by Z Brewer
A small door in the back opened and a man stepped out, his arms full of a stack of two wooden crates. He was a short man, with a barrel chest and gray hair that curled all over his head and onto his chin in a beard. Even before laying eyes on us, he wore a friendly smile and twinkle in his eye. "Coming, coming. Don't worry. I heard the bell!"
He set the crates down on the floor behind one of the display counters and stood again, turning to face us. As he did, the twinkle in his eyes died, and the smile on his face flattened. He looked from Gage to me, and then back to Gage again, and when he spoke, it sounded like Gage might have guessed wrong on that whole friendship thing. "I can't help you. Please. Leave."
Gage shook his head and took a step forward. As he did so, the shopkeep took a small step back. At this, Gage stopped and said, "Tarrence, you're embarrassing me. All I need is a new chain."
Tarrence looked from Gage to me, his eyes lingering, as if he were trying to figure something out about me. I didn't say anything. Mostly because I got the impression that if I did, it might cause him to scurry away.
After a moment, Tarrence nodded and looked back at Gage. "And then you'll go?"
Gage paused, the look on his face one of disbelief. "Of course. If that's what you want."
With an anxious step, Tarrence disappeared through the back door again. In the brief time that he was gone, I could see that Gage was trying to work something out in his mind. Had he and Tarrence had a falling out? That much was obvious. But I felt bad for Gage, who clearly had thought everything was fine between them.
Tarrence returned a moment later with three chains. He laid them out neatly on a piece of red cloth on top of one of the cases without a word. The chains were lovely, as far as chains go. As Gage examined them, he said, "Which will work best? The last one broke within a day. I need it strong."
Tarrence cleared his throat. "Do you have the...the item...with you?"
Gage furrowed his brow, as if Tarrence were acting unbelievably strangely and he had no idea why. "Of course."
He handed me my katana and offered me a look that said he had no idea why his friend was acting this way. Then he opened his satchel and retrieved a broken chain. Attached to it was a small bronze compass, a single jewel at its center. Tarrence placed a magnifying eye piece against his eye and examined the chain closely, as well as the loop where the compass was meant to attach to the chain. After adjusting something with a pair of small pliers, he thumped his finger on the table next to one of the new chains. "This one should hold up well. But you really shouldn't wear it all of the time."
Gage's lips pursed slightly in anger, like they'd had this conversation a thousand times before. He dropped fifty trinks on the case and snatched his newly purchased chain from the cloth. As he turned from Tarrence, he muttered, "I hope that's enough to cover it."
Tarrence said nothing. Before we exited, Gage placed his small compass on the new chain and around his neck, then gathered my katana and we stepped outside. The small bell on the door jingled behind us. We were several stores down the block before I gave up on trying to ignore the obvious tension in the air. I stopped Gage with a hand on his shoulder. "So what just happened there? Your friend didn't exactly seem friendly."
He turned back to glance at the jeweler sign and then looked at me with confusion. "I'm not sure what just happened there. Tarrence has been a bit unpredictable in the past, but he's never been so unpleasant. It was almost like he didn't want me in his shop at all. I don't understand."
"At least you got a new chain. That compass must be pretty important to you."
"Immensely." His face paled some, as if what he were about to say was enormously difficult for him. When he finally spoke, his words came out in a near-whisper. "It was a gift from my Healer before she perished."
It was the first time that Gage had really opened up about his past in any way. He clearly preferred, for whatever reason, to keep details of his life private, and this seemed like his way of letting me in at last. For that, I was immeasurably grateful. It was hard to let people in. Especially strangers.
I didn't ask how she'd died--that would have been a bit like poking at an open wound--but I did offer a moment of silence as we made our way through town. Outside the fishmonger’s shop, I waited for Gage as he purchased some new hooks, watching the townspeople as they moved about the street. Across the way, I spied a familiar man leaning against a building. His cheek bore a thin scar that drew a line from the outside corner of his left eye to the corner of his mouth. Clenched between his teeth was an intricately carved pipe. I recognized him instantly as the Barron who’d visited my home when I was a child, to deliver the news of the death of a shared friend to my parents. He wasn’t looking at me, hadn’t even noticed me, and why would he? I was just a small girl when he’d seen me last, and for only the briefest of moments.
Crossing the street, I approached him, hoping that what I was about to do would help, rather than harm. “Excuse me, Barron. But I believe you know my parents.”
He sucked on the pipe while eyeing me over, and then blew out sweet-smelling smoke with his words. “Could be. I know a lot of people.”
“Their names are Patrick and Ellen Oshiro.”
Gripping the collar of my uniform, he pulled me into the shadows between the building. “Don’t fool with me, girl. Who are you? What do you want?”
“I’m Kaya Oshiro. And all I want is to find my parents.”
“Prove it. Prove you are who you say you are.” He darted his eyes between me and the street in a manner than could only be called desperate.
Shaking my head, I stumbled over my words. “When I was a child, you came to my cabin in Kessler in the middle of the night. You told my parents that a friend had died. Then you stayed up all night, singing and talking. I never forgot that. Mostly because no Barron but you ever visited us.”
Finally, he released my uniform and sighed, as if in relief. But he still kept his eyes moving between me and the street. “Your parents passed through here last month. Said they were headed North, but I don’t know where. Patrick said they were cave dwelling a lot, so I can only imagine they’re sticking to higher elevations.”
“They’re alive?” Relief flooded over me. My parents were alive! Or at least they were a month ago.
“I can only tell you how they were when I last saw them. They looked healthy enough. But I wouldn’t say they were doing well, by any means. The Zettai is on their heels.” His eyes narrowed at me. “You should be at Shadow Academy.”
My jaw stiffened. “You should mind your business.”
“Likewise. Leave your parents to their task, girl. You’ll be better off.”
“And just what is their task?”
“It’s none of your business, if you value your life.” He turned from me and headed deeper into the alley, waving his hand behind him, as if to brush me away like an annoying insect. “Now go. We’re attracting attention.”
In the street at the end of the alley, two guards had stopped and were looking at us with some manner of suspicion. As casually as I could, I walked toward them, nodding in greeting before returning to the fishmonger’s shop. Gage was just exiting as I reached it. “Get everything you need?”
“Hopefully. The next town’s a fair distance away.” Gage looked at me, his eyes full of concern. “Everything alright?”
“Right as rain. Come on. I saw some saltrock that I wanted to purchase.” I tugged his sleeve and moved down the street. After a while, I could no longer feel the gaze of the guard’s on me.
Gage and I stopped at several more vendors and picked up more supplies. It amazed me how much a person needed in order to travel. It was easy to take things like food and shelter for granted, when someone else was supplying them. With our satchels full, we headed for the gate, though I found myself casting a long, lingering glance at the inn as we passed by. I missed the comforts of being in one place, but I think I missed sleeping in an actual bed most of all. To not have rocks poking into
your back as you rolled over in the middle of the night. To not have the ground's chill seep into your skin as you slept. It sounded like paradise, something as simple as a mattress.
But we couldn't risk a night at the inn. We already stood out. The last thing we needed (or rather, I--Gage didn't seem to share my concerns) was to linger about in a Skilled village, where anyone from Shadow Academy or the Zettai council might see me. Besides, it wasn’t like I had enough trinks to spare, anyway. Especially after our meal and stocking up on supplies.
As we exited the gate, the guard didn't say a word. Gage waited until we were well down the hill before handing me my katana. As he did so, he said, "Do you have a Barron, Kaya?"
It was jarring, a strange intrusion into the personal details of my life. So unlike our interaction to date. I paused for a moment and slipped my saya over my head. By the time it was settled, I realized what it was that Gage was doing. He'd revealed to me something so deeply personal about his own life. He was merely trying to even the playing field a bit, and maybe make a deeper connection with someone he valued as a friend.
I took a deep breath, not knowing where the conversation might lead. "I do have a Barron. His name is Trayton."
"A Soulbound Barron?"
My mind instantly conjured up images of Darius. I swallowed the lump that was beginning to take up residence in my throat. "It's complicated."
He nodded, though confusion clearly filled his eyes. "Do you love him?"
My heart beat solidly inside my chest for a moment, then softly, as if retreating from the question. "That's also complicated."
Gage's entire demeanor had softened since he'd asked about my Barron. His shoulders were no longer drawn confidently back. His mouth had relaxed into a frown. His eyes took on a glaze that said that his thoughts were very much somewhere else at the moment, likely with a dead girl that had once gifted him with the small compass that he wore around his neck.
"I loved my Healer. Deeply. Losing her broke me. Do you know that they call that feeling Soulbroken? Have you heard that expression?" He flicked a glance at me, a brief moment of clarity in the fog of his sadness. When I nodded, he said, "It's fitting. I'm broken. And I'm not entirely certain that I can ever be properly mended again. How can you truly fix something once it's been shattered?"
To that, I had no answers. My parents had found love with one another, but both still suffered from having lost their Soulbound Healers. Both were still Soulbroken, and even their shared romance could not take that pain away.
"I haven't let anyone close to me since that day. Until now." Suddenly, Gage stopped walking and surveyed the area around him. It didn't look like he was seeking out the perfect path to travel or watching out for any nearby dangers. It was almost as if he were rediscovering his world. A small light, one that whispered promises of hope, lit up his green eye, then his brown, before he looked at me. "I consider you a friend, Kaya. I hope that you might consider me the same to you."
"I do, Gage. I do." And I meant every word. Gage had been nothing but kind to me. And I was beginning to trust him completely, despite the fact that I knew so little about him.
He took a breath and released it. In the cool night air, it was a small cloud of fog. The darkness was getting thicker, and it was increasingly difficult to see Gage's features, despite the fact that he was standing merely feet from me. "I'm not blind, Kaya. I realize that you're in trouble, and that you're running from someone--someone on the Zettai council or perhaps the council itself. I'd like to help you, and I promise not to ask you any questions about your reasons for running. So long as you promise to do the same for me. There are things that I must do, tasks that I must perform, and I am not yet comfortable sharing the details of those tasks with you, or my reasons for performing them. So I'm asking you to trust me. If that's too much to bear, I understand."
His intuitiveness impressed the fak out of me, and I couldn't resist a smile. "Actually, I'm relieved to hear you say that. I do trust you, Gage. And I hope that you trust me too."
"I do." The tension in his shoulders seemed to relax a bit. "Shall we set up camp for the night?"
Looking back over my shoulder at the soft glow of Butcher, I thought about my parents, and wondered precisely where they were headed now. I said, "If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to hike through the night, and get as far away from Skilled society as we can."
"Not a problem."
He led the way down the hill, and it wasn't long before we reached a thin tributary. As I bent down to splash some of the water on my face, I noticed several large, smooth, moss-covered rocks lining the water's edge. To my right, upriver, low-hanging moss draped from tree branches. I knew this river. I knew this water like the back of my hand. Every rock, every species of moss. And I also knew which way the current had been flowing the last time we’d been at the water’s edge. But it couldn't be. Because that would mean--"Gage? We are still headed North, right?"
"Of course. North. Toward Darrek's stronghold."
There was just one problem. The tributary I was rinsing in belonged to the Kessler River. Which meant that Gage was leading me South. Toward Shadow Academy.
Chapter 15
Gage built a warm fire right there by the riverside as I cleared away somewhere for us to rest. I wasn’t worried about keeping warm, my anger was doing that for me. I wasn’t hungry either, but I couldn’t tell if that was due to my sizable meal in Butcher or if food were the last thing on my mind, after Gage’s betrayal.
Because that’s what this was. Betrayal.
Gage sat on the opposite side of the fire pit, quietly munching on handfuls of sweetberries. I stared at the flames for a good, long time, until finally, I could bear it no more. “Gage. Why are we going South?”
“We’re not.” The words came out of him so fast that they couldn’t be true. And they weren’t. I had evidence contrary to that.
“Either you think I’m incredibly stupid or you actually are incredibly stupid. The river flows South. We’re following the current. South.” I held his gaze, waiting for him to admit to his betrayal, waiting for him to apologize.
After some time, he reached for a stick to poke at the coals with. “Are we? I hadn’t noticed.”
“Are you taking me to Shadow Academy?”
“What?”
“Are you working for Headmaster Quill or the Zettai Council?”
“Kaya. I’m just trying to help you.”
“Then tell me the truth.” I pulled my cloak tighter around my shoulders against the chilly night air. My anger remained, but it wasn’t enough to keep me warm all night. “Or leave me the fak alone.”
Gage shook his head and I lay down, staring at the flames, fuming. I couldn’t sleep. Even after Gage had at last wordlessly drifted deeply into slumber under his cloak on the other side of the fire, I couldn't sleep. Because I was certain that Gage--the man I'd come to trust so completely as my friend, who'd just poured his heart out to me about being Soulbroken--had lied to me about the direction in which we were travelling. And that meant to me one thing: Gage had to be working for either Headmaster Quill or the Zettai council. There was no way around it. He must have been tasked with bringing me in, and doing so in an honest, confrontational, katana-wielding way would have been much more difficult than making me feel empathy and trust and then convincing me to travel in the direction of my soon-to-be captors. I couldn't trust Gage. Which meant that I couldn't trust myself—because my gut told me to stay with him, despite my concerns.
Gage rolled over in his sleep, uncovering his head and shoulders from deep under his cloak. I sat by the fire, watching him as he rested, wondering where it had all gone wrong. Not only was I furious with him, I was furious with myself. What did this say about me? That all it took was a handsome face to distract me from my goals?
I couldn't bear the thought that everything that we'd shared had been a lie. I believed that Gage was Soulbroken--that's not something a person could fake. I'd seen that pain in my parents
' eyes. But at least a portion of our interaction had to be false. I hoped that the friendship had been real, but couldn't help but think it had all been a con, a tool that aided in getting me to do what he wanted, what he'd been charged with. My chest ached. I hadn't had many friends in my life. Just Avery, who'd died. And then Maddox, who was miles from here. And Gage, who wasn't really a friend to me at all.
I held my angry tears in and looked up at the night sky. Where was Trayton? Darius? Were they still alive? Would I know if they weren't? Would I feel my soul break if Darius perished on the battlefield?
As quietly as I could, I gathered my belongings, pausing just long enough to spy the compass that was chained to Gage's neck. Marking which way was West, I slipped my satchel onto my back, along with my katana, and turned away from Gage, grateful that the sun was finally peeking out over the horizon.
I needed light. I needed warmth. And I needed to move on, knowing full well that I could trust every person that I was traveling with.
Namely, me.
Chapter 16
I left Gage fireside in the middle of the night. I didn’t say goodbye, mostly because I didn’t know how to do so without threatening to hurt him. He lay there, sleeping peacefully, as I moved away from camp. I could only hope that he wouldn’t pursue me. I was on my own now—the way I should be.
It took two days of tromping through the woods, camping at night, and hunting for food, but at the end of it, my head felt clear enough to give my time with Gage some thought. On one hand, I might be--and was pretty certain I was-- right about Gage's motives. On the other, if I was wrong, I'd just abandoned him in the woods after he'd opened up and shared something deeply personal. It was difficult to decide which would be easier to face. But I didn't think I'd ever have to really face either outcome. It didn’t seem like he was following me, so I'd likely never see Gage again. The thought made my stomach hurt. I missed him. Even though he'd likely betrayed me, I still missed him and his company.