Chapter Thirty-Six
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]
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Dawn.
Dawn and Scarlet sat on each side of a fire. The light of the flames cast dancing shadows on the stone walls of the cave they would be spending the night in. The cave was barely a cave, it was more of a dent in the side of a mountain. There was only enough room for Dawn and Scarlet to stand and lie down at full length.
That night they did not eat. Scarlet refused to and Dawn wasn’t in the mood. So, they sat, staring at the fire, letting their flesh soak up the heat of the flames. Dawn sat so close to the fire that her skin burned and beads of sweat formed on her forehead, but inside she felt cold.
“How could you do that to him?” Scarlet whispered. They were the first words she had uttered since River left. Dawn looked up to see tears streaming down her sister’s face.
“Excuse me?”
“You didn’t even give him the chance to make the decision for himself”.
Dawn was caught off guard by her sister’s accusations. Scarlet never spoke to her that way.
“Shut up” Dawn said to her.
“No!” Scarlet shouted, “he loves you! And you used it against him!”
“Oh, stop being such a child, Scar! You think it was easy for me?” Dawn hissed. “You think you’re the only one who cared about him, who loved him? I did too! But he put all of us in danger. You should be thanking me that I found out what was going on, not sticking a knife in my heart and twisting it.”
Scarlet looked as if she was about to say something, but in the end she remained silent; her bottom lip slightly trembling.
“River left because he knew it was the best solution to the problem that he brought on us. He left out of his own choice. If you weren’t so immature, you would understand that”.
No response. Just tears. Dawn rolled her eyes.
“Get some sleep, Scar. We have a long day tomorrow”. She lay down and turned her back to her sister. With every sniffle she heard, Dawn fought down the wave of guilt that loomed in the pit of her stomach and threatened to drown her.
Sunlight filtered through the cave opening. Dawn blinked her eyes open. For a moment she thought her argument with Scarlet had been a nightmare. She turned around and looked at her sister’s bedroll.
It was empty.
“Scar?” Dawn called out, the reality of last night’s fight setting itself upon her shoulders. “Scarlet!”
No response.
Dawn fumbled out of her bedroll and stepped out of the cave. She looked at the desolate, rocky expanse. Her sister nowhere in sight.
Dawn’s mind began to race with all the worst-case scenarios as to why her sister had suddenly disappeared. Scarlet wasn’t one to wander off. Panic welled up inside of her.
Had her sister run off last night because she was angry?
Had Scarlet abandoned her just like everyone else?
Dawn searched the premises for any clue as to where her sister might have gone, but there was nothing to leave a trail in this damned wasteland! Just stupid rock that stretched on for miles.
Not caring if it would attract attention from unwanted strangers, Dawn breathed in and was about to yell for Scarlet at the top of her lungs when a voice sounded behind her.
“I’m sorry about last night.”
Still holding her breath, Dawn spun around to see Scarlet standing with hands folded in front of her. “I shouldn’t have said those things to you”, she continued.
Relief flooded over Dawn. She exhaled slowly, taking the moment to compose herself. Then, “I’m glad you understand”, she replied.
Scarlet smiled faintly.
“Where did you go?” Dawn asked, trying to keep her voice steady.
Scarlet shrugged. “I just needed time to think”.
A million scolds formed themselves on Dawn’s tongue, but she uttered none of them.
Not today Dawn thought to herself, a sudden exhaustion overcoming her, as if the emotion from everything that had transpired since reading Lilly’s letter suddenly weighed itself upon her. I’m tired of fighting.
They ate a meager meal, packed their bags, saddled the horse, and set off.
After a few hours, they found a creek.
“Look” Dawn announced. “Water”.
The girls dismounted their horse and went to the creek. They filled their water skins and washed the dirt that crusted their skin. Dawn cupped cool water into her hands and splashed it across her face. It felt nice, refreshing.
The world was quiet. All Dawn heard was the chirping of birds and the gentle rush of water. At that moment she wanted to stay there. Forever. She wanted to forget that she was running for her life. That her life in Aura was gone. She wanted to forget about all the people who had ever abandoned and betrayed her. She wanted to forget that River was somewhere out there, alone and pursued. She wanted all the memories from the past two months to leave her mind and never come back.
“Dawn… I never asked you… how are you feeling?”
Looking into the creek, she saw her pained expression distorted by the ripples in the water.
“I’m…fine”.
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Scarlet let out a small, innocent laugh. “It’s going to take a little more to convince me that you’re fine”.
Dawn whipped around to face Scarlet. “I’m not trying to convince you of anything. I just don’t want to talk about how I’m feeling”.
“Well…” Scarlet said, setting her shoulders back and lifting her chin, “maybe you should.”
Annoyance swelled inside of her. “What good will that do! Telling you how I feel isn’t going to make everything that has happened go away. It’s not going to get us to Tariah any faster. And it sure won’t ensure that my plan is going to work and that I’ll be able to continue living my life!”
“Okay…” Scarlet said timidly, “but maybe it’s going to make this journey more bearable for you.”
Dawn ran her hands across her scalp. Why was Scarlet in such a sudden mood to talk about her feelings? She just needed to stop thinking about everything for a while.
“The only thing that’s making this journey unbearable right now is you”.
“Dawn, I know something’s wrong, just tell me what you’re feeling. Maybe I can help”.
A sudden fire irrupted in the pit of Dawn’s stomach. Her blood burned. Her mind was like wood being eaten away by flames and her heart a heaping mound of ashes. Like a raging fire, she lost control.
“You want to know what I’m feeling, Scar”. She grabbed her sister’s shoulders and pinned her to the ground. Scarlet gasped at the impact. “I feel powerless” Dawn hissed, pressing her forearm against her sister’s throat, their faces inches from one another. “I feel like the world is crushing me!” she continued, pressing harder against Scarlet’s throat. “I feel helpless and weak and lost”. With every word, she pressed harder. Scarlet squirmed. “I feel like a failure!” Dawn shouted. Then she noticed the terror in her sister’s clear blue eyes. Reason slammed into Dawn. She let go, rolled over, and lay on her back, panting and staring up at the sky.
“I- I’m sorry I brought it up,” said a small, quavering voice.
Dawn took in deep breaths to steady her panting. The ground shook beneath her body and she let its rhythmic sensation calm her nerves. As she watched fluffy white clouds lazily float by, she tried to convince herself that she hadn’t lost control. That she hadn’t intended to hurt Scarlet. That she had just needed to make her naïve sister understand the brutal reality of their situation.
The ground shook.
Dawn had demonstrated an excessive amount of self-restraint. If she really had wanted to hurt her sister, there would have been physical damage. It had been a necessary course of action, to make Scarlet understand. To knock the wishful thinking out of her. Dawn had done nothing wrong.
The ground shook.
She frowned.
It was nothing, barely noticeable. Dawn sat up and surveyed her surroundings. “Do you feel that?” she whispered, the tremor resonating throughout her palms and up her arms.
“I…um… what do you mea-”
Dawn lifted her hand to silence her stammering. She slowly stood up.
There was a faint thundering in the distance. But as the seconds went by, the noise began increase. Dawn cursed under her breath. “Someone’s coming” she announced urgently.
They ran to their horse and mounted it.
“What about our stuff!” Scarlet squeaked.
“Doesn’t matter!” she said. They would come back for their supplies once they lost their intruders. Right now, their priority was to get away. She motioned for her horse to move. A whistle sounded in the air. Their horse brayed. It reared in a panic and threw them off. Something snapped. Dawn slammed into the ground. Black spots danced in her field of vision. The clatter of hooves on stone became fainter. She groaned and rolled over. Scarlet lay on her back, stunned. Dawn shook her shoulder. Her sister turned her head.
“You okay?” Dawn asked.
Scarlet nodded quickly.
As Dawn helped her to stand, Scarlet hissed. “I think I fell on something”.
It was a broken arrow. They had been shot at.
“Do we run?” Scarlet asked hastily.
As Dawn looked to where her pursuers had shot from, she could distinguish five riders coming towards them. They had only fired one shot at them, which meant it hadn’t been to kill, just to destabilize. Taking her sister’s hand, Dawn stood her ground. “No” she whispered, “just act normal”.
Whatever normal meant in a situation like this.
A patrol approached. Dawn looked at their uniforms and saw that they were Torrem Guardians. A knot formed in the pit of her stomach.
You people always find yourselves where you’re not supposed to be.
A man riding a black horse brought his steed forward. Dawn took him in. He had dark, olive toned skin and brown hair that was neatly groomed back. He had sharp features, with a perfect, narrow nose. His lips where set in a straight line as he looked down on them with green, menacing eyes.
“Who goes there?” Green Eyes demanded.
“Guardians of Aura” Dawn replied calmly.
He lifted a brow. “And what’s your business out here?”
“We’re on confidential affairs”.
“Mind telling me why you were running off?”
“You frightened us. We weren’t expecting to see a patrol out here.”
“We weren’t expecting you out here either. Aura guardians usually pass through the main roads. Not through obscure passages in the mountains.”
Dawn’s heart raced. “We were trying to find a new passage through the mountains” she said stupidly. The gazes from all five riders drilled into her. The leader of the group narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t convinced.
“It is forbidden to pass through the mountains” he said.
This was her chance. “Then why are you patrolling these parts?”
Green Eyes hesitated. Then, a sly smile spread across his lips. “We’re on confidential affairs”.
Dawn glared at him. Her body tensed. She clenched her fists.
Something felt off.
He shifted in his saddle and then looked the girls over. “You two seem quite young to be out here alone”.
Distress clung to her like a leech. She forced her voice to remain steady. “Would you like to see our passports?”
“Please,” Green Eyes replied, “that would be most helpful”.
The moment felt terribly familiar, as if Dawn were back in the Governor’s office, moments before being attacked and imprisoned by him.
Pretending to shuffle in her bag to find the passports, Dawn tried to slide Lilly’s maps into the secret compartment of her satchel.
“Come on” Green Eyes beckoned. Dawn gave up on fumbling and handed the passports to him. He looked over them for what felt like too long. Dawn didn’t realize that she had been clutching her bag until she noticed one of the riders eyeing her. To her despair, he dismounted his horse and walked over to her. Without warning, he gripped her bag. She tried to keep it away from him but he ripped it off her.
Green Eyes gave a satisfactory smile. “Have something to hide?” he asked musingly.
Rider dumped all the contents of her bag on the ground. He then began to sort through all the things. Dawn stopped breathing. Lilly’s maps lay sprawled on the stone ground. He picked them up, scanned them, and then handed them over to Green Eyes. Then, to Dawn’s horror, Rider picked up Lilly’s letter. A sick smile spread across his lips.
“You’re going to love this, Commander” he said as he handed the letter to Green Eyes.
“Well, well, well, look who we have here, boys: Lilly Eromsdaughter’s’ apprentice. Seems like she made it back home after all”.
“What?” Dawn said, “No. It’s not what it looks like. We’re bringing these things to Tariah”.
Green Eyes laughed. “And she’s a coward. You’re not the first among the Unmarked that I’ve met”.
“I’m telling the truth. Lilly left these things for me, then she died and now I’m in a lot of serious trouble. This is the only leverage that can spare my life. I’m not a traitor. I’m not the Unmarked”.
“So what do you want me to do, Dawn? Am I supposed to take you at your word and let you and your quiet little friend run off?”
“No…but you can help us get this information to Tariah”
Now all the men laughed. “You want to know something, girl? I don’t give a damn about whether you’re telling the truth or not”. He lifted the maps in the air. “You’ve just given me the whereabouts of every single Unmarked camp in all of Erom. Arrest them” he commanded.
The Guardians drew their swords so that Dawn wouldn’t even get the chance to fight back. They cuffed her, and the last thing she saw before they threw a sack over her head was Scarlet’s terrified expression. As she felt herself be carried into the air, she kicked and thrashed in a desperate hope to free herself.
“Keep moving and I’ll cut your legs off”.
Not in the mood to test the man’s word, she obeyed. But not without shouting a series of profanities as a last resort to defend her pride.
She was thrown across a horse’ back like a sack of potatoes. Rage and terror boiled inside of her. She kept the insults going, the hot air spewing from her lungs making her feel as if she would suffocate inside the bag on her head.
“Shut up” someone growled and slammed an object in the back of her skull. Not hard enough to knock her out, but enough to shut her up.
“It’s time that you meet the rest of your kind” Green Eyes announced, and then set off into the unknown.
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