Chasing Legends
By: Shmeilia Rockie
Chapter Eleven
It all happened so fast. One moment Ambrose and Deegee were clearing out the debris around Ozma's statue, and the next moment the Princess had gone completely still, her posture snapped ramrod stiff. Her eyes glazed over and her face went ghostly pale. Ambrose froze in his tracks. "Deegee? Princess?"
She opened her mouth to speak, but the voice coming from within her was not her own. Barely even human, it reverberated around the grotto with a terrible echo. At first he had trouble even making out what she was saying. Then it hit him: she spoke a dialect of Ancient Tongue much older than the one with which he was familiar. Realizing the importance of this message, he pulled out a pen and the drawing Deegee gave him, balanced it on his knee, and began phonetically scribbling the words on the back of the parchment in the hopes that perhaps Tutor would know their meaning. When the last word left her lips, Deegee swayed dangerously and collapsed, unconscious. He just barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground.
Scooping her into his arms, he dashed through the forest toward the carriage as fast as he dared. As soon as he reached the clearing he called to the driver to help him with the door. "The Princess is ill. We must get her to Central City quickly."
She groaned and clutched desperately at his coat lapels as he climbed aboard, "Ambrose..."
"Shh, Deegee. I'm here." He lowered her onto the seat as the coach began bouncing jerkily along the Old Road. He undid his coat and rolled it up to lay under her head. "I'm not going anywhere, okay?"
Her eyes fluttered rapidly beneath her eyelids, making him wonder if she were asleep. Groaning again, she felt around blindly. "Ambrose, where are you? Hold my hand."
He did so, and without thinking he placed a kiss on the tips of her fingers. "What happened, Princess? Tell me what's wrong."
"Everything's spinning, it won't stop." She squeezed her eyes tightly and tried to sit up. "I think I'm going to be sick!"
"Relax, just lay back and take some deep breaths." Ambrose gently pushed her back down onto the seat and brushed the hair away from her face and neck. Her skin was feverish to the touch. "We're taking you to Central City Hospital. Do you think you can hold on that long?"
"N-no! Stop the carriage!"
He banged on the roof and yelled for the driver to stop the horses. Deegee threw the door open and vomited violently into the weeds at the side of the road. Ambrose held back her hair as she threw up. "That's better," she said when she was finished and leaned against a nearby tree. She still looked horribly unwell.
Ambrose rubbed her back and tilted his head, listening to a sound coming from the woods. "I think I hear a stream nearby. If you'll excuse me for just a moment I'll get you a cool drink."
She wiped at her mouth with the back of her shirtsleeve. "Okay, just be careful."
As he popped back into the coach to grab the canteen he heard her give up more of the remains her breakfast. He made haste to the stream and held the bottle under the rushing water, willing it with all his might to fill up quickly. At least he'd installed it with a filter, he mused impatiently, so whatever was in the water wouldn't make her even sicker than she already was. When he returned he found her leaning her forehead against the cool metal shell of the cab. He touched her arm to alert her to his presence. "Here, have a drink, but don't gulp it all down at once."
"Thanks." She smiled shamefully as she accepted the bottle. She took a swished some of the water around in her mouth before spitting it out in the dirt in a very unlady-like fashion. Only after repeating the action two more times did she actually drink some. "At least the world's stopped spinning. I can actually think now. What happened?"
"I was hoping you could tell me."
Deegee took another drink and squinted off down the road as if the answer lurked just around the bend. Her answer came slowly from the depths of her mind, like a half-remembered dream. "Everything went black and white... I saw a girl in a green dress out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked she was gone. Then I heard a voice that said, 'Find me, free me. Go to the west'. After that everything started spinning and I passed out. Do you know what it all means?"
Ambrose bit his lip thoughtfully. "Honestly? No. But look at this." He uncrumpled the parchment and showed it to her. "I'm sorry about the drawing, but it was the only paper on hand at the time."
"That's okay, I understand. It wasn't a masterpiece anyway." She frowned at the nearly illegible writing. "What's that?"
"You spoke these words just before you fainted. It's a dialect of Ancient Tongue I'm not very familiar with; I did my studies in what's considered to be classical Ancient Tongue, and this is an older variation known as Baumine. I do recognize this word, which means 'brotherhood' or 'sect'. Unfortunately, that's all I could make out, and even that could be wrong for all I know."
"Perhaps Tutor would know."
He smiled half-heartedly before putting the drawing away in his breast pocket again. "That's what I'm hoping. Are you feeling better?"
"A little, thanks." She took one last sip of water and handed the bottle back to him.
"Well enough to travel?"
Deegee winced at the prospect, but nodded anyway. She turned to the silent driver. "Could you go slowly, please?"
He inclined his head in acknowledgement from his perch above the cab. Deegee and Ambrose climbed in, and the company moved along at a quick but steadier pace. Ambrose eyed her from the opposite seat as she attempted to find a comfortable resting position. "I still want to take you to Central City for an examination, or else your mother might flay me like a munchkin."
This phrase was not one he recalled ever having used before. It came with a memory of hijacking a wagon from a sleazy jerk so he, Deegee, Cain, and Raw could sneak into Central City. He blinked, suddenly recalling very vividly how he'd shielded Deegee from prying eyes with the tattered remains of his coat.
The Princess recognized that look, it was one he hadn't worn in quite some time. She reached over and curled her fingers around his hand. "Remembering something?"
He blinked again, snapping out of his stupor. "How did you know?"
"I know you well enough that I can just tell." Deegee wanted to ask him about it, but figured he'd share when he was ready. Suddenly, her eyes felt incredibly heavy. Against her will, they fell slowly shut. Soon the sound of the wheels clattering on the uneven remains of the Old Road lulled her into an uneasy slumber.
Ambrose watched her sleep on his coat and went over the event again in his mind. He had no doubt that this had been a genuine divine encounter, not only because of her proclamation in Baumine, but because her eyes were now as green as fresh spring grass. Only one touched by Ozma herself acquired such a bright, unnatural color to their irises; Ozmaian high priests and priestesses exhibited the hue as long as they remained symbolically married to the goddess. It was, however, extremely rare for anyone outside the monasteries to be graced by her presence in such a direct way.
But then again, he'd always known Deegee was special.
