46 Keeper of Secrets
“I don’t get a word of that. Heaven knows what secret hides behind a memory.” Lilith frowned, a small storm cloud crossing her face.
The Little White Dragon tried again, tossing out a handful of her own tiny secrets like pebbles into a pond—old adventuring blunders, even her current measurements. The Keeper of Secrets gave the same answer every time: no.
Deflated, she let the wind go out of her sails. She looked up at the tall tree like looking up at a judge’s bench. How about this, she said softly, I’ll hand you a memory, and you promise to help me find Eliza and the others.
“Agreed.” The ancient forest answered like a temple bell struck in mist. A vine of clear crystal uncurled, cool as moonlight, and gently wrapped her slender right wrist.
“Give me a memory one minute and a half long. I will fulfill your request.” The crystal vine looped her wrist, then raised a single needle-like thorn that kissed her pale arm like ice.
Nerves fluttering, the Little White Dragon gulped, then nodded, a leaf trembling before the rain.
The vine pricked her skin. The white crystal slid into Lilith’s flesh; its smoky sheath flashed once like lightning behind cloud. She felt a spot deep within her mind get tapped, a stone dropped into a still well, and the faint wrongness made her knit her brows.
“Is it done?” Lilith arched a brow as the crystal vine writhed and slipping-snake quiet, burrowed back into the soft earth. The ancient tree seemed fed, glimmering with a gentle white glow like warm milk in a bowl. Seeing no more movement, the dragon girl hurried to ask.
“Payment received. I shall fulfill your request, noble child of the gods.” The old voice bowed as it spoke; every syllable made her picture a bent-backed elder, sleeves drooping, performing courtly bows like those cagey old sages in books.
While Lilith’s thoughts scattered like birds, the forest parted without a sound. Crystals twisted and rose like waking serpents; from the soft soil, slabs of hard crystal shouldered up. In that lush, pale wood, a sturdy crystal road appeared, arrow-straight into the forest’s heart.
“So they were inside the forest all along? Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Lilith looked at the opened path, half speechless, half amused. If she’d known Eliza and the rest were right in there, she wouldn’t have wrangled with the Keeper of Secrets so long. She would’ve hoisted the Shattered Ark and walked right in, instead of spilling so many embarrassing stories in front of Abaddon.
Thinking of that, Lilith shot a glare at the Demon girl hiding a laugh behind her hand. Abaddon turned her head away, sulky as a cat, hiding the grin crawling up her face. She’d just learned a trove of the Little White Dragon’s past blunders; remembering the one who pinned her down for a spanking actually had black history of her own made her backside sting a little less.
“I am obliged to keep a trader’s personal information confidential.” The old voice answered primly, a dry leaf turned by a careful hand. Lilith found that reasonable, so she didn’t argue.
“Hold on—so they traded with you too?” The Little White Dragon smacked her forehead. She strode along the crystal slabs and asked a roadside giant of a tree, “They all traded with you? For what?”
“You have no right to other traders’ information. Unless you’re making a new request.” The old voice shut the door like a gate of stone. Lilith stuck out her tongue. If it were her, she wouldn’t want anyone prying into her deal either. Still, damn it—curiosity nipped at her heels about what secrets the Vampires paid and what answers they got.
“You won’t tell me. Someone else will.” Lilith made a face at a crystal tree like a child teasing a statue, then quickened her pace, feet tapping the path into the forest’s lungs.
“W-wait for me!” Seeing the White Dragon suddenly speed up, Abaddon hurriedly summoned two locusts. She grabbed hold and rose, skimming through the forest air like a black leaf on wind. “You’re too fast!”
“There’s only one road. You won’t get lost. Don’t rush—your butt’s not healed yet.” The Little White Dragon shouted back without looking. “No need to hurry. I’m going on ahead!”
“I said—wait for me!”
Ignoring Abaddon’s wail like a distant horn, Lilith ran along the crystal road, arrowing toward the Vampires.
“Whew. Is this the place?” The Little White Dragon came to a nimble halt. The crystal paving ended under her toes, so the road’s end must mark the Vampire Princess and her retinue nearby. Curious, she craned her head like a sparrow, searching, but the pale grove showed no Vampire trace.
“Hm? You sure it’s here?” Lilith tapped the ground with the Astrolabe, a star knocking on a door. The whole grove was the Keeper of Secrets; tap anywhere and It would hear. No need to hunt for a crystal tree.
“It is here. I will summon them now.” The old voice rose from the soil like a local earth god speaking from the ground. A twisting vine lifted behind her, a white finger pointing toward a shrub of clustered crystals. Understanding, the Little White Dragon hugged her Astrolabe and walked over.
By the crystal thicket, she found a silver-haired girl, eyes closed, leaning against a dark-red crystal like a moonflower at rest.
“Eliza?” Lilith edged closer, voice soft as dew.
“Lilith?” The Princess opened her crimson eyes, clear as wine. She didn’t seem to have been asleep—just thinking with her eyes shut. Finding Lilith at her side didn’t startle her; she only tilted her head, curious as a fox. “Why are you here?”
“Long story. I met the master of this place. We’re in a temporary truce. What about you—what are you doing here? And where are the other Vampires?” Lilith sketched her tale like lines in sand. Eliza didn’t interrupt; she just listened, quiet as snow. When Lilith finished, she spoke.
“They’re all in the forest. I made a deal with this forest. We’re strategic partners now.”
“Strategic partners? How do you cooperate? And for what?” Lilith’s curiosity flared like a lantern wick. What were the Princess and this forest planning?
“Long story. If you really want to know…” Eliza let the moment hang, a pearl on a string. She lifted the crystal she’d been leaning on, a smile curving like a crescent moon.
“How about you watch it yourself?”
