Chapter Thirty-Five
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]
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Dawn.
They rode in silence for hours. The rhythmic clop, clop, clop of the horses’ hooves sounded in Dawn’s ears. Her awareness was drawn to the ripple of her steed’s muscles. Her gaze narrowed in on the stony path until it became a grey haze. She was caught in an empty numbness. Nothing existed except for the hypnotic pattern of sight, motion, and sound. Any time a thought fluttered into her mind; it was trampled by her empty rhythm. It became a game. Dawn chased memories away and stomped on the emotions they carried before they got a chance to make her feel something.
Her periodic daze was disturbed by a change in the environment. The sun’s ray’s peeked through the dreary grey clouds that had been plaguing the sky all morning. Dawn’s eyes fell to River’s horse as if by instinct. Before she could question the reflex, the hip began to glitter. Dawn frowned. She had seen this happen before on their way to Jeziah’s home. Her attention was now absorbed by the glitter. She squinted and tried to make out the symbol embedded into the animal’s flesh and absently clenched and unclenched her fist. A feeling of unease formed in her gut. And, just like that, the sudden shift in her environment caught her off guard. Her thoughts slipped a foot into the door of her consciousness, and unwanted memories invaded her mind.
Jeziah’s last words rattled inside her head. She didn’t know what to make of them. They had left a scar in her heart. It wasn’t a scar inflicted by someone you loved or cared about. Rather, it was the type of wound inflicted on accident. As if tripping over a rock and skidding your knee across the cobble stone. The scar held no meaning. No significance. But it was there, big and ugly. A constant reminder of her encounter with Jeziah. There was nothing Dawn could do except to try and cover it up, or force herself to look at it, trace her finger across it, observe it, feel it.
Dawn hadn’t meant to find that man. She hadn’t intended to hear his words. The words he spoke vexed her. Jeziah claimed to be light. He claimed to be the one to know the intentions of the heart. To be the one to reward and condemn. Dawn scoffed at that. Who did this man think he was? He had healed Scarlet, yes, but that did not make him a good man. His people still lived in secret. His followers were liars. He claimed that things done in secret could either be condemned or rewarded. But what did his followers have to be rewarded for? Lilly had kept things in secret, and it had led to Dawn’s condemnation. To Lilly’s as well. She had died, and she had tried to drag Dawn down with her. If anything, it was his fault that Scarlet was dying in the first place. Dawn wouldn’t have had to drag her sister out into dangerous places if it hadn’t been for Lilly’s secrets in Jeziah’s name. Dawn gripped her reins in anger and she felt the blood in her veins become cold as ice. No, Jeziah hadn’t helped her, he had merely rectified the damage his cause had inflicted upon her and her sister in the first place. The man, and all of his kind, were a plague. If it weren’t for them, the Governor wouldn’t have been corrupt. River’s father wouldn’t have been tempted to take the information from her for his own selfish gain. The only reason the Governor was evil was because Jeziah’s people brought the evil out of him. The Unmarked were a plague.
A breeze blew and Dawn shivered. Her hand felt stiff as if she had dipped it in cold water for a long time. Dawn took a deep breath and tried to focus on her present situation: Scarlet was healed, and Dawn had the Book of Books. She could use the text to bargain for immunity in the Shadow Realm. With immunity, she would be safe from her enemies in both worlds. She could travel freely. She could travel quickly. All she needed to do was figure out how to find the Bookkeeper again.
The image of the hooded figure brought Dawn a sense of comfort that was unexpected. The Bookkeeper had been there for her. He had given her knowledge. He had given her power. The Bookkeeper and his kind didn’t hide secrets, they revealed them to those who were worthy.
The sparkle on the horse’s hide caught her attention again. Suddenly, she recognized the symbol. Though it wasn’t a symbol at all. They were runes. Runes in the Dead Speech.
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“Stop!” Dawn cried.
Dawn’s mind was suddenly plunged back to when she had first opened the Book of Epathi back in the Athenaeum, the Bookkeeper’s voice whispering the words of the pages from behind her.
The Scrying Stones take on the attribute of Projection...
Dawn dismounted her horse and marched to River’s.
These sister stones are sapphire blue and grant their host the ability to see and hear through another person’s eyes and ears, as well as sense their presence.
“What’s going on?” he asked, but Dawn ignored him.
To enable their power, the host must hold and recite the incantation “Ne’vim Era” to the stone that is to remain in her possession, and “Ne’vim Fe” to the stone that is to be with the other party.
Tracing her fingers along the horse’s hip, she made out the outline of the words Ne’vim Fe in the Dead Speech Runes.
Once the incantations have been recited, the stone with the words “Ne’vim Era” spoken over it can see, hear and sense through the host with the sister stone, as long as both parties are touching the stone at the same moment in time”.
Dawn’s fingers curled into a fist and she felt cold. “What’s the matter” River asked, now standing by her side, though his voice sounded distant, faint.
These are sister stones.
Dawn turned to River to look into his blue eyes and they reminded her of the Governor all too much.
The wearer of the original stone can see through the eyes of the sister stone, as long as both parties are touching the Epathi at the same time...
“What did you do?” she whispered.
“What’s the matter with you?” River said, “Dawn, you’re scaring me”.
Fear and anger thundered inside of her. Dawn wanted to believe that it was irrational to accuse River of conspiring against them, but she had been deceived too many times by the people she was supposed to trust. In the blink of an eye, she had the tip of her blade pressed into the skin of River’s throat. Scarlet gasped in the background.
“Dawn…what are you doing?” he asked cautiously, lifting his arms up slowly.
“How long have you known about the Epathi?” she demanded quietly, not wanting to be overheard. She did not tear her gaze from River’s, which was now wild with fear.
“Since yesterday... when you told me about them” he replied with his continual careful tone. “Please, Dawn, put the knife down and let’s talk normally about this”.
Dawn shook her head. “No. There’s nothing normal about this” she growled. “Your horse has a marking that is allowing someone to see everything it sees. Everything we see”.
River tried to speak but Dawn cut him off. “That means, there’s someone out there who knows exactly where we are!”
“What?” he asked, sounding genuinely taken aback.
“Your horse is embedded with power” she growled, annoyed by his act of ignorance, “from the shadow realm”.
“I didn’t know!” he whispered, his voice filled with anger and fear. “I still don’t even understand any of it”.
“Are you sure!” Dawn replied angrily pushing him away from the horse. “Because you’re the Governor’s son! You’re the one who followed us out here! Has this all been a ploy to gain my trust while you led my enemies straight to me? Are you just doing your part as a faithful guardian to Aura? To make Daddy happy!” She spat those last words out sarcastically, still trying with all her might to remain quiet.
“No! Dawn! I came out here to protect you! I had no idea my horse had this… ability.”
Darkness clouded the sides of her vision. She pressed her blade a little harder into the skin of his throat. “Am I really expected to believe that you sacrificed your whole life to come and save me?” she asked in a deathly whisper. “That you gave up your role as Guardian for me?”
“Dawn, I would do anything for you. I love you”. He answered weakly.
There was a long moment of silence as Dawn debated what to do next. She was at a loss. Every relationship she had up until now had been built on deception. She had been a fool for not being more suspicious of River in the first place. She had allowed her childish infatuation to blind her from the reality that River was the Governor’s son. The same corrupt, selfish, tyrannical blood that flowed through the Governor’s veins flowed through his own. There was only one way she could know for sure.
“Then prove it.”
“What?” River breathed.
“If you’re really willing to do anything for me. Prove it”. A numbness began spreading throughout her chest. “Leave”.
“Dawn!” Scarlet interjected.
“Shut up Scarlet” Dawn growled. Then she refocused her attention on River. “You need to leave. Ride to the other side of the continent if you have to”.
“I don’t understand”.
“If you truly want to protect me, then you need to leave and get as far away from us as possible. The people who are following me can see, hear and sense where we are through the horse. I can use that to my advantage. You can lead them away from us, which means Scarlet and I can safely get to Hyde without constantly having to look over our shoulder”.
She kept her blade at his neck and waited for his reply. She could no longer feel her heart that just moments ago, had been racing inside her chest. Her mind still screamed doubts, but Dawn was ready to do what needed to be done if River were to refuse. No hesitation. No second guessing.
Leave.
Pain twisted his features and his jaw tensed. “If that’s what I need to do to prove myself to you”.
“Yes” Dawn breathed. She motioned towards his horse with her chin, still keeping the blade pressed to his throat until he began to climb the animal.
“River!” Scarlet cried and ran to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist. He looked taken aback, but then returned her embrace.
“I’ll keep you both safe, I promise”. He whispered.
“You don’t have to leave” Scarlet said, tears streaming down her face. As River stroked her hair, he looked up at Dawn. In his gaze she saw every moment they had ever spent together. She saw the times they had stayed up late and talked about their future. She saw all the early morning they had spent training together. She saw all the times they had danced, and hugged, and kissed. She saw their life together flash before her eyes.
Taking Scarlet’s head between his hands, he kissed her forehead. He stepped back from her and mounted his horse. “Then I guess this is goodbye” he said quietly, as if addressing a stranger.
“Scarlet” he added with a nod. The girls remained silent. The only response was the sound of Scarlet’s choked sobs. River looked ahead, grabbed his horse’s reins, and signaled for the animal to move. Dawn watched him ride into the horizon until the image of him disappeared.
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