usually have one or two.” We sit there. I don’t know what else
to say. Kiar pats my leg. “Get some rest. We will figure it out.”
“Thank you, Kiar,” I say while squeezing his hand.
“That’s what friends are for.” My face falls. Josh always said
that to me. “What’s wrong?” Alarm sounds in Kiar’s voice.
I shake my head and smile. “Nothing, Kiar. I’ll get some
rest.” I lie down.
The wind can’t get to me in my cosy little space. I don’t get to
think too long. My mind slips away into a deep sleep.
Chapter Seventeen
Saskia
(Sarajane)
When I wake I’m in a pool of sweat. It’s still bright.
Pushing back my bedroll and stretching, I can smell
food. A fire is burning and a rabbit is turning above
the flame. “How did you catch a rabbit up here?” I ask Neve,
who jumps at my voice and then smiles.
“Sarajane. The forest is only an hour’s ride away so Tristan
caught dinner.”
I sit down. Tristan was nowhere in sight. Neve turns the
rabbit at regular intervals. Kiar is slumped against a large rock,
his eyelids closed, yet I don’t think he’s asleep.
“Why stop here when we’re only an hour away?” I ask Neve.
Morrick sits across from me, rubbing his face “You were
exhausted.” I don’t reply to him. I just can’t right now.
Tristan returns, looking grumpy. He never looks any other
way. He ignores me. That suits me just fine. At this stage I just
want to get my sister and go home.
The air is cold. I pull my cloak tighter around me, but it’s
shredded from my run-in with Carew and the exiles.
Morrick stirs across from me and examines my clothes
through narrowed eyes. “What happened?” he asks. For some
reason, I don’t want to tell anyone about Carew.
“I fell into a bush.” Morrick’s eyes narrow even more at my
blatant lie, but I don’t care. As if I would trust him ever again. I
return my focus to Neve. “Is the food ready yet?”
“Nearly. Would you like a leg?” My stomach turns. I know
he’s trying to be nice, but if I see the little white paws, it will
be enough to finish me altogether. My green-looking face must
portray my horror, as Neve hurries on. “Or maybe not.”
I give him a weak smile “Just the meat, no bone. Thanks.”
Neve smiles back, making him look younger. “How old are
you?”
“Nineteen, but everyone thinks I look older.” I would’ve
thought he was maybe my age, in his early twenties.
Kiar’s eyes open and a look of amusement passes over his
face. I knew he wasn’t asleep. “It’s all the lines on your face,
Neve”
Neve’s hand immediately goes to his face to check for lines.
When he feels none, he relaxes. “No, Kiar, it is because I act
older,” he says proudly with a boyish grin on his face. Kiar
laughs heartily and I can’t help but laugh with them. Neve’s
face breaks into a huge smile as he shakes his head, turning the
rabbit.
I look across at Tristan. He watches me with a serious
expression on his face. I don’t look away this time but remember
what it was like to have his lips on mine, his hands running
through my hair. He looks away.
Morrick leaves during our exchange. I can’t believe he hasn’t
even tried to apologise to me. I banter on with Neve and Kiar.
They would raise anybody’s spirits. They always seem to see the
glass as half full no matter what they’re faced with.
After our food, Morrick pulls Neve aside to speak to him
before we leave. When Neve returns, he doesn’t say anything
and we never ask. We move out. Within the hour, we reach
Eden Forest. Standing on the edge of the forest, I can see it
stretching for miles. My optimism drops to the floor. This will
be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Neve jumps off the
horse and sinks to his haunches with his hands pushed deep
into the soil.
“He has an earth affinity, but it is a level one,” Morrick says
to my confused look. But that means Neve has three affinities,
the dirt off his hands.
His face tells all before he speaks. “Nothing, sorry.” He
looks so guilty. I try to give him a reassuring smile, but I can’t
hide my disappointment.
“We move south through the forest,” Tristan says, giving us
all a pointed stare. “And move as quietly as possible.” Once his
little speech is over, we all follow behind. My heavy boots seem
to crush everything under my feet. I’m the only one making
noise. After a few hours my thighs burn from walking and
sweat soaks my tunic. My footsteps sound louder as my feet are
heavy to lift.
“We will take a break,” Morrick says, much to Tristan’s
annoyance. I don’t protest. I throw down my knapsack that
holds water and some bread and rest against a tree. Removing
my beaker of water from my knapsack, I gulp it down.
“Thirsty?” Kiar asks with an amused smile on his face. I
notice Kiar, Neve and Tristan look like they haven’t just trekked
through the forest for the last few hours. Their tunics are dry,
no sweat. At least Morrick looks a little breathless, and I mean
a little.
“Do you guys run miles every day or something?”
Neve sits down beside me. “Yes.”
Kiar laughs. “Don’t worry. Give me a few months with you
and I will whip you into shape.”
“I hope you don’t mean literally?” I give him my best mock
horror look, causing him to laugh. Looking at Kiar, it is uncanny
how, when he smiles, he looks more like Josh.
The laughing settles down. “What age is your sister?” This
is the first time anyone asks me about her, but I know Kiar is
being as gentle as possible with his words. This sobers up all my
humour, bringing me back to what I am here for.
“She is eighteen next month, but going on thirty.” Neve looks
confused, again. “I mean, she acts older than she is,” I explain.
“Oh, she is like me, then.” Kiar and I exchange amused looks
but don’t laugh. Neve just looks too sincere.
“Does Jessica have any extra abilities?” Morrick asks, nearly
making me jump. He and Tristan are always sneaking up on
me; this is something I’ll have to work on. Well, I knew they
were going to check the area, but they never made an entrance
when they returned.
“No.” I gave him a hard look. Why show any interest in her
now when before she wasn’t his concern? Neve and Kiar don’t
speak. They seem to suddenly be intrigued with the forest floor.
That means Tristan is back also.
I look up from Morrick and meet Tristan’s cold gaze as he
leans against a tree, watching us. He holds my stare as he comes
over, throwing a leather pouch on the ground while sitting
down with us. He throws each one of us an apple. “Found an
apple tree not far from here,�
� he tells me. I didn’t ask where the
apples came from, but it is tasty, extra sweet. Nobody speaks.
The only noise is me munching on my apple. I look at Neve and
Kiar, who haven’t taken as much as a bite.
“What’s wrong?” I spit the bite that’s left in my mouth onto
the ground. Then the world shifts. What the hell? Tristan is at
my side, holding my head, resting it on the ground. Everything
is starting to lose its colour.
“What did you do?” Morrick asks with alarm in his voice.
But Tristan just whispers in my ear. “Sorry, but it is for your
own good.”
“Tristan, you answer me!” Morrick’s voice is at a peak, but
he is swaying form side to side.
I look back at Tristan, who is still on his knees. “You bastard.”
My words are slurred as if I have drunk a brewery dry so I’m
not sure if he can make them out, and then everything is gone.
I awake with a pounding headache, my hands are tied behind
my back, and I am leaning against a tree. I open my eyes. Streaks
of sunlight break through the trees, blinding me for a second. I
lower my gaze. A pair of boots comes into view, then legs. Neve
is seated not far from me.
“I am sorry, Sarajane. Don’t be mad.” He does look sorry.
“Just untie me, Neve, and I’ll forget all this,” I say in the best
friendly voice I can muster. I will kill Tristan.
Neve looks away, conflicted. “I can’t. I have orders.”
I don’t have to ask from whom. It’s still bright so maybe I
wasn’t out long. I can still catch up, but I need my hands untied.
I sit quiet for about twenty agonising minutes and then when I
think enough time passes, I take my chance.
“I need to use the bathroom.” I give him an I’m sorry look,
but he stands, shaking his head.
“Oh no, he said you would try that.”
I growl in frustration, then regret it. “Neve, I’m fine about
this. I understand everybody is worried about my safety.” He
isn’t quite sure whether to believe me. “But I really need to go.”
I cross my legs in a really girly way, pretending I just can’t wait
much longer.
He takes a few sharp breaths through his nose. “Fine. You
have one minute.” He helps me up and unties my hands, but
never takes his eyes off me.
I put my hand on my hip and tilt my head in what I hope
looks like girly expression. “Neve, I can’t go with you looking
at me.”
He blushes slightly. “Oh yeah,” he says and turns his back
to give me privacy. I kneel down and remove the dagger from
my boot. I’m not going to hurt Neve, but I need him to believe
I will.
“Hurry up,” he says, his voice sounding anxious at having me
untied. I take two steps towards his back and hold the dagger
to his throat.
“Don’t try anything or I will kill you.”
He goes to move. “Sarajane.” But I push the blade harder
against his throat. A trickle of blood runs down his neck. He
inhales a sharp breath, his face turning red with anger.
“Now put your hands in the soil and see if you can find
them.”
“Sarajane, think about what you are doing.”
I push a little more. It’s only a knick, but I still feel horrible.
“Now, Neve.” He gets down on his knees. I move with him to
keep the dagger against his throat so he won’t try anything.
He pushes his hands into the soil and concentrates.
“Nothing,” he says. Panic rises. This is my only plan. I grab his
arm with my free hand, shaking him slightly
“Try again.” Then I’m zoomed forward at an incredible
speed through the forest. We stop at a hut. My heart is racing.
Five guards surround my sister. I watch this from above.
“Jessica,” I scream in terror, but nobody seems to hear me. She’s
covered in bruises, a swollen eye, split lip; her arm is twisted
at a horrible angle. I’m pulled from the hut. Ten men surround
the area. Oh God, it’s a trap. As I’m pulled again against my
will, I move back at an incredible speed, seeing all the treetops,
and then I slow down. Tristan, Morrick and Kiar walk slowly
with their swords drawn. Tristan’s eyes scan the area. He looks
dangerously beautiful.
And then I’m back in my body beside Neve, finding it hard
to breathe. He looks at me in shock. I twist away from him and
puke. “We have to warn them?” Neve still sits still. I shake him
by the shoulders “We need to move now, Neve.”
He comes out of his daze. “No, I have strict orders.” He
grabs my arms.
“Neve, please. They will die and you saw my sister.” The
look he gives me is pity. “We need to warn them. Just warn
them, I promise.” I meet his eyes. “Please.”
He lets my arms go and runs his hand across his bald head.
“Okay, but you do everything I say.”
I nod. “Yes.”
He gives me a stern look. “I mean it, Sarajane.”
“Yes, okay, Neve.”
He hands my dagger back to me. A blush of embarrassment
progresses along my cheeks. “Sorry.”
He just checks his armour, obviously not forgiving me yet.
“They are about two hours ahead of us,” Neve says as I remove
my boots and cloak.
“What are you doing?” he asks as I leave them under a bush.
“We need to move fast and with as little noise as possible.”
He shakes his head, knowing he’s disobeying orders “Fine,
let’s move.”
I follow him, branches poke into my feet, but I just picture
my sister and push on. My noise level is a lot lower. We move at
a fast pace and after two hours, I stop. “We should’ve met them.
They were moving a lot slower.”
Neve nods his head in agreement. “I will try to see them.”
He kneels down and digs his hands into the soil. I stand guard,
keeping an eye around us. “It is not working,” he says after a
few moments. He tries again. “Nothing. Maybe it was you?”
I give a little laugh. “I don’t think so.” Then I sober. “Just
try again.”
He reaches out a hand for me to take. “It won’t hurt. Just to
try, Sarajane.”
I roll my eyes. This is a waste of time, but I take his hand
and kneel down, uncomfortable nobody is watching our
backs. The minute we lower our joined hands into the soil,
I’m pulled from my body again. I can see Neve and me. It
looks like we’re praying. Then I do a full rotation from this
height. Tristan is watching us from a tree; his face displays
his anger, but there’s also a glimmer of admiration. Morrick
is watching from a bush on our left; he looks intrigued by
what we’re doing and a little annoyed at seeing us. And Kiar
is to our right, smiling.
Then I pull back into my body. I don’t feel sick this time, as
we didn’t move through the forest at full speed.
Neve whispers beside me. “It is you, not me.” I’m not
convinced I had anything to do with this.
We stand. Morrick is the first
to show himself, then Kiar.
He’s fighting to hide his smile.
“You couldn’t even guard a girl with her hands tied,” he says
to Neve in a low voice.
Neve’s face turns bright red. “She had a dagger to my
throat.”
I have the good sense to look away, mortified. Tristan jumps
down from the tree and saunters over to us at his own leisure.
His movements of confidence annoy me. “You will never learn.”
That’s all he says to me. “Move.”
But before he can, Neve clears his throat. “Tristan, we came
here to warn you.” Now he has everyone’s attention. “There are
fifteen guards in total. It is an ambush.”
Tristan looks at him suspiciously. “And how would you
know that?”
I’m afraid, in case he tells him it was me, so I rush in.
“Does it matter? I saw it too, when he used his affinity. So we
just need to think of how to take out fifteen guards.”
Tristan gives a sarcastic laugh. “And what will you do? Kill
them all with your dagger?” He glances down at my feet. I have
only socks on and they’re darker in some areas from bleeding,
but I don’t care. I just need to get to my sister.
Tristan moves away and speaks to Morrick, who hasn’t
even acknowledged me. Kiar is smiling at me with pride that I
managed to escape Neve. I smile back, causing Neve to nearly
cut me in two with a look.
“All right, we’re splitting up.” Tristan gives me a look that
says, Say anything and you will be sorry. So I gloat silently.
“Kiar, you’re with Morrick and you two are with me.”
Great. Kiar leans in. “Wish I could go with you to see what you
will do to Neve this time.” He walks to Morrick, all signs of his
smile gone.
We follow Tristan at a painfully slow rate. I want to tell him
to hurry but know he might end up gagging me and tying me
to a tree. He motions for us to get down. I can see Morrick and
Kiar on the left have stopped moving too. We hunker down.
I try hard not to move a muscle as a guard walks past us.
Tristan rises slowly and pulls the guard behind the bushes where
he breaks his neck. He has it snapped before we can blink an
eye. The man’s dead eyes stare up into the sky. I feel sick. I gawk
at Tristan in horror; he meets my horrified stare with a fierce