Compass of the Nymphs (9 page)

He pulled out a long, gold plated compass on
a string of beads. The needle inside the compass’s housing appeared
to be crafted from a ruby, and it radiated the tiniest amount of
light. Zara handed it to Taisiya and let her look at it.

“I found this,” he said, “in a fake book. It
was actually a little lock box, and when you opened the cover to
it, this was inside. The title of the book was
The
Traveler’s Guide to Unseen Destinations
.”

Taisiya held the compass up in the light
skeptically. She wasn’t sure what was inside the ruby to make it
glow, but she was sure there was a logical explanation for it. “I
still don’t buy this.”

Zara sighed. “The needle doesn’t point
north,” he said. “I’m positive it points to Ethnymphai.”

Taisiya let out a laugh. “You’re positive?!
Okay then, what is this magical contraption doing in Solames of all
places.”

“I don’t think Adrasteia even realizes it
still exists,” Zara said. “She ordered that Ammon burn all of these
books, as a matter of fact. I’d say it belonged to her; she had a
vast collection of books in the castle. As years went on and she
grew more and more paranoid, she emptied her library and had the
books destroyed to assure herself no one would be able to stop
her.”

“Fine,” Taisiya muttered, “let’s pretend I
believe you. What’s your plan?”

Zara gave a relieved smile. “We’ll have Ammon
go in to town and purchase food and supplies for us, and tomorrow
we will sneak out of Solames. A few towns over there is a harbor;
we’ll take a boat and guide it to where Ethnymphai should be – the
compass I’m sure will be helpful. It shouldn’t be more than a
week’s voyage. We’ll take it from there once we arrive.”

“And what if these evil nymphs aren’t on our
side?” Taisiya asked.

“We’ll just have to take that chance,” Zara
shrugged.

Taisiya sighed. “So I’m running from one evil
nymph to a whole island of them. Great.”

Zara placed his arm on her shoulder
comfortingly. “I know it sounds bad,” he said. “I do have some
incentive for you to go, though. I didn’t want to have to tell you,
but since you’re not being that cooperative…”

He looked over at Ammon, who nodded grimly at
him. Zara took a deep breath. “The fire in the woods was set by the
queen. Your parents got out, but they couldn’t outrun the queen’s
guards. They’re back in the prison chambers, and Adrasteia has said
if no one in town captures you within a week, they will both
die.”

Taisiya’s mouth dropped. Ammon reached over
to comfort her as well. “It’s true,” he said sadly. “There are
patrolmen everywhere. I’m fearing that there will be raids
soon.”

Taisiya glanced away from both of the men and
tried to hold back her tears. Queen Adrasteia knew how much Taisiya
depended upon and loved her parents. So did Zara and Ammon…it
seemed like everyone was using this to their advantage against her.
She knew that Zara’s intentions were pure, though. She looked over
at Ammon. “Please, go get the supplies we’ll need.” Her voice was
all choked up.

With just a nod, Ammon got up and went to get
his coat. Zara gave Taisiya a warm embrace, and she let all of her
pent-up emotions free and cried on his shoulder. As quickly as she
could, she got herself together. She hated crying more than
anything. She dried her eyes and picked up the compass.

“Get the books and everything ready. We have
to leave as soon as possible. Didn’t you say the journey to that
island could take a week alone? What about getting back?” Taisiya
had shed any fear or sorrow aside. She was now on a mission.

“We’ll be cutting it close,” Zara admitted. A
lot will depend on how fast a boat we can get on such short notice.
There’s just something in my heart that tells me this compass will
make sure we get there safely. If luck is on our side, and it has
been, we will get there and back in time.”

Taisiya stood up and walked over to the piles
of books. She began looking at all of them. “Get over here and tell
me which ones I should be reading first. While you and Ammon get
things ready for us to leave, I want to learn as much as I
can.”

“Great idea,” Zara said, coming over to join
her. “I doubt we’ll be able to carry all these books with our
supplies anyway. Start with this one.” He reached over and picked
up a worn red book. “I wasn’t able to read much about the powers
the nymphs have been using for centuries. If even one of us has a
little background information on it, it could save our lives on the
island.”

Taisiya nodded and took the book. While Zara
started picking and choosing the most important books to bring with
them, she went back to the couch and began to read. All of the
knowledge she had on nymphs, she had learned just moments ago, and
it was hard for her to fully grasp everything in the book.

It seemed like nymphs weren’t that much
different from regular people. They just had an innate unity with
the elements and could use it to their advantage. Nymphs didn’t
have magic wands or snakes coming out of their heads; they were
more like scientists. One example in the book was a lesson on how
to control the air surrounding you. With just a few hand gestures
and thoughts, a nymph could easily manipulate the air to create a
wind gust or protective fan around her.

All of the lessons in the book were extremely
simple and light. Queen Adrasteia must have studied out of a much
darker text. Taisiya read and studied the lessons over and over and
tried them out, but she could never successfully complete one.

Zara looked over and saw her waving her arms
about and muttering under her breath. He gave a little guffaw,
“How’s it going?”

“Useless,” she whined and shut the book. “Got
anything better to read?”

Zara quickly surveyed the pile of books he
had set aside for them to bring along on their journey. “I’ve
gotten a good grasp of most of them,” he pondered. “Besides, it
strikes me that you’d probably rather be fighting and using your
combat skills than reading books.”

Taisiya gave him a pained glare, “What’s that
supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” was the reply. “I just love
reading and studying, and it seems like you don’t care for it.”

“It’s okay,” she said back, “but be my guest
to do it yourself.” Taisiya tossed the old red book over to
Zara.

“The pleasure is all mine,” he said proudly.
“I’m sure I’ll enjoy it more and get it done more quickly than you
anyway.”

Taisiya got up and helped herself to Ammon’s
kitchen. “Just tell me the important stuff, okay?” she asked with
her head in the cupboard.

“Of course,” Zara nodded. He picked up the
book he had been reading last and laid down on the couch picking up
where he had left off.

Shortly after Taisiya had eaten and Zara had
become engrossed in his book, Ammon made his way back down the
staircase with bags and bags of supplies. Taisiya ran over to help
him, and Zara joined her after he could tear himself away from the
page he was reading. Ammon sat some of the bags down on the floor
and gave a weary sigh. “I hope I got enough!”

“I should say so!” Taisiya and Zara said in
unison. They both knelt down to look at what was inside the
bags.

Ammon had not a care in the world when it
came to budgeting apparently; he had bought both Taisiya and Zara
beautiful new clothes. There were outfits for all types of weather.
They took out the clothes and held them up to the light for a
better look.

Zara had an astonishing green robe with gold
lining. The inside was lined with hidden pockets to store weapons
or food without anyone noticing. Zara was so astounded by its
beauty that he put it on right away and was delighted to see it fit
him like a glove.

Ammon had also gotten Zara a white outfit
similar to the one he was already wearing, some armor, a variety of
beautiful tunics with matching cloaks, and a couple pairs of boots
and sandals. Zara was overwhelmed and gave Ammon a big hug while
Taisiya looked over her new apparel.

Like Zara, she had a similar robe in a muted
yellow with green lining. As grateful as she was, Taisiya couldn’t
help but be a little bit jealous – the green in Zara’s robe would
camouflage him much better in the forest than her yellow would.
Nonetheless, she put it on, and looked at her own set of armor that
wasn’t too shabby.

Ammon had gotten Taisiya tunics and cloaks as
well, but the bright colors were a bit too girly for her taste. The
rugged boots were perfect, however, and the sandals weren’t too bad
either. “Thank you very much,” she said politely, nodding
gratefully at Ammon.

A couple of the other bags contained an array
of food and drink. Ammon definitely had made sure that neither Zara
nor Taisiya would go hungry on the journey to Ethnymphai or on
their return.

“I trust that this should keep you all well
satiated on your voyages,” Ammon said with a smile. “Feel free to
bring some back, though.”

Zara went over to help Ammon steady the bags
on the table. “How can we repay you?”

Ammon furrowed his brow as if he were in deep
thought before simply saying, “Just kill the queen, and don’t worry
about it.”

“Trust me, that will not be a problem,”
Taisiya replied.

Once all the goods were safely stowed away,
Zara went back to his reading while Taisiya tried on her armor and
chatted with Ammon. During his visit to town, Ammon had also
stopped by the potion shop and seen Tomas. “These,” Ammon said,
reaching deep into his pocket and pulling out a couple small vials,
“are a gift from Tomas. He wishes you Godspeed.”

Taisiya took the two bottles and looked over
their labels carefully. One of the vials was a healing salve that
would come in handy if there were any battles and the other, a very
small yellow ampoule, was simply labeled ‘LIGHT.’ “Do you know what
this one does?” Taisiya asked.

Ammon shook his head and Zara looked up from
his book before furrowing his brow. “I don’t remember seeing that
for sale in his shop,” he said.

“It must be special then. I’m sure the gods
themselves will make it apparent when a potion like that will be
useful,” Ammon said, giving an uncertain smile.

The recent discovery of elements like Light
being thrown around by nymphs and bottled up by potion makers was
beginning to make Taisiya’s head spin. She went over and sat down
on a couch across from the one on which Zara was relaxing. A
thought popped into her head, and she blurted it out before
realizing it was only going to make her headache worse.

“What happened in that schism? You said that
the bad nymphs stayed on the island but what happened to the good
nymphs?”

Zara was startled by the question. “Honestly,
I have no clue. I suppose if they left Ethnymphai…they could be
anywhere. However, I do know that the magic that is in the nymphs
burns like a fire deep within them. The reason the good nymphs were
banished is because, while their intentions are pure, they are for
the most part, very weak. They don’t need to be very powerful to do
what they wish, so their ‘fire’ doesn’t burn as bright.”

Taisiya nodded, almost feeling as if she
understood all that Zara was saying. He continued, “This innate
fire is passed on from the nymph to her offspring. In a text I was
reading, nymphs themselves even hypothesized that ‘bad’ nymphs
create even more wicked children as their passion burns stronger,
and ‘good’ nymphs will have children less skilled at their
abilities. For all we know, the nymphs that use their powers for
good could have died out centuries ago.”

Taisiya frowned, “I suppose that means we
won’t be visiting any good nymphs for some help along the way,
then.”

“Afraid not,” Zara said. He turned the page
in his book and went back to studying.

Ammon chimed in from a couple bookshelves
over. “Anything is possible!” He made his way back to the lounging
couple. “Now, when will you be setting off?”

Taisiya got up impatiently. “I’m ready
now.”

Zara’s eyes widened. “Oh, let’s stay just a
bit longer. I’m learning so much.”

“You will have time to read during the week
we spend sitting on a boat doing nothing!” Taisiya said. She threw
her hands up in exasperation and went off to mill around the
kitchen, anxiously gnawing on a piece of bread.

Ammon bit his lip, not wanting to get in the
middle of this argument. “Erm… regardless,” he said, “whenever you
shall set out, I will need to make sure you’re properly disguised.
There are sentinels every few paces out there.”

He pulled up a chair and motioned for Taisiya
to come and sit. She hurried over, eager to get started and out of
the underground library. Ammon helped her into her new tunic and
then she sat down and let him get to work on disguising her.

Ammon explained that he was very good friends
with Antonia, one of the merchants up above. The wealthy women in
town would go to her shop to feel pampered and beautiful. Antonia
used different minerals and plants, even dirt and mud, to cleanse
skin and hair.

Another one of Antonia’s specialties was her
ability to drastically change the women’s facial features. She had
explained to Ammon numerous times how creating shadows and
highlights on a face could make anyone look different. Now, Ammon
was going to put all of her boring stories to good use.

His visit to her salon had proved useful, and
Antonia was sympathetic to Taisiya and Zara’s cause. She had given
Ammon a generous supply of the finest powders, minerals and brushes
to heavily disguise the two on their upcoming escape through
town.

Ammon pulled Taisiya’s hair up and out of her
face, tying it in a little bun. “Not to sound harsh,” he said, “but
you’re always a girl on the go. Your hair’s always in your face…I
doubt any of the guards up there even have a proper idea of what
your bone structure looks like.”