Imogen swept her gaze around. The sun shone above them, so it made it less likely that this was some sort of dark creature. It had been her experience that most dark creatures were surrounded by a haze of inky blackness, like they were summoning the night itself. For one to appear in the middle of the day, when the sun was shining down on them, suggested something else.
“The only thing I detect is—”
Three small creatures scurried toward them in a surge of dark energy. They resembled tiny squirrels, though with wider, fatter tails and longer, sharper jaws. Benji crouched down and looked as though he wanted to pet them. Rather than reaching toward one of them, he stroked the grass. He traced his fingers through the blades as he whispered into them and into the wind. The grasses themselves solidified and held the creatures in place, and then Benji stood.
“We must stop them,” he announced.
“Stop them?”
“Yes. That will be up to you, Imogen.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stood back.
She frowned at him. They had come across other creatures since they had left the Shadows of the Dead, and each time they had, Benji had been a part of defeating them. They were seeing more strange creatures these days than she’d ever encountered. Was it tied to Benji himself? The fact that he was magic was certainly the reason that the Sul’toral had wanted him.
“You want me to destroy these?” she asked.
It was an odd use of her patterns. She had trained to fight sorcerers, to destroy that magic so she could protect her people. What she had been doing since leaving the Shadows of the Dead had been something else, a different use of power: fighting the servants of the Sul’toral.
Perhaps that was a valuable use of her magic, but she couldn’t help but feel as if Benji was leading her down some path he had seen but didn’t want to reveal to her.
As she watched him and waited for a response, she realized she wasn’t going to get any answers from him. That wasn’t the way Benji did things.
She turned her attention to the scene that stretched in front of her. The creatures were small, but they looked vicious, their wide mouths filled with sharp fangs. And though the grasses were holding them, she had a feeling that they wouldn’t for long.
Imogen raised her sword and started forward, but she stumbled as something grabbed at her ankle. Another damn oronth. The tiny creature was trying to chew on her foot with vicious fangs. And was that blood on some of its teeth? She kicked, sending the creature flying with a shriek, but that didn’t sound at all like what she’d heard before.
The ground began to undulate as dozens of oronth appeared. How had she thought there were only a couple of them before?
They raced toward her and Benji, and Imogen turned in one of her patterns. The energy of Petals on the Wind created a barrier of sorts that she could use to hold these creatures off long enough to find her focus. Even still, it was difficult with these critters swarming her. One grabbed her boot, and she was thankful for the thick hide that couldn’t be penetrated and the fact that she had placed enchantments on it. She kicked, and the next oronth went flying away.
She glanced at Benji, who stood in place. The creatures converging on her did nothing to him.
He was rooted.
Like a tree.
Damn him.
This had to be some sort of a test, the same way Master Liu had once taught her using similar tests. Imogen brought her blade around, sweeping in a spiral to clear the creatures away from her so she could focus.
When she had a small space, she flowed through the sacred patterns, moving from Petals on the Wind to Stream through the Trees, and finally bringing her sword down in a sharp arc using Axe Falling. The suddenness of it sent the creatures scurrying.
She positioned herself near Benji, holding the blade out in front of her. “Was this your plan?”
“Why, Imogen, I don’t know what you mean.”
She snorted.
The oronth started to return, and Imogen focused on Tree Stands in the Forest. The pattern still eluded her, though to hear Master Liu speak of it, it was one that eluded most of the Leier. So simple, yet so complex.
Imogen had discovered some truth in the pattern, though. It was one of the most meditative techniques, but it was also one that helped anchor her to the world and to the magic that existed within it.
She concentrated, trying to center herself so that she could be ready. In her mind, she tried to picture roots stretching down beneath her the way she once had before. She imagined herself being a part of the world.
Despite the difficulty of being distracted by these creatures coming toward her, she strengthened the pattern. There was a point when Imogen felt anchored, where something seemed to solidify within her mind so that as it did, power surged outward.
Magic. She couldn’t deny it.
The oronth swarmed toward her. They tried to claw at her, but they were failing, repelled by some invisible barrier.
The roots.
Tree Stands in the Forest.
She had done it.
“Did it succeed?” Benji asked, glancing over to her.
There was always something about his tone that made Imogen want to snap back at him, because it sounded like his words were filled with sarcasm. She had to restrain herself, though, and instead nodded. “Now what?”
“Now you will push them away.”
“You wanted me to do this?”
“I knew they were here,” he said. “And knew they would potentially overwhelm you. They can be quite ferocious when they bite. I would advise you not to let them sink their teeth into you. Not only does it hurt, but they are rumored to be venomous.”
She glanced down at her boot, flicking her gaze only, not wanting to turn any part of her body to disrupt the pattern. She couldn’t see if the creature had pierced the leather of her boot.
“Why here?” she asked.
“Because the sun is out, the wind is blowing, the sky is blue, and the day is wonderful.” Benji didn’t move as he said it, continuing to be the tree that stood in the forest.
Trees. That was what he had said he’d heard from her.
“Can you talk to others while focusing like this?”
His gaze darted toward her with little more than a shift of his eyes, and he smiled. “You gain insight faster than I would expect, First of the Blade.”
She still didn’t know what it meant or why he would not have revealed that to her.
“Who have you been in contact with?”
“Others,” he said. “Many.”
“Others like you?”
“There are not many like me.”
The Porapeth were revered by the Leier. They were said to be a part of the world, connected to it, and able to speak truths about the future. It was the only kind of magic her people had ever acknowledged and embraced, but not fully. Despite the sacred status among her people, even the Porapeth were treated with some measure of suspicion.
Imogen understood, though. After having spent the time with Benji she had, she understood that his magic and the power he possessed were beyond even that of sorcery. The things he was capable of doing, what he could accomplish, and the way he was connected to the world all seemed impossible.
“Not many doesn’t mean none,” she said.
Benji looked up at her, and some of his jovial nature was gone, replaced with a glimmer of seriousness. “It does not mean none.”
“Will we encounter more Porapeth?”
“I have not seen that.” He forced a toothy smile. “Now get to pushing.”
Imogen focused on her pattern and started to probe outward with it, thinking that there had to be some connection to the sacred pattern that she could use. As she pushed out, the creatures clawed at what she could only imagine were the roots of power she had established, but they were also being driven back by the sacred pattern.
“Now what?”
“Now you must ask them to depart.”
This time, s
he turned her body. She felt the way her pattern shifted, and it was enough that the roots started to retreat and the energy she had formed began to withdraw. She focused once more, becoming immobile, using what she could of herself to hold them at bay.
Benji chuckled. “Do you think that is how you move?”
“I don’t know how I move,” she said. “All I know is that I’m still trying to learn the sacred patterns. The more I work at them, the more I feel like I am struggling with them. And then you bring me out here to test me, similar to how I was tested when I was…” She looked over to him, frowning. “You’ve spoken to Master Liu.”
He smiled slightly. “He wanted you to gain insight.”
“Why?”
“I told you why. He believed you have potential. If you don’t think you do, then perhaps you cannot do it.”
Imogen ignored his comment. What had she done before? She had used another sacred pattern inside of Tree Stands in the Forest. The combination of the two had given her power. She began to concentrate and think about other patterns, using Petals on the Wind and then twisting the roots of Tree Stands in the Forest, and she started to feel something more.
That wasn’t going to be enough. She needed to scatter the creatures, but how?
There were a few different patterns that would be effective, but the one that had been the most useful for her when she had tried to combine them was Lightning Strikes in a Storm.
She focused the power through her, through Tree Stands in the Forest, and pushed it out, down. It crashed away from her root system, and the creatures shrieked as they went flying, scattered by the pattern.
Imogen waited, prepared for the possibility they would return, but they dispersed. They scurried over the hillside, disappearing into the grasses altogether until they were gone completely.
Benji stepped forward. “You did well, First of the Blade.”
“That’s it?”
He smiled at her and shook his head. “Should there be more?”
“All of this was just you—and Master Liu—testing me?”
“Preparing you. This was easy. Wait until it becomes hard.”
He started off, flowing across the hill, gliding the way that the wind gusted through the strands of grasses. Imogen chased after him, trying to keep up, but found it difficult. She had to kick through the grasses, unable to glide over them the way he did. Each time she moved, she could feel it disrupting her pattern, making it harder for her to maneuver.
When she finally caught up to Benji, she looked over to him. “When will it be harder?”
“Soon.”
Chapter Five
Imogen stood on the hillside and looked down at the village. Smoke drifted from chimneys jutting out from neatly maintained thatched roofs. Many of the buildings even had color to them, some of them green, some orange, and some a deep brown—a lovely sight. Children ran in the streets, chasing a round leather ball, and a man worked in the field nearest them. Somewhere distantly, a dog barked.
At least there was a feeling of life around them. So often in the time she had been chasing after her brother, looking for evidence of him, there had been no sign of other life. She had known it would be that way out here. They were so far to the north, getting farther away from the marsh, that she didn’t expect to come across many villages. Those they encountered provided a welcome reprieve.
“Was this your intention?” she asked Benji.
“You don’t think we should have a night of rest?”
She looked over to him. “It has nothing to do with that. This is about getting here.”
“And where do you think this is?”
She shrugged, sweeping her gaze around. “I don’t know.”
“This is a village, much like other villages you have visited before. Only, I suspect that this village will be far more eager to see you.”
“Why would they be eager to see me?”
“You are a traveler.” He pointed toward her pocket. “And you have coin. I think they will be most pleased to see visitors.”
He strode forward, and he headed down the hillside toward the village. Imogen ran to keep up with him. Benji had started moving more quickly these days, as if there was more urgency to his step.
She had tried asking him about it, but in his own Benji manner, he had not shared anything. Nothing other than a brief comment that he had seen something. From what Imogen had discovered about his magic, that could mean many things.
“Did Timo come through here?”
“We will have to see,” Benji said.
“The trees don’t tell you?”
“The trees tell me many things, as do the grasses, the air, the sky,” he said with a smile. “But his passage has been difficult to tell.”
“Why?”
“I should have known that there was something off about him. It is my fault that I did not see it.”
And when Benji said see, it was more than just what he could see with his eyes, it was what he could see with his magic. He hadn’t said much about it before, other than his frustration that he hadn’t been able to determine what Timo had been doing.
“I have been looking,” he said. “I’ve also asked the trees and the grasses and the wind to look, but word of his journey has been faint and subtle, and not at all conclusive.”
She sighed. “Faint and subtle means you can’t track him.”
“Yes, that is what it means.”
“How many others can’t you track?”
“There are not many,” Benji said.
“Why not him?”
“I don’t know. The Sul’toral influence has grown strong. Stronger than it has been in centuries. Perhaps that’s all it is.”
Imogen frowned. “Why would it have changed?”
Benji stared into the village. “Sarenoth has attempted to gain power for millennia. The Sul’toral aren’t the first ones to reach for his kind of power, but they have been the most troublesome.” He snorted. “I never would’ve imagined that a Leier would be part of it, but then again, neither did you.” He winked at her and then hurried forward, reaching the outskirts of the village.
Imogen studied the farm as she walked. She didn’t recognize the crop the farmer was harvesting, though it did have tall stalks. A faint trail of dust lingered in the air as he cut down each of the stalks and tossed them into a wagon. A small child waved to her, holding on to one handle of the wagon.
“We can stay for the night,” Benji said. “I don’t think we will find anything here that will help us, but there are other benefits of staying in this place.”
They headed through the village, passing several houses until they reached the center. Most of the buildings were small and made out of a dark gray wood, though some were made of pale-yellow stone and appeared older than the newer-looking wooden structures. The buildings were simple, with no ornate decorations and no paint, just functional. That in itself was lovely in a way. A low wall surrounded a small square, and inside were dozens of chickens.
The last time they had stayed in a village had been over a week ago. In that time, they had eaten berries, some wild vegetables, and a few edible leaves Benji had found. Not at all the food she preferred.
An older man leaned over the chicken coop, pulling out eggs and stacking them carefully into a box.
“I think an egg would be fantastic,” she said to Benji.
“An egg? I thought you and your people preferred the food caught in the oceans around your land.”
“We do.” Some people who lived within the mountains found it difficult to eat the traditional Leier foods. Much had to be shipped upland from the coast. Too many years had passed since she had eaten rolled tuna, steamed kelp, and mussels. “But in my time away, I’ve started to acquire different tastes.”
“A woman of the world. Of course you would be, First of the Blade.”
“Can you not call me that here?”
“You don’t want your title?”
“I earned the
rank, but the title is something I took on years ago out of necessity.” And it had been a part of the completion of her bond quest, a part of sharing with others the secrets of the Leier training. She felt some shame in revealing the secrets, though she wondered if she even should. “It would be better if you just called me by my name.”
He chuckled as he motioned for her to follow. “We will keep moving, then.”
They passed the chicken pen and reached a small stone building she hadn’t seen from the hillside above. A sign hung from a post outside, a marker that suggested some sort of tavern or inn. She followed Benji inside, and a faint trail of smoke greeted her, tinged with the spice of tobacco. A hint of ale also wafted through the air.
This place was nothing like the tavern where she had spent so much of her time in Yoran. The Roasted Dragon had been a source of comfort to her. Though she wasn’t a huge drinker, she had enjoyed the quality of the ale that the proprietor served.
Benji motioned for her to join him at a table on the side of the building. She took a seat on a faded wooden chair and leaned back against the wall, setting a few coins on the table to let the proprietor know they could pay. Benji seemed unmindful of the fact that his back was to the rest of the tavern, probably since it was mostly empty. Of course, knowing him as she did, it might not matter to him. He likely had some way of detecting movement and could tell when people came close to him.
“Have you been to this village before?” she asked.
He leaned forward, almost as if he were feeling something distinct, and he shrugged. “This place?” He glanced around briefly before turning his attention back to her. “Unfortunately, I have not been to this place.”
“Unfortunately?”
“You think this would be an unfortunate place to spend time?”
Imogen shook her head. “No,” she said, looking back to Benji. “Well, I would’ve said so had it not been for the oronth.”
He chuckled, and he nodded to one wall. “What do you see there?”
She followed his gaze to a quilt of oronth skin stretched across the wall. “Obviously they don’t fear them.”
She looked around at the few people inside the tavern. Most of them looked like they were locals to the village. They were dressed in plain clothing made of wool, most of it gray or brown and not at all colorful like the buildings she had seen outside. One pair of people on the opposite side of the room looked like travelers, which was surprising since they were away from most of the main thoroughfares through these lands. A teenage girl sat at the table with the couple, and every so often she would look up and watch Imogen.
Unseen (First of the Blade Book 2) Page 4