Hello? Anyone still here? Echooo echoo lol i wont bore any of you with my excuses as to why i haven't updated, i just had an intense case of writers block and only just now at 1 in the morning while i was reading through some old reviews from a few years ago (fricking crazy that this story has even been up that long) did it spark something for me. So while this chapter is far from perfect and likely won't make any sense to anyone since it's been forever since they read this story, I hope you guys enjoy it and also know how much your words of encouragement mean to me.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own bleach or it's characters
I found that training in the cold helped heighten my senses. Awakening some primitive part buried deep within. And through the harsh wind and the soft snow fall- my skin was slick with sweat.
Brandt and I had set ourselves up in the main entrance of the palace, littered around us were broken bits of arrows and a few drops of blood dripping from clenched fists. The taste of salt filled my mouth and coated my teeth. Though after the few days of pretty dresses and chins held high it was a welcomed sensation.
He charged towards me, and I dodged his fist, reaching past it to lock his head under my arm. I hauled myself up as he stood straight, lifting me clear off the ground. I threw a few jabs up into his undefended face, then slammed my elbow down into the crown of his skull.
He growled, before throwing us both down to the ground. The full impact of his weight collided with my chest and stomach cleaving out any breath I'd managed to gasp in. Not giving me any time to recover, he swung wide to connect with my ribs as he pinned me.
I swallowed down the pain, focusing instead on the redhot adrenaline that sent my skin buzzing.
Wedging my legs between us, I kicked him off, and he flew to his feet, before I knocked them back out from under him. He had not risen completely, but I was already up- sending a kick up into his jaw. He dropped like a brick- but I didn't hesitate to pin him with a knee between his shoulder blades- quickly hooking my arm around his neck, squeezing until I could feel the lump in his throat thrash as his lungs dried out.
"Yield," I snarled, upon seeing the veins protruding from his neck; looking near ready to burst. "Yield!"
Brandt's breath sputtered. Still, I didn't loosen my grip and he knew I would let him pass out. I'd hold him there in the snow until-
He tapped twice against my leg at his side, and I released him. Dropping off his back to lay in the soothing snow, chest heaving.
A clap started near the open doors leading into warm candle light. Barely finding the strength I lifted my head to observe Lady Florence as she smiled, "A barbaric-yet somehow beautiful dance."
Her son groaned as he heaved himself up, "I don't know if I should be embarrassed or proud that I lasted as long as I did."
"You nearly had me," I offered.
"Don't patronize me,"
I wiped the blood from my lip with my sleeve, as Garth stood from his perch near the far wall. "My turn,"
"Allow her to catch her breath," Lady Florence scolded him as he bounced from toe to toe.
"She's fine, Mother. Right, Little Golden Princess?"
The mocking was laughable but sent an unexpected twinge along my ribs. I stood slowly, back cracking into place. "Of course. Besides, Garth needs all the advantage he can get."
Lady Florence conceded with a small shrug, as another of her sons charged toward me, and our barbaric, yet beautiful dance, turned even more bloody.
"Where is Cuyler?" I asked. Garth shrugged past the snow he held against his lip, the white turning to pink under the flowing blood.
"He's rarely here during the day, usually off doing Fathers bidding."
"Or bedding the tavern waitress," Brandt added.
"Yes, or that."
I nodded, half mindedly. I had seen less of him in the North than I had in the capitol. There was a few nights I thought I'd seen a shadow in the shape of him down the hall from my rooms, but then with the next flicker of candlelight it was gone.
"What do you two usually do then?" I ask them on our way down the cobblestone steps, the village growing darker below as the sun dipped behind the mountains. "When you aren't being beaten by little golden princesses, of course," They shared a look and a devilish glint passed between them before they both turned to stare back at me.
"So tell us, Heir," Garth said with a dark smile, "Do you believe in Oracles?"
I scoffed, "Only as much as goblins and ghouls."
"Don't let the trees hear you say that." Brandt broke in, glancing around us, "They are the ears of Oracles. They say when the wind whistles through dead winter leaves it's the whispering of secrets only oracles can hear,"
I sensed neither truly believed it, and why would they? When real witches roamed our world, when their magic of prediction extracts such a terrible price, why would we ever believe a human woman would be given such things for free.
Though, I had asked for something to do, and it seems like a fun enough thing to do in the middle of winter that doesn't involve shoving your head in the snow.
The brothers led me for roughly 10 minutes into the hollow of the mountains ridge into forests of oaks likely older than our family names. Light was nearly gone completely when we broke free of the tree line.
There was nothing to see but a subtle hut centered in a snowy meadow, with crystals hanging from the canopy of its small doorway.
Brandt and Garth did not hesitate an inch, but I paused, surveying the trees. Too dark now to notice anything hidden within the shadows, too deep to possible guess how many enemies could be lurking within them.
They were already halfway to the hut before I started my way towards it, my boots crunching over snow, loud and obvious. It gave me a small sense of comfort.
Heat blasted across my face as I entered, the two men right behind me. An open fire, flickering in the center of the small space, a stand filled with books and vials, a table set for one, and pelts laid on the floor near the fire were the only decor.
And of course the elderly woman , with red hair mingled with grey, pouring herself a cup of what I could only hope was tea. She did not look up before saying, "Back again, Northern Princes?" She wandered over to her table, slower than needed. A part being played.
"We've brought someone new for you, Pollux." Garth said.
"Fresh meat," Brandt added,
The Oracle sat herself at her table, her tea steaming up against her chin, and motioned us forward. I'm not sure which of them put a hand on my back to urge me onward, regardless I stepped out of it and sat myself before the woman.
I expected some sort of recognition to enter the woman's eyes when she took in my face, but nothing but a vague, barely there interest shined behind her gray eyes.
She reached out a hand, and I hesitated before moving. Debating for just a moment if I even wanted to hear her attempts at proficy, before I lifted my hand from my lap and laid it in her wrinkled palm.
No stench of death, no slithering over my skin- all good signs.
She just looked over the lines of my hands, at times shifting my fingers to get a better look. A few beads of sweat began to sink down my neck from the fire, I shifted slightly away from the searing heat.
"You are a long way from home," she said, looking up from my hand at last.
"Yes,"
Pollux studied the ridge of my jaw, then my eyes, her face turned solemn, "They took your eyes from you," I shook my head, not understanding. She did not stop to clarify, her gaze back on my palm.
I glanced over my shoulder at Brandt, he gave a shrug.
"This here," Pollux said, her finger tracing a line on my skin, "You are promised to a man- no, a boy not yet a man. I see three children- two boys and a girl born dead," My heart seized in my chest. "But then here," she sliced the line with the tip of her finger, "The path ends, abruptly. Just short enough to perhaps never happen at all."
"Why?" I asked, despite myself.
Pollux shook her head, "Could be anything; a shift in the wind, a wrong turn on a familiar road, a chance encounter. The lines of life are winding, and easily led astray."
I held my breath as she looked again, trying to will myself back to cynical skepticism.
"Many of your life paths have been muddled by these-" she stroked a raised callous, "It seems they have changed many courses, while completely halting others. Ah- here, the path rebuilds; A man of iron, of salt and debris,"
"The same man?" Garth spoke from my left, confused.
The woman looked at him, having seemed to have forgotten he was in the room, as I had. "The lines give me no names, no faces, I only decode their messages and hope she can do the rest."
"Is there anything else?" I asked, bringing her attention back to me.
"Conflict."
I nod, "The war,"
"No," Pollux argued, "Thorns of gold, wrapping and entwining around slender wrists. Forming beautiful shackles. I see it there," she points to the door, to the world beyond. Then she shifted her finger to the center of my chest, "and here."
She would of had to rip open my chest to have made it any clearer to everyone in the room.
"You are to play a part, in what I can't quite see, the shattering of steel, skin stained red, rivers of fire, but at the end of it all- peace."
Pollux leaned back in her chair, "That is all I can make out, considering," she waived a hand at my out stretched palm, at the mangled skin stretched over it.
"I think you've said plenty," I said as I too slumped back, not ready yet to stand.
She studied me for a moment, taking in the lines of my face, "There is something else," I raised a brow, "Not something I could see, but I feel it, lingering around you; a rotten apple swelling inside a sheltered mind, leading and winding a path too scary to travel willingly. Do it mean anything to you?"
I thought on it, "No. I mean, I don't think so,"
Pollux merely shrugged and sipped her tea, the boys said their thanks, and I heard a clatter of coin, and then a sharp cold against my spine as they opened the door to leave.
I nodded in thanks as I stood, but paused before moving away, "Did you know who I was right when you saw me?"
The Oracle brought her tea to her lips, effectively blocking my view but I was sure I saw a shadow of a smile on her lips before she said, "I knew who you were while you lingered at the tree line."
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Thank you so much for reading!
Let me know how you feel about this, so i can know its absolutely trash haha
till next time—