Chapter Forty-Three
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]
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Dawn.
“We’ll be approaching the Rayless Woods soon” said one of the soldiers, apprehensively.
“A forest” the other soldier muttered to his companion, “in the rockiest terrains of the mountains. It’s unnatural”. He kept his voice low, as if fearing he might disturb the silence of the night.
“It’s the Shadow Realm” Dawn replied, “there’s nothing natural about it”.
The two men didn’t speak further. The only sound that of their footsteps crunching along the gravely road. Dawn breathed in the crisp, cool air. Her breath materialized as she exhaled. The tip of her nose and ears were chilled. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head.
Her mind wandered back to her encounter with Scarlet. Her sister looked well, and Dawn was thankful for that. She was also happy that Scarlet would have a proper bed to sleep on, food to eat, someone to watch over her, and projects to keep her busy. In a way, it was as if Scarlet was an apprentice again. Scarlet’s duties had been the product of Dawn’s earlier negotiations with Corbin. She had told him of how valuable Scarlet was and would be. With the right tools, the Book of Epathi could be retranslated and copied. Dawn would get the pages translated, and then Scarlet would re-draw the pictures from the original text. Corbin had found that proposal very valuable indeed. And as long as Dawn proved herself and Scarlet to be of value, they would be safe.
Leaving Scarlet back at the camp had most likely secured Corbin’s assurance that she wouldn’t try to escape during her expedition into the Woods. Even if Scarlet would have gone with her, Dawn wouldn’t have tried to escape. Not now, not any time soon. Corbin practically had an army. He had resources. And most importantly, his camp was off the map. There was no safer place for her and Scarlet than Corbin’s camp.
Dawn thought back to her original plan: to camp out with the Unmarked, gather intel on them, travel all the way to Hyde, gain a hearing with the Queen, present her case, and hope that Tariah found favor with her…all without getting hunted down and killed by her pursuers. In retrospect, it seemed like an overly ambitious plan.
At the time, the journey to Tariah had seemed like her only option to preserve her life. But now she had protection. Now she could preserve her life while working to overthrow the Unmarked and while pursuing the power of the Epathi. Maybe in the future, when she’d gained Corbin’s favor, she could convince him to go to Tariah to expose the corruption in Erom.
It could work. Dawn could convince him to help her find justice. She had succeeded in convincing him to be on her side thus far. She could do it again.
So long as Corbin didn’t find out about the lie.
Dawn absently twirled the ring on her forefinger. She still felt disconnected from herself, as if her body and spirit weren’t quite in alignment, and she could still feel a faint chill in her bones.
Dawn’s episode the night before had had nothing to do with the Bookkeeper’s “control” over her. She had made the whole thing up. In reality, Dawn had simply removed her ring discretely, in the desperate hope that the physical manifestations of the poison inside of her would be enough to scare Corbin into believing that she needed to complete her mission to preserve her life.
He had fallen for her trick.
She tried not to think about what it would be like moving forward. She had told Corbin that she would be able to translate the texts once she made the exchange with the Bookkeeper. But that wasn’t true. She had absolutely no idea if she would be able to translate the text. The Bookkeeper was the one to whisper to her the words of the book from within the Shadows. But he was the one who decided what to reveal to her, and when to reveal it.
What would she do if the Bookkeeper refused to translate the texts? What would she say to Corbin? How would he react if she chose to withhold information from him? Dawn shook her head. She wouldn’t worry about that now. Right now, she needed to get into the Rayless Woods find the Bookkeeper, make the exchange, and ask for immunity.
Simple.
The last time Dawn had been in the Shadow Realm, the Bookkeeper had said that he was in no position to grant her immunity, not until she brought him the text. She clutched the book closer to herself. Well, she had the text. She would hold the creature to its word. Having immunity was something else she needed in order to keep up her ruse. If she didn’t have immunity, then she couldn’t do everything that she’d told Corbin she could do. She had promised the man that she would partner with him to search for the Epathi. To learn its ways. She couldn’t do that if she had no protection in the Shadow Realm.
A part of Dawn wondered at what exactly she was getting herself into. Shadow Realms, Darkkeepers, supernatural power? Two months ago, she would have scoffed at such things. Now they were the very foundation of her survival. They were a part of her: of who she was becoming.
Who was she becoming?
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“Lady Dawn” one of the soldiers called out, “look”.
In the dim orange light of her lantern, Dawn saw the faint outlines of a forest.
Dawn noted how the two soldiers had kept their distance the entire trip. She made them uncomfortable.
Good.
If she were being honest, the men made her feel uncomfortable. Corbin let his soldiers take and ravage the prisoner women. It was revolting. Dawn didn’t care that the women were Unmarked. To force yourself on someone for your own twisted sense of pleasure was despicable; a total lack of discipline. If Dawn was going to work with Corbin, she would have something done about these men’s behaviors. A part of her wondered if Corbin treated the women the same way as his soldiers did. She was surprised at how much she didn’t want it to be the case.
Despite their apprehension of her, Dawn wouldn’t allow herself to grow overly confident. She had already intimidated a powerful man before, and she was being hunted down for it.
“I’m saying that you’re scary, Dawn…” A familiar, warm voice echoed in her mind.
She shooed it away. But not quickly enough. Her chest tightened at the memory of that voice, and a pang settled in the pit of her stomach.
“Is there a reason why we had to come out here at night?” one of the soldiers muttered.
Maybe this was the kind of fear that had been lacking with the Governor. He had been intimidated by her strength and cleverness. But he had known how to deal with that. He had used his own strength and cleverness to stop her. But this... this was different. These men didn’t understand the supernatural. She was certain that they wouldn’t try to pull anything. They wouldn’t risk playing a game they didn’t know the rules to. Not that Dawn knew the rules any better. At least she was able to give the illusion that she did.
As they approached the edge of the forest, Dawn’s heart began to race, and her palms became sweaty despite the chill in the air. Dawn forced her shoulders back and held her head up a bit higher. She couldn’t appear frightened in front of these men. She couldn’t appear weak.
Peering through the trees, Dawn saw nothing but a stifling darkness. A coldness breezed towards her, though the foliage remained still. She removed her hood and turned back to see that the two escorts were standing several feet away. They held their lanterns with outstretched arms, as if they were trying to illuminate as much of their surroundings as possible.
Dawn smirked at the sight, making sure the men saw her. She tried to feign an air of confidence, but she was terrified. The men looked at her, disconcerted.
“Will you be escorting me?” she tried to ask playfully, though her voice almost wavered. The men didn’t seem to notice. They didn’t seem amused either.
“We were told to wait outside the Woods and to fetch you if you took too long, Lady Dawn” The first soldier said.
“So, don’t take long” the other said as he shuffled, then added “Lady”.
Dawn pulled her hood back over her head and turned towards the forests again. She suspected that Corbin hadn’t commanded them to fetch her if she were to delay. They were most likely commanded to retrieve the books she had. Either way, going into the Rayless Woods would be their death sentence.
And all three of them knew it.
“I won’t be long” she announced, and stepped into the shadows.
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