“Wait!” I shouted. ‘Idiot…’ I unintentionally hit myself in the forehead with the palm of my hand. Keigan stopped at least, which honestly surprised me, but he certainly didn't look happy about it. Shivers went down my spine when he turned around and I instinctively stepped back a bit behind Air. “If we go down the wrong path there could be a trap.” I continued, hoping he’d see my reasoning.

 

“There are no monsters out in the day…” He growled, “we told you that already..”.

‘Idiot…’ I thought again, pausing for a moment to make sure my feelings didn’t bleed into my words. “A prison trap, a pit trap, a spike trap, one that stops you from moving until the sun sets… If we all go down different paths we might survive but… You said it yourself, the sun's almost set already.”

 

“And whose fault is that!” He yelled.

I flinched again and looked down, then at Airsidh, then at the ground again. “I-I just meant that—” 

“Airsidh, go right. I'll go left. Siya, you better get your feet moving and go down the path in the center.”

 

“NO!” I yelled, screaming as loud as I could. Even if he was strong enough to survive heading down the wrong path, I wasn’t going to test my luck, and I didn’t want Air or Zu to have to either, not without at least trying to think it through first.

“What did you say?”

Instead of stepping back, this time I stepped to the side, using my brother as a human shield. “S-seventy four marks!” I yelled. 

“What?”

I tried to look him in the eye but I couldn't. Instead, I closed my eyes and shouted through the trembling. “HOW DO YOU THINK THEY ALL DIED!” Dead silence filled the room…“S-sure, some of them may have been ignorant and tried to camp overnight, or maybe they could have entered at the wrong time of day. But after the first few people died the story would have spread. You found out about the shadow beasts somehow, right? The rest of those deaths have to be from traps… Traps just like this one. People must have been looking for the fountain, gotten locked in place, and…” I paused imagining their gruesome end.  “Torn apart come nightfall...”

 

He growled. “Alright then oh wise one, which path do you think is right?”

 

“Just… give me a second to think.”

“AHHHHHH! We're wasting time! Airsidh!”

 

He shrugged. “Last time I followed you she almost died, might as well try it her way.”

 

Zu placed his hand on my shoulder. “Those symbols you see them right? Don’t they look like Characters from the Orc’s written language?”

 

I looked at them again, everyone’s curiosity peaked except for Keigan.

 

“What do they mean?” I asked.

 

“I don’t actually read Orcish, learning your language was hard enough.”

 

With a sigh, and realizing he had already lost, Keigan groaned loud enough that we could all hear. “I’m giving you three minutes, after that we stop this childish nonsense.” He grumbled, trying to maintain whatever authority he still had in the situation.

 

‘Childish…’ I almost started yelling at him again, but if we were working with a time limit that wouldn’t have helped either of us. I took a deep breath instead. “Do either of you read Orckish?” ‘I doubt it right…’

 

Airsidh pointed at the snake around the pole. “Orcish runes come from stories. The snake around the pole comes from a story of a great healer. It means healing, good health, and things of that nature.”

 

My jaw almost dropped. ‘No freaking way…’ He seemed like the kind of person who rarely had the motivation to get out of bed, much less learn another language. “Airsidh… YOU, know Orckish?”

 

My father turned, looking at it before walking in that direction. “Great, so healing, we're looking for the healing spring, it matches, let go.”

 

“Wait,” I said again, and again he stopped. ‘Childish…’

 

Airsidh ignored us completely, walking over to the other runes. “The book and quill come from the first Chronicler. He made a quill from a harpy feather, and the book from monster hide. That’s why they look like that.”

 

“Ok, what does it mean?” Before I even finished asking Keigan began tapping his foot, making me more anxious as well.

 

“It’s the symbol for knowledge, and wisdom that comes from stories and history.”

 

Once again, he took off. “Perfect, the knowledge and wisdom to make the right decision.”

 

“WOULD YOU HOLD ON A SECOND!” I shouted. There were no nerves this time, no shakiness, just a dull annoyance as he growled.

 

“Even if I choose the wrong path I can just carve through the rock till I end up on the right one!” He shouted.

 

‘Thats… absurd… Is that really how he did things when he was an adventurer?’ “No wonder mom said she had to save your life so many times…” ‘Maybe I should just let him kill himself.’

 

“Ok, that's it, Time’s up!” 

 

“I still have 56 seconds left!” I yelled back at him, stepping out from behind my brother.. Compared to the demon he was nothing. After you got used to his harsh voice he wasn’t so scary, even if he was over twice my height. “Air, what does the last one mean!”

 

As he looked at it and thought I counted the seconds.

 

‘52… 51…’

 

“It represents balance, I mean it’s a literal scale. The orcs use them to balance things and weigh them against each other. Of these three, the book makes the most sense, at least to me.”

 

The moment he finished his explanation I froze time. ‘Ok, I have all the information I need, now I just have to put it together.’

 

I looked over each symbol one more time. ‘Healing, balance, and knowledge. My brother’s right, at first glance having knowledge makes the most sense… But why do I feel like we're missing something?’

 

I stared at the book and quill. ‘Being informed helps you to make the best decision… But just because a decision is informed doesn’t actually mean that it’s careful. You could make a rash decision, even if you have all the facts.’

 

I turned my gaze back to the serpent. “We might be looking for the healing spring, but people seem to call it a divine spring more often, and Zu called it a “Nog,” I can’t think of anything that links that with the words Careful either… So, what about the center?’

 

I felt my head start to hurt, still not fully recovered from the last time I had used the skill. ‘A scale… A balance… It’s used to weigh things, but isn’t it also a metaphor? Weighing the odds for instance, or weighing the pros and cons of a decision, an act that in itself requires you to think carefully…’

 

Just as I began to lose my grip on time I let go completely. “It’s the center path!” I shouted. ‘At least… I really hope it is…’

 

My whole body ached as my manna felt like it had run wild. “The one in the middle, that’s the one we need to take…” I muttered, my breath starting to shake as I recovered.