand away from his mouth and, to everyone's horror, blood was on it.