Chapter Twenty

The Unmarked, Book One.

Dec 18, 2025

[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]

The alley Dawn found herself in was right by the Athenaeum. She headed back to the library to find Scarlet, her body quaking with nerves and her clothes damp from her sweat. Dawn didn’t know how she was going to explain what had just happened to her, because she didn’t understand it herself. If it weren’t for the book she had taken and put into her satchel, she would have believed her experience to have been a hallucination.

It was all so strange. It was hard for Dawn to wrap her mind around any of it. Maybe it would be best not to try and explain anything to Scarlet. She didn’t want to scare and confuse her sister with stories of Dark Keepers, Shadow Realms, cryptic books and ominous quests. The less Scarlet knew, the better.

Dawn went back up to where she had last seen Scarlet. Her sister was running through the alleys of bookshelves, calling out her name.

“Scar!” she called out from behind.

Scarlet turned around and her eyes were wide in shock. “Dawn! What happened? You-you just disappeared!”

Something occurred to Dawn. If Scarlet was still in the place where Dawn had disappeared from, then maybe she hadn’t been gone for as long as she thought she had. Maybe, time worked differently, just as it had when she had been in the Rayless Woods with Wolfe.

“I ran off because I thought I saw someone who knows me.” She lowered her voice. “I have to careful, Scar. I can’t have anyone recognize me. I’m a criminal” she said with a lump in her throat. “Let’s just get back to the Residence and start packing you up”.

“Okay” Scarlet said quietly, her expression still that of concern.

They left the Athenaeum and went down the narrow street of homes that led to the Residence.

“Hmph”

“What’s that?” Dawn asked.

“Huh?” Scarlet breathed, “nothing, I didn’t say anything”.

Dawn stopped. She felt slightly guilty for having lied to her sister, and she didn’t like how she was becoming reserved. “What is it, Scar?”.

“The symbol” she said and pointed to something behind Dawn, “on that door over there”.

They both stood in front of it. Engraved in the wood of the door was an image of three lilies. Scarlet brushed her fingers over it.

“The detailing is really beautiful” she said in awe. Dawn didn’t understand what was so interesting about a carving of a flower on a door, but Scarlet had always been fascinated by stuff like that.

“It’s strange, isn’t it?” Scarlet wondered out loud.

“I guess?”

“No. I mean… This door…it has a design on it”.

“Okay?” Dawn wasn’t following.

“Every city” Scarlet begun, stepping away from the door, “follows an architectural uniformity. If this door has a design on it, shouldn’t all the doors have it?”

Yes, Dawn realized, every house did have an ‘architectural uniformity’ as Scarlet put it. For the first time, Dawn looked. The houses were joint together and formed a long, marble wall that stretched along each side of the kilometer-long, cobble stone street. Each home was adorned with a wooden door, the only thing differentiating them from one another was the number engraved into the wood. This door however, had a number and symbol on it.

Now Dawn was the one brushing her fingers across the engraving. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d seen it before.

Her outstretched finger curled into a fist and her knuckles knocked against the wood.

Scarlet’s eyes widened. “What are you doing!” she squeaked.

“I want to know about the symbol”.

“Are you sure this is a good idea? You’re a fugitive. You can’t exactly be knocking around on strangers’ doors…” her sister said timidly.

Dawn knocked louder.

Moments later, the door opened, and a little old wrinkly lady with short, grey curly hair appeared from behind it. Her tiny, eyes like raisins fell to the Guardian Marking on Dawn’s arm.

“Hullo?” the old woman asked, avoiding eye contact.

Dawn visibly frowned. She had never seen anyone so old. The woman must have at least been in what, her eighties?

“Hello, my name is Clove Summersdaughter, I was just passing by when...” she trailed off when he old woman’s gaze suddenly darted upward. There was a moment of still silence, and then recognition dawned on her face, and she erupted into a fit of giggles.

Scarlet and Dawn exchanged a glance.

With a wagging finger, the old woman exclaimed: “there’s only one other person I’ve ever met with that name, and that wasn’t her name at all!”

“What was her name?” Dawn asked cautiously.

Looking from left to right, as if to make sure no one was nearby, the shriveled lady leaned forward, and her voice dropped to a loud whisper. “Lilly Eromsdaughter, of course”.

Lilly?

“You must be Dawn, her apprentice!”

Dawn was going to deny it, but Scarlet was already gaping, and the woman continued prattling about how Dawn looked exactly how Lilly had described her.

Raisin Eyes’ gaze fell to Scarlet. “And you are?”

“Scarlet” she said in a small voice, still obviously in shock.

The old woman gave a knowing smile. “Ah yes, the twin”. She said and looked at them, as if waiting for something, and then waved her hand dismissively.

“My name is Rosemary”, she introduced herself, and then looked from side to side again. “Let’s not talk out here” she said. “Please do come in!” she beckoned and stepped aside.

The home was simple. The walls and floor were marble white. The space was furnished with wooden articles. Candles were mounted in brass stands on the walls to provide light. Nothing extraordinary.

The girls were led to the kitchen. “Please! Sit, sit” the woman told them. “Let me get you a cup of tea and some food” she said, scurrying to the stove top, where a kettle was stood, a pillar of mist flowing from its spout like the smoke of a chimney. “It’s so exciting to have Lilly’s apprentice here! It seems that she finally had the courage to tell you about the Unmarked”.

Dawn’s heart suddenly felt heavy. She cleared her throat. “Yes, she did”.

Rosemary erupted into another fit of giggles. “Oh! I don’t know why Lilly was worried. She spoke so fondly of you. How confident, and loyal and sincere you are. I knew you’d understand!”

She set down a wooden tray with three streaming ceramic mugs on the table and a plate of honey cakes. Dawn took her cup and inhaled the warm, mellow scent of chamomile. Suddenly reminded of the hunger she had been ignoring since the morning, Dawn downed a honey cake in only a few bites.

Then, with her mouth still full of food, she choked in surprise as Rosemary knelt on the floor in front of her and began pulling her boots off. Unable to speak, Dawn watched as the old woman took a warm cloth and began to wash Dawn’s feet with it. Dawn tried not to squirm at the touch. She exchanged a perplexed glance with Scarlet.

“Where is Lilly?” Rosemary asked as she worked. Dawn took several sips of her tea to wash down her food. She took the delay as an opportunity to consider her next words. She decided that she had little to gain by lying.

“She’s... dead. I think”.

Rosemary stopped washing and stayed quiet and still for a long moment, though her old, bony hands clasping the washcloth shook. Then, tears began to drip onto Dawn’s feet.

“What happened?” Rosemary asked. Dawn proceeded to tell a reconstructed version of the truth to Rosemary, as the woman resumed her washing. When she finished with Dawn, she put her boots back on, and then went to wash Scarlet’s feet.

Dawn told Rosemary about finding the box with the maps and the letter, but left out the part of her story about going to the Governor, being put in prison, and travelling with Wolfe. All the while, she cast pointed glances at Scarlet to convey to her sister that those parts of the story would remain secret. Scarlet showed her understanding by pressing her lips tightly together and casting her gaze downward.

Once Rosemary was finished washing Scarlet’s feet, she sat at the table with a sigh, her cheeks streaked with tears. “I pray to Essence that Lilly’s delay is because she found solace somewhere. That she hasn’t been killed”.

Rosemary let out a long sigh. “But to die is a risk one must face when becoming Unmarked, and many do. I’ve hosted more martyrs in this home than I can count on all our hands combined. Very, very few live as long as I have. And even though I know it is irrational, I sometimes feel guilt for having outlived them all.”

Rosemary reached for Dawn’s hand and patted it gently; a look of undeniable compassion in her eyes. “Such is the way of the Unmarked, as you are learning. But we persevere with hope in our hearts that Jeziah’s Kingdom will one day be established in its completeness; vanquishing evil with its persecutions, to give us a new life of peace and prosperity”.

Every fiber in Dawn’s being compelled her to jerk her hand away from Rosemary’s touch and vehemently rebuke the woman for her blasphemy. What was this talk of praying to “Essence”, and establishing Jeziah’s Kingdom? Was there not already peace and prosperity in the land? Had Her Eminence Tariah not already overcome the Rayless Woods: evil incarnate?

And not to mention that it wasn’t natural for someone to live as long as Rosemary. The elderly were a hindrance to the Land. It was believed that their lack of youth and strength was part of why the Rayless Woods remained. Most people, by the age of sixty five, willingly partook in the ceremony of the Great Remembrance. For a month leading up to an elder’s birthday, their family would gather and record stories from the elder’s life. They would have a portrait painted and hung in a relative’s home. And then, on the eve of their sixty fifth birthday, the elder would be surrounded by family, and a priest would conduct a blessing over the elder, and then they would be given a tonic to drink in order to depart from this world; their soul preserved and at peace in the afterlife due to the collective memory of their friends and family, and in the stories recorded in the pages of their life memoir.

But all throughout her inner turmoil, Dawn used every ounce of strength and self-control she had to stay still and keep her expression impassive. She hoped that Rosemary interpreted her reservedness as grief.

The old woman’s gaze was distant for a moment, and then her brows furrowed. “You say you found a package on your doorstep? From Lilly?”

“Yes” Dawn replied.

“There was a young man who came to me a few weeks ago. He said he was a friend of Lilly’s. He was on his way to deliver a package to her apprentice in Aura. I didn’t think anything of it, but now I realize it might have been her warning that he was delivering”.

Dawn’s heart seized in her chest. “Who was the man?”

“Oh... his name escapes me. Handsome young man, tall, curly brown hair, green eyes...”

Dawn quietly spoke the first name that came to her lips “Wolfe”.

“Ah yes! Wolfe. You’ve spoken to him?”

“Yes, but... I didn’t know he was the one that left the package for me”. Dawn’s throat felt dry, and the room began to spin. “I didn’t even know he and Lilly knew each other”.

It made no sense. Lilly had written in her letter that the only two possibilities were that she had either been captured or killed. If she had been with Wolfe, why had he arrived to Aura and she hadn’t? Why had she been with Wolfe?

“That is strange indeed. Wolfe didn’t give any indication that something bad had happened to Lilly neither in word or mannerisms. He just told me that Lilly was delayed and wanted the package delivered to you”.

Lilly sounds like someone I’d want to be friends with...

That was what Wolfe had said to her, on the night of the festival, when he had asked Dawn what her relationship with her mentor was like, and she had poured her heart out to him. Something like betrayal roiled inside of her. Wolfe had known Lilly, but had acted as if he didn’t.

“Do you know what his relationship with Lilly was like?” Dawn asked, echoing Wolfe’s words.

“I do not know. From the way he spoke of her, they seemed like nothing more than acquaintances. He did not say much and I did not prod much. Only enough to know he was worth letting into my home for sanctuary”.

“Did he say anything about how they met? Where they met?”

Rosemary gazed off distantly, but shook her head. “No, no, nothing that I recall. I don’t know how long they had known each other. But if Lilly had encountered Wolfe and given him a package for you, then it must have been between here and Evenov”.

None of the pieces were falling into place. Was Wolfe with the Unmarked? It would explain why he had been so kind to the villagers back in Greywell. It would explain the Wanted poster. But then, why would he let her leave with all of the information about the Rebels if he knew she intended to go to the Queen with it? Why had he promised to get Dawn out of trouble? And if Wolfe had been with Lilly just a few weeks ago, did that mean she was still alive? Was she hiding out in one of the Unmarked camps? And why would she have chosen him to be her messenger?

Dawn knew Wolfe had been hiding something from her. Dawn still could not figure out his intentions. All she knew now, however, was that she would have to look over her shoulder. Wolfe could not be trusted, especially not now that he knew she was planning on going to Tariah. And then there was the whole separate issue concerning his immunity in the Rayless Woods. Were the Rebels somehow affiliated with the Shadow Realm?

“And what was Lilly doing in Evenov?” Suddenly, Dawn felt hungry for any details she might glean concerning Lilly’s mysterious journey.

“I don’t know. I don’t think Lilly knew either. All she told me was that she had been summoned to Evenov to take on a new operation that was unfolding there. My guess is that it has something to do with the printing press”.

Dawn frowned. Evenov was known for its printing press. All books that needed to be multiplied and distributed across Erom were printed there. Lilly being summoned to Evenov had not been unusual, as there was regular trade between Aura and Evenov, due to Aura’s paper mill. What Dawn had not understood was why Lilly’s mission had been confidential. What Dawn still didn’t understand was what the Unmarked could be doing with the printing press. She voiced her concern out loud.

It took Rosemary a long moment to answer, as if she were considering it a good idea to tell Dawn what she was about to say. But she spoke, and her words were a shock to both Dawn and Scarlet.

“Evenov is Jeziah’s Chosen City. Governor Sage is Unmarked, as is her council, and most of the Members who dwell there”.

A plethora of questions piled in Dawn’s mind as to how that could even be feasible.

Rosemary continued. “Some say that since the beginning of Tariah’s reign, Evenov had been set apart, never fully committed to Her Eminence. Over the centuries, those faithful to Jeziah made their way into positions of power and influence. The city has always been the hub of all Unmarked activities. And it is only now that Evenov has finally rooted out those loyal to the Queen, and replanted a loyalty to Essence. The City is a safe haven, and a beacon of hope. We aspire that one day, every city in Erom will provide its members with that same freedom”.

Rosemary regarded both Dawn and Scarlet with her soft grey eyes. “Evenov is where you need to go. That is where you will learn all you need to know about the Unmarked and their ways. That is where you will find solace from your pursuers. Because if Lilly really did get captured, then you really are in danger”.

“If we are to go to Evenov”, Dawn found herself saying, “then we’re going to need provisions. Food, water, clothing, and horses. Otherwise we won’t get very far”.

A sudden need to get moving came over Dawn at that moment. She felt rather distressed at the fact that she was sitting around, eating honey cakes and drinking tea and having her feet washed, while there were people on their way to capture and kill her.

Resolve showed on Rosemary’s features.

“Consider it done. You’ll be leaving at first light tomorrow morning”.

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?