Unseen (First of the Blade Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Benji had said them. There were people behind her, she guessed, not creatures. If they were creatures, she suspected she would’ve felt something else.

  He moved quickly and remained otherwise silent as he did.

  Imogen frowned, slowing, and began to turn.

  “It will not make a difference,” he said. “All you will do is scare them away.”

  “And we don’t want to do that?”

  “No.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You will. In time.” He spun and continued forward, as if that had answered everything.

  She wanted to gain awareness but didn’t want to attack, and he sought to deter her. But why? Had he seen something? Given how they were maneuvering through the grasslands, it suggested that he had not detected anything dangerous. He could speak to the grass, to the wind, to everything around them, so he would know if there was risk here.

  What could she learn, though?

  When she had used Tree Stands in the Forest against the oronth, Imogen had felt a connection in a way she had never imagined before. Could she use it again?

  Now that she no longer denied the truth of magic, she might as well embrace it too. She paused, focusing on the sacred pattern. It was deceptively simple, and she imagined her roots growing out and around her, using them to reach deep into the ground.

  And as she did, she started to stretch outward. It was a strange sensation for her to be aware of, and even stranger that she felt as if she were gaining control over it. When she had done it the last time, it had been almost accidental, something she had scarcely had any control over. But this time…

  This time there was definite control. Imogen was fully aware of what she was doing, of the tendrils of power that floated away from her. It was a sacred pattern, but one that was the most concentrated of them all. And as Master Liu had once told her, it was one that had the most potential to it. At the time, Imogen had been too ignorant to understand the reason behind it.

  She marveled at the energy stretching out from her, and she became aware of how everything around her gradually rippled away as it strained beyond. In her mind, she saw the roots of the tree pushing outward, as if they were something real, and then she felt something.

  Someone.

  Not only that, but there was tension against her pattern. Was it a sorcerer?

  Imogen released her connection, darting forward as she unsheathed her blade. She flowed through the grasses and followed Petals on the Wind without meaning to, and then she came to a stop.

  The girl from the tavern stood before her. Her face was slightly bloodied from a small cut beneath one cheek, and she took in Imogen’s sword with wide eyes.

  “What are you doing out here?” Imogen asked. Could this girl be working with a Sul’toral? She could easily imagine the Sul’toral using a child.

  “I…”

  “You had better answer quickly.”

  “I’m looking for help,” the girl blurted out. “When I saw the two of you sneaking out early in the morning—”

  “We were not sneaking out.”

  “Then why did you leave so early?”

  Imogen snorted. “Because it was time for us to go.”

  The girl glanced past her. Imogen resisted the urge to turn, not sure whether Benji was there. She continued to sway slightly, holding on to the connection she felt through Petals on the Wind. The sword didn’t move, though the tension within Imogen began to increase. It seemed almost as if the girl could see that.

  “What are you doing here?” Imogen asked again.

  “I need help. I was taken from my home.”

  “We saw you with your parents.” She remembered seeing her sitting with the travelers in the tavern.

  The girl shook her head. “Not my parents. They took me. They are…” She shrugged. “Well, I’m not entirely sure what they are, but they’re something. They took me, and they claimed they were taking me west to a place where I can learn.”

  Imogen frowned. “Why would they take you?” She thought she understood, but she needed confirmation. If she was right, then the Sorcerers’ Society had come for this girl, though she didn’t know why. Did the girl have significant potential? But why would they have come all the way out here looking for people with sorcery? This was well beyond any place the Society would ever roam.

  “They never said. They just took me. Well, they paid for me. My parents took the coin they were offered and sent me with them.”

  “Did they do anything to you?”

  “Other than force me to come with them?” She shook her head. “No. They didn’t do anything to me. And I don’t want to be with them. I want to go home.” She looked at Imogen, frowning. “I heard you talking to Wilson last night.”

  That had to be the proprietor. “What did you hear?”

  “You were talking about the Koral war. Then you started talking about leaving, and that’s when I knew I needed to go with you.”

  “You want to go back to a war?”

  “I want to go back to my home. I have two sisters. They need me.”

  Imogen breathed out slowly. They needed to be careful. She had decided to return to her homeland and see what was going on with the Koral, but doing so would lead them through violence. This girl didn’t need to go through that, but she wanted to go home. Just because Imogen struggled with her own desire to return didn’t mean that this girl should be kept from her home and her sisters.

  “Where are you from?” Imogen asked.

  “The same place as you.”

  “Really?”

  “I see it in your eyes. You have the same eyes as me. My parents always told me our people shared that.”

  Imogen blinked slowly. There was something about the girl that left her troubled.

  Maybe it really was the eyes.

  There were not many other people with the deep purple, almost black eyes the Leier had, though there were some. She had noticed the girl’s eyes at the tavern, but Imogen was realizing that perhaps she should have paid more attention to her from the beginning.

  “It’s going to be dangerous,” she said.

  “I can handle danger. I just want to go home. I want to make sure my sisters are safe.”

  “If war is breaking out there, it’s not going to be safe for you.”

  “It’s not going to be safe for my sisters either.”

  A rustling sound came from nearby, and Benji appeared out of nowhere, as if springing up from the grasses—or maybe he had been hiding there the whole time. Knowing him, the latter was more likely.

  “Well?” Imogen asked, looking over to him.

  “It is your call,” Benji said.

  She had a feeling that he was resisting the urge to call her First of the Blade in front of this girl. It was possible that she wouldn’t even recognize the rank. Eventually, it wouldn’t even matter. Imogen was a First of the Blade, but there were many like her, especially where they intended to travel.

  “What is your name?” Imogen asked.

  “Lilah Luiath.”

  It certainly sounded like a name from the Leier homeland, but Imogen had become more suspicious in the time she’d been away and had learned to doubt what she heard.

  “I can’t promise we will be able to protect you.”

  “I just need your help getting out of here.” Lilah looked over her shoulder and turned her attention back to the direction they’d come.

  Imogen bit her lip. The girl should have been given the opportunity to hold the sword, to learn the patterns, to begin her training. There was no guarantee she would become skilled or that she would become one of the Blade, but she should have been given the chance to try. Like every Leier.

  “You can come with us,” Imogen said. “But we’re going to move quickly.”

  “Not many people are willing to go into a place where war has broken out. It’s dangerous.”

  “She loves danger.” Benji gestured to Imogen. “Look at her. Look at the way she ho
lds that blade.”

  “I’ve seen ones like that before,” Lilah said.

  Imogen shot Benji a hard look. Of course the girl would have seen a sword like that before. It was gifted to all Leier when they made the rank of First of the Blade.

  “Come on,” Imogen said, motioning to the other two.

  They started off again and traveled until they neared a forest that loomed in the distance. It seemed that on this journey, Imogen could not shake her way free of the trees. The ones in the distance were not as tall as some of those they had passed through earlier, but they seemed to grow closer together. If they continued north, they would reach the impassable marshlands. The west would take them back the way they came. South would lead them to dangerous lands controlled by the Society. And east apparently now meant war.

  Every so often, she could feel Lilah watching her with a question in her eyes. But after a while, that expression shifted, turning instead to Benji. The girl stared at him, almost as if she were struggling to figure out who he was—and what he was.

  Imogen smiled to herself. That Lilah recognized how Benji had his own power suggested that she really did have potential.

  “Have you trained with the sword?” she asked Lilah.

  “We live too far outside the Leier villages for me to train.”

  Imogen bit back her surprise. Everyone within the homeland was given a practice staff when they were a child, which was considered custom.

  “It was more than that,” Imogen said, watching her.

  Lilah nodded slowly. “My father didn’t want me to learn.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Fifteen.”

  Imogen stared. Fifteen. By that age, she had already mastered the traditional patterns and had reached the rank of First of the Blade. She had been preparing for her journey to the temple then, ready to begin her study of the sacred patterns.

  “It’s unusual for a Leier father not to teach his children how to wield a sword.”

  “My father would not…” Lilah said, her voice trailing off.

  Imogen contemplated several different responses, but she could see the sadness in the girl’s eyes. And she was just a girl. At her age, Imogen had considered herself an adult. Reaching First of the Blade had made her one and had separated her from the others her age, so perhaps that was the difference. Still, she couldn’t help but feel as if there was something else to this.

  She moved carefully and found herself gliding through several sacred patterns, which elicited an amused glance from Benji, as though he understood just what she had been doing.

  The landscape started to shift before them. The grasslands began to thin out, and the terrain became rockier. In the distance, trees started to grow, first in a copse of intermingled trees, then more densely the farther they headed.

  Benji nodded ahead of them. “That is where we must go.”

  Imogen stared off to the east. Even without having passed this way before, she knew where they were going and what it was going to take for her to reach her homeland. The mountains were little more than a darkened promise in the distance, but close enough that she knew where they had to go.

  “Will it be dangerous?” Lilah asked.

  Imogen looked over to her. “You came through here, didn’t you?”

  “I wasn’t aware of what they were doing most of the time.”

  Imogen frowned. She still thought she knew who was involved, but Lilah had not confirmed it. Either she didn’t know, or she didn’t want to acknowledge it. Regardless, Imogen wasn’t going to push. “Did you learn anything about them?”

  “They didn’t talk much. When they did, I didn’t understand what they were saying. They were merchants, though. At least I thought they were.” She pursed her lips, and she shook her head. “They had a cart with them, and they would stop in different villages, selling items.”

  Imogen had seen the cart outside the tavern, though she hadn’t paid much mind to it. Now she wondered if that was a mistake.

  She followed Benji, and it was early evening when they finally reached the outskirts of the forest. The air took on a new quality: damp, a little cold, and a strange tingling energy. The forest itself was also different than the others they had passed through. The atmosphere was darker and the trees narrower, practically squeezing together, and they left her with an ominous feeling.

  Benji slowed. He tipped his head to the sky every so often, then turned his attention to the forest, glowering at the trees.

  “You seem concerned,” she said.

  “I can feel something off in here.”

  “Is that what”—she glanced over to Lilah before leaning toward Benji, lowering her voice—“the trees are telling you?”

  “Yes.”

  Imogen frowned. If she could draw on her patterns, maybe she could find something within them that would help her understand what Benji detected, but there wasn’t anything here.

  “We need to find out what it is,” he said.

  “Before we camp?”

  “Before.”

  Imogen looked over to Lilah, took a deep breath, and nodded. “You realize what this might reveal about you, right? I thought you wanted to keep your Porapeth secrets.”

  “It will reveal nothing,” he said.

  Imogen shrugged and unsheathed her blade.

  Lilah looked at her sword. “What’s going on? Should I be worried?” She clutched a hand to her chest, her eyes wide.

  Benji watched her with an expression that said he was contemplating what he might say—or reveal—to Lilah. Imogen didn’t think he’d spill his Porapeth secrets but didn’t know. He didn’t say anything, though. Instead, he turned away and peered at the forest.

  After some time, he finally started forward but quickly stopped at a tree. Resting his hand on the trunk, he tilted his head to the side as if listening to it.

  “What do you hear?” Imogen asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “That should reassure us.”

  He looked over and nodded. “It should…”

  Which meant he was not reassured.

  Imogen stayed with Petals on the Wind as she moved but mixed that with Stream through the Trees, and she felt the power around her. She glanced back at Lilah, who crept forward and clutched her dress in a white-knuckled grip. Imogen noticed a silver necklace in her hand, bunched up in the fabric. It must’ve been something she’d managed to keep from the couple who had taken her.

  “Just stay close to me,” Imogen said.

  “And then what?” Lilah asked.

  “And then—”

  Imogen felt something in front of her and spun, flowing through a quick series of sacred patterns, ending with Axe Falling. There came a strange, sizzling energy, but it faded quickly.

  She glanced over to Benji, who was staring off into the distance while resting his hand on the nearest tree. “What was that?” she asked.

  “I do not know.”

  He continued forward and paused at each tree. The trunks were smooth, and their branches loomed high overhead, dangling down so that their massive leaves cast the ground in shadows. Small shrubs littering the forest floor made their walk more difficult, and fallen logs occasionally blocked their way, forcing Imogen to disrupt her patterns as she crawled over and around them.

  Benji stopped near a fallen trunk, traced his fingers in the dirt, and whispered. His soft voice carried to her ears, and this time Imogen was certain he intended for it to do so. She didn’t understand the words, though she thought she was supposed to recognize the feeling within them.

  “We must go quickly,” Benji said suddenly.

  He strode ahead, tapping on the trunk of each tree he passed. Imogen flowed around them, twisting, turning, staying with him. A different energy began to build around her, a distinct sensation of something in the forest with them.

  She slowed enough to let Lilah get closer to her. She needed to protect the girl, but from what?

  Imogen looked over at Benji,
who was now moving more slowly but still touching the trunks of the trees. Every so often, he would crouch down and whisper something to the dirt, and then he would move forward at a different angle.

  They reached a narrow stream that cut through the forest. The trees on the other side of the stream appeared darker, making it so that she could scarcely see anything.

  “I imagine we have to cross,” she said, keeping her voice low, feeling like she needed to. As soon as she had that thought, she realized that they hadn’t detected anything else in the forest. No squirrels. No birds. Not even insects buzzing around them. Whatever else was in the forest was powerful enough that it scared all other creatures away.

  “Yes, unfortunately,” Benji said. He crouched down and traced his fingers through the dirt, bringing them up to his nose and sniffing deeply. He shook his head, then looked up at her. “This is not good. Not good at all.”

  She froze. “What is it?”

  “Something that has not been seen for centuries. Something that should not be here now.”

  “What?”

  “They are the branox. They are death.”

  Chapter Seven

  Imogen followed Benji along the burbling stream. Every so often, as the water flowed past a small rock, it frothed with a boiling intensity. She was tempted to touch the water, though some part of her told her she shouldn’t. She stayed away from it instead, watching the water as it rolled past.

  Benji paced with hands clutched to his chest, looking uncertain about what else he should do or say. Imogen glanced back to Lilah, who remained quiet.

  “I need to know more about the branox,” she said, catching up to Benji while watching Lilah out of the corner of her eye. The girl stood in front of the stream, her hands clasped in front of her, staring off to the far side of the forest with a lost look in her eyes.

  “I’ve told you what you need to know,” he said.