Ignoring the question, she grabbed a corner of the cloth and pulled up on it. I flinched as the pain bloomed once again into sharp stabbing. Fresh, warm blood slid down my temple.
“I can take care of that once I get this off,” she said.
She pulled until the cloth finally gave up its grip on my skin and replaced it with a wet cloth from the bucket of water.
“Did you take off some skin with that?” I asked through clenched teeth. My eyes watered.
She closed her eyes and muttered, “This is probably going to hurt worse.”
“What is?”
The words were barely out of my mouth before she lifted the wet cloth from my forehead and dug her thumb deep into the wound, sliding it across my skull. I clamped my mouth shut, nearly biting my tongue. I pressed my teeth together as hard as I could. The pain was like nothing I’d felt before. It screamed across every nerve in my body and stole my breath away.
As soon as it had come on, there was flash of purple across the insides of my eyelids, then the pain was gone, fading back to a dull ache. I didn’t realize I had squeezed my eyes shut until I opened them. Likewise, my fists. My nails left crescent-moon-shaped imprints on my palms. My breath returned with a gasp.
Seanna opened her eyes and examined my forehead. “There. That shouldn’t leave a mark at all.”
“What did you do?” I lifted a tentative hand to where the wound had been. I felt smooth, unbroken skin. “Nice.”
She smiled down at me and grabbed my hand, sending warm tingles up my arm. “You should clean yourself off and get some sleep. I’ll explain everything tomorrow.”
“Why not now?” I asked, all too aware of her hand still on mine.
“You’re tired, Gaige.”
I yawned.
“You should sleep.”
I nodded my agreement with another yawn. I was tired.
“Everything will make sense in the morning.”
She released my hand, but before she could move to her own covers, I grabbed her wrist. I was shocked to feel her skin. It looked soft and smooth like her hand, but her arm felt rough.
“Gaige?”
“Huh?”
“Did you need something?”
“No, why?”
She held up her wrist with my hand still wrapped around it.
“Oh.” I let it go. “I just wanted to ask you about, um, you.”
“What about me?”
“What are you?” I felt stupid being so blunt, but I couldn’t think of any other way to ask. My mind felt fuzzy with sleep. My body pleaded with me to lie down and sleep. I shook my head. I wanted at least one answer before I slept.
“Tomorrow,” she answered.
“Why not now?” I asked again. The warmth from the nearby fire enveloped me, inviting me to lie down and sleep.
She looked at me for a moment before grabbing a cloth from the bucket and wiping it along my temple. She did this for several minutes in silence, cleaning the blood, both old and new, from my face and head while my eyes fought to close. I didn’t want them to, but they insisted.
“I’m human as far as you’re concerned,” she finally said. “Anything else can wait for tomorrow. I’ll explain everything then. I promise.”
I couldn’t figure out why, but I believed her. I figured she wouldn’t have brought me here without a good reason. I couldn’t tell if that was my thought or just a product of being as tired as I was. I nodded and yawned.
She ran a hand down my cheek. My face felt blissfully warm. “You should sleep now,” she said.
I felt the corner of my mouth lift in a half smile. “You’re probably right,” I said sleepily. My eyelids drooped; my eyes rolled to the back of my head.
Her hand stopped moving on my cheek and I was pulled back from the darkness like a bungee jumper’s return bounce. “What?”
She slapped her hand over my mouth. “Shut up,” she hissed. Twisting, she flung a hand toward the fire. There was a flash of purple and the flames leapt off the burning logs and flew up the chimney, plunging the house into darkness. “Something’s coming.” The fear in her voice chased away all traces of sleepiness in me. “We have to get out of here.”
10
Flight
I propped myself up on an elbow, my mind clear for the first time in a while. At first, I thought Seanna was messing with me, but the sound of fear in her voice made my stomach turn inside out. Nothing like a hint of terror in somebody’s voice to bring everything into focus. “What are you talking about? What’s coming?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “We just need to get out of here.”
A soft, purple-tinted glow bloomed slowly to life. It came from the wooden amulet hanging from her neck. Her eyes unfocused, looking at the wall to the left, but I got the feeling she saw something far in the distance through the walls of the hut.
“Seanna?” I said.
“No,” she muttered to herself. “What is he doing?”
“Who?”
She looked at me like she had forgotten I was even there. “Get up!” Her voice reached near hysterics as she jumped to her feet. “We need to get out of here! Something is coming.”
“More of those bat things?”
“Eioshu ,” she said, moving to grab her socks and shoes.
“Bless you,” I said, not quite sure where the joke came from in that moment of fear.
“That is the name of those creatures.” She stopped to take the time to roll her blue eyes at me.
“Oh,” I replied. “I was just…never mind.”
Seanna cocked her head to the side a moment before shaking her head violently, her blond hair falling across her face. She laid a hand on my chest. I wondered if she could feel my heart skip a beat at her touch.
“This is worse than the eioshu .” She snatched her shoes and slipped them on her narrow feet. She stood and took a step toward the door, stopped and fidgeted like she wasn’t sure what to do. Her fingers twitched at her sides.
That made me more nervous than anything she had said or done. In the short time I had known her, she always seemed so confident and in control, even when staring down a man three times larger than her. To see her at a lost for what to do rattled me.
I threw the covers off and crawled in the dark across the floor to kneel beside Aoife. I gently shook her shoulder.
Her eyes snapped up. They shone gold in the surrounding darkness. “What’s wrong? What happened to the fire?”
“I have no idea,” I said honestly. “But you need to get up.”
She pushed herself out from under her covers. She glanced at the glowing amulet hanging from Seanna’s neck but didn’t say anything.
We pulled on our still wet socks and shoes. I handed the cloak I had worn on the walk to the village to Aoife and snatched up a fur blanket to wrap around myself. Aoife did the same, pulling her furs close to her body under the cloak. We turned to Seanna for what to do next. Apparently, she still didn’t know. She stood looking back at us in an awkward moment when somebody should do something, but nobody does.
“Um…” Aoife started.
“Down!” Seanna said, dropping to the floor.
Aoife and I did, too. We pressed our bodies against the floor and waited. Nothing happened.
“What are we—”
“Shut up,” Seanna and Aoife ordered at the same time.
From somewhere outside, a hissing release of air passed by, followed by a loud crack that shook the walls of the hut. Aoife flinched, screamed, and slapped her hands over her ears. I may have let out a cry of surprise myself.
Shouts from around the village broke out, and a few moments later, the door burst open with such violence, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see it fly right off the hinges. It slammed against the wall and Niklas appeared as a shadow blocking the entire doorway. He stared at us lying on the floor for a moment.
“Out,” he commanded. When we didn’t move, he spoke harder. “It is safe not here. Move!”
We jumped up and hurried out the door. The cold night air hit us like a tree limb to the face—shocking, sharp, and painful.
Outside, people ran around, not exactly in a panic, but not exactly orderly. Women ushered children through the village while the men ran around, weapons at the ready, staring up into the dark sky.
The large Jo-Shar stopped one of the women and spoke with her briefly before turning to us. “Following her,” Niklas said, gesturing at the woman before disappearing into the dark.
She didn’t wait around for us to make up our minds that we would indeed follow. She glanced us over, turned, and moved with the flow of people hurrying out of the village. They were heading for the safety of the rocky terrain farther up the mountain.
“What was that sound?” I asked Seanna.
“Keep moving.”
We trudged through the snow, trying not to stumble while keeping pace with the female Jo-Shar. At some point she became less of a guide and more of a member of an antelope herd escaping a mountain lion, trying to be faster than at least the slowest member. I didn’t want to be that person either. I caught Aoife’s elbow as she stumbled in the snow and pulled her along, trying to keep the woman in sight, but she faded into the darkness somewhere out in front of us as we wound between boulders about a hundred yards from the village.
I grunted in frustration. “I’m getting really tired of not knowing what the…” My voiced faded as I turned my head, trying to pick up the noise like my ears were radar dishes. “What’s that noise?”
The rest of the antelope herd stopped to listen. Somewhere off to the right, a whooshing sound of rushing air and clicking metal drifted down to us. The Jo-Shar cast fearful glances skyward before scattering as one, seeking cover in the surrounding rocks. Seanna grabbed my hand and pulled me between two boulders about waist high, Aoife following. We knelt in the snowdrift between the boulders.
“What’s out there?” I breathed.
“Something not good,” Aoife said.
I opened my mouth to tell her I’d figured that out myself, but Seanna put a finger over her lips.
The field of boulders fell into a hush. The only thing I could hear was the beating of my own heart, and I was pretty sure I breathed loud enough to wake a hibernating bear. I glanced at Aoife. Her eyes darted around, looking between the boulders and then up to the sky. She nudged me and pointed. I looked up just in time to see a large, dark shape pass high overhead. It was only a flash of darkness across the sky before I lost it in the night. Aoife stood enough to peek over a boulder, down toward the village.
“What are you doing? Get down,” I whispered.
Another loud crack sounded and there was a flash of light down in the village. I crawled to the edge of the boulder and looked around just in time to see flaming pieces of a building fly in all directions. There were some cries of fear and shock from the hidden Jo-Shar around us. We squeezed out of our hiding places, heading for higher and rockier ground. More places to hide.
“Let’s go.” Seanna grabbed my hand.
A strangled cry from behind made my heart jump half way up my throat. I turned to find Aoife sitting in the snow with knees pulled to her chest, eyes clamped shut, and hands over her ears. Her face twisted into a grimace. Her breath came in hard gasps.
“Aoife, what are you doing? Come on.”
Her eyes opened and she looked at me.
I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise. “What in the world?” I whispered as I saw her eyes. They shone a bright golden color, lighting up the dark.
“I can’t make it stop,” she said, panic in her voice. “I can usually make it stop, but I can’t. I can’t block it all out.”
“Of all the times,” Seanna muttered.
“What are you talking about, Aoife?” I knelt next to her. I had no clue what to do for panic attacks. I had never known her to be susceptible to them, but then again, when was the last time we were trapped on a strange planet, trying to scramble up the side of a mountain to escape something flying around in the night making buildings explode into flaming toothpicks.
“Make it stop, Gaige,” she pleaded. “Make it stop.”
I glanced at Seanna, but she watched the sky, offering no help. When I looked back to Aoife, a hand appeared out of the dark behind her and clasped her shoulder. I nearly crapped my pants in surprise. As soon as it touched Aoife, however, there was a noticeable change in her. Tension flowed out of her like a river. I followed the hand up to find Elder Narit crouched behind her.
“Shush, girl,” she cooed. “Get ahold of yourself. You are knowing how to control it.”
Aoife nodded, closed her eyes, and took a few deep breaths, letting them out slowly. After a moment, she opened her them and looked at me. They were the normal hazel color I was used to. Well, at least the normal I used to be used to up until a day ago.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Great, the girl’s finally got it figured out,” Seanna said. “Can we get out of here now?”
Another hissing release of air sounded somewhere off in the distance. It hushed into the night like a mother cooing at a fitful child.
“Of course,” the Elder said as she pushed herself to her feet, a beacon of calm. “I’ll lead the way. Stay close.”
The old woman pushed past us, stepping out from between the boulders. She veered off to the right a little, following a different path from the others. We followed without a word.
The Elder moved quickly and without hesitation. The old woman with creaking joints was gone, replaced with a woman who could easily be mistaken for somebody half her age. Her footsteps fell solidly in the snow with no slipping, and she moved spryly around bounders. If she followed a path, I couldn’t see it.
I glanced over my shoulder, scanning the sky, but I didn’t see the dark form again. Below, I could just make out the forms of the Jo-Shar men scrambling to put out multiple fires around the village. We rounded a large boulder at least two stories high, and the collection of little Jo-Shar buildings disappeared from view.
Elder Narit stopped and looked around to get her bearings.
Aoife and I were winded and breathing hard, her more than me. She was shivering again in spite of the physical effort of climbing up the steep slopes of the mountain. The night was bitter cold and our breath streamed visibly out in front of us. I was feeling the cold myself and wanted to keep moving to keep it somewhat at bay for as long as possible.
Once the Elder apparently decided we were on the right track, we followed her along the rocky path several dozen more yards until she came to an abrupt stop. A large rock outcropping towered over her. She reached out a hand to pat a boulder. “Yes,” she mumbled. “Yes, this is it.” She turned to face us. “You must be leaving now. Tonight. For your safety and that of the Jo-Shar.”
A silence passed over us as we dissected her words. Leave? I wasn’t sure where we’d end up during that frantic flight from the village, but I wasn’t prepared to be thrown out into the bitter night. We’d surely freeze to death. We couldn’t just leave. I didn’t want to go back to the village and whatever was blowing it to pieces, but something deep down in me didn’t want to part ways with the Elder yet. Her open honesty gave me the best chance at answers. I felt myself start to panic a little.
“You carrying with you a burden of great to bear. The shoulders are being yours to hold it. Between these boulders is a path that leads to a hole. It will take you to the bottom of the mountain. I suggest you take it and not return to this village.” She looked sadly at us. “After tonight, my people might not be the welcoming you back.”
Seanna cast a glare at me, like she blamed me for everything. The heat of anger rose inside me. Like I really wanted to get thrown onto another world full of flying bat things trying to rip my face off, huge mountain men who looked like they would rip my face off, and some flying thing blowing things up somewhere out in the dark. Good times.
The expression on the Seanna’s face softened as she looked at
me. She laid a reassuring hand on my shoulder. The simple gesture chased the building anger away.
The Elder bent and squinted at the ground. “This is it.” She moved out from the overhang and pointed at the spot. “In you go.” Her voice sounded youthful again.
Seanna and I looked at each other, neither moving. Aoife pushed past, glanced at the old woman who nodded, and bent under the overhang. After a moment of hesitation, she looked at me and then turned back to whatever was on the ground. Then she disappeared.
“Aoife!” I cried out.
“Quiet!” Seanna and Elder Narit said at the same time.
“Where did she go?” I asked.
“Oh, calm down,” Seanna said with all the confidence in the world. It didn’t escape my notice that she had hesitated, too. Still, she glided through the snow and without a look back bent under the rocks and disappeared, too.
Elder Narit waved me forward. “Be not afraid,” she said. “There are many things to being afraid in this world, but I am not one of them as long as my people do not standing in the way of harm.”
As I moved closer, my eyes on the dark under the rocks, she put her hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look in her eyes.
“It is looking like our talking won’t happen. Time is shortening. Those demons I speaking of earlier. Being careful as you learn to ridding them from you. Sometimes others are creeping in to fill the empty spaces. Keep the eyes open and always on the people around you. Even those you may trust. Do you understand?”
I really didn’t, but I nodded anyway.
“Good,” she said brightly. She twitched her head to the side, her eyes going out of focus.
“Elder?”
“The demons here and there,” she said. “To the everything and back. The demons will being the saving of you. The saving of both homes from the war, even though there won’t be saving of those around you.”
“What?” I asked, confused.
She smiled sadly, her eyes focusing back on me. “In you go. May you be finding the peace your heart desires while on your journey.” She reached a gnarled hand to my chest, placing it above my heart. “This is where you will be finding your peace, Gaige Porter.”
The Gatekeeper Trilogy Page 10