EPIC: Fourteen Books of Fantasy (145 page)

“How does it look?” I asked.

Ivy glanced sideways at me as she stepped over a fallen branch. Her hand flew to her mouth, covering it seconds after a giggle escaped.

“That bad?”
 

Ivy grabbed the sides of my wig under my hood, yanking to the left.

“There,” she said, cocking her head and beaming at me. “Much better. Your bangs are straight now.”

We continued on, keeping the path in sight, but stayed far enough into the woods to be hidden from the casual passerby. The canopy blocked much of the falling rain, but drops still broke through, leaving the leafy ground slippery. The musty air was so different from the stale air I grew up with in Kandek’s castle, but it wasn’t unpleasant. It had its own texture, its own definition that to me equaled freedom.

“At least we have a head start,” Ivy said. “Tania and Jon were talking while we were getting ready and they said the guards were searching the town first. It’s a good thing we were already on the outskirts of the forest with Tania or we may not have gotten out.”

“How did that cloak work?” I asked, thinking back to today’s events. “I don’t understand how she could walk into the castle undetected and free me.”

“It was covered in some kind of magic. No one was supposed to be able to see her. It’s a good thing it worked or the two of you would have been in big trouble.” Ivy pushed aside a log with her foot.

“But I could see her just fine.”

“I know. Weird, isn’t it? There’s some sort of special magic she worked on it before leaving to get you. I was too nervous to pay attention, but the incantation had something in there about how only friends could see through the disguise.”

A free gifted couple with the power to enchant a cloak. It seemed unbelievable, but I’d seen gifted slaves use their powers and I knew it was real. Ranee and her invisible whips that left all too real welts. Kandek’s healer had once repaired a gash to his face within a day, not even leaving a scar. I had taken them for granted as tools of the Malborn, never as a force fighting for freedom, no matter what the old prophecies said.

“Tania was a slave once,” Ivy said. “Someone rescued her long ago just like she rescued us. She has the gift of disguise, which is why she was able to manipulate you into thinking she was a man. Jon has some affinity with nature, that I do know. It’s how they make their living. They sell vegetables at market.”

“They must be so wealthy with a gift like that.”

“I thought the same thing, but Tania explained to me how they live modestly and don’t produce too much. They don’t want to be caught. She told me that they just want to live like normal people. Blend in.”

“Hard to imagine after a lifetime of slavery, isn’t it?” I asked. “Did their masters know about their gifts?”

“No. I don’t even think Tania and Jon knew until they were rescued. That’s when they were told.”

“They were rescued and then found out about their gifts?”

“According to Tania, no one knows what their gift is until they’ve discovered it for themselves. Other gifted can see the spark, but not the specific gift. That’s all up to the individual.”

Ivy paused after jumping over a fallen tree. She turned to look at me.

“Tania saw the spark in me once in the market. It’s why she chose to rescue me. And she looked nothing then like what she actually looks. I think she was probably afraid that if I didn’t want to be rescued I might turn her in. Disguise is a great gift to have.”

“What’s your gift?” I asked. Part of me thought I should already know having spent years with Ivy, but I didn’t have a clue.

“I’m a soother. I can help anyone who is stressed or worried to feel better. I’ve known it for years. I just never knew it was a magical gift or that I could manipulate it.” Ivy smiled and I knew it was true. She had calmed me down more than once, especially at night when everything, not just light, seemed darkest.
 

“Thanks for begging them to rescue me,” I said. “Without your friendship I’d still be stuck there with a fresh fox brand on my neck.”

Ivy rubbed her neck. Still slightly swollen, her month-old brand was a painful reminder of what she had done for me.

“That’s true. Had Tania not gone in to get you, no one would know how powerful you are.” Ivy said.

“Huh?”

“Your spark. It shines so brightly that anyone who can see it is blinded,” Ivy said, putting her hand on my arm. “You have gifts far beyond me.”

I stopped walking and stared at Ivy. Gifts? I had no idea what she was talking about.

“Me?” I laughed. “There’s nothing special about me, much less having a gift.”

“How did Tania act the first time she saw you?” Ivy asked.

“I was in the dungeon and she was suddenly outside my cell door. I didn’t hear anyone approach. Somehow she got the guard to sleep and then she whispered to me through the door. She told me to run when I had the chance.”

I shuddered, remembering those few miserable hours.

“Is that all?” Ivy prompted. “Think hard. How did she react when she saw you?”

I thought for a moment, remembering how Tania had frozen in place before giving the orders. She had stopped and stared at me, as if she had been startled by what she saw.

“She did seem a bit taken aback,” I said. “I just assumed it was the situation, not me.”

“It definitely was you,” Ivy said. “Now that I know how to see the spark, I can’t believe all of those years we were together and I never noticed it before. I guess it’s all about looking in the right way.”

“Can you show me?” I asked. “If I’m special too, I ought to know how to recognize others like us.”

Ivy pulled me down on to a huge tree trunk. The rain had let up a while ago and while the trunk was damp, it had absorbed most of the fallen water. The green moss tickled my fingers as I settled myself.

“Stare into my eyes,” Ivy said cupping my chin in her hand.

I squinted, looking at her eyes, not seeing anything different than the blue that was always there.

“You see the pupil? The black part in the middle?” Ivy asked.

“Yeah.”

“Look directly into the center, do you see anything there?”

I focused on the center of Ivy’s eyes. They were black and reflective. For a moment I saw myself, a girl I barely recognized with a dark wig, but as my eyes unfocused, I gasped. A light emanated from deep inside, twinkling lightly. So lightly in fact that had I never been told where to look, I wouldn’t have seen it.

“I see it!” I squealed. “So I have that in my eyes too?”Ivy laughed. “Yes, you do. I’ve looked into Tania and Jon’s eyes and I saw it in theirs. But yours, Reychel, the spark is so strong. It’s a good thing only those with gifts can see it or everyone would have thought there was something wrong with you. It’s also lucky that Kandek’s gifted slaves never got close to you. Eloh only knows where you’d be right now if they knew.”

“I still can’t believe that I have some kind of gift,” I said. “I don’t really think there’s anything special about me. You said you’ve known forever that you can soothe people. I could have told you that. It’s how we became friends.”

“Ah, yes, the incident with the rat,” Ivy smiled.

“You talked me down from the bookcase I had climbed. Good thing too or I might have knocked it over and both of us would have gotten hurt,” I laughed.

We sat for a moment giggling, but as the late afternoon sun broke through the clouds we realized that moving again was what we had to do.
 

“We’re about halfway there, I think,” I said. “At least based on how long Jon thought it would take us to travel. I don’t really know.”

“Neither do I,” Ivy answered. “We should start walking again before it’s too dark.”

“I can see pretty well in the dark,” I said. “All those years without sunshine does that to a girl. So if it gets a little dark, I can keep an eye on things.”

Tossing our packs on our backs, Ivy and I pulled ourselves away from our respite. It was time to move on. For a moment I felt safe. Even though they were looking for me, we were ahead of them. It allowed me a feeling of security. I began to believe that everything was going to be okay. We had managed to escape and our new lives were about to start.

As we walked in the silent, wet leaves, a crunch startled us to attention. The road lie to the left and it was littered with rocks and gravel. We weren’t alone.

“Drop,” Ivy whispered as she fell behind the stump.

I joined her among the fallen leaves as my heart pounded.

Chapter VI

“D
O
YOU
THINK
IT
’
S
THEM
? Have they found us already?” I whispered, watching the road through the trees. I could hear the crunching but no one had come into view yet.

“I don’t know,” Ivy said, her eyes wide as she too stared at the road.

We sat holding hands and didn’t move from our spot as the gravel continued to crunch in slow, metered beats. Two horses, I figured based on the rhythm. They weren’t traveling fast, but rather slow.

“They’re looking for us,” Ivy said. “I just know it.” Her hands began to shake as she let go of mine and reached out toward the road.

“What are you doing?” I yanked her hands back, afraid someone would see them.

“I thought maybe I could soothe them.”

“From this far away?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried.” Ivy looked at me, her eyes filled with anxiety. “This might be the best time to try.”

“Try what?” a male voice boomed behind us.

I jumped to my feet as Ivy leapt up in front of me. A man stood not ten paces behind us. His rough clothes told me he wasn’t a guard. The dark, faded pants, and rumpled plain shirt spoke of a different profession. A farmer? A laborer? But not a soldier.

“Trying to make it to Keree before nightfall, good sir,” Ivy said. “We really don’t know how much farther we have to go and we were debating whether or not to camp for the night. Then we heard you and your horses, so we decided to hide. You never know who you’ll meet on the road.”

He stared at Ivy and then at me. As his eyes drank me in from bottom to the top and then down again, I felt the hair on my arms rise. His piercing gaze scared me. I’d been warned of how men can hurt women, but I’d always been protected within the castle. Even though we were slaves, Kandek made sure we were all unmolested.

“What should we do, Aron?” he asked, looking behind us.

I whirled around, seeing a second man standing between the trees, two leads in his meaty hands. The horses behind him nickered, blowing air through their nostrils.

“I don’t know, Kerk. Two young girls out all alone on the road. Seems like they need the guidance of two older and experienced men.” My stomach flipped and my jaw shook as his smirk showed his black teeth. I knew what he wanted and it wasn’t to give us guidance.

“Now, now,” Ivy said, her eyes focusing on Aron. “You have your own business to attend to. But you forgot your goods at home.”

I looked at the two horses, their saddlebags full. They had forgotten nothing, it seemed.

“We would only slow you down,” Ivy continued, turning to Kerk. “You have deadlines and now that you have to go home and pack up again, you’ll lose a lot of time. You may not get paid if you don’t deliver your goods in a timely manner.”

“She’s right,” Aron said. “Look at that. Our packs are empty! You were supposed to pack them.”

“Me? Packing is your job. It’s mine to ready the horses,” Kerk argued.

“Now we have to go back and we’re going to lose out on that big payment we was promised.”

“C’mon, let’s get out of here. Them two girls ain’t worth our time. Not when money’s involved.”

They bickered as they mounted their horses and raced back down the road toward the Wendak, their heavy packs slapping against the poor horses’ haunches. I didn’t dare to breathe until they were out of sight and the cracking noise of the horses hooves disappeared.

“It worked,” I squealed, dancing around Ivy. “I can’t believe you did it. That was amazing.”

Ivy stood still, her eyes wide, a smile on her face.

“I did, didn’t I? This is the first time I’ve intentionally used my gift.” She whirled around in a circle, her arms thrown out. “And it feels good. I can’t even describe to you how I feel right now. I relaxed them so much they were willing to do whatever I said.”

I grabbed Ivy, pulling her into a tight hug. She didn’t hug me back nearly as hard, but I was crushing her. Her eyes were staring off into the distance while her smile grew by tiny increments.

“We should keep moving.” I tugged on her sleeve to remind her I was still there. “They’ll be down this road again.”

“Oh, I doubt that,” Ivy said, snapping out of her reverie. “It’ll be too dark to leave by the time they get home. We won’t see them again.”

“Do you see the symbol?” Ivy whispered as we crept out of the woods on the outskirts of Keree. I strained to see anything in the black night, but the majority of the village was sleeping, along with their lights. Only far off flickers from the windows of what was probably the town tavern cut through the darkness.

Tania had instructed us to see Johna, an herbalist living in Keree. It was the safest place for us to stay until we learned how to make our own lives and function in the world.