Chapter Forty-Eight
The Unmarked: Book One
Table of Contents:
[Prologue] [Ch.1] [Ch.2] [Ch.3] [Ch.4] [Ch.5] [Ch.6] [Ch.7] [Ch.8] [Ch.9] [Ch.10] [Ch.11] [Ch.12] [Ch.13] [Ch.14] [Ch.15] [Ch.16] [Ch.17] [Ch.18] [Ch.19] [Ch.20] [Ch. 21] [Ch.22] [Ch.23] [Ch.24] [Ch.25] [Ch.26] [Ch.27] [Ch.28] [Ch.29] [Ch.30] [Ch.31] [Ch.32] [Ch.33] [Ch.34] [Ch.35] [Ch.36] [Ch.36] [Ch.37] [Ch.38] [Ch.39] [Ch.40] [Ch.41] [Ch.42] [Ch.43] [Ch.44] [Ch. 45] [Ch. 46] [Ch.47]
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Dawn & Scarlet.
It seemed like an opportunity had presented itself.
The night was ablaze. The surrounding trees were now smoldering torches. Some people shouted and others screamed. Amidst the chaos, Dawn was ignored by the soldiers. She hoped she wouldn’t be mistaken as an enemy by those who were attacking the camp.
She searched for the imposters, but they were hidden. The only evidence of their presence were the flying arrows immerging from phantom places, and the fires that were quickly spreading. She watched as a tent burst into spontaneous combustion. Dawn furrowed her brows. Tents didn’t just burn up like that. There had to be some kind of fueling agent on the tents. Which meant that the enemy had already navigated through the camp. This wasn’t random. This attack had been carefully orchestrated.
For how long? Dawn wondered as she jogged through the furnaces. How long had the attackers prowled through this camp, setting up this attack?
Whatever the answer was, the situation was in her favor. Corbin and his soldiers would be busy trying to defend the camp. This was Dawn’s opportunity to escape. Guardians occupied. Burning pine trees. Smoke pillaring into the sky.
The perfect distraction, right? A faint voice from a distant past echoed in the recesses of her mind.
Dawn stopped in her tracks. Searching the chaos. Then she shook herself.
Focus. You’re looking for Scarlet. She told herself.
You need to find Scarlet.
Taking in her surroundings, Dawn tried to figure out what to do next. The clearing was filled with shouting and the clash of swords. The guardians were overpowered by their raiders, which could only be the Unmarked. Cages were being unlocked and people were streaming out. Dawn surveyed the clearing for Scarlet, but she couldn’t find her sister among all the fighting bodies. The smoke from the fire made her head spin, and the ground swayed beneath her feet. She saw several guards lying on the ground, dead. She fought down a wave of nausea at that sight of blood trickling from open flesh and soaking the earth. She’d never seen so many corpses at once.
Pulling herself together, she approached one of the dead guards; his eyes staring into the sky that was now becoming lighter with the coming morning. Fighting down her disgust, she pried free the sword from the man’s stiff fingers. She undid his scabbard and wrapped it around her waist. At least now she had a weapon to defend herself with.
Then Dawn made her way towards her and Scarlet’s tent. No one seemed to pay her any mind. Maybe because she didn’t wear either the ragged clothing that identified the Unmarked, or the black suits that showcased the camp soldiers.
If Scarlet had to be anywhere in this chaos, she’d be in the tent where Dawn had left her. That rationale didn’t reassure her, as she passed other burning tents. Would Scarlet have made it out of her tent before it caught flame? Had she been in there, caught unaware by the attack? If she didn’t make it out, where would she have gone? Dawn tried to push away her worries but to no avail. Every part of her feared that a corpse was what she would find upon reaching the tent.
Don’t think about it, don’t think about it, don’t –
She saw the tent. Intact.
Dawn ran over to it. She burst through the flap, only to find it empty.
“Scar?” Dawn called out, searching the space. “Scar, it’s Dawn”.
No response.
She checked under the blanket of the cot. Nothing.
“Dammit!” Dawn growled.
Dawn tried to consider her next move. She couldn’t simply go running around a camp under attack in search of Scarlet. Corbin must have had some sort of plan on what to do with all the servants. Maybe he had organized an evacuation? Her best chance at finding Scarlet amidst the chaos was to speak with Corbin.
She made her way to the command tent; deciding that it was the most likely place he’d be during a siege.
Scarlet and the soldier approached a tent larger than the others. A group of soldiers burst from within, the one at the front pointing and shouting orders, the soldiers nodding and pulling out weapons. The group split in half a darted in opposite directions. “We have to find him” she heard someone say as they passed one of the groups.
Upon entering the tent, Scarlet’s captor threw her to the ground. Her elbows skidded across the rough earth and she hissed in pain. The Commander leaned over his desk, with Rain at his side, looking over the man’s shoulder. Both their heads shot up.
“What’s the meaning of this?” The Commander demanded.
“I found her wandering” her captor announced.
The Commander seemed as if he was about to reprimand his soldier for the interruption, but Rain stepped away from him. He stared at her with a puzzled expression. Scarlet frowned.
No, wait, he’s looking at something else, he’s…
She followed his gaze and looked to her side. All color drained from her face.
“My keys” Rain said.
Oh no.
“Well, would you look at that” the other soldier said, “I knew she was doing something suspicious”.
“You stole my keys?” Rain asked as he bent down to pick them up. He looked as if he had been betrayed.
Don’t be silly. He doesn’t care about you.
“I was bringing them back to you!” she lied, then cringed. She hated lying.
“She said she was bringing you some maps”. The soldier said.
Rain frowned.
“But now I realize she was heading towards the cages” he continued.
Corbin stormed from behind the desk. “To free the prisoners!” he growled.
“I…” she didn’t know what to say.
“I knew it!” he bellowed. “You’re working with him, aren’t you!”
She shook her head violently. “I don’t-”
The soldier grabbed a fistful of Scarlet’s hair and pulled her up from the ground. “Do you want me to get more information out of her?”
“It’s too late for that now! Bloodwood’s been spotted and the camp’s already under attack”.
“What do we do with her?”
Without hesitation, Corbin pulled his sword from his sheath.
“No” she thought she heard someone shout.
Before she understood what was happening, a sharp pain exploded in her gut and her breath caught in her throat. She slowly looked down to see a blade glistening with red, sliding out of her belly.
She pressed her hands to her stomach. Red oozed from between her fingers. She fell to her knees and her body began to shake uncontrollably.
I’ve been stabbed? She couldn’t quite believe it. The room around her spun, and her head hit the ground. Breathing suddenly became difficult. She gasped for air.
Her ears were filled with the sound of a great, rushing wind; causing the voices around her to be faint and indistinct.
Scarlet felt herself being lifted off the ground. Exhaustion suddenly weighed itself down on her and her eyelids began to flutter closed. But rather than seeing darkness every time she shut her eyes, she saw flashes.
Brassy skies.
Whirling sands.
A bright light in the distance.
She touched the place where it hurt and brought her hand to her face. Her fingers were covered in fresh blood. The blood oversaturated.
I’ve been stabbed she thought in realization.
Scarlet closed her eyes.
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As she approached the command tent, Dawn saw Rain and another soldier emerging from inside. Rain was carrying a limp body in his arms. A limp body with blonde hair and skinny arms.
“Scarlet?” Dawn whispered, dread settling in pit of her stomach. “Scarlet!” she cried louder.
The soldiers turned to her. At that moment, a group of rebels charged at them. Rain set the body on the ground and both men drew their weapons and clashed with the enemy.
Dawn ran to the body and fell to her knees besides it. The hands were stained red, and blood spewed out of an open gash in the belly. Dawn brushed the blonde hair from the face.
Her heart twisted.
Scarlet’s eyes were closed, her lips slightly parted. She looked the same way she did when she was sleeping.
Scarlet must have been sleeping.
Dawn shook her sister’s shoulder. Her eyes fluttered open. Relief flooded over Dawn like a warm tide.
“Scar”.
But her sister’s gaze was distant. It took a few prompts before Scarlet’s eyes fell on Dawn’s face.
“Dawn” her sister whispered.
“You’re going to be okay. I’m going to get help”.
But Scarlet didn’t seem to be listening.
“Dawn” her sister whispered laboriously, “I...I have a secret”.
Dawn furrowed, thinking her sister was being delirious with the pain of her injury.
“Shhh” Dawn said, “don’t waste your ener-”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you” her sister said, her eyes welling up with tears.
“What is it” Dawn asked, her own eyes welling up with tears.
When Dawn lifted her head to look at her sister’s face, her heart dropped to her stomach. Scarlet lay unmoving, her eyes gazing into nothingness.
“No, no, no…” Dawn mumbled, fighting back tears. “You can’t…” she began, though was unable to finish the sentence.
She swallowed the lump in her throat. With shaking fingers, she went to check for a pulse.
Nothing.
She searched frantically, pressing her fingers against her sister’s neck.
When she couldn’t feel anything at the neck, she moved to the right wrist.
And then the left one.
Nothing.
Dawn placed her hand on Scarlet’s chest and pressed her ear to her sister’s lips. But there was only stillness.
Panic overwhelmed Dawn. She began to shake Scarlet violently.
“Scar, wake up… please” she begged, but Scarlet remained unmoving. The prospect eerie and unreal. As if her sister were trapped in the canvas of a tragic painting.
Realization began to weigh down on her and a sudden pain ripped through her chest. Dawn shook her head. “No. No” she said through gritted teeth. “Not like this. Not after everything we’ve been through”.
Despite the surrounding fires which burned bright and hot, Dawn felt cold, and the world became darker. Anger erupted inside of her. She got to her feet.
You lied!” She screamed, storming into Corbin’s tent. The man moved from behind his desk “You were supposed to protect her!” Dawn shouted. “You were – ”
As they met halfway, Corbin grabbed her by the shirt, spun her around, and threw her at the desk. “You’re the liar!” he bellowed.
Dawn stumbled backward. Her lower back erupted with pain as she crashed into the edge of the table. The sides of her vision clouded dark. She immediately put her hand to her sword.
He laughed. “How foolish of me not to see the connection. You two are so alike”.
Dawn’s hysteria immediately disappeared and was replaced by a sudden calm.
Dawn gripped the handle of her weapon. “I don’t know what you’re talking about”, she said cautiously.
“The power, the manipulation…” Corbin mumbled as he approached. Dawn straightened up slowly.
“All part of his stupid plan” he growled as he pulled his sword free and brought it down on her. Dawn managed to block his strike overhead.
“Whose plan!” she yelled, holding him off.
“Wolfe Bloodwood!”
“I told you”, she said, pushing him off her and positioning herself for another strike. “I haven’t seen Wolfe in weeks. He left me! Back in Ardus!”
Corbin went for another strike and Dawn blocked him. “Don’t play stupid with me girl!” he shouted, pushing his blade towards her face. He was so close that she saw the sweat beads glistening on his forehead. He was pushing against her with all his might. His teeth were set in a snarl and his eyes were wide, wild. He looked like a madman at that moment. “You come into my camp, and now Wolfe Bloodwood is here”.
So enraptured in the moment, it was only after she had managed to push Corbin off her that she’d realized what he’d said.
Corbin immediately swung his sword at her. Then again. Then again. Dawn deflected his strikes one after another. She was growing tired, out of breath. He was coming at her with all his strength. Swinging left and right. Careless, but vicious. Corbin wasn’t fighting like a Guardian of Second Order who used his weapon swiftly and elegantly in swordplay. No, Corbin was hacking at her like a butcher.
Dawn had never faced an opponent like him. She had fought many different people throughout her training, but none of them had ever been this determined to simply slash her to pieces. That was the thing with fighting other Guardians, they all wanted to show off their skills. They wanted to flaunt their elegant moves and striking stances. Sword fighting had always been, to a certain extent, about putting on a show for the crowds. For the other Guardians. But this Guardian didn’t care, and all of Dawn’s training flew out of her mind with every one of her opponent’s strikes. This wasn’t a show. This was trying not to get murdered.
Next thing Dawn knew, her sword flew out of her hand with one of Corbin’s strikes. Instantly, her vision narrowed in on the burning lantern on the table besides her. She grabbed it, ignoring how it seared her hand, and threw it at Corbin’s face. He shouted and dropped his sword as he went to cover his face. At that moment, Dawn lunged for his sword and slid it into his belly. His flailing stopped and his expression became frozen in shock.
That’s what happens when you’re reckless. Dawn thought as she stood, her vision dark, and slid the sword deeper into his belly. Corbin gasped. Dawn pulled her sword out, the blade glistening with red in the light of the flames.
Flames.
The tent had caught on fire.
Despite the heat, Dawn felt cold. She took the point of her blade and pressed it to Corbin’s neck. She panted, sweat glistening down her brow. Her chest and mind numb. Sounds muffled. Time slowed. Her gaze locked with Corbin’s. His expression was hard and defiant. But behind it she saw the pain. The terror. The pleading.
A small voice echoed at the back of her mind.
Wolfe Bloodwood is here…
Wolfe.
Reality suddenly kicked in and all of Dawn’s senses hit her at once.
The crackling of the fire became deafening. Her surroundings were blindingly bright. The heat overwhelming. She looked to her sword, then at the blood spewing from between Corbin’s fingers as his hands pressed against his belly. Without even willing it, her hand released the blade as if it had suddenly turned into a poisonous serpent. She watched Corbin in horror. At what she had done. At what she had been about to do.
Every instinct cried for her to pull Corbin out of the tent, mend his wounds. But her muscles were frozen. She stared as Corbin’s eyes went vacant, and the man thudded sideways to the ground; a river of thick red blackening earth beneath him, pooling at her feet. In that pool she saw her horrified reflection.
She expected Corbin to move, stir, breathe. But he was eerily still. Why was he so still? She needed him to move.
The only thing that pulled Dawn out of the tent was the sudden wave of nausea that overcame her. She burst outside, landed onto her hands and feet, and wretched on the ground. She was oblivious to the continuing fight; her body spasming, her chest and throat burning, her eyes watering. She kept vomiting until there was only bile left to spit out. She stayed on her hands and knees, staring at her pool of vomit. Disgusted, but unable to muster the strength to stand. Every muscle in her body shook violently. She panted; hair plastered to her face. Her clothes were soaked. And she was almost certain she had pissed herself during her puking episode. But she didn’t care.
Dawn had just killed someone.
After a moment, a voice spoke to her from the shadows.
The Documents!
Dawn shot her head up. She scrambled up from the ground and ran back to the command tent. But it was too late. The entire thing was engulfed with flames, she couldn’t enter.
A new wave of despair overcame her as she watched the flames eat away at the fabric and everything that was inside. She fell to her knees.
Her one chance at clearing her name was lost to the fire.
The heat seared her skin and made her eyes water.
Move! The voice from the shadows commanded her. Lest you burn away too!
Dawn was tempted to ignore the voice, but somehow, she mustered the strength to pick herself up and stumbled away from the tent.
Dawn wanted to go to Scarlet, to drag her sister away from the flames. But to her shock, Scarlet’s body was gone.
She walked through the compound, dazed and disoriented, and oblivious to the ongoing fight. She didn’t know what she was doing. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do. Dawn was lost.
Her eyes burned and her vision blurred as a new wave of tears welled up in her eyes. Then she noticed something. She squinted as a tall, fuzzy figure stood ahead of her. She could make out dark skin and wavy brown hair pulled back with a headband. She frowned.
“Wolfe?” she whispered hoarsely.
The person took a step towards her.
Pain exploded at the right side of her skull.
The world went black.
🤔💬 Let me know your thoughts on this chapter by leaving a comment. I’d love to read your impressions!
Things really went downhill. I definitely want to read the next one.