Scars of the Earth (7 page)

“Amanda, we understand how hard this must be.” The only man not in grey spoke quickly. “But this is the best path for you. If that weren’t true the Ancients wouldn’t have made it so.” His soft gentle voice was full of concern for her well being, and she knew it wasn’t just for show.

He really thinks that capturing me would be doing me a favor. She thought full of surprise. Her hand inched closer to the pocket. She needed to distract them, so she spoke.

“The Ancients are not omnipotent; they make mistakes just like we do. And this is a mistake, if they just give me time I know that I can fight off this evil. You don’t have to do this, see for yourselves.” She said.

Hoping her skin had improved, she rolled back the light fabric of the sleeve. To her relief the blackness that traced her veins had faded, if not just slightly. It was enough to see that the Ancients were wrong. As her pursuers stood unbelieving she managed to slide her hand into the pocket undetected. Her fingers were so close to the portal that she felt the heat of it warming her hand. Just as she was about to touch it, Frey began to speak to his comrades heatedly.

“We have our orders, we are to capture them.” She drew in a breath.

Them? Now Madgie and Cole are in this with me. She thought, the idea turning her stomach.

Amanda looked back at Cole, his eyes pleading her to go but she couldn’t. Not without them. Frey was still rallying his ranks of followers with Carter towering behind him in an intimidating show of support.

“Will you be swayed by her when we have the word of the Ancients? She is not to be trusted.” He thrust his hand in her direction.

She glanced back at Cole and lightly shook her head; his eyes grew wide in understanding. She wouldn’t leave without him. Her would-be captors regained their initiative. Cole threw up a protective wall, the mob began launching an attack, and Amanda turned and sprinted towards Cole and Madgie all in the same instant. His wall didn’t last long against so many attacks and she felt a ball of energy wiz by her ear. She had never seen anything like it in all of her lessons, and she realized why. In its wake was a murky cloud of hate and pain.

It’s dark magic. They are trying to kill us! She realized.

She looked back and saw the scowl on Frey’s pale face. She almost ran into Cole, who scooped her under his arm and started them towards Madgie while blocking spells as fast as they were coming at them. Amanda tried to help but she couldn’t throw up a shield, she was too weak. There was smoke filling the air and she saw a number of fires quickly devouring the feast of paper that was scattered about the room. She side-stepped an energy ball, unable to block it.

I don’t even have enough energy to block an attack? She thought, realizing just how vulnerable she really was.

She hated herself for not being able to help Cole block the tirade of attacks flying at them. Looking up, a wall of thick smoke had formed and she lost sight of Madgie. She searched desperately, squinting into the smoky haze.

“Cole I can’t find Madgie! Where is she?” She yelled.

“Don’t worry.” He said quickly.

Amanda realized she was using the wrong senses and began searching for Madgie’s well known spiritual signature. We’ve almost reach her, just a few more steps. She thought. The kindhearted one in the group was calling out over the sound of the fight.

“Stop the attack! Stop the attack! The Ancient’s care about you, they want the best for you. Amanda if you have anything good left in you please come with us we will make sure that you are saved.” He begged. She could feel what a good man he was and she wished he could understand.

“I don’t need them to save me, I can save myself.” She shouted. Amanda felt Madgie’s presence upon them and still she couldn’t see the tall thin woman. She should be here. She thought worriedly.

“S-B! Get out of here. Go, now!” Madgie’s voice commanded. Amanda looked down and saw a figure crumpled on the floor and let out a cry.

“Madgie!” She reached down to her friend. Cole was still with her, holding her tight.

“Amanda, make sure you have a good hold on her, and grab the portal. NOW!” He said quietly. Amanda slipped her hand around the warm speck of energy. Her heart flew to the back of her chest and the hooded figures around them froze in place. Her fluttering heart seized to beat when she saw the shimmering ball of energy that was inches from Cole’s sculpted face.

He could have died. She thought. The thought of never seeing his bright eyes shinning down at her tore a hole in her chest. I never knew I needed to see his smile everyday to be happy. Wait. Why are we still here? Weren’t we suppo…? Amanda felt an incredible pressure on her chest and her breath came rushing out of her lungs. As her feet flew off of the floor she caught a glimpse of a meaty hand around Madgie’s ankle.

No, no! She thought as her hand lead the way into the space between here and there.

The smoke swirled in mocking circles where the prisoners and Carter had been.

“They’re gone?” Frey asked unbelieving.

The Ancients will be furious. He thought, letting out a psychotic shriek that rattled the Guard members around him.

“How can they have gotten past all of us?” He turned to face the men he was addressing. In the dark, smoke filled room his white-blonde hair seemed to glow.

Out of all of the Healers it could have been causing this trouble, it had to be her! He thought.

Seeing her stunned face, just before she was swept away, took him back to a cold night two years ago…when she had come back to the Hovel.

He wasn’t as high ranking then and still objectified to boring perimeter guard around the outside of the Hovel. He hated it. Not just because it was boring, but also because Chicago was bitter cold in the winter. It wasn’t snowing; it felt too cold to snow. The air was still, and suspended in it were small bits of frost catching the street lights and shining like glitter. He exhaled and watched as his cloud of breath stirred the frost in the air into a frenzy. Just as he was readying to turn, something-or more accurately someone, caught his eye.

A small dark figure was walking towards the Hovel with weak but determined steps. He could sense that whoever approached was a Healer not the regular human drifter he usually spotted on duty. The Hovel was located in a mostly industrial part of town and looked like nothing more than a fairly well kept factory from the outside. It was way past lock down, so whoever this was had broken the rules. Which allowed him to have some enjoyment at this tardy person expense, after all it was his job to enforce the rules. As the shivering person continued their approach he realized that it was a female Healer and a young one too.

This is going to be fun. He thought. When the person was twenty feet away he called out to them in his most authoritative voice.

“Halt!” He shouted and she turned her head up towards the noise. He gasped when he recognized her face. It was Amanda Cates, the girl that had caused so much trouble for the Ancients, the deserter that many Healers were secretly obsessed with. She made a very public choice to leave. And her choosing something other than what she was told to choose, stuck in their minds. Even though most were good at hiding it from everyone he still saw through their mask.

She stood as still as she could manage through the involuntary shivers that rocked her body. Her ragged breaths hung in clouds above her before disappearing into nothing, as she had two years ago. She was much skinnier than he had remembered, but she was still remarkably beautiful. She wasn’t dressed for the weather at all making him think her return was either a spur of the moment decision, or one made out of desperation.

“It’s you.” He growled.

Maybe I can show her how much she was missed. He mused. Her eyes looked tired which was good, he didn’t want her to put up too much of a fight when he did what he wanted to do to her. And just getting here looked like it had taken all of the fight out of her.

Maybe she won’t even scream. He thought. Other Guards were on duty and nine out of ten would just join him in his games, but there were a few…

“What’s going on here?” A voice behind him asked. Frey turned and saw Joseph, a Sergeant.

Damn it! He thought, knowing that he had just pulled the one out of ten that wouldn’t let him have fun.

Joseph took off his grey coat, fastened it around her and escorted her inside never taking his eyes off of Frey. He hated how he looked at him like he could read his mind. She had gotten away then, though she may not have known it.

And she had gotten away, again. A hand patted him comfortingly.

“It is okay son, the Ancients will find her. They will find her and set her free.” Frey turned to the kindly Healer that had followed the swarm of grey to help, not understanding that running away from these men was a wiser choice, and put a sharp finger in his face.

“This is your fault Danimir!” Frey spat. His wide eyes crazed.

“I-I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean…” He stuttered. Frey’s perfect head of golden hair tilted to one side.

“Not as sorry as you will be.”

Amanda landed awkwardly on a rolling hill covered with tall grass and large rocks. She attempted to realign her senses, it was cool and she could taste cool moist air on her tongue. She opened her eyes to see rolling hills and valleys surrounded by jagged misty mountains. In the far distance she could see steps of rice beds cut into the landscape. The uneven earth was blanketed in twisting cypress trees and walls of bamboo. Beautiful sheets of pink against the green hillsides told her that the plum blossoms were in bloom.

Where am I? Wait, where is Cole? And Madgie she was hurt… She thought. She tried to stand up but was too dizzy and fell back to the earth.

“Cole! Madgie!” She whispered looking around desperately. She tried to stand once again and this time she succeeded.

“Cole!” She called out more loudly. She heard rustling behind her and turned around swiftly. Cole was shaking his head, dark curls full of grass. He smiled up at her and her heart skipped a beat.

“WOW. We’re not dead, what are the chances?” He said. She smiled at him and then remembered Madgie.

“Cole, is Madgie near you?” She asked. He looked around and shook his head.

“No, but we need to find her. I think she was stunned by one of their orbs. I don’t think it was one that Frey or Carter threw, which is lucky. Those crazy bastards meant to kill us.” He said as he stood up and moved to her side. He reached over and picked up her hand. She looked down at the gesture wondering how something so simple could make her feel so whole.

It’s just a hand. His hand. She thought.

Looking at their hands brought to mind another hand and a shiver ran up her spine. Cole saw Amanda gazing at their intertwined fingers and, misinterpreting her shiver, smiled.

“Come on, let’s find Madgie before she gets angry.” He said laughing. She turned and studied the patch of ground she had found herself in.

I landed here, and Cole… She looked up and guessed that he had landed about fifteen yards to her right. She thought back to the room. Cole was on my right and Madgie was below me to the left.

She looked to her left, into the setting sun, and saw a deep valley that had already fallen into shadow.

“If we’re going to start a search party, I think that dark scary valley is a good place to check out.” She said. Cole laughed and pulled her next to him.

She tried to enjoy the act but her mind still circled the image of the strange hand grasping Madgie’s ankle. She and Cole began their decent side by side into the ever-darkening valley.

Cole led the way moving with quick precise motions that she found hard to replicate on such uneven terrain. They didn’t have a path to follow, so they climbed over slick moss covered rocks and had to avoid thick bushes spiked with uninviting thorns. Although she wasn’t very good at it, she attempted to tread lightly wanting to stay as quiet as possible. Something told her that she needed to do this, though she didn’t understand why.

Shouldn’t I be making as much noise as possible to find Madgie? She wondered to herself.

Whatever the reasoning behind her hushed footfall, she knew that she needed to shrug it off. They had to start calling out for Madgie, it would be hard to spot her through the dense vegetation. Amanda took a breath to call out and Cole grabbed her arm and shook his head slowly. She was surprised and studied his face. His heavy brow was furrowed in confusion.

“What?” She mouthed to him. He took a knee and gently pulled her down with him. She didn’t hesitate and knelt beside him, rough earth digging at her flesh. He pulled her in closely and whispered in his deep melodic voice.

“I don’t feel like we should make our presence know here, not yet. Ever since we stepped into this valley, I have had a terrible feeling that I just can’t shake. I might just be paranoid. I mean I can’t track anything down. I can’t pin point why, but I feel like we are being hunted.” He finished. She, having felt the same thing, just looked into the nearby brush and nodded her assent.

“Well I don’t know how quickly the Ancients work, but I think that we need to get used to the feeling of being hunted.” She said quietly.

She didn’t know if they were feeling spooked by someone thousands of miles away, or if something sinister lurked in the brush just beyond her sight. She hadn’t wanted to worry Cole by something she was so unsure of, but she vocalized her thoughts before she could stop herself.

“I thought I saw someone grab Madgie before we made the leap.” She said quickly.

She waited a few moments and turned to Cole, surprised that he hadn’t responded. Seeing the look of shock on his face, she chastised herself.

God why didn’t I tell him sooner? She looked up into his pure brown eyes and saw a bouquet of emotions rattling inside of him; fear, worry, and love. Amanda stuttered.

“I’m sorry Cole I should have said something to you, I just wasn’t sure if I…” He interrupted her.

“It’s Okay, don’t apologize. So much has happened to you in such a short amount of time. I’m sure that it is hard to keep everything lined up. I’m not sure how you are doing this good. If I looked like you I would still be in my cell crying.” He smiled as he took a deep breath in.